Caylen McQueen

I have read nearly every variation on Jane Austen's Emma I can get my hands on, from faithful sequels to retellings, gender flip updates and YA revisions, and set everywhere from the Deep South to India, so how could I resist this? Mr Knightley the fairy, who is three inches tall but imbued with magical powers and the same wry wit! Not to mention Niku (Robert Martin) the satyr, half man-half goat, and Agosta (Mrs Elton) the mermaid! An absolutely crazy reimagining of Austen's classic, but it show more works!

I think I was equally impressed by Caylen McQueen's fantastic imagination and her clever editing, whittling down the key events and characters of the original to fit a novella running to just under two hundred pages. 'Danavir' Knightley becomes a more literal interpretation of Emma's conscience, a Jiminy Cricket type figure who perches on her shoulder and travels in her pocket, warning his fairy goddaughter and friend when her meddling is getting out of control. Emma comments again and again how she couldn't live without his advice (although she rarely listens), but of course he's only the size of her thumb, so she could never fall in love with him - could she? But after she reunites Mr Elton, now a magical artist, with the mermaid he has fallen in love with, and then Frank Churchill elopes with an elven housemaid called Jayna after an uprising in his father's house, Emma begins to realise that she should listen to her heart. Mr Knightley tells her that he can relinquish his magic, which Emma has him use to heal the sick (claiming the praise for herself), and become human, but surely he wouldn't do that for her.

After the initial chapter, which seemed to be merely repeating Austen's words, I completely fell in love with this magical retelling. The heart of Emma remains, and the characters are all more or less recognisable, but I love the quirk of a fae Mr Knightley being well and truly in Emma's pocket, and Frank Churchill becoming a Harry Potter type graduate wizard (in Leeds, no less!), who flies home on a dragon! Mr Woodhouse is woefully underused and I wanted to know where Mr Knightley lived when away from Emma, but overall I loved this magical take on my favourite novel! show less

Spinster Molly Moseley believes in romance and has a history of successful matchmaking to prove it. In her own heart she harbours unrequited love for her lifelong friend, Lord Daniel Rocksavage. When Daniel asks her to help him find the perfect wife, Molly has to put her own feelings aside and help her friend. Soon Molly finds herself in a complicated situation with not just one but two suitors.

The story is simple and sweet and quite enjoyable. Unfortunately it's also underdeveloped and show more overwritten and somewhat thoughtless. The characters are all surface and what background info you get about them makes little sense. In a story like this, with parties and card games and such, the reader should get some idea about community and how the characters relate to it. In this book the characters are very self-contained. They show up and disappear and have absolutely no history nor future. The characters act and talk in a manner that doesn't ring true to a romance set in Regency (or even Britain - declarations of love are very...unrestrained).

The writing is prolific to say the least. There are too many pages that don't bring anything new to the table. In fact, often there's a recap (in a form of a letter) of happenings just described, without even a change in perspective.

I don't know why, but even with all the problems I had with the book, I'm still left with a positive aftertaste. Maybe it's because it's such a light story, meant to be taken lightly. It doesn't wallow in tribulations - why should I? show less

A sweet little story by a promising author. A 36 year old spinster is disheartened when her former admirer sets his eye on her young and pretty niece. She tries to deal with her troubles by writing a letter, addressed to Mr. Nobody, and on whim she hides it in a public park. For her surprise she gets an answer from a man even more troubled than she is. They keep exchanging letters, fall in love and find a happy ending.

I like the basic idea, and the characters are quite enjoyable if a little show more caricatured. But there are some problems. This novella would benefit from tightening both the structure and the writing. For a story this short there's too much repetition. Yet the romance develops a bit too quickly, which might make a cynical reader think that the hero and heroine are just desperate instead of being in love. Other problems I had were the too modern behavior of most characters and some errors in grammar.

After all this criticism I still liked the book and it's freshness. All it (and the author, who I believe is self-publishing) needs is editor's touch. show less

An enjoyable piece of easy light fantasy. The adventures of a poverty struck barmaid who is the doppelganger of a rebellious princess. Book one of a series, which ends at a suitable point but still leaves the reader curious as to what happens next.