Lydia Bennet Explains It All

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Source: Review Copy from Blog Tour

TYPE OF NOVEL: Pride and Prejudice Secondary Character Story, Paranormal

THE PREMISE: Lydia Bennet is a witch and most people in her life don’t know it – unless they too are a witch. With some time on her hands in New Castle, Lydia is chronicling the pivotal events of her life in a manuscript, including the most significant of all – her scandalous escapades in Brighton. But according to Lydia, “everything the world thinks it knows about my part in the affair is wrong…”

WHAT I LOVE:

• Hexes, Spells, and Witchyness: It’s the season of the witch, and I cannot imagine a more perfect way to celebrate it! Lydia as a witch is perfection. And in general, I love seeing an Austenesque story filled with witchcraft! Vampires, mages, and fae folk have dominated the paranormal Austenesque genre for years, so to see a story about witches felt unique. The witchy world Melinda Taub creates is fascinating. I loved learning about witch lore, their abilities, their coven practices, and their rules like each spell having a price.

• Turning Back Time: After several chapters of childhood exposition, this story mostly imparts events from two time period – the past (Lydia’s raucous romp in Brighton) and present day (which is around eight months after the events of Brighton). I am always a fan of dual storyline/dual timeline devices. And I appreciate how the dual timeline was employed here and how Lydia would hop back and forth between present day and past events. (A note to Lydia’s editor: because Lydia’s attention span is a bit flighty, having a time stamp or heading for the two timelines would be helpful). Nonetheless, I absolutely adored her recounting of the events of Brighton. I don’t think I will ever think of that place and what the world believes happened there the same way ago!

• Witch, Storyteller, Sister, Friend: Lydia Bennet is so much more than she seems. She is still the irreverent, indiscreet, and impetuous Lydia that Jane Austen created, but this Lydia has some surprising first rate qualities I was so happy to discover. Such as her loving heart – she desperately longs for a connection and is ready to give her heart fully to those she thinks of as friends. Her honesty – (at least in this manuscript) she does not put on false pretenses and has a perceptive view of herself and others around her. Her high morals and sene of justice – I loved seeing what Lydia valued and what behaviors or actions she did not condone.

• Clever Canon Connections: With no small amount of cunning and craftiness, Melinda Taub found some fun and clever ways to tie her characters and version of events with Jane Austen’s original novel. I would love to gush about all these brilliant connections, but that would inevitably include spoilers. But I can say I enjoyed the spotlight on some established tertiary characters in this story – they maybe weren’t key players in P&P, but they have significant roles in the witch world. And I loved the new answers Ms. Taub provided to some questions such as: Where did Mary King’s sudden dowery come from? or Why did Mr. Collins propose to Charlotte?

• The Charming Mr. Wickham: It will never cease to surprise me when I find Wickham to be likable in an Austenesque work! But after this novel, I’m having a hard time remembering why I despise him so much! This Wickham was a bit of a puzzle, he is schemer and seducer, but there are some surprises about him and some sincere moments that successfully softened my heart.

WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER:

• Pacing and Balance: Some of the narratives are long and use a lot of space to say a little and some of the action sequences are swift with little in the way of details. It felt a little off-balance and unsteady in that regard. If some of the longer narrations were tightened up and some of the high-intense action given more descriptive details, I think this story would really sing.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

📜 La! Lydia is a most engaging and likable authoress. She needs to pen more manuscripts!

😭 Ooohh! I want to go to Brighton! I would love to spend more time with Lydia and her friends!

🧙🏼‍♀️ A spellbinding tale full of magic, danger, sacrifices, and connections.

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Guess what! My blog bestie, Rita of From Pemberley to Milton is posting her review of this book today too!

Why not hop over to her blog to see what she thought of The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch?

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My sincere gratitude to Laurel Ann of AustenProse PR for inviting me to take part in this tour!