Yapping about the Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion with spoilers including Vol. 8 and thoughts in no particular order:
Emma is a delightful protagonist and very funny and I really hope she ends up going to Oxford! Absolutely cheering at her calling Maggie odious (I cannot stand Maggie).
I hope she ends up collecting the rest of her father's library along the way. I've really loved watching her slowly heal from Maxwell's death and I like that it's a slow process taking multiple books.
Wonder if we'll ever get to hear what Evelyn said and did at the first memorial for Maxwell - Emma notes that she hasn't told anyone, including Arabella.
Maxwell's letter :( :( :( (
"My thoughts are for you, along with whatever stories I can pull out of this barren land and bring home. I don't want to come back here when it's all over. Do you mind? We will find different places. Other roads.
I love you, you know."
Maggie is really awful (aside from the sign swap, except then she just left Emma in the maze) and should stay far, far away unless she learns to be nicer to her brother (who was also hosting) and Emma.
I love Mary's subplot with her incredibly attractive professor and hope they end up together.
Roland is very fun and may never manage to buy a book for Emma that she doesn't already have.
I definitely think Emma will ultimately end up with Hawkes, partly because he's my favorite and partly because I really think that's where it's going. But we're only like 1/3 of the way through the whole story yet and I will be content with Emma ending up with Pierce or Islington.
Suspect Islington's twin sister Hannah got into some sort of trouble and died as a result, which would explain Islington's fury at finding Emma at The Drunken Duck, among other things, including him telling Emma that he won't let her fall and then repeating that - vehemently - to Mariana.
Islington is great but out of the picture as a love interest, I believe, given that he ends up sick in Emma's house and that does not get capitalized on for romance. Instead there are bits with Pierce and Hawkes ("Emma is very pretty") and Islington calls Emma by Hannah's name when he's sick (Ooooof at "I've been waiting and waiting, Hannah" and "I'm so sorry. Can't say it enough"). And later there's the conversation with Mariana about how Emma would have made "the last corner" of the group of him and Hannah and Becca (as in: a dear friend but not a replacement for either of the other two).
Pierce is FANTASTIC during the arc with Maxwell's funeral. (And Islington and Hawkes turning up once they get back to London and all the guys being good company for Emma - and also providing dinner and three kinds of cake - is one of my favorite bits.). And I like him very much - although Islington and Hawkes are absolutely right to be worried about his drinking and anger and the general he-lives-in-the-same-house-as-Emma impropriety, yikes - but I think he and Emma will not end up together because they want different things. Them having opposite stances on whether or not to have kids is a big deal. And there are other smaller things. Emma's briefly delighted at him quoting Shakespeare from a newspaper, but he didn't do it intentionally and certainly won't do it on a regular basis; she picks sea and he picks inland during the bonfire conversation.
EMMA/HAWKES IS ENDGAME. Hawkes is also my favorite and we're only 1/3 of the way through the story so I could of course be wrong. XD (And I will no doubt be content if Emma ends up with Pierce or Islington instead).
I hope he retains his uncanny ability to turn up when he's needed and to disappear and reappear at will, no matter what else happens.
He's definitely Oberon! And during that odd little scene where he brings Emma cake he tells her to open her window and says there's a "scented breeze fit for Oberon's court."
Emma notes on the way down the garden path to see Julius Caesar that she "felt almost like Titania" (!).
During the day when Emma is whisked away to do embroidery instead of getting to wander around with the guys, she starts working on a banner for Hawkes - "Hawkes's fox began to take shape. (Hawkes the Fox!)" Wonder if that'll turn out to be a Christmas present and the other two guys will get similar banners (like what she did with the pillows).
Julius Caesar cast guesses for Vol 9, assuming one or more of the guys are in it in addition to Emma:
Emma: Only two options here - Caesar's wife or Brutus's wife. No idea which!
Islington: Marc Antony, given Emma's "You are wasted as a duke. You ought to have been a Marc Antony" comment
Pierce: Possibly Cassius, given the men in the bar yelling the "Yond Cassius" speech at him very early on, much to his dismay. Or Brutus or Caesar. Not sure how pleased he would be about being on stage.
Hawkes: I'm guessing Brutus or Caesar.
