Shelf Candy Saturday #77: Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen (1894 Peacock Edition)

Welcome to Shelf Candy Saturday!!

This weekly feature

showcases beautiful book covers,

and provides information,

if available, on their very talented creators!

For more information

about Shelf Candy Saturday,

just click HERE.

This is my choice for this week!

Pride and Prejudice

Jane Austen

Hardcover, 476 pages (?)

George Allen, Peacock Edition

First Edition, 1894

Classics, Romance

(Photo courtesy Ebay seller carolan5548.)

Why do I love this cover?

I found this rare treasure on Ebay, but unfortunately, I am unable to buy it, since the price is $995.00!!   The seller is Monte Cristo Rare Books, and this particular book is listed HERE.  There's another listing for the same book, which can be found HERE.  Alas, this one is no more affordable than the first....it's an auction listing, and the starting bid was at $327.00!!  It has since gone up to $328.48....  (When visiting the links at the word "HERE", please bear in mind that they're temporary -- when the listing period ends, or someone buys the item, the listing is taken down.  The Monte Cristo link does remain, since it's for the store itself.)

That cover is something unique, totally precious!  It appears to be hand-tooled leather, although neither of the two listings above mentions that.  The design, by Hugh Thomson (see links below), shows the obvious influence of the Art Nouveau style, which happens to be one of my favorite ones!  The design is just luscious.    I love the swirling peacock feathers, the bird itself, perched on a vase in the lower left-hand side, the beautiful, graceful lettering....  If only I had the money....

Here's a full view of the cover:

Shelf Candy Saturdsy #40: Lords of the Night, by Janice Bennett, Sara Blayne, and Monique Ellis

Welcome to

Shelf Candy Saturday!!

This weekly meme/blog hop, hosted here,

features beautiful book covers!

It was originally hosted by

Stephanie @

Five Alarm Book Reviews,

a blog I really miss...

If you'd like to participate, just grab my button (or create your own), write your own post, and link up in the Linky widget at the bottom of this post. Just be sure to click on "Read more" so that the entire post will open up.

As a bonus, you can include information on the artist, designer, and/or photographer in your post, but it's not required. You can simply feature a cover and explain why you love it!

Here's my choice for this week!

Lords of the Night

Janice Bennett, Sara Blayne,

Monique Ellis

Trade Paperback, 276 pages

Kensington

September 1, 2001

Genres: Paranormal Romance,

Urban Fantasy

Why do I love this cover?

I think it's more than obvious, right?  The model on the cover is, quite simply, a gorgeous man!   Furthermore, not only are his features very pleasing to the female eye, but his facial expression is, as well.  That penetrating gaze, which promises danger as well as excitement... 

Book Review: A Christmas Kiss

A Christmas Kiss
Author:  Elizabeth Mansfield
Mass Market Paperback, 263 pages
Published December, 1990 by Jove Books (first published April, 1978, by Dell)
Reading genre: Christmas Regency romance




This is a wonderful, very sweet, feel-good comedy of errors, reminiscent of Shakespeare's own comedies, that had me glued to the page, so I breezed right through it, even chuckling aloud in some places as I read.

The characters are certainly unforgettable, so real that, once the book is closed for the last time, the reader feels bereft, wishing that the story could go on and on...  At least, this reader did.  I shall have to re-read it at some time in the near future.  And here I thought I wouldn't find anyone to compare with Mary Balogh!  

The plot immediately starts off on a humorous note.  Two young aristocrats, Reginald Windle, who has the title of Viscount Farnham, and his friend, James Everard, the future Earl of Gyllford, are quietly having a drink in the library at Carbery Hall, where they are guests, when they hear a body rolling down a nearby staircase.  It's Geoffrey Carbery, who has just been hit on the head with an Atlas!  The two friends arrive on the scene just in time to see the governess, one Miss Evalyn Pennington, still holding the book in one hand, come calmly down the stairs to make sure that Geoff, who had been accosting her, is all right.

When Geoff's tyrannical mother discovers what has happened, she promptly dismisses Evalyn, even refusing to give her a letter of recommendation.  James and Reginald -- who has a lisp and is affectionately known as "Reggie" -- come to the rescue.  They manage to get Evalyn invited to the Christmas festivities at Gyllford Manor.  Their plan is to allow Clarissa, Jamie's aunt, to get to know Evalyn, and thus recommend her for another position.

The comedy of errors begins when Philip, Jamie's father, misunderstands his son's explanation for the invitation, believing instead that Jamie, as he calls him, intends to marry the hapless young girl.  Thus, he feels honor-bound to deny his growing feelings for Evalyn.

Philip himself reflects the author's modern concerns with class discrimination.  He writes political books under a pseudonym, and has such radical -- for the time -- notions as the enfranchisement of all social classes.  He refuses to consider Evalyn beneath him just because she's a governess.  He sees her true worth, her inner spirit, irrevocably falling in love with her without any thought for the class difference between them.

Humorously complicating the plot are the love stories of four minor characters -- Reggie, Marianne, Joseph, and Annette, who happens to be Sally's personal maid.  These stories, too, are resolved by the end of the book, and, as I pointed out above, are related to that of the main characters.

In short, this book, while seemingly "just" a romance, is also a comedy and a critical review of the social customs of the time.  The author's skillful storytelling makes all these elements fit together seamlessly, while the tale unfolds without a hitch, amidst the vividly depicted merriment of the season.

This is my first Mansfield romance, which I recently acquired on eBay as part of a used Regency book lot.  It most definitely won't be my last.  This novel not only provided a good dose of the holiday spirit, but was a delightfully entertaining read, as well!

Current & Future Reading List

After a ten-year hiatus, Smith decided to continue the story of Stefan, Elena, Damon, and their friends in Fell's Church, in Nightfall (The Vampire Diaries: The Return, #1).  I like it so far, despite some negative reviews of it I've read.  It seems that this time, the evil Power at work in this town so frequently buffeted by the supernatural is...a group of Japanese demons!  My, oh, my....I don't much care for demons, but we'll see how it goes...

I happened to see this in a CVS pharmacy here in Miami, and the cover immediately drew me in!  It's from a new line of romance novels, based on true romance stories, and appropriately known as "True Vows".  (Yes, I enjoy reading regular romance novels, too!)  This one, by Alison Kent, is a very sweet tale (pun intended).  The female protagonist wants to open her own business -- a gourmet bakery.  It looks like her boyfriend wants to have a hand in the production of the goodies, as well as in the general direction of her life! 

Now this one is a very useful reference book for novice bloggers, which I am!  I'm still getting the hang of this whole thing, but this book, written by blogging expert Susan Gunelius,  has really helped me in several areas.  It contains excellent chapters on search engine optimization, as well as on how to grow your blog, and monetization of same.

Since the Christmas season is already here, I will be starting my Christmas romance reading cycle.  I've been meaning to read this one in particular, by Kerrelyn Sparks, since last year, but never have gotten around to it.  I have skimmed it, though, and found it pretty funny, somewhat in the vein of Lynsay Sands.  (And that's another intended pun. Lol.)

 This is a Regency romance.  I enjoy these, too, and I LOVE Mary Balogh's novels!  I wouldn't miss them for the world!  This is a reissue of a book originally published in 1992.  Hmmm...wonder how I could have missed it, what with all the used book buying I do...  Anyway, I figure it will definitely get me in the spirit of the season!

This is unusual....Christmas and vampires!  I think it makes for an interesting combination, though -- all that vamp angst and the cheerful holiday spirit....  I read the first story in this book, by Maureen Child, sometime last year, but don't remember it much, except that the ending was very, very sweet!  So I'll have to re-read it, and go on to the second one, by Caridad Pineiro, which I barely skimmed at the time.

This is the second volume of Christmas vampire stories. The authors in this one are Merline Lovelace and Lori Devoti.  I have just ordered it from Amazon.

I LOVE the combination of the Christmas season and vampires!  I guess the publisher, Harlequin, knows that a lot of women feel the same way, since this is their third collection of such tales, in their Nocturne line.  The authors here are Linda Winstead Jones, Lisa Childs, and Bonnie Vanak.  Another Amazon order!

This one looks to be very, very special, and the author, Andrew Greeley, is a well-known Catholic priest who has written many bestsellers.  This one concerns an Irish-American college guy who falls in love with a young Russian woman studying at Harvard.  Of course I've been looking forward to reading it, too!

Of course, I want to read this, too!  I've heard so much about it, I just have to put it on my reading list! 

Okay, so I'm wondering if I'll have the time to actually read all these books.  (I happen to have two jobs...)  It's like when one sits down at a delicious meal -- one eats with one's eyes!  All I can say is that I sure want to read all of these books, and I sure am going to do my very best to do so!