Welcome to Litsy!

Ch. 45/46: Mrs. Dashwood and Brandon arrive just as Marianne is in the clear! Also, Brandon confessed his love for Marianne to Mrs. D. She shares the news with Elinor, singing his praises and claiming that she never thought much of that Willoughby (uh-huh). Soon they head home to Barton and Marianne gives Elinor a heartfelt apology for being such a rude, thoughtless bitch to everyone. It's actually a lovely moment of self-awareness- yay, growth!

Marianne's illness worsens and Brandon goes to fetch Mrs. D, when who shows up? King of the fuckboys himself, drunk off his ass and ready to make all sorts of excuses for his cruelty, which boils down to: "I've been in horrific debt for years and was always looking for a sugar mama! Besides, my rich aunt disowned me when I knocked up Eliza so I had to get that Miss Grey stack. Don't hate me!" Cue my eye rolls! Does anyone feel bad for this asshat?

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#Pemberlittens
#JaneAustenThenAndNow

Ch. 41/42: Elinor grudgingly pays a last visit to John and Fanny before leaving London. John is ever the tactless twat and Robert Ferrars shows up and generally acts like a self-important windbag. Once at Cleveland, Marianne goes full-on emo, sad to leave the city where she last saw Willoughby but unable to stand being so close to Combe Magna, her personal Boulevard of Broken Dreams. She takes to sad-girl solo walks but uh-oh...she catches cold...

Ch. 39/40: These chapters genuinely crack me up. Brandon and Elinor hang out by the window to talk confidentially, and Mrs. J retreats just far enough for some plausible deniability while frantically straining to listen and read lips. She hears just enough to assume that the conversation is a proposal. In reality, Brandon tells Elinor that he's heard about Edward's circumstances and wants to offer him the parsonage and living at Delaford. ⬇️⬇️⬇️

Ch. 37/38: Two chapters full of nothing but hot gossip! Fanny Dashwood invited the Steeles to stay (but only to avoid inviting the Dashwoods) and completely misreading the situation, nobody's favorite airhead Nancy spilled the beans on the Lucy/Edward engagement. And shit. hit. the. fan. Fanny had a meltdown and Mrs. Ferrars went nuclear, not only fully disinheriting Edward but vowing to take him down at every turn. Yikes on fucking bikes, folks!

Ch. 35/36: These chapters are getting so rich I can hardly summarize them two at a time! But I'll try: the Dashwoods have to attend an annoying party with Fanny and John, and Elinor is introduced to Toothpick Case Guy, aka Robert Ferrars, a pompous blowhard. He couldn't be more different from his shy brother, who previously tried to visit Elinor only to find that Lucy was also there, resulting in the most painfully awkward social call of all time.

I took a hiatus on posting due to some travel and am working on getting caught up on all things #PemberLittens! But I had to take a minute to post about the surprise gift waiting for me when I got home - this sweet collection of Louisa May Alcott titles. I've never read Jack and Jill, so I'm really looking forward to that one. I'm fact, I may need to do a full re-read of her works this year! #LouisaMayAlcott #BookishGifts