Rachel Reads & Reviews

Main Characters of Featuring Kitty Bennet

Obviously Kitty Bennet is the lead, but in the supporting section are the two potential romantic options, Frederick Tilney and Jaimie Morland; finally, best friend, Julia Bertram. You may recognize these names not from P&P, but from other Austen works. Specifically Northanger Abbey and Mansfield Park. All were tertiary characters in their respective books, so…

rachelbeerwoman

March 4, 2026

Uncategorized

#featuringkittybennet, #originalwriting, #rachelreads&reviews, #workinprogress, #YA

Book Highlight: Vanished!

During the Golden Age of Magic from 1860 to 1930, seven women magicians in America defied Victorian conventions and created a unique place in history for themselves and future performers to come. There was Anna, the mindreader; Adelaide, who could float in midair; Talma, who could magically shower the stage with gold coins…and many more!…

rachelbeerwoman

March 3, 2026

Book/Author Highlight

#annahays, #brightmatterbooks, #illusionists, #magic, #magicians, #marykatemcdevitt, #penguinrandomhouse, #sevenwomenmagicianswhosimplydisappeared, #vanished, #women'shistory, #women'shistorymonth

Book of the Month: Jane Austen’s unfinished works

Technically, Lady Susan is complete. LADY SUSAN THE WATSONS SANDITION Comprising one finished novel, Lady Susan, which was published posthumously, and two unfinished fragments, Sanditon and The Watsons, this collection – full of melodrama and burlesque, and exploring a range of literary styles and social classes – spans the entirety of Jane Austen’s writing life.…

rachelbeerwoman

March 2, 2026

Book/Author Highlight

#epistolary, #janeausten, #ladysusan, #rachelreads&reviews, #regencyfiction, #sanditon, #thewatsons, #uncompleteworks

Featuring Kitty Bennet

I mentioned previously that I finished writing my novel and might start posting excerpts, photo boards, and other stuff if readers wanted. I didn’t get any comments saying yes or no, but I’ve decided to go ahead anyway. Featuring Kitty Bennet is set in modern day after contemporary events of P&P, featuring characters from various…

rachelbeerwoman

March 1, 2026

Uncategorized

#featuringkittybennet, #homage, #janeausten, #kittybennet, #mywriting, #originalwork, #originalwriting, #prideandprejudice, #rachelreads&reviews, #retellings, #workinprogress

Book Highlight: A Time for Mercy

Clanton, Mississippi. 1990. Jake Brigance finds himself embroiled in a deeply divisive trial when the court appoints him attorney for Drew Gamble, a timid sixteen-year-old boy accused of murdering a local deputy. Many in Clanton want a swift trial and the death penalty, but Brigance digs in and discovers that there is more to the…

rachelbeerwoman

February 27, 2026

Book/Author Highlight

#atimeformercy, #johngrisham, #legalthriller, #rachelreads&reviews

Meet the Newmans Review

For two decades, Del and Dinah Newman and their sons, Guy and Shep, have ruled television as America’s Favorite Family. Millions of viewers tune in every week to watch them play flawless, black-and-white versions of themselves. But now it’s 1964, and the Newmans’ idealized apple-pie perfection suddenly feels woefully out of touch. Ratings are in…

rachelbeerwoman

February 25, 2026

Reviews

#1960s, #behindthesceneshollywood, #culturalrevolution, #feminism, #flatironbooks, #jenniferniven, #meetthenewmans, #rachelreads&reviews, #socialrevolution

Lola At Last Review

Lola Barnes’s summer is not off to the best start. Fresh off a scandal that tanked her social status, Lola has somehow managed to also alienate her twin sister, lose the friends she thought she had, and put a . . . fiery end to the first party of the summer. (The boat was barely on fire,…

rachelbeerwoman

February 23, 2026

Reviews

#contemporaryfiction, #harpercollins, #homage, #j.c.peterson, #lolaatlast, #lydiabennet, #rachelreads&reviews, #realisticfiction, #retelling, #YA

Being Mary Bennet Review

It is a truth universally acknowledged that every bookworm secretly wishes to be Lizzie Bennet. A less acknowledged truth is that Mary Bennet might be a better fit. For seventeen-year-old Marnie Barnes, who’s convinced she is the long-suffering protagonist of her life, this revelation comes at the end of a series of self-induced disasters that…

rachelbeerwoman

February 22, 2026

Reviews

#beingmarybennet, #contemporaryfiction, #harpercollins, #homage, #j.c.peterson, #janeausten, #marybennet, #prideandprejudice, #rachelreads&reviews, #realisticfiction, #retelling, #YA

The Story of My Anger Review

Yulieta Lopez is angry. Angry at her racist drama teacher who refuses to cast Black students in lead roles. Angry at the school board threatening her favorite teacher for teaching works of literature that they deem “controversial.” Angry that she has to keep quiet until she can head to college and leave Texas forever. Yuli…

rachelbeerwoman

February 21, 2026

Reviews

#bookbannings, #censorship, #contemporaryfiction, #jasminnemendez, #penguinrandomhouse, #POC, #rachelreads&reviews, #realisticfiction, #thestoryofmyanger, #woc, #YA

Book of the Month: The Yellow Wall-Paper

The story is written as a collection of journal entries narrated in the first person. The journal was written by a woman whose physician husband has rented an old mansion for the summer. Forgoing other rooms in the house, the husband confines the woman to an upstairs nursery. As a form of treatment, the husband forbids the…

rachelbeerwoman

February 20, 2026

Book/Author Highlight

#charlotteperkins, #feministfiction, #psychologicalhorror, #rachelreads&reviews, #shortstory, #theyellowwall-paper, #victorianfiction