Happy July, readers! Boy, did June go so fast! Did you enjoy your first month of summer?
We had an amazing trip that took place in June… ✈️
A trip that took us to see Paul McCartney in concert!!! AHHHHH! 🤗
We missed the boat on tickets when he was touring in our area, and when more became available we decided we had to go (I’m a big Beatles fan and Mr. Bingley has become one too since he married me!) no matter where. 👐🏼
When tickets popped up for San Diego, California (amongst other places) we decided we should make a longer trip out of it and have a mini-vaycay! 🧳
The concert itself was incredible…jaw-dropping incredible. 😮
The man is 77 and he played for three hours straight with no breaks. 🎵
He played so many songs we loved, told stories, and was just completely adorable and wonderful the whole time! 🎸
When we weren’t listening to Paul McCartney at Petco Park, we enjoyed biking around and exploring San Diego some more. 😁
We took a hike around Cabrillo National Monument and enjoyed a speedboat ride in the San Diego Bay. 🚤
I also insisted that we return to the San Diego Safari Park (we went here 2 years), and we got to spend a wonderful day meeting and encountering animals up close! 🐘
It was truly a fantastic trip and every way, and I’m so thankful I got to share these memorable experiences with my sweet Mr. Bingley (who looks adorable in his new pull-over, doesn’t he?) 😍
What kept you busy in June?
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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 REVIEW ~
~ TO READ AND REVIEW ~
~ TO REREAD ~
So excited to reread this gem!
~ FEATURED AUTHORS/GUESTS VISITING THIS MONTH ~
Beau North – July 10th
Victoria Kincaid – July 15th
Karen Cox – July 22nd
Victoria Riley – July 26th
I am so very excited for this lovely month! I’ve got a lot to look forward to!
What are you looking forward to this month?
You are both adorable! 🙂 What fun! Thanks for sharing, and taking me back to my college town of San Diego. I’m looking forward to reading, reading, and reading. 😀 I have the Dear Jane series, as well as Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors, Longbourn’s Songbird, Ayesha at Last, and more on the top of my to-read list. Happy July!
I’m so glad you enjoyed our pictures! What a fantastic reading line up!! Have a wonderful month, my friend!
Hi Reina!
Which college did you attend in San Diego? I did my undergrad at Point Loma Nazarene University and grad school at University of San Diego, and I taught at both of them as well. My brother and parents attended SDSU, and some of my former high school students went there and to UCSD as well. I am well acquainted with the San Diego college scene. My kids are 6th-generation San Diegans. I was sad to miss seeing Meredith!!
Warmly,
Susanne 🙂
Gorgeous photos as usual. You two always seem to have such a great time wherever you go and I enjoy sharing through your lovely pictures.
What a busy month you have. I’ve read Undeceived, London Holiday, Darcy and Deception & Longbourn’s Songbird and have also read an ARC of The Colonel. I absolutely loved them all! I wasn’t sure I would love The Colonel as it doesn’t concentrate on Darcy and Elizabeth but I did. I couldn’t put it down. I really felt for Richard Fitzwilliam throughout and if it had been anyone else but Darcy’s Elizabeth, I would have wanted him to get the girl. (Obviously you have to read Longbourn’s Songbird so you know Darcy gets Elizabeth- well that has to be a given right?)
I have More to Love on my list so look forward to your review on that and the rest.
Thank you, Glynis! We really had such a blast together on this trip – definitely a great experience for us!
I’m so happy to hear you have loved so many of the books I am out to read this month! I cannot wait to get into them! And I’m thrilled (although not surprised) that The Colonel earns your praise!
Hope you enjoy a wonderful month of reading, my friend!
Great photos. Reread Longbourn’s Songbird before reading The Colonel myself. Have read More to Love and going to start Lessers and Betters. Also read London Holiday. Thanks for sharing.
I’m about 100 pages in at the moment – such an amazing story! Love it dearly!
Awesome! I look forward to comparing thoughts with you about Lessers and Betters!
Oh, London Holiday is one of my newest faves. I’ve made my life simpler by now reading any JAFF Nicole Clarkston puts out. I’ve read a few of the other novels listed here, too, and they’re good choices. Have a great time reading, Meredith.
Awesome! It looks like such a fun read – I cannot wait!
LOL! That is smart. 🙂 Hope you enjoy a wonderful month reading, too!
Wow! I’m so envious that you got to see Paul McCartney in concert! Way back in my youth, you were always a Beatles or a Stones person. I was a Beatles, and especially a Paul, girl. (I did grow to appreciate the Rolling Stones later, though I never had a crush in any of them!). Your trip sounds and looks amazing and your photos are, as always, totally gorgeous. Thanks for sharing them with us.
For once, when it comes to your agenda, I’ve actually read most of them! In fact, it’s only the first three that I haven’t. I listened to Lessers and Betters on audio earlier this year and thoroughly enjoyed the story told from the two different viewpoints of servants and gentry. I’m also really looking forward to Rational Creatures on audio. Like Suzan, I’d read anything Nicole writes, sight and blurb unseen, as I know it’ll be fantastic. In fact, my current audio is These Dreams – the only one of her works I hadn’t read/listened to. Oh my goodness, it’s good! The same goes for both of Beau North’s books. I think The Colonel is the best thing she’s written so far. Heart wrenching at times but a wonderful read. I’ll also read anything Victoria writes, Regency or modern.
Have a great month. Looking forward to reading your opinions on the featured books.
Yay for being a Beatles fan! I’m so happy you enjoyed our pictures…I shared quite a lot this time, but that was because I took so many and couldn’t decide which to leave out! 😉
That’s awesome that you have read most of the books I plan to read this month. I look forward to comparing thoughts with you – and I hope you find the reviews helpful for the others. 🙂
It is wonderful that our beloved authors are writing so much and releasing new stories in a variety of formats!
Hope you enjoy a lovely month, my friend!
Thanks for sharing your vacation pictures. I loved San Diego when I visited many years ago. Wow, you got to see a Paul McCartney! That’s exciting. My TRP is going to kill me! Always another to add!
I’m thankful everyone doesn’t mind me sharing them!
Paul was a true legend – definitely an amazing experience! Hope you have a wonderful month!
I am so excited that you are cracking open the paired novellas that make up “Lessers and Betters.” And, to be aside my favorite friend Nicole’s “London Holiday” book…well…
Looking forward to it! 🙂
What an awesome month! I’m so envious of your Paul McCartney experience!! And it looks like you have some lovely reading ahead of you. I like the way you plan it out. Maybe I should do that…
Yes, it was so fantastic!! Definitely a memorable and special trip!
This month definitely has some terrific reads! I like to plan it out so I can stay organized. 😉 I’m very much a plan-oriented type of person (I do that for our travels too!)
Wonderful pictures. Glad ye enjoyed the concert. I’m not a fan myself but did like the Beatles together. George Harrison was my favorite. Looking forward to lots of reading this month.
Thank you!! I loved listening to the Beatles since I was young and my love for them grew when I shared their music with Mr. Bingley! I do love George Harrison and his songs – Paul McCartney played “Something” on the ukulele and it was magical!
Yay! Hope you have a great month!
What fun to get the concert of a lifetime and a great vacation to boot. I want to go to Sea World and the San Diego zoo someday.
Nice line up of reads for the month. I’ve caught a couple of them and you’ve got a treat in store. Need to read that Sonali Dev one myself.
Have a great July, Meredith!
Hi Sophia! The San Diego Zoo is amazing; we used to live only three miles away, and we took the kids there nearly every week when they were little. We used to take our homeschool books and hold school near the old elephant enclosure! 🙂
Sea World is nice, and we went often on their homeschool days, but it’s not worth the regular price, but this is a native talking, and most of us think that Disneyland is much more worthy of spending the same amount despite the two-hour drive. 😉
Warmly,
Susanne 🙂
McCartney and San Diego — such fun! My eight-year-old daughter has recently become a Beatles fan. It’s so much fun to hear her singing around the house. 🙂
Great list of books and authors for this month. Happy Fourth of July to you!
Oh, I am so in love with Paul McCartney… don’t tell my hubby. I LOVE your photos. Thanks for sharing them with us. We were in San Diego many years ago and while my hubby was in meetings, myself and the other spouses went on tours. Lovely area. Horton Plaza was my new Nirvana. I have a HUGE list of books to choose from and may close my eyes and point at something. I see several you have listed that are in that pile of mine. What fun. Blessings to you both, say hello to your Mr. Bingley for me. Have fun kids. When you get to my age you will be glad you did. No kidding. Travel is for the young.
I’m eager to hear about the audio of Rational Creatures, could be a game changer. Hmmm, I wonder if listening to fanfic at work is in the Employee Handbook…?
Oh I had the wee crush on The Beatles when I was young. I was 11 yrs. old when they were on The Ed Sullivan Show. I recently saw Paul in an interview and I got a little choked up. He IS like the Ennergizer Bunny is he not? Wow, what a trip you two cuties. Your smiles are so infectious.
I’ve read Nicole’s book and listened to it. And I have three others from your list in my TBR. I am looking forward to all your guests. And I’m so excited that Rational Creatures is coming to audio.
Happy 4th of July to your followers from the States. Happy late Canada Day and happy summer to our Brit and European friends. Anyone from Down Under? I’ve forgotten.
Hi Meredith!!
I am so sorry that I had to cancel our Monday morning meet-up; I didn’t get home until Monday afternoon, and that almost didn’t happen at all, either!! I’ve never had a flight canceled before, and it creates utter mayhem!! We had five of us from my work conference on the flight to Dallas(which was closed due to thunderstorms and massive hail), and our wonderful employer had to put us up in a hotel for the night. Yikes!! I was in Cincinnati for the Brave Writer Staff Retreat/Conference, and it was lovely to meet all of the various staff members face-to-face when we all work remotely, many of us teaching online classes. When I started at Brave Writer in 2002, I was the third empIoyee Julie ever hired, and now she has over 50!! I travel so little because of my disabilities and had to use airport wheelchairs, but traveling this way came in quite handy when I had only 30 minutes to cross all of the O’Hare airport and was ferried across the airport in an electric cart!! That place is HUGE!!
I can tell that you and your Mr. Bingley had a lovely time!! I read a lot of great reviews about the Paul McCartney concert; several of my friends went and loved it. While I love the SD Zoo with all of our memories from when we lived a few miles away and took the kids there almost weekly, the Safari Park is incredible. I loved all of your photos and was sad that we couldn’t meet. If you come this way again, please do contact me, and I’ll drive down into the city to meet you!
Love your reading plans and interviews for July; I am reading Longbourn’s Songbird right now and have been wanting to read London Holiday and Darcy in Hollywood!! Well, I want to read ALL of them, but these I have especially intrigued by!
Happy reading, Meredith!!
Warmly,
Susanne 😀
Seeing Sir Paul has been on my bucket list for a long time. Jealous.
You and Pedro have more fun than anyone I know. If I didn’t enjoy following you so much, I’d be jealous. lol
That looks like such a blast. I would love to see him in concert. I can’t believe he plays three hours!