Monday, February 27, 2017

Round One, A Handful of A Levels Bracket

Your Consolation Man. "Hey Girl, I know you were passionate about the homocidal twins in Sun and Candlelight but you'll always have me."
First, the results from the Barfing on His Brogues Bracket. Not a ton of surprises (Caroline's Waterloo crushed The Bachelor's Wedding which was the only clean sweep) but I did have to break a tie between Emma's Wedding and Britannia All at Sea (choosing BAaS because, though I didn't LOVE it, I found it more memorable than EW).

Sister Peters in Amsterdam
The Fateful Bargain
Blow Hot, Blow Cold
An Old-fashioned Girl
Britannia All at Sea
Magic in Vienna
Dearest Love
Dearest Eulalia
When May Follows
The Girl With Green Eyes
Making Sure of Sarah
The Vicar's Daughter
Heidleberg Wedding
An Ordinary Girl
Caroline's Waterloo
Hannah
The Final Touch

And now we charge onto the A Handful of A Levels Bracket! I want to remind all the Betties that they should feel free to jump into the voting whenever they want and to vote wherever they feel they can.

Everyone did a marvelous job of putting their votes in an easily digestable form: Votes first, comments last. I thank you greatly!

Here is the link to the Book Review Archive for Betties, like me, who need a refresher on some of the titles. Voting will close next Monday.

Vote away!

19 comments:

  1. Betty Keira, the last line just says Stormy Springtime vs (bye). Is there something missing?

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    Replies
    1. That means we have an uneven number and that Stormy Springtime will advance uncontested this week. Thanks for asking!

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    2. Sorry to be so thick, Betty Keira! I see your posts first thing in the morning, when I am still propping my eyelids open, and my brain is still lying comatose upstairs!

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  2. A Christmas Proposal
    Wish with the Candles
    Tangled Autumn
    Three for a Wedding
    A Suitable Match
    Tulips for Augusta
    At the End of the Day
    A Matter of Chance
    Two Weeks to Remember
    A Summer Idyll
    A Girl Named Rose
    At Odds with Love
    The Course of True Love
    A Gentle Awakening
    A Small Slice of Summer
    The Magic of Living

    Most of these were no-brainers for me, though several matched ho-hum against ho-hum. Then 'which has fewer goofy improbabilities?' comes in to decide the vote.

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  3. Cobweb Morning
    Wish With the Candles
    The Chain of Destiny
    Three for a Wedding
    A Suitable Match
    Tulips for Augusta
    The Mistletoe Kiss
    Roses for Christmas
    A Summer Idyll
    A Girl Named Rose
    Saturday's Child
    The Course of True Love
    A Gentle Awakening
    When Two Paths Meet
    The Magic of Living


    Comments:
    1. Faked amnesia and the lovely Aunt Thrums.
    2. THIS IS HARD. But, Justin! A great meet-cute, appendicitis attacks nurse in OR. And Justin! Sorry, Krijn and Trixie.
    3. Suzannah vs. The Demon King. Plucky Suzannah and Horace FTW.
    4. Gentle, absent-minded Lucius, a criminal OW who beats puppies.
    5. Eustacia, the Path-Lab-Bottle-Washer and the lovely Sir Colin Crichton.
    6. ANOTHER HAIR-PULLER. But I have to go with Roly and her exposed knickers and Constantijn's four bouquets.
    7. How can you NOT vote for a girl named Ermentrude??? Plus, a plethora of pets and fairy dolls on the Christmas tree.
    8. No brainer here.
    9. One word - IVO.
    10. Again, one word. GEORGE. *sigh*
    11. Rose Comely, Gold Medalist and revisiting the ter Brandts.
    12. Abigail, Dominic and Bollinger. :)
    13. Enoch & Toots, distinctive thumps on the door of your flat, bomb in the physio department, Tennyson and acrophobia.
    14. Lemonade in tinted hair and the awesome Florina.
    15. Ah, Tishy and the Bull or an abandoned baby rescued by the RDD? Must go with Jason and Katherine here.
    16. My very first PBN and RDD was Arabella and Gideon. I loved the name Larissa (RDD sister) so much I determined to name my daughter that, but alas, I had only boys.

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  4. Ok. First of all Blogger ate my comment. What else is new. Feels like old times. :o)

    A Christmas Proposal
    An Unlikely Romance
    Tangled Autumn
    Three For a Wedding
    Year's Happy Ending
    Tulips for Augusta
    At the End of the Day
    Roses for Christmas
    The Fifth Day of Christmas
    A Summer Idyll
    A Girl Named Rose
    Saturday's Child
    The Most Marvelous Summer
    A Gentle Awakening
    A Small Slice of Summer
    The Magic of Living
    Stormy Springtime

    Again, some were really tough decisions.

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  5. Can I just say that I'm loving the bracket names?--Betty Barbara.

    A Christmas Proposal
    Wish with the Candles
    Chain of Destiny
    Three for a Wedding
    Suitable Match
    Tulips for Augusta
    Mistletoe Kiss
    A Matter of Chance
    Fifth Day of Christmas
    Moon for Lavinia
    S Girl Named Rose
    Saturday's Child
    Most Marvelous Summer
    Gentle Awakening
    When Two Paths Meet
    Magic of Living

    Ooh, a couple of real easy ones for me (A Girl Named Rose, Mistletoe Kiss, Fifth Day of Christmas) the rest took some memory refreshing, followed by coin-flipping.

    ReplyDelete
  6. A Christmas Proposal
    Wish with the Candles
    Tangled Autumn
    Three for a Wedding
    A Suitable Match
    Tulips for Augusta
    The Mistletoe Kiss
    Roses for Christmas
    The Fifth Day of Christmas
    A Summer Idyll
    A Girl Named Rose
    Saturday's Child
    The Most Marvellous Summer
    A Gentle Awakening
    A Small Slice of Summer
    The Magic of Living
    Stormy Springtime

    The most difficult decision was between An Unlikely Romance and Wish with the Candles: I do love the absentminded Krijn, but I've more recently enjoyed plucky Emma and her attack of appendicitis in the operating theatre (and Justin's grovelling afterwards). I'll be holding onto hope for Krijn and Trixie as a wildcard...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The next bracket is the one I'm dreading. How am I supposed to choose between A Dream Came True and The Quiet Professor? Or Heaven is Gentle and Not Once but Twice? I may have to abstain...

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    2. Oh, dear, I can't help you with the first pair.
      But I can tell you which book to vote for in the second pair.
      ❤️Duert & Chrissy❤️, douze points.

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    3. I agree, Betty Melody. Heaven is Gentle was one of the earliest Betties I found as a preteen, whereas I didn't read NObT until high school. So while Duert & Chrissy are my fav Neels couple, I will still feel a pang to pass over the inappropriately-named Eliza Proudfoot. :)

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  7. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  8. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  9. Betty Keira,

    I just realized I omitted to vote between Two Weeks to Remember vs. The Fifth Day of Christmas.

    My vote is for The Fifth Day of Christmas.

    ReplyDelete
  10. A Christmas Proposal
    Wish With the Candles
    Tangled Autumn
    Three For a Wedding
    A Suitable Match
    Tulips for Augusta
    At the End of the Day
    Roses for Christmas
    The Fifth Day of Christmas
    The Moon for Lavinia
    A Girl Named Rose
    Saturday's Child
    The Most Marvelous Summer
    A Gentle Awakening
    When Two Paths Meet
    The Magic of Living
    Stormy Springtime

    ReplyDelete
  11. A Christmas Proposal
    Wish With the Candles
    Chain of Destiny
    Three For a Wedding
    A Suitable Match
    Tulips for Augusta
    Mistletoe Kiss
    Matter of Chance
    The Fifth Day of Christmas
    The Moon for Lavinia
    A Girl Named Rose
    Saturday's Child
    The Most Marvelous Summer
    A Gentle Awakening
    When Two Paths Meet
    The Magic of Living


    Not much to say here as the majority of these aren't on my "favorites" list. Only The Magic of Living was a definite for me. I had to look up plots for most of the others.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Christmas Proposal
    Wish with the Candles
    Chain of Destiny
    (skip, haven't read Three for a Wedding)
    Year's Happy Ending
    Tulips for Augusta
    Mistletoe Kiss
    (skip, haven't read Matter of Chance)
    Two Weeks to Remember
    Moon for Lavinia
    Enchanting Samantha
    Saturday's Child
    The Course of True Love
    Gentle Awakening
    Small Slice of Summer
    No Need to Say Goodbye

    Tulips for Augusta and Victory for Victoria are neither of them on my top five list, but I do like both of them, so it's too bad they're against each other--there are a couple of other matchups where I didn't like either one, and it would be nice to see one of them out rather than whichever one of Augusta/Victoria loses. Also I didn't like The Course of True Love the first time I read it, but after 3-4 re-reads, it has become one of my top five. I often miss Betty's humor on a first read, and now Marc cracks me up. All that thumping on the door knocker. Same with Two Weeks-- didn't care much for it the first time, but the second time (which just happened last night) had me laughing, at least during the first couple of chapters. And I know a Girl Named Rose is a great favorite but I can't stand Rose, she takes the "he can't be in love with little ol' me" thing to new lows. Ugh.

    I'm so happy to have found people who love Betty Neels as much as I do, even if we disagree on our favorites. :-)

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    Replies
    1. I think we are all looking forward to that wild card round. :o)

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