Finding inspiration in classic works of fiction is a time-honored literary tradition, and one followed—with humor—in three new novels. Just out from Egmont USA is Scones and Sensibility, a first novel by Lindsay Eland, which centers on a 12-year-old fan of Jane Austen, who spends a summer making deliveries for her parents' bakery. This young romantic decides her purpose in life is helping lonely hearts find true love, but—much like Austen's heroine Emma Woodhouse—she learns the pitfalls of playing matchmaker.
Cathleen Davitt Bell's Little Blog on the Prairie riffs on another familiar title. In this May release from Bloomsbury, Gen's mother arranges for the family to vacation at a camp that promises the “thrill” of living like pioneers in the 1890s. Not at all thrilled, Gen surreptitiously e-mails friends back home about life at what she labels “Little Hell on the Prairie.” When they turn her missives into a blog, it becomes a national sensation and a TV crew descends on the camp, disrupting the would-be pioneers.
Presenting a rather twisted twist on the tried-and-true, Little Vampire Women proves that in a post—Pride and Prejudice and Zombies world, nothing is safe from bloodthirsty creatures of the night. Lynn Messina reimagines Louisa May Alcott's March sisters as vampires in this May paperback, due from HarperTeen with a 60,000-copy first printing. The publisher promises that the close-knit siblings are sweeter and more loving than ever—and have ravenous appetites.
