The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion
Volume 8
by Beth Brower
Rhysdon Press, 2024. 339 pages.
Review written January 22, 2025, from my own copy, purchased via Amazon.com
Starred Review
Hooray! The next volume of Emma Lion’s journals is out! This is the first volume I had to wait for – having received the first three volumes as a birthday present from my sister after seven volumes had already been published. I did manage to resist reading it until I finished reading for the CYBILS and Mathical Awards, but it was the first book I picked up after that.
And it’s all one story – so go back and read Volume One. And if you have already read Volume One, you will already know if you want to read on, so I won’t say a whole lot about this volume.
This book telling the story of Emma M. Lion, a twenty-one-year-old woman, from May to June 1884. She lives in London, owning her own home after the death of her parents. But she needs to find a way to make more money, and her wealthy aunt is requiring that she be a foil for her beautiful cousin Arabella, as Arabella navigates The Season and finds a man to marry.
This volume is taken up with Emma’s adventures trying to appease her aunt – but more so with the happy month of June, when she gets to spend time in the countryside with the three men she has developed a deep friendship with.
And it’s a truly lovely group friendship! That’s one of the things I love about this book – a lovely and deep friendship with three single men, with each one being unique. In this volume, we learn some deeper secrets about two of them. And I honestly think some seeds are being planted that she may not end up marrying the one that we and now she expect her to end up with. But the friendships between the four of them are rich and each interaction unique, and it’s just a lovely thing to read.
And I’m being vague purposely because, as aforesaid, you need to start at the beginning. And then just watch if you’re not eagerly waiting for the next volume, too.
Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Fiction/emma_m_lion_8.html
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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.
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