Where did July go?!? I swear it lasted only 4 seconds! Or at least, it felt that way. We had a very eventful month here in the Bingley house!
For the first two weeks of the month we had a lovely family member from Colombia stay with us. Jairo is married to one of Mr. Bingley’s cousins and wanted to spend some of his vacation days with us, and we were very happy to have him as our guest. We enjoyed his company and felt like we all grew closer together during his visit! <3
We had a blast taking to Jairo to all our favorite restaurants, to the beach, and sharing with him the fun things we like to do around our town.
One of the fun things we did while he was here, was take a trip to Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, Virginia! Which he absolutely loved! Mr. Bingley and I have been there before many times, but it has been awhile so we were very happy to go for a fun weekend visit! It is such a beautiful and fun theme park!
And at the beginning of the month we learned that poor Mr. Bingley has gallstones (lots of them!) and would need to have his gallbladder removed (eventually!). Well, that eventually soon turned into ASAP… and he had his gallbladder removed two weeks ago. I’m happy to say that the surgery went very well, and my sweet and affable husband is himself and is able to eat whatever he wants without suffering from bad abdominal pain. 😉
I guess that is why the month felt like it went so fast for me. And if it seemed liked I wasn’t around too much on my blog, now you know why. I’m hoping that August will be a little less eventful and hopefully will not go as fast!!
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Want to know what Austenesque fun I’m getting into this month?
…here is what’s on this month’s
Austenesque Agenda
~ TO READ AND REVIEW ~
You might remember, Georgette Heyer’s birthday is August 16th (just like mine!), and for the past 4 years I have been making it a tradition to read one of her lovely stories around our birthdays! 😉
~ YOU CHOOSE! ~
I’m calling these books my TBR lifers…books that have been so neglected because they have been on my TBR pile the longest (we are talking more than 5 years! *gasp*) I just read and reviewed one TBR lifer earlier this week – The Dashwood Sisters’s Secrets of Love and now before I continue to read more of the newly added books to my TBR pile, I thought I should read another TBR lifer! (NOTE: The third book, How Do I Love Thee? isn’t Austenesque, it is actually about Elizabeth Barrett Browning, but I read a similar stories by the same author about Jane Austen, Martha Washington, and Maria Anna Mozart and liked the author’s historical/biographical fiction style.) Help me choose which one I should finally remove from my TBR pile! To vote comment below.
~ FEATURED AUTHORS VISITING THIS MONTH ~
Alexa Adams – August 7th
Joy Dawn King – August 14th
Nancy Lawrence – August 23rd
Karen Cox – August 28th
August is one of my favorite months and I’ve got so much to look forward to! YAY!
What are you looking forward to this month?
Can’t wait for the interviews for I enjoy all these authors’ work! Proud that Mr. Bingley is back to his sweet self and an early ‘happy birthday” to another August baby (mine’s the 2nd!). I posted before but got an error so I hope this doesn’t post twice. 🙂
Happy Birthday, Brenda. Hope you’re doing the any something, perhaps this weekend that would most make you feel celebrated.
Thanks, Brenda! Me too! Very exited about their visits! 🙂 Happy belated birthday to you, Brenda! I hope your day was very special! Hugs!
I have the two Melanie Rachel books on my wishlist so will be looking forward to your reviews. I think you will love Friday’s Child. Sherry isn’t your traditional leading man & you have to feel for poor Hero at times. Luckily she has 3 protectors in the shape of Sherry’s friends. I have read this again and again sine I first read it in the 70s. It has it’s place on my bookshelves with all her other books.
Of the three on your TBR list I would go with the Melissa Nathan one (I did try looking on Amazon but it’s not on there!)
I’m looking forward to your featured authors as well. Another great post Meredith.
I also loved your monthly list. I had read two only but had several more on my wish list and after checking them out I have added a few more. Now I just need more hours in the day and a large lottery win
Awesome, Glynis! I’ll be posting them next week! 😉 I’m very excited about Friday’s Child, I’ve heard a lot of people like it – love the sound of an untraditional hero! 😉
Thanks so much for checking out my agenda and sharing, Glynis! I love hearing about what everyone has read or wants to read. I did find Melissa Nathan on our amazon, but just paperback – https://www.amazon.com/Pride-Prejudice-Jasmin-Field-Novel/dp/0060184957/ref=pd_sbs_14_3?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0060184957&pd_rd_r=9KJ36F7CVMB2Z81YQ4B7&pd_rd_w=sonzH&pd_rd_wg=53KLJ&psc=1&refRID=9KJ36F7CVMB2Z81YQ4B7
Thanks for voting! Morals – 0 / Jasmin – 1 / Love – 0
Happy birthday, belated to Brenda, but early for Meredith and Georgette. My grandson, Jackson has his on the 16th, like you, Meredith. My husband’s is the 17th. And my son-in-law, Anthony has his on the 28th. Plus my BFFF’s is on the 14th. (Best Friend Freaking Forever)Glad Mr. Bingley’s surgery went well. (I have heart surgery on the 8th.) So I am also just looking to get it over with.
Sheila, blessings on your surgery. Will miss your comments here and elsewhere until you’re recovered.
Thank you, Sheila! Your family is all over August, busy month for you, and good memory keeping all the dates straight! I will be keeping you in my thoughts this week, hope all goes well and that you will feel better soon! xx
I pick the third book for you Meredith. Happy Belated Birthday Brenda… Happy Birthday Meredith and I am so glad Mr. Bingley is well. Have a blessed rest of the month. School starts next week for our kiddos. Yeah, I know it is early but we have to consider snow days. Last year, we didn’t get snow like we normally do. So, our kids were out in May. Some school systems had 20 snow days the previous year. It was awful. Our state simply can’t handle snow like that due to the hills and hollers of KY. I am reading my ‘someone-else-pick-it for me choice for the August goal.
That’s smart that your schools prepare for lots of snow days, wow! 20 snow days in one year! I can’t imagine! Hope you have a wonderful and blessed month, my friend!!
Thanks for voting! Morals – 0 / Jasmin – 1 / Love – 1
You’re not kidding. July went by faster than a fireworks show! “Friday’s Child” was the first Georgette Heyer novel I had ever read. After discovering she had 70+ more, I felt like I had discovered buried treasure! And speaking of treasure: I cannot wait for you to read Karen M Cox’s full length novel coming in September (I think) — and for you to read her novella,”The Journey Home”, the companion piece to her bestseller “1932”. Can’t wait!!!!!
LOL! It did! 🙂 Oh awesome, I love how you remember which one is your first. 🙂 It is amazing how many books I still have yet to read by her! Very, very excited about both of Karen’s books and her upcoming visit to AR!!! 🙂
Hi Meredith,
First of all, I’m very glad to know Mr Bingley has recovered so well from the surgery! .It’s good this thing has happened nearly vacation so you have free time to recover yourselves.
I hope you enjoy Augoust!
And for the book to choose I vote for the book about Elisabeth Barret Brown in.
A big hug:)
Thanks, Teresa! The timing for the surgery did work well for us and we are very glad he had it!
Hope you have a wonderful August full of great reads! Hugs to you! 🙂
Thanks for voting! Morals – 0 / Jasmin – 1 / Love – 2
So glad that Mr Bingley is on the mend! Gallstones are sooo painful.
For the “you choose” options, I quite liked Pride, Prejudice, and Jasmin Field so I would recommend that to you.
They sure were, doctor said he had many of them and that is gallbladder was very swollen. 🙁
Glad to hear you liked the Melissa Nathan book! 😉
Thanks for voting! Morals – 0 / Jasmin – 2 / Love – 2
My, Mr B has had an eventful year. Back surgery and now gallbladder surgery. And what a beautiful spirit he must have to be smiling through it all. And considering you had such an eventful month I think you got an enormous amount accomplished with your blog.
Woooo….I’m so excited over the guest you are having this month! Joy King, yaaayyy! I’m looking forward to the books you’ll be reviewing, too. I’m going to reread Friday’s Child hopefully before your review. Like Glynis said, the hero of the book is different than you expect, and I actually thought the friends should be credited as heroes too. But there can only be an H&h in the end. 🙂
I’m really interested in the Nancy Moser book but I’ll enjoy any of the reviews. But I’m glad you put her name out there because I’ll be looking her up ASAP.
Gosh the whole summer has flown by in a blink. And in another blink we’ll be saying that about Christmas and the new year.
He has, Michelle! Actually the back surgery was in 2016 (you are so sweet to remember!), but it doesn’t feel like that long ago! We keep saying (as a joke) that 2018 will hopefully be surgery free for him!! 😉 He has been so good and strong through this all, I am incredibly proud of him.
Joy has such a terrific post to share with everyone, I know you will love it, Michelle! 😉 That’s great that you will reread Friday’s Child!!! I can’t wait to chat with you about it!
I have enjoyed all I read by Nancy Moser, I love mixing history and fiction! You are so right about that! I can’t believe how fast 2017 is going!
Thank you for your thoughts.
Hugs!
Glad Mr. Bingley made it through his surgery and is better now and neat that you had a good time with a family visit.
Nice list of books and visitors. Love your GH tradition and hope you enjoy it.
Hi Sophia! Great to see you! Hope you had a wonderful time with your travels!! 🙂
Hi there Meredith! I am so glad to hear that your sweet Mr B came through his surgery so well.
You have a fantastic line up this month, and I hope you enjoy them. Friday’s Child is one of my very favourite Heyers. The heroine, called Hero, is such a sweetheart.
I love your idea of dusting off some of the books that have been in your TBR pile for years. I am not sure which to vote for though, because they all have such good reviews. I think I’ll plump for the one about Austen’s writing. Whichever you read I hope you enjoy it 🙂
Hi Ceri!! Thanks so much, we are relieved his recovery was fast and the outcome of the surgery was all good!
Yay! I’m glad to hear I’m reading one of your favorites!!
I do feel bad for these neglected books! Bunches of newer books keep getting selected over them, but I still want to read them. Hope you have a great month with your kiddos, Ceri!
Thanks for voting! Morals – 1 / Jasmin – 2 / Love – 2
July went by much too fast…
denise
I agree! I hope August doesn’t do the same!
So glad Mr B is feeling better – gallstones are so awful. The summer is flying by, isn’t it?
Looking forward to your reviews and guest authors. JDK always makes me smile, and to see that Karen M Cox has not one but two new stories this summer made me very happy indeed!
I vote for P&P&JF because it’s been on my shelf for quite a while too and is kinda hard to find.
Thanks so much, Monica! They sure are. I’m glad he is feeling better now!
Yes!! 2 stories!?! She is keeping busy!
Thanks for voting! Morals – 1 / Jasmin – 3 / Love – 2
Thank you, Meredith.
I didn’t throw in but my husband and I are married 49 years on the 31st.
Aww! That is so incredible! 🙂 Congrats to you and your hubby!
Wait…..there was a July this year? Last time I looked, it was still June!! So glad to hear that Mr. B. has got through this second op well. Fingers crossed he can get through 2018 without needing any more. Or your good self for that matter!
August is a busy month for us, too. Hubby’s birthday today, our 40th anniversary in two weeks time, my niece’s birthday the same day, my brother-in-law on the 24th, his and my sister’s anniversary on the 27th and my niece’s hubby’s birthday on that day, too! Then I’m off to Hampshire for a few days on the 29th. It’ll be September before we know it!
Looking forward to your upcoming visitors and for the vote, I’ll pick Nancy Moser’s book.
LOL! Yes! I know! Thank you, Anji! We are so happy with how great and easy these two operations were – the advancements in medicine are truly wonderful! But we are definitely hoping that neither of us needs to have surgery again any time soon!!!
August definitely is a month for celebrating and important events! How exciting!! Congrats on your upcoming anniversary!!! That is so wonderful to hear! Can’t wait to hear more about your trip!! Hope you have a great month, Anji!!
Thanks for voting! Morals – 1 / Jasmin – 3 / Love – 3 A tie!!
Love Friday’s Child! One of Heyer’s best. Hero and Sherry are a mess but so endearing. I’m glad Mr. B is ok. No fun at all, but at least it’s behind you both. Really looking forward to my visit! See you soon!
Yay! I’m so excited to meet Hero and Sherry! Sounds like they have a lot of fans! Looking forward to sharing your post in a few minutes, Alexa! Cannot wait to read your story!!!
So glad all went well with your dear hubby’s op, and that he’s now feeling much better, that’s wonderful news!!! But I do wish you had a less eventful July. Hope August makes up for it and that it’s a wonderful month for both of you.
Love your list of upcoming posts & looking forward to them, and LOL about your ‘lifers’! My vote goes to ‘How Do I Love Thee’, sounds like it’s got a lot going for it and I love the cover!
Take care, have a great August and Happy Reading!
Thanks so much, Joana! I greatly appreciate all your kind words! Yes, so far August is definitely less eventful but it is still going fast!! Thanks so much, the cover for that one is lovely, isn’t? I love that it matches the other books in that series as well!