The Villain I Love to Hate by Lynn Lovegreen

I don’t read a lot of books with stereotypical villains who laugh demonically and have evil plans to take over the world. But I know one villain I love to hate: Lady Catherine de Bourgh in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. 

Like many villains, Lady Catherine sees herself as the heroine of her story. She does what she thinks is right, for herself and her family. But her arrogance and prejudice make her a great opponent for our real heroine, Elizabeth Bennet. Lady Catherine has arranged for her daughter to marry Mr. Darcy. She also finds Elizabeth’s family too far below Mr. Darcy’s status and Elizabeth herself to be too outspoken. That sets up a great conflict.

Lady Catherine and Elizabeth are both strong, intelligent, women. Part of the fun of reading this novel is watching them trade verbal barbs. Here’s an example:

Lady Catherine comes to Elizabeth’s home to dissuade her from marrying Mr. Darcy. At one point she says, “…I have not been used to submit to any person’s whims. I have not been in the habit of brooking disappointment.”

Elizabeth replies, “That will make your ladyship’s situation more pitiable; but it will have no effect on me.” 

In the end, Lady Catherine’s efforts backfire. Not only does Elizabeth refuse Lady Catherine's demand to promise not to say yes to Mr. Darcy, but Lady Catherine's telling him about it makes his resolve stronger. He says to Elizabeth, “Lady Catherine’s unjustifiable endeavours to separate us, were the means of removing all my doubts.” True love prevails—yay!!!

My favorite movie portrayal of Lady Catherine de Bourgh is by Dame Judi Dench in the 2005 version (with Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfayden). Which movie version of Pride and Prejudice do you like best?

Lynn Lovegreen has lived in Alaska for over fifty years. After twenty years in the classroom, she retired to make more time for writing. She enjoys her friends and family, reading, and volunteering at her local library. Her young adult historical fiction is set in Alaska, a great place for drama, romance, and independent characters. See her website at www.lynnlovegreen.com. You can also find her on Facebook and Instagram.

A Fine Romance

Everyone has their favorites both in book and in movies.  From Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice and lets face it, the Colin Firth version is the best.  He is the one that comes to mind when I read the book.  To the hero in a book by your favorite author, to your own romance or that of someone you know, everyone has a favorite.

Growing up I watched a lot of shows and movies with cops and soldiers. Mainly because I was one against five and usually lost out when it came to TV or movies. However I got different things out of it than they did. I looked at the men and saw brave, hard working, loyal men true to their values and their country. Yes, it sounds like a boy scout, but it also sounds like a romance hero to me. I love Pride and Prejudice, Colin Firth and Hugh Jackman both make me drool. I've watched Casablanca so many times I can quote lines from it. However, one of my favorite romances is my own marriage of almost 30 years.

One of the things that attracted me to my husband was the fact that he was different from the other guys I knew. He was an old fashioned gentleman, still is.  We met on a blind date. We went for Chinese food and then drinks.

He was genuinely interested in what I had to say. He lived on one side of Boston and I lived on the other. Neither of us had a car. He took the subway with me to my apartment insisted on opening the door and making sure everything was ok and I think I started to fall in love when he got down on the floor and played with my cat. A cat that was afraid of most men.

Here was a man who understood my book store addiction, loved Chinese food and baseball as much as I did. He also was as fascinated by history as I was; we spend many a weekend walking around Boston. If we weren't in book stores we were walking the streets taking in the history.   And he is not afraid to do dishes or clean house, or do laundry. All of which I found to be extremely sexy.  When he asked me to marry him seven weeks later I said yes.

 My grandparents were married for 54 years and one day I teased my grandmother and asked her if she would ever get married again. She then told me what I have come to believe is the definition of a good marriage. "There were days he was wishing I was in hell and there was days I was wishing he was in hell. They were still the fifty four best years of my life. Definitely a definition of a fine romance.

Mom, Grandma, and Jane Austen

by Christy Carlyle

Strong women? Women who've influenced me? So many spring to mind, from my personal life, from history, and from the literary pantheon. But if I'm honest, there are three that stand out and impact who I am, what I love, and how I live my life more than any others.

Grandma

My grandmother, Phyllis, took care of me when I was little while my mother, Linda, worked. Those two women, one who worked inside the home and one who worked outside of it, are an integral part of who I am today. I still struggle to balance those two identities within myself, with a deep yearning to be a homemaker and a real necessity to be a wage earner. Despite all their other responsibilities, my mom and grandma taught me, loved me, and prepared me for how I should interact with the world.

My grandmother gave me one of the greatest gifts of all. She taught me the alphabet and helped me learn to read. Later, she indulged my love of books and bought them for me regularly. My mother also encouraged my love of reading and let me fill our house with more books than anyone believed I would ever be able to read. Okay, there might still be a few back in Indiana that I have yet to read from cover to cover.

Mom wrote stories. She wrote them out in a steno notebook, but she never made any fuss about them or mentioned a desire to be published. Still, I can’t help thinking that seeing her write had something to do with the young girl I became, a child who spent an inordinate amount of time banging out stories on her mother’s green Hermes typewriter.

Somewhere amidst typed up stories and reading my way through the pile of books I’d found at the library or Goodwill, I came across Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. I was in my early teens. I wanted to be Elizabeth Bennet and I wanted her to fall in love with Mr. Darcy. While reading his first proposal scene, I remember feeling a burning in my chest, as if my own heart was breaking rather than his. That was the moment I knew I had to become a romance writer.

Later, in studying all of Austen’s works and her life, I came to admire the woman as much as her writing. She was a diligent writer who believed in her work. She made sacrifices for her writing; some might say too many. She was a brilliant writer who has taught me more about characterization than any craft book I have ever read. And most importantly, her stories always have a happy ending.

If my writing life and my personal life have a happy ending, I know it will be because of the choices I make and the work I do. However, there are three women who influence those choices and my drive to tell stories. My gratitude goes to Mom, Grandma, and Jane Austen.

Who taught you to read or to write? Did they influence you to become a book lover or a writer?