Saturday, February 10, 2018

A More Engaging Guest Review...Henry Fitzwilliam's War

As promised, Sophia Rose's review for the novella, Henry Fitzwilliam's War is posted below. As Sophia states, this novella falls between Volume 1, The Keeper, Mary Bennet's Extraordinary Journey and Volume 2, Part 1, The Exile: Kitty Bennet and the Belle Époque, by Don Jacobson. Thank you, Sophia. I will now turn it over to you. Oh, before I go, there is a giveaway! :)

Henry Fitzwilliam’s War by Don Jacobson
#1.75 The Bennet Wardrobe
Historical Fiction, Time Travel
Publisher:  Self-Published:
Published:  8/25/16
Pages:  57
Source:  Purchased
Sellers:  Amazon

GoodReads:  https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31689611-henry-fitzwilliam-s-war?ac=1&from_search=true

GoodReads Blurb:

Time is once again bent in 1883 as Viscount Henry Fitzwilliam, the heir to the Earldom of Matlock, uses the remarkable Bennet Wardrobe to seek his manhood through combat as suggested by his great friend, Theodore Roosevelt. But, as Henry’s Great Grandmother, Lydia Bennet Wickham Fitzwilliam, noted, “The Wardrobe has a strange sense of humor.” The lessons the young aristocrat learns are not the ones he expected.

Henry travels over 30 years into the future to land in the middle of the most awful conflict in human history—World War I. His brief time at the Front teaches him that there is no longer any room on the battlefield for heroic combat. Rather he discovers the horrors of “modern” warfare—the machine gun, high explosive artillery and poison gas—and the incredible waste of young men’s lives.

But, it is his two weeks spent recuperating at the Beach House in Deauville, after being temporarily blinded by chlorine gas that irrevocably changes his life forever. There he encounters an incredible woman, one who will define his near 10-year search for the love of his life after he returns to his own time.

This novella grew from the author’s efforts to sketch the events that shaped the life of one of the central characters prior to his introduction in the upcoming work “The Exile: Kitty Bennet and the Belle Époque,” Volume II of The Bennet Wardrobe Series.


Review:

After just savoring, The Keeper: Mary Bennet's ExtraordinaryJourney, the first book in the Bennet Wardrobe series, I was eager to press on with this tweenie novella that is meant to augment the story of the hero (and heroine, for that matter) in the upcoming second book in the series.

Henry Fitzwilliam's War takes place a few generations and many years forward from the events of book one telling the story of a young man from the late Victorian era desirous of being a hero.  He chooses to use the Wardrobe to make this happen and learns the magical device can be rather whimsical in its interpretation of wishes.  Henry is landed into the brutal raging WWI trench warfare where individual heroism isn't possible and one battle puts him out of the action and recovering in a mysterious lady's home in Deauville.


There is a poignant, bittersweet quality to this shorter tale that draws in the reader and does the job of leaving a desire to press forward into the next installment even while revealing something of the characters who will be met there.  Well worth stopping off and getting this in between tale.

*****

For the author info for Don Jacobson and bio info for Sophia Rose, refer to Sophia's review of The Keeper: Mary Bennet's Extraordinary Journey.

The Exile: The Countess Visits Longbourn, Volume 2, Part 2, of The Bennet Wardrobe was recently released. The blog tour for the book begins on February 14th. Don has some great guest posts and character interviews lined up so be sure and pop in. He has a fabulous giveaway for the tour, too. The blog tour is set up a little differently this time. There will not be a stop every day, and the tour is spread out over a three week period. 


Blog Tour Schedule:                                                     

Feb. 14 Austenesque Reviews;  Guest Post, Excerpt, GA
Feb. 15 My Jane Austen Book Club;  Guest Post, GA
Feb. 17 My Love for Jane Austen; Character Interview, GA
Feb. 19 So little time…  Excerpt, GA
Feb. 20 Interests of a Jane Austen Girl;  Review, GA
Feb. 21 Babblings of a Bookworm; Guest Post, GA
Feb. 23 More Agreeably Engaged;  Review, Excerpt, GA
Feb. 24 Darcyholic Diversions;  Character Interview, GA
Feb. 26 From Pemberley to Milton;  Excerpt
Feb. 28 Just Jane 1813;  Review, GA
Mar. 2  Diary of an Eccentric;  Guest Post, Excerpt, GA
Mar. 3  My Vices and Weaknesses; Author Interview, GA
Mar. 5  Laughing With Lizzie; Guest Post, GA

Have you read any of the books in The Bennet Wardrobe series? If you have, we would love to hear your thoughts!

I'm giving away one eBook of The Keeper: Mary Bennet's Extraordinary Journey. I highly recommend these books. Don Jacobson is a brilliant author and I think you will be fascinated with his story-telling. The giveaway is international. On Friday, I posted Sophia's review of The Keeper: Mary Bennet's Extraordinary Journey, Volume 1 of The Bennet Wardrobe. Comments left at both reviews will increase your chance of winning. Be sure and leave me contact info if you would like a chance to win the eBook. Giveaway will end at 11:59 PM on the 12th of February! Good luck to all!

26 comments:

  1. Wow, Sophia! Thank you for your review! As I have explained in other forums, HFW began as a character study as I was grappling with the creation of the male lead for "The Exile: Kitty Bennet and the Belle Epoque." I was building an Austeneque (I hope/hoped) character from the whole cloth, and I needed to understand what led him to act toward the young woman who tumbled out of the Wardrobe into 1886. The brief novella came together flowing out as it did of the gap between the end of Keeper and the beginning of Exile.

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    1. Henry made an excellent male lead! You did good. :)

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  2. I've not read this series but it sounds like an interesting concept.

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    1. It's very creative, Ria, if you like a bit of magical realism in your stories.

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    2. SR...I love it..."Magical Realism!"

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    3. I hope you get a chance to read the series soon, Ria. It is excellent and brilliantly written. Thanks for stopping by.

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  3. Hi Ria, Please begin with "The Keeper." The remaining books are best enjoyed in the following order: "Henry Fitzwilliam's War," "The Exile: Kitty Bennet and the Belle Epoque,""Lizzy Bennet Meets the Countess," and "The Exile: The Countess Visits Longbourn." Thank you for your kind note.

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  4. I haven’t read yet but hope to once series is complete. I love the premise. Thanks for the giveaway. jadseah4 (at) yahoo (dot) com

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    1. Then you have no impatient wait between installments. Great idea! :)

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  5. Three more full novels to complete the Series....Mid-2019. But, hoping you will dip in before that!

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  6. Hi Don, Janet and Sophia. Thanks for another great review, Sophia. Enticing, yet spoiler-free again.

    I have a question for you (yes, another one Don!), I was mooching around on Amazon (as one does) last night, did a search for books under Don's name and discovered two other novellas that seem to be part of the Bennet Wardrobe series: Miss Bennet's First Christmas and The Bennet Wardrobe:Origins. Where do they fall in the series as I haven't seen them mentioned in any recent blog posts. Is the latter is what it says - how the Wardrobe came into being?

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    1. Good morning!

      You are correct that there are two stand-alone novellas published in 2015. "Miss Bennet's First Christmas" and "Bennet Wardrobe: Origins" were the first fruits of my process. Much like HFW, "Miss Bennet's First Christmas" was my character study of how Mary Bennet developed from the glowering middle sister with 7 lines in P&P. There is no Wardrobe visible in this novella...just a reference to an unknown young man speaking with Mr. Bennet after the wedding breakfast held for Jane and Lizzy. At the same time I was writing Christmas, I was writing Origins to frame the history of the Wardrobe from 1690 to 1781. Later, both stories were rolled into "The Keeper." "Origins" becomes Book One. "Christmas" becomes part of Book Two--Becoming Miss Bennet. DJ

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    2. Spoiler-free is my goal. Thanks for stopping by, Anji! :)

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  7. Seeing the name Lydia Bennet Wickham Fitzwilliam sends shivers up my spine. I would like to know how the Wardrobe gets is magic and the place to start is with Mary. Thank you for the giveaway. evamedmonds(at)gmail(dot)com

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    1. You are right. The Origin story is the front end (Book one) of the Mary book...The Keeper. Look forward to you comments on the blog tour for "The Countess Visits Longbourn."

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    2. Doesn't that just leave you reeling from the possibilities, Eva? ;)

      Good luck on the giveaway!

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  8. Another great review, Sophia. Thank you. This was the book I started with as I received it as a giveaway on another website. It was also the first time 'The Wardrobe Series' came under my radar. And boy oh boy, what an introduction. Couldn't wait to dive into the others available at the time. Then the wait....sigh. :/

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    1. Thanks, Michelle!

      Oh, this would have hooked me right into the series. It had good feels and hints that left me wanting more in a good way.

      That waiting for the next installment is a killer, right? ;)

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  9. MH...you know that it takes about a month for me to flush my system of the writing process for a book. The last words for "The Countess Visits Longbourn" were laid down on January 9. Then Betas. Then the Blog tour. I am leaving a trail of notes all over my house as I prepare to write "The Avenger."

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    1. That is quite fascinating. I enjoy all the blog postings you have done, at least the ones I know about; giving background info, discussing the concepts of various historical facts, notions (the history we THINK we know,) social norms. So...feel free to flush your system out there to the Jane Universe.

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  10. I have not started reading Don's books yet because I'm waiting for him to complete The Bennet Wardrobe series. I hate to start on a new series before it has finished. Nevertheless, I look forward to welcoming Don's post this week at my blog.

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    1. Well, you are setting yourself up for a huge binge read. Five books in to this point with three major novels to bring the main arc to a close. Probably by mid 2019. At least two side books (The Education Of Caroline Bingley and A Thornhill Christmas).

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    2. I can see the temptation of enjoying them all back to back. I've tried to do the binge thing with series, but it backfires on me and I end up going sour on even a great book and needing a break.
      You have something really wonderful waiting for you. :)

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  11. I wish to thank everybody for their kind and supportive comments. The blog tour for "The Exile: The Countess Visits Longbourn" kicks off tomorrow (2/14) with a stop at Austenesque Reviews. I also look forward to reading your reviews on Amazon and Goodreads for all of the books in the Bennet Wardrobe!

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