None But You, (Frederick Wentworth, Captain: Book 1)

This book is a very good addition to Persuasion. I am really looking forward to the sequel. I would highly recommend this book for all Jane Austen fans.

I loved this! Definitely one of the best of all the Austen spin-offs/backstories/fan fictions that I've read. I can't wait for the second volume to come out, hopefully sometime in October 2008.

I enjoy Austen and was intrigued with the idea of "his side of the story" but at many junctures this doesn't quite come off. It is difficult to reconcile the naval persona with the civilian one as written. Is all this indecision really the same man? The story moves very slowly, and there is another whole volume to come.

Technically, there are a number of lenthy digressions/flashbacks that could have been handled in a way that disrupted the story less, and the text could really have used a better proof-reader.

There could have been a bit less of the lead-in to the meat of the story, however I found it easy to read and enjoyed the way the author developed the protagonist's viewpoint.
Persuasion has always been one of my favorites of JA's stories. This novel actually comes closer to giving a sense of that time and that place, as well as the social mores of the era, than just about any other I have read. The back story of Captain Wentworth leading up to the events of Persuasion finally explains the true depth of the anger and resentment that he exhibits when he is introduced in JA's novel.

Although I'm enjoying this book -- still reading -- I agree with one of the other reviewers that it takes entirely too long to get on with the "real stuff". The storyline doesn't become relevant until Chapter Seven when he returns to Monkford and is about to meet up again with the characters we're interested in, the Musgroves, his brother and sister and most of all Anne! Chapters one through six could have been completely cut out. It's a lot of stuff about types of ships, crew members, swabbing decks, etc. If you're like me, you want to get into his head about Anne, Louisa, etc. I'm not a cheapskate at all, but the whole time I was reading the first six chapters I kept asking myself "why is this book worth $13?" I'm glad I decided to hang in there because it's just now getting good.

I own both DVD versions of "Persuasion", the one with Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds and the other just released by PBS starring Sally Hawkins and Rupert Penry-Jones. At first I didn't like the most recent release, but now I love it. Anyway, the point is when you're reading this book (if you've seen both) I think you'll find Wentworth's voice most captured with the image of Ciaran Hinds, a more mature man than pictured by Penry-Jones -- at least I found it that way. But Penry-Jones is dynamite! The smoldering looks he gives Ann in the PBS version, lifting her up into that carriage, etc, wow!! So, when reading this book I've put all that together in my mind and I'm lovin it.

I've noticed on the back of the book that Book 2 For You Alone has been published but I can't find it on Amazon. I'm gonna have to google it. I want it on hand the moment I finish this one -- next couple of days at least!