Hello dear readers! I cannot believe it is May already! April was definitely a very eventful month for Mr. Bingley and me! We had our students’ recital April 6th, my brother’s piano recital April 12th, and a trip to England April 13th-22nd! I feel like the month just whizzed by!
And we are now presently getting ready for our next big adventure…
Want to know what our next adventure is???
BUYING OUR FIRST HO– USE!
Woot! WOOT! After living in our lovely rental home for five years, we are finally ready to become home-owners! We are so excited, we can’t wait to have a place where we can do, buy, and change whatever we want!
Since we both work from home, we will need to search carefully to find a home that fits our current needs, but also any future needs we may have! At the moment we are in the process of getting approved for a loan and are not yet at the fun “looking at houses” stage. 🙁
But that hasn’t stopped us from dreaming and planning! Besides finding a house in good repair, location, and size, Mr. Bingley and I like to fantasize about all the fun things we want to do to our home in the future.
I, of course, dream about having a book nook!
I would love it if we have an extra closet that I can convert to a book nook! I love that one! If not, I could maybe turn a wall somewhere into a bookcase/nook!
And Mr. Bingley loves the idea of having a fire pit in our backyard, but not just a fire pit though…a fire pit with sand!
I must admit, I love this idea too! I’m all for having a little beach in our backyard! 😉
Hopefully these dreams will become a reality down the road, but for right now we will stick to searching for our very own (small scale) Netherfield Park (see what I did there?) 😉
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Besides house hunting and researching…here is what’s on this month’s
Austenesque Agenda:
~ TO REVIEW ~
~ TO READ AND REVIEW ~
~ YOU CHOOSE! ~
Thought it might be fun to reserve one spot each month as a Wild Card/Pick from my massive TBR/Reader’s Choice. Each month I’ll pick two books that are in my TBR (I’ll try to pick ones that are somewhat similar) and ask you lovely readers which one you want me to read and review the most! The book with the most votes, will be read and reviewed this month, while the other book will remain on my TBR just a little bit longer!
A modern adaptation of Sense and Sensibility or an Austen-Inspired novel. Which do you want me to read and review? To vote, leave a comment in the comment section.
~ TO CONTINUE READING THIS MONTH ~
I’ve been enjoying this one in between reads. 🙂
~ FEATURED AUTHORS VISITING THIS MONTH ~
Monica Fairview – May 7th
Joana Starnes – May 19th
D. G. Rampton – May 30th
Looking forward to May!!! What lovely novels do you plan on reading this month?
Dear Mr. Knightley! Dear Mr. Knightley! That´s high on my list of to-reads and I´d love to know what you think of it!
And woot woot for house buying! 🙂 Good luck the loan gets approved soon!!
LOL! Thank you, Katrin! It is exciting now that the wheels are finally in motion!
Thank you for voting! DMK -1 / S&S – 0
My vote is Dear Mr. Knightley…I really enjoyed it! I’d like to hear your thoughts on it. Have fun looking for a new home. I hope you find exactly what you want!!:)
So glad to hear you enjoyed DMK! I’ve hear a lot of good things about it! Thank you for the kind wishes, I’m hoping our specific needs don’t make it too hard to find a home!
Thank you for voting! DMK -2 / S&S – 0
Best wishes on your house hunting! Thanks to your recommendation, I’m planning to start Artemisia very soon. It definitely sounds like my kind of book! And I also vote for Dear Mr Knightley.
P.S. I was out of town last week so I’m late mentioning it but it was fun to see your England post. So glad you had such a great time!
Thank you, Amy! I hope you enjoy Artemisia as much as I did! Thank you for checking out our travel post! It was a wonderful experience!
Thank you for voting! DMK – 3 / S&S – 0
Yay! I hope you will find your perfect dream home! With shelves in the closets and a prettyish sort of beach on one side of your park! So exciting!
I also vote for Dear Mr Knightley. I have this one, I just haven’t read it yet.
😀 LOVE your comment! Yes, we can create our own prettyish sort of beach if need be! LOLZ!
DMK is popular!
Thank you for voting! DMK – 4 / S&S – 0
Wonderful choices!! I vote for Mr. Knightley; I know that you will be enjoying it so much.
All the good luck to search your new home 😉
Thank you! We need some luck! 😉 I’m glad to hear you enjoyed DMK!
Thank you for voting! DMK – 5 / S&S – 0
Wow, what exciting news! I love those photos…what great ideas! I don’t know about the books yet..that will take some research.
Isn’t awesome what some people dream up? Very clever! LOL! Feel free to share your opinion after you do some research. 😉
Dreaming of things for the home and what the perfect home is was the best part. Happy hunting!
I love your voter’s choice TBR pick idea. I’ve read Dear Mr. Knightley so I’d love to know what you think of the other one. My vote is for Sense & Sensibility.
So glad to hear that, Sophia! I hope we do find our perfect home! 🙂 Thank you, I thought it would be fun, I definitely want to post reviews for books you all are most interested in! You are the first vote for S&S!!
Thank you for voting! DMK – 5 / S&S – 1
Squeeeeee! Exciting news re the house! Those book nooks are fabulous. In Wales we call a little space like that a cwtch (rhymes with butch!), which is also what we’d call a lovely warm comforting cuddle, and there is not much better than cwtching up in a lovely cosy space like that with a good book!
I am torn re. Your book choices, because I really fancy reading Dear Mr Knightley but I tried to read Joanna Trollope’s book earlier this year and I didn’t manage to get into it, so my vote is for you to read that because I’d be interested to see what you think of it. I plan to attempt it again this month, and if I can’t manage it I’m just going to give up I think!
Aww! Thank you, Ceri! I SOOOOO love the word cwtch, what an awesome word for my favorite thing to do. Thank you for sharing!
I remember you saying that in regards to the S&S book. I hope it gets better!
Thank you for voting! DMK – 5 / S&S – 2
I vote for Dear Mr. Knightley.
Looks like someone has been surfing Pinterest for Netherfield design inspiration! 😉 Good luck on the house hunt. It’s always an adventure.
LOL! I’m not sure where Mr. Bingley found the sand pit idea, he saved a pic to his phone to show me and I found the other one on pinterest! 😉 The book nooks were definitely on pinterest!
Thank you for voting! DMK – 6 / S&S – 2
Ooooo, I’d love a book nook. Our house is rather old, mainly dating from about 1750 and has been in hubby’s family for nearly a century. It has walls two feet thick so alterations are problematic to say the least but I have my eye on a couple of places that maybe, possibly, perhaps could be converted.
Being in the north of England, a fire pit probably wouldn’t be practical regarding the amount of use we’d get out of it, but it’d be nice to think it’d be possible. We have a large garden so space outside isn’t a problem. We even have the aforementioned prettyish sort of wilderness in tha back garden where it might fit.
Congrats on (nearly) becoming homeowners. Hope everything goes smoothly.
As to the review, as I know nothing about either at the moment, I would go for the Austen-inspired one. I tend to prefer them over the modern versions at the moment, though I have enjoyed some of them recently as well. Fence sitting comes to mind here.
Ooh! You’re old house sounds fantastic! How wonderful that it has been in the family for so long! How clever you are, I’m sure you can find a wall or corner to build yourself a little nook! Your home sounds lovely. I’m looking forward to making our backyard beautiful (hopefully I don’t have black thumbs!) Would love some interesting trees and plants!
LOL! I can be pretty indecisive when it comes to picking out what to read next (why do you think I’m asking you!)
Thank you for voting! DMK – 7 / S&S – 2
I love those photos of book areas…wouldn’t I love something like that but we are not remodeling nor moving. Been there/done that. But you have some really good ideas on what you want and/or need. The fire pit with sand is a lovely idea. And the house you are renting looks so nice, even tho it isn’t your own.
Thank you, Sheila. We have been very happy with our rental house, it is a great size and has worked well for us. But now that my business is expanding, we need to move. Right now our 3 spare bedrooms and the living room are utilized during the week for music lessons and Mr. Bingley has made an office for himself in the garage. We hope to build a detached garage on our future property for the music lessons to take place in and give our house some privacy!! Oh, and find a house where Mr. Bingley doesn’t have to work in the garage! 🙂
Don’t have a preference on book to review. Seems like most want Mr. Knightley.
Yes, so far it is in the lead!
Such exciting news! Good luck with the loan approval and then with the house hunting. I love the book nooks…did you see those on Houzz cause that’s where I saw the first one. I love that website! I’ll be interested in your review of A Matter of Chance. I was lucky to win that book from you and did read it. I was duly impressed with L.L. Diamond’s writing. It’s a modern day version with a bit of a dark twist with an HEA. I enjoyed it and have her next book on my wish list. Artemisia is on my wish list too, so I’ll be looking forward to your review on that one! Joanna Starnes is another whose two latest books are on my wish list. I did read her first one, which I really enjoyed. Then, of course, is Monica’s new book and I can’t wait to get my hands on that one! The cover alone is worth it! I loved her last two! As for the ‘wild card’ pick…Mr Knightley please and thank you!
Thank you, Carole!! We are very excited! Praying that all goes well. I found the book nooks on pinterest, and didn’t know what Houzz was until you mentioned it! Looks like I’ll be spending some time there! Thanks! 🙂 So very happy to hear you enjoyed A Matter of Chance! YAY! I’m looking forward to a modern-day P&P! Lots of intriguing reads this month, right? I’m excited!
Thank you for voting! DMK – 8 / S&S – 2
House-hunting, yay! You’ll have such fun!!!! Love the idea of a book nook & Mr Bingley’s fire-pit-on-sand. They’re both so relaxing, in their different ways 🙂 Looking forward to see what you pick for your dream home and can’t wait to hear that Netherfield Park is sold at last 😉
Very true, Joana! Relaxing is something Mr. Bingley are quite fond of! We find such comfort at home, we are definite home-bodies! LOL! ME TOO!!!!! 😉
Did you mention once that you have a cat? Even if you don’t and any neighbors do, that lovely sand pit will become…uh… maybe not so ‘beachy’ keen… Happy house hunting. Keep us updated–maybe even play house hunters with us–give us your top three picks and let us see if we pick the one you do. : )
LOL! No, we don’t have any feline friends here, but we are thinking of getting a teacup pig one day! 😉 Hopefully there won’t be a large cat population in the area! Great idea! That would be a fun!
I vote for dear Mr. Knightly. I love Sense and Sensibility but not sure if I would like a modern day version as I old fashioned like that! Your rental house looks beautiful too but I can understand you wanting to purchase your own place. I am reading at the moment Rembrance of the Past and absolutely love it. I too want one of those books as shown above.
Thank you, finding this house was perfect and meant to be, hoping the same will be for the home we buy! So glad to hear you are enjoying, Remembrance of the Past! 🙂
Thank you for voting! DMK – 9 / S&S – 2
Oh, your first house!! That’s a very exciting news, Meredith! I’m so happy for you and your Mr. Bingley 🙂
I haven’t read Joanna Trollope’s book but I did read and loved “Dear Mr. Knightley”! It’s a very sweet and lovely book, so I’d pick that one 😉
Thank you, Maria! We are super excited to finally be able to do this, but also a little scared!
So happy to hear you loved DMK!
Thank you for voting! DMK – 10 / S&S – 2
I would love to hear your thoughts on both but I think you should start on Dear Mr Knightley first. I have not read the book so would be glad if you did.
I hope to eventually read both. 🙂 But I definitely want to read the one my readers are more eager to hear about!
Thank you for voting! DMK – 11 / S&S – 2
Dear Mr. knightly!!
Thank you for voting! DMK – 12 / S&S – 2
I’m voting for S&S. There was a longer sample of S&S on amazon that peaked my interest.
I wish all the best in your house hunt and hope you do indeed find a book nook or a perfect place for one!! As commented above, please be careful with the “little bit of the beach” in your backyard. It may soon become a sand/litter box for all your neighbor’s outdoor cats and feral cats. Not pretty!! Been there!
I, too, love The Scenes JA Never Wrote. It’s fun to read here and there. I returned to read all Jack Caldwell’s chapters after read his Mr Darcy Came to Dinner (couldn’t stop laughing) and The Three Colonels.
All the best to you and Mr Bingley!
Thank you, Catherine! The good thing is we aren’t in a rush to move out of our rental, so we can take our time and really find something that will work and make us happy for the rest of our lives. 🙂 Oh dear, didn’t really think about cats being a problem with Mr. Bingley’s sand pit…I wonder if there is something we can mix in with the sand as a deterrent? Thank you!!! We appreciate your kind words!
How exciting for you to be planning on buying your first home! Congratulations. You will be amazed, I think, at how stressful, yet joyful and fulfilling the process can be. I would LOVE a book nook in my house, too. Either my husband or my kid and his toys would have to go for that to happen. “Next house” I find myself saying a lot.
I see that I’m in the minority, but please, please please read and review Joanna Trollope’s S&S for me. I’d love to know if it’s worth my time. Thanks for giving your adoring fans a chance to vote.
Thank you, Heather! I sort of got spoiled with the house we have now…in my studio/office I have a built-in-the-wall bookcase (which isn’t big enough now!) and dearly want just as nice place to store my book collection in our next house. 🙂 I’m sure I will read both books eventually, so no worries that the non-winner will be discarded! 😉
Thank you for voting! DMK – 12 / S&S – 3
Meredith what a fun packed Month with some great read,s I’ve just finished a second chance and really enjoyed it! I love your interior design pictures would love to have a book nook too! Congrats on the house hunting, I Look forward to visiting your blog in May! Happy reading
Thank you, Tamara! It should be a fun month! I hope you enjoy your visits! 😉 I look forward to reading your reviews too!
Did you hear that PBS is airing Death Comes to Pemberley in Oct/ Nov.? Yay!!
Yes! I’m super excited to see it! I haven’t read the book, but I love watching JA-related series! 😉
I read the book and really thought it left me hanging. I expected much more from this well known author. But I will look for the TV series.