About the Book
Author: Jen Turano
Genre: Christian, Romance, Historical, Gilded Age
Release Date: April 21, 2026
LESSON TWO: Become headmistress and expect to find yourself partnering with an attractive inventor to search for treasure.
Annaliese Merriweather has been appointed the temporary headmistress of the Merriweather Academy for Young Ladies while her sister is on her honeymoon, but she doesn’t feel cut out for the role. Especially after she loses two of her most troublesome students during an outing to a county fair and has to recruit the help of Seth McCormick, an eccentric inventor, to retrieve them.
Soon after, one of those mischievous students disappears again, intent on pursuing a pirate map. Together, Annaliese and Seth set out to find her, accompanied by a menagerie of Annaliese’s rescued animal companions. As they stumble from one chaotic situation to the next, sparks fly between Annaliese and Seth. Somehow, they’ll need to outwit dangerous individuals also intent on seeking the treasure and bring everyone back in one piece—all while deciphering what their hearts desire.
With witty characters and humorous banter, Jen Turano takes readers on a lively tale of hijinks, humor, treasure hunting, and forced proximity in her latest historical rom-com set in Chicago at a finishing school during the Gilded Age.
Click here to get your copy!
My Review
Turano has done it again, giving readers a laugh out loud novel. Her characters include Annaliese, a headmistress who, as a child, took a tarantula to school on pet day. Another is Seth, an inventor who is full of innovative ideas like an eau de skunk safety device for his niece, but doesn't have a constructive thought when it comes to romance. Add to them a parrot with salty language, a monkey that steals jewelry, a ferret that doubles as a neck scarf, a few pirates and other quirky characters like mothers and you have a delightful novel.
Underlying the humor and fun scenes are a couple of serious issues. One is encouragement to follow your passions, no matter how odd. Another is a passion for helping animals and birds needing rescue from harm, a sort of care for creation theme. The pacing may not be consistently the same but the final result reads well and is great entertainment.
This is an enjoyable romantic comedy. There will be more humorous adventures centered on the Merriweather Academy and I will be watching for them.
My rating: 4/5 stars.
About the Author
More from Jen
Welcome Jen! Why don’t you start off by telling us a little about “In Pursuit of Civility.
- Thank you so much for hosting me. It’s always exciting to release a new book, and “In Pursuit of Civility” is no exception to that. The short telling of what the book’s about is this – it’s the second installment in the Merriweather Academy for Young Ladies series, and readers will get to travel with Annaliese Merriweather as she tries to adapt to being given the position of temporary headmistress of the academy while her sister goes off on holiday. Clearly, Annaliese is going to have some trouble with this new position, that idea proven when two of her students go missing – and on purpose – and go missing not once, but twice. That right there is exactly why Annaliese finds herself going off with the oh-so-charming Mr. Seth McCormick (and don’t worry, his mother is going off with them to chaperone) to track down her erstwhile students, finding herself involved in quite the adventure, and one that might include a bit of romance.
Annaliese Merriweather is a lady who enjoys saving animals. Any reason why you chose that particular pursuit for her?
- Years ago, when reading up on John Astor, I was appalled to discover that, while he amassed a fortune that was unheard of back in the nineteenth century, he did so by completely decimating the beaver population. That always stuck with me, as did what happened to the bird population due to overzealous plume hunters during that time, those plume hunters staying in business because ladies wanted to adorn their hats with an overabundance of feathers. I’d been waiting for the right storyline to come up where I could add an animal advocate, and when Annaliese popped to mind when I was crafting the outline for the Merriweather series, I knew she was going to be the lady I was going to use to bring just a little attention to what happened to birds and beavers during the Industrial Revolution.
Were there any parts of this book that gave you trouble?
- While I would love to say “Of course not,” that just wouldn’t be true because all of my stories give me trouble at some point. This one happened relatively early on because, at first, I had Annaliese rescue a whole mess of animals in the first couple chapters. I knew full-well that I had too many, but you know how I love writing those animal scenes, so…I left all of them in the original draft that I sent to my editors, knowing they’d spot the issue, but then leaving it up to them to suggest which animals I should cut. I’m sad to say that Bart the Bear got the boot. Yes, that’s right. However, because I was so attached to darling Bart, he makes an appearance in the third and final book of the series “A Dash of Decorum.”
What is a question you get asked the most as an author?
- That’s an easy one because people always ask me if I always dreamed of being a writer, and…nope. I really wanted to be a singer – and yes, I can carry a tune – but I suffer from extreme stage fright and anytime I would get up in front of an audience I would turn all sorts of queasy. That’s why I abandoned that dream and majored in fashion. I just started writing as something fun to do with my son when he was in elementary school, and it turned out that I really enjoyed it. It took me five years and seven manuscripts to secure a literary agent, and then it took her about a year before she sold “A Change of Fortune” for me. I’ve been writing ever since.
If you had to pick a character from your book to be stuck in a haunted academy with – since the Merriweather Academy was rumored to be haunted in book one – who would it be?
- I’d definitely go with Miss Seraphina Livingston because she has all of those delicious secrets, and secrets that revolve around how she’s capable of wielding a pistol with ease, taking out assailants with a good round-kick to the head, and…she might know a thing or two about how best to use dynamite to get out of a tricky situation.
How has your writing evolved since you began writing?
- I definitely write a tighter story these days, and I’m also more mindful of making sure my chapters are moving the story along at a rapid pace. Having had the pleasure of working with an editing team for years now, it’s like they’re sitting on my shoulder as I write that first draft, saying things like “Nope, that’s a total distraction from plot,” which is rather annoying, but saves me a lot of time in the end.
What advice would you give to aspiring authors?
- To always remember that it’s all about the reader. That means that an author needs to know their audience and write accordingly. Every genre has specific unwritten rules, and the best way to understand those rules is to make sure a writer reads a ton of books in the genre they’re hoping to get published in.
What are you working on now?
- I recently turned in developmental edits for the third and final book in the Merriweather series, “A Dash of Decorum.” That’s the step where I’ve turned in a first draft – although know that I go through a book seven times before I turn it in – and then my editors send me their suggestions. I then end up rewriting a good portion of the book because of ripple effects, and then turn it in again. I’m now waiting for them to send me copy/line edits, which aren’t all that difficult to do since I’m just making sure that nothing got cut during the editing process that I want to keep in. I also just turned in the first draft of a Christmas story I wrote, but I was really early with that one, so I won’t be seeing developmental edits for a while. And, the reason I turned that in early is because I just signed a new three-book contract and I need to get started on the first book of the Bluestocking series.
Thank you so much for hosting me. I appreciate everyone stopping in to see what I’ve been doing lately.
All the best,
Jen
Blog Stops
Book Reviews From an Avid Reader, May 21
Sydney Schmied Books, May 21
Devoted Steps, May 22
Blogging With Carol, May 22
Truth and Grace Homseschool Academy, May 23
For Him and My Family, May 24
Holly’s Book Corner, May 24
Book Holds and Jello Molds, May 25
Locks, Hooks and Books, May 25
Texas Book-aholic, May 26
lakesidelivingsite, May 27
Pause for Tales, May 27
Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, May 28
Devoted To Hope, May 29
Fruitfully Planted, May 30
Labor Not in Vain, May 30
Lily’s Corner, May 31
Cover Lover Book Review, May 31
Book Looks by Lisa, June 1
Mary Hake, June 1
Books You Can Feel Good About, June 2
She Lives to Read, June 3
A Good Book and Cup of Tea, June 3
Giveaway
To celebrate her tour, Jen is giving away the grand prize of a book box with a copy of “A Lesson in Propriety”, “In Pursuit of Civility” and entire Matchmaker series – “Meeting Her Match” “To Spark a Match” and “A Match in the Making” !!
Be sure to comment on the blog stops for extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.
https://gleam.io/YjVmt/in-pursuit-of-civility-celebration-tour-giveaway
I received a complimentary egalley of this book through Celebrate Lit. My comments are an independent review.
(My star ratings: 5-I love it, 4-I like it, 3-It's OK, 2-I don't like it, 1-I hate it.)
No comments:
Post a Comment