Regency Reading: Author Julie Klassen

Pride and Prejudice is one of my favorite books. Sometimes I wish I hadn't read it just so I could read it anew, if that makes any sense. I even read Jane Austen fan fiction because I can't get enough. Here's what I love about it: the misunderstanding, witty dialogue, longing, love, a strong female main character, and a happy ending. That's probably my favorite formula for any story.

Last year, one of my Facebook friends mentioned that the Kindle version of author Julie Klassen's book The Girl in the Gatehouse was on sale at Amazon. She went on to say that if you like Pride & Prejudice, you would probably like this book. I downloaded it, then promptly forgot about it.


Image via Amazon
About a week ago, I read it and LOVED IT! If you love Regency novels, I think you would enjoy this. I've now read a second book of Ms. Klassen's called The Secret of Pembrooke Park, and I stayed up until 2 am finishing it. It has a mystery element about it that I had to solve!

Ms. Klassen is a Christian author, and there is a thread of redemption throughout both of these works--complementary to the storyline. For me, these were a great example of how we are in the world, but not of the world. I guess what I'm saying is: this is not cheesy Christian romance fiction. As a Christian reading it, the mentions of faith in Christ and walking in the ways of the Lord seemed a natural fit, i.e. "for the mouth speaks what the heart is full of."

Amazon one-click may get me into trouble because I can't wait to start downloading more of her titles. Definitely add these to your summer reading list!

Hi and Hello!

I can't believe it's been more than 2 months since I last posted! I'm not even sure where to start, so I thought today, while I have a few minutes to myself, I'll dive right in.

Since it snowed, it has now warmed up, and the heavens have opened up with rain and rain and more rain. The last time I remember it raining this much was June of 2008, when construction was finishing up on our house. It rained every single day that month. We needed it so badly!

We've settled into a good routine at home this spring, getting out to play some, "makin' projects" (my kids' description) at the kitchen table, and also going to school Tuesday/Thursday. Next week is the last week of school, so we'll be needing to find our groove again those days of the week. Swim lessons and the like all start up the following week!


In other news, I'm leading crafts at VBS. If you're Southern Baptist, you'll probably recognize Lifeway's theme Journey Off the Map for this year. I just turned my supply list in earlier this week, a few days early, so that was a big check off of my to do list. I'm also heading to camp with our middle and high school students. It's at the beach, so a swimsuit shopping post will probably follow this soon. Good times.

One of many things in our packed summer is my cousin Tyler marrying the lovely Cari. My little guy will be a ring bearer in the wedding, so I'm prepping him as much as possible to wrap his mind around walking down the aisle and standing up with the groomsmen. Occasionally I'll remind him of it, like one evening earlier this week our conversation went down like this:

Me: Do you remember what you are going to be at Cari and Tyler's wedding?
Him: Yes! I'm going to be the ringmaster!

Ringmaster, indeed. It was precious.

I hope you have a great rest of your week!