#emma lion

[captainunderscoreamore]

“I read The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion for the plot!”

The plot:

[dia-reads-too-much]

okay okay okay another book almost nobody's ever heard of (there's a community for it at least) THE UNSELECTED JOURNALS OF EMMA M. LION it's historical fiction, takes place 1883-4 and they're hilarious. technically love triangle but it doesn't focus on that at all until the end of volume SIX. it's just a girl and two guys vibing and also there's another guy who quite possibly has some sort of sweetheart I'm not sure. there's also some Jane Eyres and painters and this one guy who might be good at heart but I don't trust him one bit. and also a couple of quite eccentric relatives. and it's ongoing, there's eight books at the moment but I heard someone say there's gonna be like twenty-five and while I'm not sure if I believe that. SFGPOIERGSRJGHOPRDIHJQPEROIGHVDSKREJGPEIWGNBIDP

[littleshopofflorrors]

"Is it immoral to marry a man solely to gain a library? And if that man happens to be tremendously good looking, is it more or less of a sin?"

[shakeymcshakespeare]

Emma Lion: Pierce! Please stop being so...TALL.

Pierce: I'm on a ladder fixing the --

Emma: -- You know very well that's not what I mean.

Pierce: ....Am I casting charm again?

Emma: And with your sleeves rolled up!

[methimmondaykissedhimfriday]

Post Volume 8 Emma M. Lion Thoughts

SPOILERS—

Pierce- Not her endgame. He is never going to stay in the same place forever and Emma won’t be happy away from LL for long periods of time. Also Emma knows this in the back of her mind. She is testing her heart but is not ready to really imagine a specific new forever yet, hence just the footsteps in her mission. She subconsciously knows all this and is therefore willing to live in the now instead of finding her endgame. While it maybe be “deep” love, it’s not “complete love”. Pierce is not it.

Islington: Banter is one of my favorite tropes hands down, but I unfortunately think it’s going to lead to the endgame here. I believe that he is responsible for a fortune from her mothers side that has very specific rules when he can give it to her, like education, saving her from no other option to sell Lapis Lazuli House or maybe, after she marries without her or her fiancée knowing about the money. This is the 2nd “protection” Declan put in place. Lasting, I think Islington is Bi and might end up with Roland who is already kind of obsessed with him.

Hawks- Endgame. There is too much foreshadowing and etc. etc. I can’t name them all here. The things that stick with me the most are the line he said about “Ringlets”, the sketch of him in her room. He is her “Dissolute Viscount”, with the library. And he balances her out.

[yoinkwhack]

I’m starting volume 8, but I just wanted to share my favorite moments/thoughts/quotes from the previous volumes. This is truly a wonderful series, and I hope more people find it as enjoyable as I have. Spoilers ahead.

Vol 1

•if my extended family burned all of my journals I would’ve committed unspeakable crimes

Vol 2

•bird grief > grief of mother and father passing within the year of eachother 💀

Vol 3, page 133

‘“I’ve taken Mr. Flat his dinner, Miss Lion.”

“Thank you, Agnes. Did he try and bite you today?”

“Yes, but I was faster.”’

Vol 4, page 44

“Is it immoral to marry a man solely to gain a library? And if that man happens to be tremendously, good looking, is it more or less of a sin?”

Vol 5

•dear elizabeth’s (🌸) funeral 😔

Vol 6– I didn’t save the page number I’m sorry

‘“We hadn’t found the right gift,” Hawkes amended.

“I thought my suggestion ideal.” Pierce leaned back in his chair, folding his arms.

“Hawkes laughed in my face. Don’t be fooled by this mysterious, somewhat holy, attitude he carries about. He’ll give you a set down as sharp as any.”

“I won’t deny,” Hawkes said, “that the notion of buying Miss Lion a pistol for her reticule delighted me on several levels.”

“Oh dear.”

Saffronia closed her eyes.

“Bloody useful, I would imagine,” was Pierce’s defence. I agreed.

“I might think it very useful! Only this afternoon, I had to shoo away Charles Goddard with only my wits and a rather stern closing of the front door. A pistol would have hastened the dismissal.”

Pierce waved a hand in a That’s Just What I Thought manner.’

•page 243– AHHHHHHH AHHHHHH AHHHHHH

Vol 7

•I fear Pierce’s spotlight with Emma is going to come to an end with the foreshadowing of Tybalt leaving.

•poor Mary and the wonderful widower

•the guardianship! Oh how I was overcome with emotions!!!

[captainunderscoreamore]

The Unselected Characters of Emma M. Lion

Aka I’m reading the books again and writing down the character descriptions for personal reference. Gonna use direct quotes where I can bc I love Emma’s descriptions. Updating & editing as I go! (Currently Book 7) PLEASE LMK IF ANYTHING IS AMISS

Emma Lion

20 y/o

Eyes: “uncanny sea green; wide-set, large, wholly disapproved of by Cousin Matilde”

Dimpled chin

Hair: “dark and unruly, a gift from my Portuguese maternal grandmother”

“Constellation of freckles” across nose

Notable cheekbones (?)

Average height

Niall Pierce

33 y/o

Eyes: grey, “like a shot of silver,” tired

Hair: dark, “a touch longer than the current fashion”

Tall, broad-shouldered

Pronounced limp

Face “sharp, angled, like he has gone rather peckish too many times, but not for food. I can’t explain it.”

Moves with “dark, Byronic attitude”

Small dimple when he fully smiles

“what a storm would look like if it took human form,” “storm cloud voice”

“Avenging Angel”

Islington, Duke of

“Ah.” (“Never trust a man who can say so many things with a single syllable.”)

30 y/o

“The Duke”

Hair: dark, combed away from face, “perfectly coifed”

Eyes: hazel, on the green side

“straight shoulders and distant humour”

“looking as ordered as a pocket watch,” “disapproving by nature,” “easy to behold , which not every man can claim”

master of the side eye

elegant voice

Nigel Hawkes

27 y/o

“Young Hawkes” “Hawkes the Fox” “Mighty Nigel Hawkes”

Hair: “never quite tidy,” askew, errant

Eyes: cold blue

“His face, rather too well-formed for a career in the church,” “looks like the errant friend of a brother come down from school, with whom one falls madly in love.”

Always walks with a book

Almost constant “somewhat pained philosopher’s expression”

Agnes

16 y/o

Birthday: November 8

Hair: straw-coloured

“skinny little thing”

Freckled

From English-Scottish border

Archibald Flat

Morning robes.

Old

The Scar under left eyebrow

Hair: grey, thin, wispy, always greasy? Nearly bald

“not only thin in person, he’s thin in humour and spirit and character”

Arabella Spencer

“Goddess Divine”

Eyes: “forget-me-not blue”

Hair: “angel gold, resting like a crown”

Fair skin

“Radiant by default”

Mary Bairrage

Hair: dark

Eyes: deep brown edged in hazel gold

“red lips that leaned towards a jaunty angle rather than a demure pout”

Pale

Strong profile

“droll, passionate, and a bit arch”

carrying resilient beauty

Jack Hollingstell

“Pudding”

Same height as Mary

Hair: light brown

Eyes: “not notable in colour but memorable in how they seemed to sharpen everything around him”

jungle cat, sleek and purring and dangerous, handsome reptile, crocodile

“His smile came easily, but I could almost see the marionette strings pulling it onto his face”

Saffronia March

36 y/o

Just taller than Emma

Olive complexion

Eyes: dark green

Hair: dark

Strong nose with a beautiful angle

Red lips

“Smartest, boldest wardrobe known to woman,” “looks like a painting”

Roland Sutherland

“Sun God”

Hair: deep golden

Eyes: Grecian blue

“Excessively handsome”

Golden skin

White teeth, dimpled smile, “smile like a Greek god”

Ben Chambers

Hair: deep red

“Scowl even deeper than Mr. Pierce’s”

Shorter in stature than Pierce

Patch over one eye

Several thin scars from under his eyepatch down to his mouth, more pronounced scar on the left side of his lips

Wooden leg from knee down on left side, sometimes w a walking stick

The pirate!

Charles Goddard

Tall with little musculature

Eyes: perfectly round

Hair: nondescript muddy brown

Teeth in perfect order

The most astonishing ears, large and wide

Nose like that of a child’s, “pressed upward like he’d run into a window one too many times”

Fish lips

Middle register voice, breathy

“gangly as a flagpole and nearly as patriotic”

“tall giraffe of extreme proportions”

Parian

Pointed nose

“thin frame of a shallow man”

Nasally

Oliver & Phineas Brookstone

Hair: light brown

Eyes: green

Sun-kissed

Mrs. Rebecca Penury

Hair: brown

Eyes: brown

Forgettable nose

“Handsome in her own way”

55 years old?

Damian Spencer

Eyes: brown, “the uninspired colour of boot leather”

Hair: darker shade of eye colour, growing in a flop over left eye

Face neither displeasing nor hande, hovering at an unremarkable place in between

But his smile—“eyes catch a spark, hair rebels in a fetching manner, two mischievous dimples grace his cheeks”

Professor Fletcher

Tall, broad shoulders, looming presence

Eyes: brown

Haircut “not very well done (possibly self-inflicted?)”

“Dreadful” spectacles with very thick lenses

Strong jaw, handsome features

“a force of sheer physicality,” un-professorial, “belonged in hunter’s tweed striding through the countryside,” “misplaced sportsman”

Maxwell Stuart

Eyes: grey

Sideways/half smile

[captainunderscoreamore]

“Primum non nocere”

May 1st, 1884

or, as Mr. Pierce so eloquently puts it, “WHO THE H—- IS HAWKES”