Christina Boyd

1 - Self-composed
Elinor Dashwood tries to impose control over her feelings for Edward Ferrars
2 - Every Past Affliction
Marianne Dashwood, after her illness at the Palmer's comes to know herself, therefore is a happy ending possible.
3 - Happiness in Marriage
Elizabeth Bennet ponders on various marriages. Would it be prudent to marry Collins.
4 - Charlotte's Comfort
Charlotte Collins' life from her point of view.
5 - Knightley Discourses
It would seem that after ten years of marriage Emma Knightley still wants to be a matchmaker. But what of the threat to her marriage.
6 - The Simple Things
Miss Hetty Bates, after rejecting a marriage proposal at the age of 35 looks back at her life.
7 - In Good Hands
Harriet Smith goes to stay with the Knightleys in London.
8 - The Meaning of Wife
A discussion at the Bertram's breakfast leaves Fanny Price indignant and determined to read A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. But how will this affect her future.
9 - What Strange Creatures
Mary Crawford of pre Mansfield finds proof that she can't stay with the Admiral.
10 - An Unnatural Beginning
Three years on from her broken engagement, Anne Elliott reflects.
11 - Where the Sky Touches the Sea
Sophia Croft reflects on her marriage.
12 - The Art of Pleasing
Persuasion from Mrs Penelope Clay point of view.
13 - Louisa by the Sea
The thoughts of Louisa Musgrove as she tries to awaken after the accident at Lyme, and her continuing story.
14 - The Strength of their Attachment
Catherine Morland feels she must go to Oxford to help her brother James in his troubles.
15 - A Nominal Mistress
Eleanor Tilney's courtship.
16 - The Edification of Lady Susan
The steps towards marriage of Lady Susan.
A bunch of enjoyable and well-written short stories.… (more)

Austen fan fiction of the 'fill in the gaps' style isn't really my taste - but I'm addicted to Emma sequels, retellings and updates, and this was free on Kindle Unlimited, so what the hey, right? Still not my taste. Sixteen authors, mostly American, tackle Austen's novels and try their best to find or inject a little feminism into the mix. Some stories worked, some didn't - I don't think Miss Bates chose not to marry - and some I skipped through, I must admit. My favourites were Mary Crawford turning detective and Elinor Tilney conning her father into letting her marry a younger brother.

The stories are all slightly formulaic - lots of first person, sky blue eyes and trembling going on - and quite a few try to shoehorn Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Women into the mix because FEMINISM, but overall fairly harmless. I still don't agree that Marianne was the right match for Colonel Brandon - not the other way around - and Emma's story was just a lazy rehash of Austen's novel with a Mary Crawford-esque femme fatale thrown in (a better take would have been Emma falling for the glamorous and independent stranger, not turning into the jealous wife).

Ehh. You live and learn.… (more)