Hey, it's June!

I found this Buckeye butterfly on the sidewalk, and it seemed to be in distress. I coaxed it onto a twig, from which it walked on to my finger, and I moved it to a less dangerous location. I hope the little guy recovered.

Reviews!

My new release, Holiday at Pemberley, has received some truly lovely reviews from readers. I thought I would share a few of them:

“Totally enjoyed this variation and feel good story. Highly recommend.” - Bookbub review

“I loved it. I laughed, I cried a lot. But happy tears. It is meant to be read over and over.”- Goodreads review

“A holiday at Pemberley is, in my opinion, a rather angsty story. I, for my part, was not able to put it down and I was, most of the time, on the edge of my seat.”- Goodreads review

“This story takes hold of your heart and never lets go. Once you start reading it you can’t put it down and leaves you wanting more.” - Amazon review

Also, Award-winning multi-genre author Eve Koguce has reviewed Holiday at Pemberley on her blog. If you’d like to read her thoughts on the story, you may find it here: Eve Koguce's Blog

While you are there, check out Eve’s books, the Neglected Merge romantasy trilogy; The Accidental Cop, a crime noir based on true events; Finding Your Way, a YA coming of age tale; and Broken Chances, a mix of romance and cozy mystery.

Holiday at Pemberley is available with Kindle Unlimited prescription and in paperback at this link: Holiday at Pemberley

Splashes of Color

Here are an assortment of recent blooms (dahlia, mums, iris) I captured from my yard.

CharMarron Peonie Nursery

On the topic of flowers, I recently discovered CharMarron Peony Nursery, tucked away in the hills of San Jose. They have over 240 varieties of peonies under cultivation. It’s a bit of a drive to get there (a very scenic one), so it’s a good idea to check their website before you go to ensure they will be open or make an appointment. We went on one of their open days before they closed for the season (usually around Memorial Day). But they sell potted plants all year round by appointment and do bare root shipping from Mid-August through December. I purchased 2 of the potted plants, “Bowl of Cream” and “Nellie Saylor” but will have to wait until next spring to see them in bloom. Peony flowers are seen for a relatively short time, making them all the more precious!

Spy Cat

Do you ever get the feeling you are being watched? That’s a frequent occurrence at my house! This is Theo’s favorite spot from which to observe what is happening in the kitchen.

Book Review

With all the fuss over the latest remake of Wuthering Heights, I decided it was high time I read Emily Brontë’s novel. My first impression: I found the choice of using the housekeeper as a narrator to be disappointing; it put a layer between the reader and the main characters, so we do not get to know Cathy or Heathcliff as well as we otherwise might have done. I also found it odd that we never learn what happened to Heathcliff while he is away or how he acquired his wealth.

Much of the book is disturbing and depicts unrelenting cruelty. Throughout the middle of the book, I wanted to stop reading many times. In fact, if I had not been reading a classic, I probably would have given up. I am not adverse to dark stories, but the negativity felt too pervasive and unbalanced by any hope or a silver lining for such an extended period of time. However, I appreciated Emily’s creative use of prose and managed to plow through. Eventually, there came a bit of welcome lightness, and I was glad to have stuck with the story. Still, this book is not for everyone.

The known true details of the Brontë sisters’ lives are rather gloomy and marked by many losses. Charlotte Brontë outlived her author sisters Emily, who died at 30, and Anne, who died at 29, as well as three other siblings. Charlotte famously dismissed Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice as being: “An accurate daguerreotyped portrait of a commonplace face; a carefully fenced, highly cultivated garden, with neat borders and delicate flowers; but no glance of a bright, vivid physiognomy, no open country, no fresh air, no blue hill, no bonny beck.” In comparison, to her Jane Eyre or Emily’s Wuthering Heights, P&P is sparse in outright cruelty, to be sure, with a much lighter tone. But readers enjoy a myriad of genres, and a novel need not portray tragedy or the worst of humanity to be significant and memorable.

That’s all for now!

Thank you for reading! I welcome any comments you may have. If you would like to subscribe to my monthly musings, you may do so here: