Hello from California! Today I'm happy to have Linda Beutler's brand new book on Songs & Stories. It has made for a great vacation read on my road-trip down the west coast. Thanks to Jakki Leatherberry for hosting the tour!
A Will of Iron
by Linda Beutler
Ages: 17 and up
Genre: Romance / Historical / Austenesque / Pride & Prejudice Re-telling / Mystery
I received an e-copy of this book as part of a blog tour in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Description:
The
untimely death of Anne de Bourgh, only days after his disastrous proposal at
the Hunsford parsonage, draws Fitzwilliam Darcy and his cousin Colonel
Alexander Fitzwilliam back to Rosings Park before Elizabeth Bennet has left the
neighborhood. In death, Anne is revealed as having lived a rich life of
the mind, plotting rather constantly to escape her loathsome mother, Lady
Catherine de Bourgh. Anne’s journal, spirited into the hands of Charlotte
Collins and Elizabeth, holds Anne’s candid observations on life and her family.
It also explains her final quirky means of outwitting her mother. Anne’s Last
Will and Testament, with its peculiar bequests, upheaves every relationship
amongst the Bennets, Darcys, Fitzwilliams, Collinses, and even the Bingleys!
Was Anne de Bourgh a shrewder judge of character than
Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy combined?
My
Thoughts:
This
story grabbed me right away, pulling me through its myriad twists and turns all
the way to a satisfying conclusion. It had touches of gothic drama, macabre
mystery, and wonderfully sweet romance.
The
first half of the novel kept me on the edge of my seat, trying to figure out
what was going to happen next. The second half was a little calmer, more
focused on the various romances. I really liked all of the romances. Col.
Fitzwilliam stole the stage a couple of times with his
less-than-well-thought-out attempts to choose a wife.
Col.
Fitzwilliam might have stolen the stage a couple of times, but Anne de Bourgh
was the true main character, even if she was only shown through her journal
entries. Her thoughts were at times sweet, sad, funny, and disturbing. She was
superbly written, though not always likable.
I would
have liked to see more Darcy and Elizabeth in A Will of Iron. It wasn’t that they didn’t have enough page time,
but rather that the focus was so spread about between them, Bingley, Anne,
Charlotte, and Lady Catherine that there were few places to just enjoy a full
chapter of the couple. Every scene that did
focus on them, however, was thoroughly lovely.
My only
minor complaint is that the transition between the intensity of the first half
and the far more laid-back tone of the second half was very abrupt. It took me
a couple of chapters to settle into the new pace.
Overall,
A Will of Iron was a very
entertaining read that I would recommend to those who enjoy darker, less
conventional P&P variations.
Profanity:
I give
it 4.10 for a few uses of mild profanity and a couple mid-level words.
Sexuality:
I rate
it 7.10 for a couple of mid-level scenes, a fadeaway or two, some references,
and innuendo.
Violence:
I give
it 6.10 for multiple murders and attempted murder.
About
the Author:
Linda
Beutler is an Oregon native who began writing professionally in 1996 (meaning
that is when they started paying her...), in the field of garden writing. First
published in magazines, Linda graduated to book authorship in 2004 with the
publication of Gardening With Clematis (2004, Timber Press). In 2007
Timber Press presented her second title, Garden to Vase, a partnership
with garden photographer Allan Mandell. Now in 2013 Linda is working with a new
publisher, and writing in a completely different direction. Funny how life
works out, but more on that in a minute.
Linda lives
the gardening life: she is a part-time instructor in the horticulture
department at Clackamas Community College, writes and lectures about gardening
topics throughout the USA, and is traveling the world through her active
participation in the International Clematis Society, of which she is the
current president. Then there's that dream job--which she is sure everyone else
must covet but which she alone has--Linda Beutler is the curator of the
Rogerson Clematis Collection, which is located at Luscher Farm, a farm/park
maintained by the city of Lake Oswego. They say to keep resumes brief, but
Linda considers Garden With Clematis her 72,000 word resume. She signed
on as curator to North America's most comprehensive and publicly accessible
collection of the genus clematis in July 2007, and they will no doubt not get
shut of her until she can be carried out in a pine box.
And now for
something completely different: in September 2011, Linda checked out a book of
Jane Austen fan fiction from her local library, and was, to put it in the
modern British vernacular, gobsmacked. After devouring every title she could
get her hands on, she quite arrogantly decided that, in some cases, she could
do better, and began writing her own expansions and variations of Pride and
Prejudice. The will to publish became too tempting, and after viewing the
welcoming Meryton Press website, she printed out the first three chapters of
her book, and out it went, a child before the firing squad. Luckily, the
discerning editors at Meryton Press saved the child from slaughter, and Linda's
first work of Jane Austenesque fiction, The Red Chrysanthemum, published
in September 2013. Her second work of fiction, From Longbourn to London
was published in August of 2014.
Linda shares a
small garden in Southeast Portland with her husband, and pets that function as
surrogate children. Her personal collection of clematis numbers something
around 230 taxa. These are also surrogate children, and just as badly behaved.
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