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    Keeping the Castle
    Keeping the Castle
    Keeping the Castle
    Audiobook6 hours

    Keeping the Castle

    Written by Patrice Kindl

    Narrated by Bianca Amato

    4.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Award-winning author Patrice Kindl has garnered starred reviews from Kirkus and Publishers Weekly for her return to the YA genre with this humorous take on the classic Regency romance. In Keeping the Castle, 17-year-old Althea must find a wealthy suitor to support her family, and handsome Lord Boring seems like a fine choice--until his friend Mr. Fredericks intervenes.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateJul 5, 2013
    ISBN9781470370404
    Keeping the Castle
    Author

    Patrice Kindl

    Patrice Kindl's first novel, Owl in Love, was an ALA Notable Book for Children, an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, and an SCBWI Golden Kite Award Honor Book.

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    Reviews for Keeping the Castle

    4.5/5

    12 ratings10 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Take a classic Jane Austen novel with the wonderful banter and give it a Cinderella tweak here and there and you have the marvelous Keeping the Castle. Back in the day if you were the oldest female and of a certain age you needed to find a husband. If you are lucky you have a decent dowlry but if your family is in dire straits you will need to find a husband who can afford to take on the family's crumbling castle. This is Althea's situation and she is doing her best to find that husband, avoid her two stepsisters and make sure her mother and younger brother are well taken care of. Fun banter keeps the story fresh and you will love Althea's "take no prisoners" attitude.
    • 3/5
      This book would be the offspring if I Capture the Castle attended a swingers party with all of the Jane Austen novels and were disgraced in the family way with this novel. We had the "heroine" of the novel Althea who was like Emma from Emma [not Mariane since she never felt any love for the Baron but it shares similarities there as well] and Rose from I Capture the Castle. Her step-sister Charity would be Jane Fairfax and Prudence was Mary Bennett from Pride and Prejudice. Their home is a sort of castle built by the chalk cliffs in Yorkshire. This is where I Capture the Castle comes in. Their family needs money to maintain the castle until her little brother comes along. Althea has to find a rich husband but she's too outspoken and lets it slip she's only interested in marriage for the money. Althea never lets us forget she is beautiful and all of the men admire her for it. If it weren't for her selfish step-sisters hoarding their money [think Sense and Sensibility] they could maintain the estate. Althea spends her time arranging for people to get married like Emma and even uses a painting of herself to help set a couple up.This book isn't for me since I enjoy the gothics rather than comedy of manners. I think I'll stick with Madeleine Brent and Mary Stewart when I need my romantic period fix. I gobbled up the Victoria Holt's in my pre-teen years and Jane Eyre is a personal favourite. I like a little danger and mystery. I could care less what to serve everyone for tea.If you enjoy a heroine who is all about good family breeding and money then this might be your cup of tea. I like a movie with these qualities as much as the next girl but give me Mr. Knightley only when Jeremy Northam is playing him. Please no Mark Strong addressing the servants! Northam is my dream guy and gave Knightley some charm. Althea kept protesting she needed to marry for the servants sake. She did not have me fooled. She constantly put anyone down who came from trade or whose lineage were not of the peerage.I suppose we must add Nancy Mitford's U and Non u to the recipe book.The entire book was written in a tongue and cheek tone which put Mitford in mind.However, what was she trying to say here? Times aren't entirely like this now. They do not have to be at least. So what was the point in telling a book with social themes that don't apply to social themes now? Because they did matter in Austen's time.This book did not tell an actual story but seemed like it wanted to ram something down our throats.
    • 4/5
      A fun, humorous, light read that fans of Jane Austen and BBC period dramas will appreciate. It's short, but it contains the kind of action present in a Jane Austen movie--tea, walks on the moors, portrait painting--so it may not be the best for ever reader. (though the ending is rather exciting as everything comes to a head.) It's quite humourous, with some inside jokes here and there (like Doctor Haxhamptonshire, pronounced Dr Hamster).
    • 4/5
      This is three and a half, nearly four stars.It's really very darling, it's a riff on Regency novels -- and everything I have seen on it keeps referencing Pride and Prejudice and I Capture the Castle but the voice it reminded me of the MOST is Emma. For what it's worth. Poor girl with castle trying to snag a rich husband. Short, cute and mostly funny ... at first I was a little nervous that it was going to be all winking and no heart. The warmth does come out more as the book goes on. For reasons I don't understand, as I was reading, in my mind I was picturing this story depicted in an Edward Gorey-style series of illustrations. Grade: It's like a very strong B+Recommended: I would it's the kind of thing that you would like if you have read The Right Kinds of Books. I can't imagine it working very well at all for someone who wasn't that interested in the source material in the first place.
    • 4/5
      A delightful, tongue-in-cheek nod to Jane Austen and Regency era novels about the trials, tribulations and oddities of courtship.

      I struggled a bit to connect with Althea, but she's witty, observant and always seems to be plotting. And I can admire those traits and enjoy the consequences and retorts that come from them. If I had to put a finger on what my issue was with Althea, it was how we were introduced to her: the situation came off as cold and calculating instead of witty and smart to me.

      And I loved the Castle. I loved how decrepit it was. It wasn't just gusty and starting to slightly crumble. It was seriously, 100% falling down. And yet Althea loved it. And wanted to save it.

      Like I said - a fun, delightful read. (And a quick one, for what it's worth.) A great historical read for those who may not like the flowery language of the Regency novels.
    • 4/5
      So light it would float away if it weren't for the subtle commentary on how slim women's choices were during the regency period, Keeping the Castle is a delightful, romantic romp of a story. Althea has always known she must marry for money in order to keep her family's dilapidated castle as an inheritance for her much younger brother. When a new eligible gentlemen moves to the neighborhood bringing several eligible friends (and one annoying cousin)with him as well, the hunt for a husband is on - but with two stepsisters (not wicked so much, as not very nice) and the very rich Miss Vincy also on the scene, Althea's plans may not go quite as smoothly as she hopes!
    • 4/5
      Keeping the Castle was a really quick, cute story. It was pretty much a watered-down version of a Jane Austen novel. A poor beautiful girl is in need of a rich husband and several rich men are suddenly thrown in her way. Everyone has their secrets and all are eventually revealed. I did enjoy this book, and thought it was pretty funny. Overall, I'd recommend it.
    • 4/5
      Seventeen-year-old Althea lives in a crumbling, laughable faux-castle on a cliff designed by a debilitatingly romantic ancestor. Her family has no money, her two stepsisters are stingy with theirs, their castle is falling apart around them, and they will starve to death unless the practical Althea marries well. Althea sets her sights on the handsome and rich Lord Boring…but in addition to the irritating and unwanted near-constant presence of Lord Boring’s cousin Mr. Fredericks, there’s a lot more that doesn’t go according to Althea’s plans.KEEPING THE CASTLE is a quick, Austen-flavored story that you can breeze through in a few short hours. Is it a keeper? Well…I enjoyed the voice and the setup, but felt the story was too short to develop the characters and their predicaments into full and empathizable creations.My favorite thing about KEEPING THE CASTLE was definitely its Austenian influence. Aptly described as a combination of Dodie Smith’s lovely I Capture the Castle (another book I loved) and Jane Austen’s works, KEEPING THE CASTLE features a spunky heroine whose extreme pragmatism is cause for many moments of laughs and head-shaking sighs. Althea’s practical nature make her the perfect foil for the social foibles that typically occur in Austenian novels, but it is when that delightful personality comes up against tired Austenian elements and a too-quick plot development that things stumble for me.No matter how much I love Jane Austen, there comes a point where Austenian elements tire me out. Unfortunately, I felt like KEEPING THE CASTLE crammed all of the most recognizable elements of Austen’s novels into a quick 250 pages, resulting in sensory/familiarity overload for me. First, Althea seeks a rich husband (youth and attractiveness a plus but not required). Later, she attempts to matchmake between two of her new acquaintances. Okay, to be honest, I’ve only read two of Austen’s novels to their conclusions, but combining the most familiar elements of Pride and Prejudice and Emma into one story felt like overkill to me.Additionally, the short length of the book prevented the characters and plot from developing thoroughly. It was hard for me to ever get a grasp on the attraction between Althea and Mr. Fredericks. Bickering couples are sometimes fun for me to read about, but unlike the change in Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy’s feelings toward and understanding of each other, Althea and Mr. Fredericks never seem to undergo the same kind of mental evolution. Secondary couplings are also barely explained, with the result that I flitted from one marital revolution to the other in a state of confusion and only polite interest, instead of emotional investment in the characters and their outcomes.Overall, KEEPING THE CASTLE is a relatively fun and diverting read for a lazy afternoon (or a sleepless night, if you’re me), but it doesn’t as if it will be a staple of Austenian literature.
    • 5/5
      I have to admit that I am not entirely sure if this book deserves four stars or five. Maybe it is just four. But I have been having a couple of those days where my mood is just all over the map, and I simply feel worn out, and now I do actually feel better. This little book (and it is little, and it looks pretty) is funny, very much like Jane Austen, and while it does have it's tense, wondering what's going to happen moments, it has a certain degree of freedom in its reality--e.g. a certain character having a child from an unapproved marriage (by her parents), and presents the idea of not marrying and being able to do what one truly wants to--such as following artistic endeavors.





      *****Some spoilers*****
      There are a lot of Austen-like references--Pride and Prejudice and Emma are the two that pop to mind first. I liked Mr. Fredericks from the start simply because he seemed to be the only one that was looking at the world who wasn't wearing rose-tinted glasses and saw things for what they were, and also because he was kind to Alexander. So did Althea, but she was still caught up in the necessity for marriage, trying to arrange things she thought would help but didn't, and in some cases making things worse--things started to get a little out of control. Much like the castle, with all of its jutting turrets and odd angles, Althea is trying to fit into a world she doesn't quite understand--all the knows is that she needs to marry for money to keep Crooked Castle. But what, really, is the point of keeping such a monstrosity, as eccentric and endearing as it may be? All she and her mother have been doing, their whole lives, it to pour money into this decrepit thing, which, as Mr. Fredericks pointed out, doesn't have a strong enough foundation to even stand on.

      Getting into my symbolism mode here, I think Crooked Castle could be used as a metaphor for marriages where the two people don't have much in common. They try to make it work, and it gets edges and goes off in all directions. If they can keep the big storms at bay, maybe the foundation with survive. Maybe the Baron (Boring lol) and Charity will be able to succeed in their marriage as neither of them are particularly deep thinkers. Miss Vincy will work things out. Althea and her Mother will both be happy. I loved the fact that Mr. Fredericks proposes to Althea as Crooked Castle is continuing to crash over the cliff a little bit at a time--a few chairs, other bits of things. As the impossible thing Althea was trying to save is destroyed, a whole new life opens up for her, one far more pleasant than living in a leaky, damp, drafty, cold castle.
    • 5/5
      In Keeping the Castle by Patrice Kindl, we meet Althea, the most delightfully mercenary heroine of any Regency romance I've ever read. Althea's father is dead, her mother is sweet but impractical, and the whimsical castle built by her eccentric great-grandfather is crumbling about her shoulders. Althea is willing to marry just about any man with a large enough fortune to rescue the estate, so her hopes run high when young, handsome, and wealthy Lord Boring moves into his family estate nearby. Althea is confident that her beauty will win Lord Boring's hand . . . but his infuriating man of business, Mr. Fredericks, keeps distracting her!This was a delightfully fun and funny romance. Yes, I saw most of the plot twists coming a mile off, but that didn't detract in the slightest from my enjoyment of the story. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys a well-written, lighthearted historical romance.