Syrie James

The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen — (2008) Publisher: Many rumors abound about a mysterious gentleman said to be the love of Jane's life — finally, the truth may have been found... What if, hidden in an old attic chest, Jane Austen's memoirs were discovered after hundreds of years? What if those pages revealed the untold story of a life-changing love affair? That's the premise behind this spellbinding novel, which delves into the secrets of Jane Austen's life, giving us untold insights into her mind and heart. Jane Austen has given up her writing when, on a fateful trip to Lyme, she meets the well-read and charming Mr. Ashford, a man who is her equal in intellect and temperament. Inspired by the people and places around her, and encouraged by his faith in her, Jane begins revising Sense and Sensibility, a book she began years earlier, hoping to be published at last. Deft and witty, written in a style that echoes Austen's own, this unforgettable novel offers a delightfully possible scenario for the inspiration behind this beloved author's romantic tales. It's a remarkable book, irresistible to anyone who loves Jane Austen — and to anyone who loves a great story.

The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Bronte — (2009) Publisher: "I have written about the joys of love. I have, in my secret heart, long dreamt of an intimate connection with a man; every Jane, I believe, deserves her Rochester." Though poor, plain, and unconnected, Charlotte Bronte possesses a deeply passionate side which she reveals only in her writings — creating Jane Eyre and other novels that stand among literature's most beloved works. Living a secluded life in the wilds of Yorkshire with her sisters Emily and Anne, their drug-addicted brother, and an eccentric father who is going blind, Charlotte Bronte dreams of a real love story as fiery as the ones she creates. But it is in the pages of her diary where Charlotte exposes her deepest feelings and desires — and the truth about her life, its triumphs and shattering disappointments, her family, the inspiration behind her work, her scandalous secret passion for the man she can never have... and her intense, dramatic relationship with the man she comes to love, the enigmatic Arthur Bell Nicholls. "Who is this man who has dared to ask for my hand? Why is my father so dead set against him? Why are half the residents of Haworth determined to lynch him — or shoot him?" From Syrie James, the acclaimed, bestselling author of The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen, comes a powerfully compelling, intensely researched literary feat that blends historical fact and fiction to explore the passionate heart and unquiet soul of Charlotte Bronte. It is Charlotte's story, just as she might have written it herself.

Dracula, My Love: The Secret Journals of Mina Harker — (2010) Publisher: A THRILLING, PAGE-TURNING TALE OF ADVENTURE AND FORBIDDEN PASSION... Syrie James approaches Bram Stoker's classic Dracula with a breathtaking new perspective — as, for the first time, Mina Harker records the shocking story of her scandalous seduction and sexual rebirth. Who is this magnetic, fascinating man? And how could one woman fall so completely under his spell? Mina Harker is torn between two men. Struggling to hang on to the deep, pure love she's found within her marriage to her husband, Jonathan, she is inexorably drawn into a secret, passionate affair with a charismatic but dangerous lover. This haunted and haunting creature has awakened feelings and desires within her that she has never before known, which remake her as a woman. Although everyone she knows fears him and is pledged to destroy him, Mina sees a side to him that the others cannot: a tender, romantic side; a man who's taken full advantage of his gift of immortality to expand his mind and talents; a man who is deeply in love, and who may not be evil after all. Soon, they are connected in a way she never thought humanly possible. Yet to surrender is surely madness, for to be with him could end her life. It may cost Mina all she holds dear, but to make her choice she must learn everything she can about the remarkable origins and unique, sensuous powers of this man, this exquisite monster, this... Dracula!

Dracula, My Love: The Secret Journals of Mina Harker

Syrie James, author of two straight historical novels, dips her toes into the paranormal pool with Dracula, My Love. Using Bram Stoker’s classic novel Dracula as a framework, James tells the story from the point of view of Mina Harker, and adds a twist: What if Mina wasn’t just ensorcelled by Dracula, but truly loved him?

I figured this would be a hard sell for me. The popular view of the vampire has changed throughout time, from the ravenous monsters of folklore to the seductive villains of nineteenth-century fiction to the romantic heroes and antiheroes of the last few decades. But Mina in love with Dracula? The man who killed her best friend? I wondered how Syrie James would get me past this issue.

The answer is really clever. James makes excellent use of a plot point in Dracula that always did ring false to me as a modern reader. The Count has explanations for all the other crimes he’s accused of, too. Which, if any, of his stories are true? Much is left for readers to decide for themselves.

By deciding to remain faithful to Bram Stoker’s original, Syrie James sets herself a difficult task. The well-known plotline of Dracula and the prescribed gender roles of the Victorian period give Mina a limited range of actions. There’s only a certain extent to which she can drive the plot. Yet if she’s to carry a novel for over 400 pages, she needs to do things. James strikes an effective balance between the bones of Stoker’s story and the need to make Mina a dynamic character. Many of her actions, by necessity, go unseen by the men around her. But James gives her Mina plenty of opportunities to affect events behind the scenes, and also gives her the compelling emotional dilemma of being torn between two men she loves in different ways.

Dracula, My Love imitates the prose style of a 19th-century novel. This means sometimes the dialogue feels stilted and a little too expository, compared to what readers today are used to. This hampered my reading at first, but when I thought about it, it helped convey the sense of reading a long-lost, rediscovered manuscript from the period. The book is also a little melodramatic in places, but Dracula and melodrama do go well together!

Overall, Dracula, My Love is a fun, engrossing novel that will keep you turning pages to learn what will happen next and what twists Syrie James will add to the original. It’s not a short book, but it moves quickly and never feels long. I recommend it to vampire fans and to fans of “from the female perspective” retellings of literary classics. —Kelly Lasiter

Nocturne — (2011) Publisher: When Nicole Walker runs off the road in a blinding snowstorm after attending a friend’s wedding at a Colorado ski resort, she wakes up to find herself stranded at the remote mountain house of a handsome, enigmatic stranger. She lives and works in a fast-paced, high tech world; he is cultured and modern yet lives a quiet life in self-imposed exile. They are both powerfully attracted to each other, but there are things about him that mystify her and fill her with apprehension — and Nicole can’t shake the feeling that he really doesn’t want her there. She soon discovers that he’s a famous, reclusive author, renowned for his highly detailed and authentic historical fiction, and fiercely protective of his privacy. No wonder he was so reluctant to take her in, Nicole thinks. But he hides a far darker secret. As the sexual tension between them builds, the clues mount up. When Nicole realizes that her host is an ages-old vampire who thirsts for her blood, there’s nowhere for her to run but the blizzard raging outside, and he’s the only one who can save her life. By now there is no turning back; they have both fallen deeply in love, and share several passionate days together while waiting out the storm — a deep, meaningful, and dangerously seductive experience that will change them both forever.

Nocturne

When it’s snowy and blustery out, there are two kinds of books I really love to read: books that whisk me away to a balmy paradise, and books that are set in a snowstorm so that the real weather enhances the mood of the novel. Nocturne is one of the latter, taking place in the Colorado Rockies during a blizzard.

Twenty-nine-year-old Nicole is driving back from a friend’s wedding when she crashes her rental car in the aforementioned snowstorm. She is rescued by Michael, a reclusive man who lives alone in his palatial mountain home. The weather prevents either of them from leaving for several days. Michael is strangely brusque at times, and at first Nicole thinks he is angry about her presence, but before long they establish a connection.

Syrie James invokes classic fairytale tropes to draw readers into a state of enchantment. There’s a room Nicole is forbidden to enter, for example, and a mysterious rose. One plot twist, I think, may be a homage to an old favorite book of mine, L.M. Montgomery’s The Blue Castle, which itself draws heavily on fairytale themes. Yet James doesn’t let the fairytales constrain her story; events don’t always happen as you might expect. That forbidden door swings open with surprising alacrity, revealing one of Michael’s secrets, and another revelation about him follows shortly. The closed doors within Nicole’s mind — hiding nightmares and dreams she’s suppressed for years — take longer to open.

With a tiny cast (two characters, plus a few animals) and a single setting, James spins a story with plenty of drama and character development. Much of the plot unfolds through dialogue. I do have mixed feelings about some of the dialogue. Sometimes, when Nicole and Michael talk, their speech seems a little too expository. For example, when they discuss books, they can sound like they are teaching a class or maybe writing a book review rather than speaking casually. (This worked better, I think, in Dracula, My Love, with its intentionally old-fashioned writing style.) On the other hand, it’s so refreshing to see a paranormal hero and heroine whose relationship is based in large part on conversations about their shared interests. It makes Nocturne more satisfying than books in which the romance is based solely on great sex or on a magical soulmate bond imposed by an external force.

It’s probably not much of a spoiler to say that this is a vampire novel. James raises questions about how a vampire and an ordinary woman fit into each other’s lives, and rejects the easy answers.

A bittersweet love story set against a beautiful wintry background, Nocturne is a curl-up-on-a-cold-night book par excellence. Once you’ve read the ending, you’ll want to read the author’s note that follows. I hope James will revisit Nicole and Michael one day. —Kelly Lasiter

Forbidden — (2012) Publisher: She should not exist. He should not love her. Claire Brennan has been attending Emerson Academy for two years now (the longest she and her mom have remained anywhere) and she’s desperate to stay put for the rest of high school. So there’s no way she’s going to tell her mom about the psychic visions she’s been having or the creepy warnings that she’s in danger. Alec MacKenzie is fed up with his duties to watch and, when necessary, eliminate the descendants of his angelic forefathers. He chose Emerson as the ideal hiding place where he could be normal for once. He hadn’t factored Claire into his plans... Their love is forbidden, going against everything Alec has been taught to believe. But when the reason behind Claire’s unusual powers is revealed and the threat to her life becomes clear, how far will Alec go to protect her?

Forbidden

I enjoyed Syrie James’s first two paranormal novels, Dracula, My Love and Nocturne, and so I was happy to try her new young adult paranormal, Forbidden, co-written with her son Ryan James. I enjoyed Forbidden but found that it didn’t quite stack up against the two aforementioned books.

Forbidden centers on Claire, a studious high school girl; and Alec, a Grigori angel who goes AWOL from his job of eliminating fallen Nephilim (human/angel hybrids) and decides to attend high school. It turns out that Claire is not entirely human herself, making their budding romance a violation of angel law. The narrative alternates between their points of view.

The novel is a quick, smooth read, and its main characters are pleasant people to read about. Claire is sympathetic, and her friends are sweet and funny. Alec is a good guy who wants to do the right thing. His rival for Claire’s affections is a decent guy too, and the popular girl also seems genuinely nice even though Claire expects her not to be. Claire’s mother is more involved and supportive than is common in this genre. The enigmatic Helena, once we finally meet her, is awesome! With the obvious exception of the villains, the characters in this book are easy to like. Another nice touch is the genre savvy of Claire and her friends. Before they find out what Alec really is, Claire tosses around the idea that he might be a vampire, or maybe a Slayer.

The trouble is, Forbidden’s plot feels like something I’ve seen before. There’s the shy girl who doesn’t realize she’s gorgeous; the mysterious supernatural guy who goes to high school despite being over 100 years old; angels and Grigori and Nephilim, which are everywhere at the moment; a romance that is against all the universe’s rules; and a love triangle. What I loved best about James’s previous books was that they stood out from the rest of the paranormal field: Dracula, My Love had those fun twists on Bram Stoker’s original Dracula, and Nocturne told a vampire story as a character study and something of a fairy tale retelling and had an unconventional ending. Forbidden is a lot more like the other books out there.

You could do a lot worse than Forbidden. The writing is fine and the story didn’t annoy me with sexism or character stupidity, as some YA paranormal novels have done. The likable characters and smooth prose keep the pages turning. But the familiarity of the plot detracts from the experience, and it needed a little something more to make it stand out from the field. —Kelly Lasiter