Published: November 5, 2019
Publisher: Rhysdon Press
Series: The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion
Genre: Historical Fiction
Synopsis:
“I’ve arrived in London without incident. There are few triumphs in my recent life, but I count this as one. My existence of the last three years has been nothing but incident.”
The Year is 1883 and Emma M. Lion has returned to her London neighbourhood of St. Crispian’s. But Emma’s plans for a charmed and studious life are sabotaged by her eccentric Cousin Archibald, her formidable Aunt Eugenia, and the slightly odd denizens of St. Crispian’s. Emma M. Lion offers up her Unselected Journals, however self-incriminating they may be. Armed with wit and a sideways amusement, Emma documents the curious realities of her life at Lapis Lazuli House.
Readers have compared The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion to Jane Austen, P. G. Wodehouse, L. M. Montgomery, and Jean Webster.
I decided to pick up this series while I was off for a few days in July, purely on whim. I saw someone on Youtube mention it and I knew NOTHING about it other than it was delightful. Cue a week-long binge read of currently available books. I thought the series was nearly finished. I was horribly, horribly wrong and now I’m waiting in bookworm agony for the ninth book to release. Because I binge read these, I decided to do a single review covering the first eight installments.
Emma M. Lion is first introduced to us through her journal as she arrives at St. Pancras station and then makes her way back to her home – Lapis Lazuli house – in the heart of St. Crispian’s, London. Lapis Lazuli is named as such for its brilliant blue door, though its current resident Cousin Archibald is neither pleasant nor as brilliant as the home he resides in. Emma arrives, only to find herself installed in the garret room, forbidden from the library, and with a pittance of the inheritance she thought she would have to live upon because Cousin Archibald is an ass who likes fashion.
Throughout the early books we are slowly introduced to Emma’s existing friends, many new friends, and a great many acquaintances both good and bad. Emma, though not nobility herself, is related to the beautiful cousin Arabella and her rather demanding aunt, Lady Eugenia Spencer. Emma is drafted to help make Arabella shine as brightly as a diamond throughout the London Season, so we also get plenty of Emma mingling with high society.
I cannot continue with the review without first bringing up the Alchemy as they begin to call themselves. Emma soon becomes fast friends with her tenant, Pierce, the vicar, Young Hawkes, and fellow St. Crispian’s resident, Duke Islington. Though they seem an unlikely group at first, they all become dear to one another and personally my favorite part of reading all these books was speculating who she may end up with out of the three, or if dear Emma would end up with some other fellow entirely. I still haven’t quite decided who I’m rooting for, but Islington does have the biggest library.
This is one of the rare series that I think has continued to improve throughout each installment and has yet to taper off into something lesser. Though there are many, many planned books as each one covers only two months of journal entries. Emma gets up to quite a lot of mischief/hijinks, so some of them are getting quite long! Many of the hijinks are thanks to a host of colorful secondary characters like Jack Hollingstell, who Emma owes two unspecified favors to. There are also the delightful Reprobates Ten that regularly fill up the back row of the church and cause a ruckus. Even Emma’s more staid friends get up to some wonderful stuff (the Jane Eyre’s).
There are many serious, emotional moments as we see both Emma and many of the other characters close to her grow, change, and deal with past traumas. Emma herself lost her first love when he went to fight in Afghanistan and it was rewarding to see how she began to heal from this wound to her heart throughout the series thus far. Each of the other characters is dealing with their own baggage and as it is explored, even some of the more unlikable characters at least begin to garner some sympathy.
If you enjoy Victorian settings, wonderfully lovable characters, and a good laugh I definitely recommend checking out The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion. These books make me genuinely happy and I’m eagerly awaiting a release date of the ninth book, which can’t come soon enough. Be warned, from what I’ve read the author plans upward of twenty books which span the course of several years!
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