+Blog Book Tour+ Sense & Sensibility: A Latter-Day Tale by Rebecca H. Jamison A twice-published after canon author of Jane Austen’s works!

Posted Monday, 18 August, 2014 by jorielov , , , , , 5 Comments

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Sense & Sensibility Blog Tour with Cedar Fort

Sense & Sensibility: A Latter-Day Tale by Rebecca H. Jamison

Published By: Bonneville Books, ( )

an imprint of Cedar Fort, Inc (@CedarFort)

Official Author Websites: Site @RebeccaHJamison
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Available Formats: Paperback
Page Count247

Previously she wrote: Persuasion & Emma as ‘Latter-Day Tales’ too!

Converse via: #SenseandSensibility

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Acquired Book By: I am a regular tour hostess for blog tours via Cedar Fort whereupon I am thankful to have such a diverse amount of novels and non-fiction titles to choose amongst to host. I received a complimentary copy of “Sense & Sensibility: A Latter-Day Tale” direct from the publisher Bonneville Books (imprint of Cedar Fort, Inc) in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

Inspired to Read: this girl is a Janeite!

I am not sure when the exact moment occurred in my childhood, but I started to feel a kinetic bond with Jane Austen, to the brink that I knew that once I started to read her beloved works by all who already knew her, … I would become a Janeite. She simply had a convincing way of expressing life as it was lived during her own era, of the minute details of ordinary life intermingled with the reflections of a keen observant eye. My first forays into Austen’s canons was a bit of a hit/miss for me, as I began originally with “Sense & Sensibility”, although I attributed this false start due to what had been on my mind and heart at the time I had first picked it up. The gift I spoke about on my participation page for ‘Austen in August‘ is the very reason I approach this particular blog tour without the benefit of reading the canon. I wanted to reaquaint myself with the gifted books and step back through a door I had not yet fully opened.

It was not until Keira Knightley’s edition of “Pride & Prejudice” that I was able to ascertain the focus I wanted to garnish for Austen, as I nestled into a pocket edition of Pride. Forestalling my visit to the local cinema and barely making it to see the new adaptation before it left the theater completely! In my further expeditions into Classical Literature, I’ll have to talk about my passion for ‘pocket’ hardback editions, as I only briefly mention them in quirkily placed positions on my blog thus far along! Knightley’s motion picture will always hold a special place in my heart, despite what others might express on her behalf. I already ruminated previously that Colin Firth’s mini-series would be my most adored adaptation, but there is always room for adaptations that draw a measure of liberty with their scope.

*At this point in time I have not yet seen Colin Firth’s mini-series, a future viewing during Austen in August is planned

I had fully intended to read “Emma” this August, as previously disclosed but due to an increase in demand for the novel to be checked out of my local library, I had to pull it from my reading list; rather unfortunate, but in doing so, I cancelled my queue to receive “Emma: A Latter-Day Tale” as I quite literally felt I ought to wait. I’m still going to be reading “Persuasion” in step with the Jane Austen Reading Challenge, which will allow me to queue “Persuasion: A Latter-Day Tale” at that point in time. Blessedly, I have a ready copy of Persuasian on hand, and Jamison’s novels are easily acquired through ILL’ing. (inter-library loan)

You could say, in the future I shall have enough of Austen’s tomes to spread about between my personal library and the backpack I’ll take with me on my travels. The editions I’m collecting are most decidedly of the ‘bookish soul’ who appreciates not only the quality of the volumes, but the unique differences of each presentation of the text.

By joining this blog tour, I am one step closer to my goals of reading through the breadth of Jane Austen and the authors who are as transfixed on her legacy as I am myself. I am hoping participants in this year’s ‘Austen in August’ and thus forthcoming years as well, will lay their comments in the threads below and give way to a hearty conversational thread! I also plan to write a cross-comparison post at such a time as to when I can read Sense & Sensibility!

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Book Synopsis Read Aloud for Sense & Sensibility: A Latter Day Tale by BonnevilleBooks

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As if it wasn’t bad enough to be getting food from Church welfare, I had to meet one of the Ferreros–a good-looking Ferrero, at that.

Elly Goodwin, a brilliant programmer, is so desperate for a job that she takes one from her ex-boyfriend–the same man who put her family out of business. Then she meets Ethan Ferrero, who seems too good to be true–especially for her ex’s brother-in-law. At the same time, she must help her sister Maren recover from a severe case of depression. Elly is far too busy for love, especially not with Ethan Ferrero.

Meanwhile, Elly’s dramatic sister, Maren, has recovered enough to fall in love, and when she falls, she falls hard. Elly must intercede before Maren’s passion clouds her common sense. Together, Elly and Maren must learn that a mixture of sense and sensibility is the perfect recipe for love.

Fans of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility will love this modern retelling of the classic romance novel.

Author Biography:

Rebecca H. Jamison
Photo Credit: Rachael Nelson

Rebecca H. Jamison wrote novels just for fun until she made a New Year’s resolution in 2011 to submit a manuscript to publishers. Since then, she’s published three books, starting with Persuasion: A Latter-day Tale.

Rebecca grew up in Virginia. She attended Brigham Young University, where she earned a BA and MA in English. In between college and graduate school, she served a mission to Portugal and the Cape Verde islands. Her job titles have included special education teacher’s aide, technical writer, English teacher, and stay-at-home mom.

Rebecca enjoys running, dancing, reading, and watching detective shows. She lives with her husband and children in Utah.

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Seeking Jane Austen in this re-telling:

Although I hadn’t the pleasure of reading Sense & Sensibility prior to reading this Latter-Day Tale re-telling of the classic story, I had an impression ahead of sinking into the heart of the story, I might be able to highlight sections of Jamison etching in elements I’d recognise of being very Jane Austen of influence! The early bits of notice of a presence of Austen were revealed in how the inner dialogue and thoughts are shared of the characters, Elly & Maren, as much as the internal clockwork of how each of the sisters thinks through things and approaches life. There is the volley between seeking out their own individual wings in life and finding a bloke to walk through life together on equal ground. Each of them are searching for something they both believe they are not meant to find.

My Review of Sense & Sensibility: A Latter-Day Tale:

Sense & Sensibility: A Latter-Day Tale by Rebecca H. JamisonThe story begins at a church-based food pantry for the local community to receive a stipend of canned and perishable emergency food relief for working class families who cannot always afford to purchase what they need in regards to food each month. The cloak of shame that is harbouring over the shoulders of Elly Goodwin took me a bit by surprise, as the local outreach resources inside communities are not places where shame is induced nor encouraged. They are a place where a warm embrace of encouragement and strength through adversity can be experienced as soon as you walk through the door. Although, I can imagine that some who frequent a food pantry might feel curious or ashamed of being in need of the services they provide, as it is human nature to feel a stigma that outward society at large might place on individuals in need of assistance.

Elly has two sisters: Maren shrouded in her grief and emotional anguish from losing their father months prior from terminal illness and Grace, a teenager with special needs whose child-like innocence at times is hard to deal with in public circumstances where her social skills do not allow her to understand how to interact with others. The family is in a difficult state of affairs at the start of this story: the house is being lost through foreclosure, they are on community assistance, their father is a lost presence in their lives, their Mum works hard at a taco joint, and the fissure of stress in their life is compounded by the family (Ferrero) who bought out their livelihood. By all accounts, this is one family that needs a diffusion of emotional stress intermixed with rays of hope, little inspiring bits of joy, and a second chance at fusing their lives together.

When faced with adversity and a ticking clock towards forced relocation, Elly braces herself for matching her wits against her ex-boyfriend and the company whose success created a forced closure of her family’s company. Whilst she spent the first day on a ‘presumed permanent placement’ (translating to ‘temporary at best’), she uncovers a rather suspicious connection to her father’s work from the family firm. She has to side-step her ex-boyfriend’s new wife, the reality of needing a job out of desperation, and a quirky attraction to the brother of said ex-boyfriend’s wife! I loved how Jamison gave Elly a measure of breath when she started to delve into the particulars of fixing the codes necessary to allow an increase in productivity on recommendations for library patrons!

There is a passage where Maren is talking about her aspirations for her life once she is able to heal through her depression and emerge out of it with the benefit of believing in the hope of what is still yet to come will be waiting for her afterwards. The one bit of revelation I did not quite understand is that it was mentioned that one of her most passionate desires was to adopt children, specifically children who are waiting for forever families who might be passed over or not considered outright. She hinged this desire to be a mother to marriage, and although I fully agree that that is the more traditional path towards motherhood, I was curious why an alternative path was not considered as well? You see, I’m a Prospective Adoptive Mum myself, however, I am a singleton who has not yet married and I am not going to stop my path towards motherhood simply because I am not yet wed. Motherhood through adoption is available to everyone who wants to be a mother to a child who needs a family. Perhaps due to my own choices in life this one small passage stood out as being a bit awkward to read.

As the story progresses forward, the wenches in the wheel become all too apparent: Ethan (her ex-boyfriend’s wife’s brother) would rather not risk his heart whilst he is sorting out his finances; Elly’s temporary job led her to finding fuel to firing up a retort against the company who changed her station in life; and the realistic truth that although their father had passed there is very little left for them in their hometown of San José, California. A new day has dawned giving them freedom to choose where to alight next and if that takes them 3,000 miles across the country to help their ailing grandmother, I stood behind their decision to simply ‘pick up and dare to re-invent their lives’ as sometimes that is the best resolution to adversity. Maren’s inability to realise she has to address her mental health was handled well by giving positive examples of how easily you can disappear into a darkened place inside your own thoughts without realising how harmful those thoughts can turn when you slip out of the world.

The designation of friends or in a relationship status is the hardest to work through when your engaged in a connection with ‘someone’ who does not want to classify exactly what the ‘connection’ between you is or could be if a definition were given. Issues of commitment arise in both Elly & Maren’s lives, as Maren is holding back out of fear of grieving a lost love. Her antidepressants and therapy are helping her cope better with everyday situations, but her outlook on life is skewed against being romantically involved. Whereas Elly has been burnt in the past by Jake (the ex-boyfriend), spurned a bit by Ethan, and left helplessly confused by Ethan’s attentive concern on her well-being when he falters with being able to declare his feelings for her. His resolute way of saying his life is devouted to his efforts in volunteering only go so far with Elly, who would rather work out a way for them to hold fast to a relationship, even if time were short or limited. To live through life without companionship, love, and the bond between two people who are falling in love is not a path that Elly wants to walk.

This story is told from the perspective of Elly and Maren (a bit similar to Rosamunde Pilcher’s The Shell Seekers) in a shifting narrative lens per chapter; to best equate their emotional and psychological internalisations. Elly comes across as a girl who leads with her knowledge and logical queues per situation and Maren is much more of an artist, in how she views the world as though she is constantly attempting to capture a piece of her life on canvas. She feels deeply about everything that happens to her, and leads with her heart rather than her mind.

Jamison touched briefly on changing an autistic child’s diet to gluten-free and diary-free by the insertion of a scene at the grandmother’s house that revolved around lunch. However, it was more of a negative spin on the concept rather than a pro-positive one. I am not sure if it was due to changing a diet into a gluten-free and dairy-free lifestyle that was disagreeable OR in combination with alternative therapies for those who have autism. Either way, I think I would have respected the scene more if the undertone was not cognitively negative but rather, a voicing of a different opinion rather than coming across indifferent to the idea overall.

I loved how Maren started to see a turning point in her life as she reached out to someone else who was struggling with depression and how that single lift of her own spirit could lift someone else’s at the same time. I could not help but draw a connection to how giving back and being of service to others equips us with a boomerang effect on our own spiritual and psychological well being. I grew up in a home and family where giving back was a natural part of my life, where seeking out what was needed and what could be given out of what we had was quite commonplace. Of course, even the few national relief requests were a bit fun to participate in as well, but not until 2013 did we find one we could give to through our love of knitting (Mum & I) did we have a knowledge of who received the items we sent. I also was thinking about the non-fiction book (A Gift of Hope) Danielle Steel penned about her healing journey through helping the homeless in San Francisco.

Jamison grounded this re-telling in our modern world, repleat with socio-economical issues facing the working middle class, the trauma soldiers endure whilst in service to our country, the pursuit of entrepreanurship, and the solid bond a family has with each other to not only greet life’s obstacles through faith and hope, but to center our thoughts and hearts around the possibility that for as difficult as life feels as we’re traversing through an obstalce we unexpectedly encounter, life will always curiously give us experiences to grow through and learn even more than we could fathom possible. All of life is a journey, the destinations we preconceive to obtain are only the ending results of where our feet take us, but it is the internal life of our spirituality and our interconnection with our families that count moreso than how quickly we achieve our dreams and goals. I appreciated an underthread focus on giving back and being cognisant of how all of us have the ability to be an angel to someone else at a quiet moment where no one expected to understand what was needed when we gave them a random act of kindness.

A notation on the Cover Art: A small ‘fly in the ointment’:

I was a bit surprised to have learnt that the main characters inside Sense & Sensibility: A Latter-Day Tale were of Portuguese descent, as the girls featured on the book cover who are meant to be portraying Elly & Maren do not quite convey this ancestral line for me. Especially the girl on the bottom with her hands folded? She looks more like a bonefide California girl to me? I normally do not mention when book cover art wrinkles my nose a bit as to off-set what is being discussed in the novels I read, except for when I notice such a disconnection like this one. Perhaps my vocality on the subject is strengthened by my further awareness of the work We Need Diverse Books is bringing to the publishing industry as well. I am of European descent myself, and I know what olive skin looks like as my Mum inherited it, whilst it skipped over a generation in me. I realise this was a blended family, which is also why the girl on the top of the cover I thought might have been a plausible ‘Elly’. Everything else about the cover was appealing, but I was thrown off a bit by the depictions of the main characters.

I think if the character traits were described a bit more as a reflection of the actress Alexis Bledel (who has a multicultural hertiage, although not Portuguese) I might not have felt it was an odd fit. I simply had a disconnect between how the sisters are written inside the novel and how they are reflected on the book cover.

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This Blog Tour Stop is courtesy of Cedar Fort, Inc.:

Cedar Fort Publishing & Media

Virtual Road Map of “Sense & Sensibility: A Latter-Day Tale

Blog Tour can be found here:

Sense & Sensibility Blog Tour with Cedar Fort

Previous books I have read & reviewed for Cedar Fort:

Uncovering Cobbogoth by Hannah L. Clark

The Dreamosphere by Laura Stoddard

How Much Do You Love Me? by Paul Mark Tag

Make Everyday Meaningful by Randal A. Wright

I welcome your comments & conversations!

Click-through to mark your calendars for:

Bookish Events badge created by Jorie in Canva

Return on Sunday,

when I review Willow Springs,

the first of the Pure Romance novels from Cedar Fort!

August Romance Releases by Cedar Fort Publishing & Media

As I previously reviewed How Much Do You Love Me

I am happily blessed to be reading & reviewing

the first three “Pure Romance” novels by Cedar Fort!

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Sense & Sensibility: A Latter-Day Tale

Places to find the book:

Borrow from a Public Library

Add to LibraryThing

Series: A Latter-Day Tale,


Format: Paperback

Pages: 247

Reader Interactive Question:

Are you an Austenite or Janeite? Have you ever read an after canon like me prior to reading the original canon of Jane Austen!? Is Sense & Sensibility amongst your most beloved Jane Austen’s stories?! What originally drew you inside the world of Jane Austen’s breadth for story-telling and what do you appreciate by sequel authors, re-tellers, and inspired by Austen writers of the modern publishing industry? What do you look for inside their stories the most? 

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This post is in connection with my participation of:

Austen in August 2014 Badge created by Jorie in Canva

{SOURCES: Book Cover Art for “Sense & Sensibility: A Latter-Day Tale”, Book Synospis, Author Biography, & Author Photograph provided by Rebecca H. Jamison and used with permission. Tour badge for “Sense & Sensibility: A Latter-Day Tale” was provided by Cedar Fort Publishing & Media and used with permission. The Cedar Fort badge was provided by Cedar Fort, Inc. and used by permission. The Book Synopsis video of the novel by Bonneville Books had either URL share links or coding which made it possible to embed this media portal to this post, and I thank them for the opportunity to share more about this novel and the author who penned it. Blog Tour badge provided by Parajunkee to give book bloggers definition on their blogs. Post dividers badge by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Austen in August badge created by Jorie in Canva. }

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2014.

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

About jorielov

I am self-educated through local libraries and alternative education opportunities. I am a writer by trade and I cured a ten-year writer’s block by the discovery of Nanowrimo in November 2008. The event changed my life by re-establishing my muse and solidifying my path. Five years later whilst exploring the bookish blogosphere I decided to become a book blogger. I am a champion of wordsmiths who evoke a visceral experience in narrative. I write comprehensive book showcases electing to get into the heart of my reading observations. I dance through genres seeking literary enlightenment and enchantment. Starting in Autumn 2013 I became a blog book tour hostess featuring books and authors. I joined The Classics Club in January 2014 to seek out appreciators of the timeless works of literature whose breadth of scope and voice resonate with us all.

"I write my heart out and own my writing after it has spilt out of the pen." - self quote (Jorie of Jorie Loves A Story)

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Posted Monday, 18 August, 2014 by jorielov in 21st Century, Adoption, After the Canon, Austen in August, Autism, Blog Tour Host, Book Synopsis Read Aloud, Bookish Discussions, Bookish Films, Bout of Books, California, Cedar Fort Publishing & Media, Charity & Philanthropy, Classical Literature, Compassion & Acceptance of Differences, Contemporary Romance, Dairy-Free Foods, Dating & Humour Therein, Death, Sorrow, and Loss, Equality In Literature, Family Life, Fly in the Ointment, Food Panties & Community Assistance, Foreclosure | Short Sale | House Auction, Gluten-Free Foods, Grief & Anguish of Guilt, Indie Author, Inspirational Fiction & Non-Fiction, Inspired By Author OR Book, Jane Austen Sequel, Library Catalogues & Databases, Local Libraries | Research Libraries, Maryland, Mental Health, Mental Illness, Modern Day, Mormonism, Multicultural Marriages & Families, Psychiatric Facilities, RALs | Thons via Blogs, Re-Told Tales, Reading Challenges, Realistic Fiction, Romance Fiction, Romantic Comedy, Sense & Sensibility Re-telling, Siblings, Singletons & Commitment, Sisters & the Bond Between Them, Special Needs Children, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, World Religions




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5 responses to “+Blog Book Tour+ Sense & Sensibility: A Latter-Day Tale by Rebecca H. Jamison A twice-published after canon author of Jane Austen’s works!

  1. Ahh, Jane Austen makes my heart happy :)
    I’m generally a “read the book first” type of person, but I had watched adaptations of Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, and Emma before reading those novels. The only modern retelling I watched beforehand was Clueless, and I didn’t realize it was based on Emma until years afterwards. Actually, it was the 2005 Kiera Knightley version of Pride and Prejudice (now my favorite movie) which turned me on my path to becoming a Janeite in the first place. And although it takes more liberties with the novel than the BBC version, I love it as much as I love Austen’s original text.
    There are some film and book retellings that I’m not so fond of, one in particular that stands out in my mind is the movie Scents and Sensibility. I feel that if you’re going to do Austen you have to do it well, and not every adaptation is able to grasp the spirit of Austen. That being said I have read modern retellings that resonated with me in unexpected ways, like The Last Best Kiss, which is based on Persuasion. Maybe certain Austen novels are better for modern retellings than others? I have yet to find a Sense and Sensibility retelling that I like.

  2. Oh, how I wish I could read Jane Austen’s works! I tried! Her language is SO beautiful, but I was in the dictionary so often (to clarify exactly how she meant what she wrote), it made it feel more like a text book :( I just couldn’t do it. I guess I have to settle for the movies. At least I get to enjoy the stories on that level :)

    • Hallo Ms. Donna,

      Ooh, that is quite unfair — although I fully understand! My classmates struggled with Shakespeare, even though I picked up his meanings in step with our readings. I was curious, as there are a lot of wicked sequel authors & after canon novelists who are spinning modern & contemporary (as well as historicals, come to think on it!) adaptations of her classic works — did you ever consider to try those? To have a bit of Austen but without the complexitiy of Old English and her ruminations?

      As I find ones that attract me into their texts, you’ll have a starting map of where to go? I’d be honoured to help you with this quest, as no matter how you greet Jane Austen: by canon, by after canon, or by motion pictures, you can consider yourself an Austenite or Janeite!

      And, that is worth celebrating! :)

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