Rosings by Karen Aminadra

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Obtained from: Personal Kindle Library

Read: May 11, 2013

Trapped and cloistered in her own home. Anne de Bourgh, wealthy heiress daughter of the inimitable Lady Catherine de Bourgh, yearns to be set free from her luxurious prison, Rosings Park. Her life stretches out before her, ordered and planned, but it is a life she does not want. She wants more. She wants to be free. She wants to do everything that has been forbidden her, and she wants more than anything to fall in love with whom she chooses. Lady Catherine de Bourgh has other plans for Anne. Will Lady Catherine have her own way as always? Will Anne succeed? Can she break through the barriers of wealth, rank and duty?

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I think most book junkies can understand the impulse that led me to Karen Aminadra's Rosings. I finished book one, looked the author up, realized she'd written a sequel and quickly succumbed to the enthusiasm that lingers after completing a title you've enjoyed. That's right folks, I am an addict. I'm not at all interested in rehabilitation so don't ask, but I'm always accepting recommendations if you have something you think I should consider.  

For the record, I liked this piece. Anne is practically a footnote in Pride and Prejudice and I really enjoyed seeing her step into the spotlight. As with Charlotte, I think the premise set forth in the jacket description compliments Austen's classic and I appreciate how Aminadra sought to build on details established in the original text. I'll grant she takes liberties with the material, but all things considered I have only one complaint: Lady Catherine de Bourgh.

Anne's mother terrorizes Lizzie for flashing her 'fine eyes' in Darcy's direction and she isn't any kinder to the residents of Hunsford in Charlotte, so why Aminadra attempted an about-face in Rosings is beyond my comprehension. I adore the layers Aminadra gifted Miss de Bourgh, but the effort she put toward reforming her ladyship seemed entirely unnatural considering the earlier incarnations of the character. 

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Anne realised , with a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, that if she did not assert herself now and on this particular issue, she would quite possibly never be happy again.

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