I am delighted to welcome Audrey Ryan to Diary of an Eccentric for the first time today to celebrate the release of her modern-day Pride and Prejudice variation, All the Things I Know. She is here to take you all on a virtual tour of the Seattle neighborhoods that play a big role in the novel, and she’s brought a giveaway as well. Please give her a warm welcome!
Sense of place is very important in All the Things I Know. When I started writing the story, I didn’t set out to feature Seattle so heavily, I merely wanted to set my story in the city I knew the best. It must be because I love my city and have lived here most of my life that the location became almost its own character. For my final guest post of the blog tour, I decided to share two of the neighborhoods I featured in All the Things I Know and why.
Ballard
When I was growing up, Ballard was a boring neighborhood. It was boring and full of old Scandinavian folks. The general stereotype is best illustrated in a skit by a local ‘90s comedy show called Almost Live. Ballard Driving Academy is how most Seattleites saw the set apart neighborhood.
Ballard was its own city when established in the 1890s and natives of the city can be very protective over that attitude. In fact, local novelty store Archie McPhee sells “Free Ballard” bumper stickers and posters (http://archiemcpheeseattle.com/free-ballard/)!
Ballard is the neighborhood that I put Lizzie and Jane in. To give background to my relationship to Ballard: my family owned an old gingerbread style house built around 1900 for years close to the heart of Ballard and had it renovated into Triplexes. Post college, I was a tenant there for two years. My family ended up selling the house to a developer a few years ago and now several townhouses sit its place. It’s the mark of our city’s growth and the rapid change in the neighborhood. When I lived there, it was up and coming, but still affordable. It wasn’t as nice as many other neighborhoods, especially since it was less connected by public transportation and is located far away from freeways and highways. Now it’s easy to get from Ballard to your downtown job. Groceries stores have been rebuilt to host condos above them. Rent is astronomical.
“Our apartment is a 1920s holdout in a four-story brick monument amongst the stretch of perfectly homogeneous eco-friendly townhouses.”
Lizzie and Jane are familiar with Ballard because that’s where the Gardiner’s live. The Gardiner’s are of the luck Gen X generation who were able to buy in the late ‘90s/early ‘00s when prices were low in this neighborhood. Because of their teenage attachment, they decide to make a life in this corner of Seattle.
Aside from Lizzie and Jane’s apartment, the other location featured in Ballard is the coffee shop Cafe Long, where Lizzie works temporarily. In my minds eye, this coffee shop would be located in the Ballard Avenue Historic District (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballard_Avenue_Historic_District) and resemble a cross between Miro Tea (http://mirotea.com) and Caffe Fiore (http://www.caffefiore.com/Old%20Ballard/). I love this area of Ballard for the old brick buildings and cobbled streets.
Other features that make Ballard popular are: Golden Gardens, a Puget Sound public beach, the Ballard Locks, which separate Puget Sound from Lake Union. This is fun place to watch boats pass through or to see the salmon run. I’ve also seen sea lions and turtles at the locks. Sunset Hill is located at the top of Ballard with a view of Golden Garden’s below. It is probably the fanciest part of Ballard and where the Gardiner’s live. Lucky them!
Pioneer Square
Pioneer Square is the oldest neighborhood in Seattle and has the most checkered history. It’s where “skid row” originated — early loggers would move their wares by “skidding” them down steep hills down what is now Yesler Way (https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/seattle/s28.htm). If you traveled south of Yesler Way, or “below the line”, you were immediately in the seediest part of town where prostitution and opium dens ran rampant.
Nowadays, Pioneer Square is much more of a historical tourist stop or business district. You can go on the underground tour (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle_Underground) and see part of old Seattle that burned down. After that fire, a new street level was built over the wreckage. When I was in elementary school, I went in the underground tour at least twice.
I set Rose & Hunts in Pioneer Square. I thought Cathy would appreciate the having her headquarters in the oldest part of Seattle. The older business there have a sense of refinement. Having worked in Pioneer Square before (for a lawyer) I echo the charm of Pioneer Square, although I would never want to be there at night. The neighborhood still has its fair share of crackheads.
The office at Rose & Hunts is located in one of the older buildings in Pioneer Square, and it’s ridiculously lavish. The pristine furnishings look as if they belong in New York high society, and fresh flowers liberally adorn gilded side tables. The pretty receptionist is dressed as if she should be working at a fashion magazine instead of an online retailer. I hardly feel like I’m in Seattle.
One of the reasons that I wanted to feature Pioneer Square in All the Things I Know is that First Thursday (http://www.pioneersquare.org/experiences/first-thursday-art-walk), the neighborhood art walk was the first neighborhood art walk in the US! With Lizzie’s desire to become a curator, it made sense she would spend time in this neighborhood, especially because it’s where so many art galleries are located. It’s where the fictional D.B. Shaw is located, for instance.
I hope upon reading All the Things I Know, Seattle becomes just as alive for you as it is to me. There are so many other facets of the city to enjoy that weren’t even mentioned in the book: the statue of Jimi Hendrix (https://www.yelp.com/biz/jimi-hendrix-statue-seattle), Bruce Lee’s grave (http://www.lakeviewcemeteryassociation.com/lees.php), and the Fremont Troll (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fremont_Troll), to name a few. Who knows, maybe I’ll explore it more in some sequels to come :).
Thank you so much, Audrey! I’ve never been to Seattle, so this was very informative. Congrats on your new release!
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About All the Things I Know
Lizzie Venetidis is confident in her decisions. Moving to Seattle with her sister Jane after she graduated from Stanford, for instance, was a no-brainer. Adult life, however, turns out to be more difficult to navigate than she expected.
What career should she pursue with a bachelor’s degree in art history and no marketable experience amongst a tech-heavy job market? How responsible is it to drink that fourth cocktail while out with friends? And what should she do about Darcy—the aloof yet captivating guy she met her first night in town?
All the Things I Know is a one-mistake-at-a-time retelling of Pride & Prejudice, set against the backdrop of modern-day techie Seattle. Full of wry observations, heartache, and life lessons, All the Things I Know shares the original’s lessons of correcting ill-conceived first impressions and learning who you really are.
Check out All the Things I Know on Goodreads | Amazon US | Amazon UK
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About the Author
Audrey Ryan is the nom de plume of Andrea Pangilinan: daydreamer, wife and step-mother, and obsessive story consumer. She studied writing in college, dreamt about becoming a novelist and slowly forgot about it when real life took over. With a particular affection for contemporary retellings, adapting Pride & Prejudice to modern day has always been a dream.
When she’s not reading and writing, Andrea is a marketing slave to the internet industry. She enjoys talking crazy to her weirdo cat, consuming copious amount of wine and coffee with her girlfriends, and record shopping with her husband. Oh yeah, and there’s that small Jane Austen obsession. That doesn’t take up any time at all.
Connect with Audrey: website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads
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Giveaway
Meryton Press is offering 8 ebooks of All the Things I Know as part of the blog tour. You must enter through this Rafflecopter link. Good luck!
Terms and Conditions:
Readers may enter the drawing by tweeting once a day and daily commenting on a blog post or review that has a giveaway attached for the tour. Entrants must provide the name of the blog where they commented. Remember: Tweet and comment once daily to earn extra entries.
Each winner will be randomly selected by Rafflecopter and the giveaway is international.
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I have been following the blog tour and this was so interesting. I was in Seattle many, many years ago and because we were passing through, I didn’t get to see as much as I would have liked. Thank you for this delightful tour through your childhood memories. Blessings on the launch and success of this book. Thanks to Anna for hosting.
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Thanks for checking out the post!
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Glad you enjoyed the post — I have enjoyed your comments along the way of the blog tour too :). Seattle is definitely a worthy city to explore if you have the time 🙂
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Thank you for this information about Seattle. I am sure that it will allow the reading of the book to be even more interesting.
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I agree!
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I hope so! I’ve been told this book is almost like a love letter to Seattle 🙂
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This is a fascinating glimpse into Seattle. Next time I’m there I’ll have to check out that underground tour! Thanks for the info, Audrey, and thanks for hosting her, Anna!
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Thanks for stopping by!
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I haven’t been on the underground tour in years — I feel like I need a refresher (I mostly remember how bad it smelled, lol). Interestingly, it was features in the TV movie The Night Strangler (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Night_Strangler_(film)).
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Heavens, even though I live in the UK I have seen a number of drivers who apparently learned in Ballard! .
It’s so good to read about the area Elizabeth and Darcy are living in as it helps to set the picture as I’m reading.
Thanks Anna and Audrey.
I have had to stop entering giveaways because for some reason Amazon.com won’t download books to the UK. (Two books I should have had recently I couldn’t download as they weren’t available here! Even though they are for sale on .UK.
I will be reading this soon as it’s on my to buy next list. Good luck with this book Audrey and good luck to all entrants in the giveaway.
Merry Christmas
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I appreciate all your comments along the way of the blog tour. I’d like to say the driving has improved in Ballard in the 20-years since the skit was made, but it’s just as bad but in different ways. I don’t think Seattle will ever be known for good drivers.
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Thank you for stopping by, Glynis!
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Thank you for the delightful tour! I think maybe a walking tour would be safer considering how the drivers have learned their skills! LOL!
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Thanks for the comments! At least our bus system is good 😉
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Thanks for stopping by, Carole!
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Like Anna, I have not visited Seattle before and I like that you end the guest post with an introduction to the places that mean so much to Lizzie. I have the time of my life following this blog tour and getting to know more of the book and author
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Thank you for following, commenting and hosting me! I hope you enjoy Seattle vicariously 😀
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Thanks for stopping by, Luthien!
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Enjoyed the post. I have always wanted to visit Seattle ever since I watched Frazier. Thank you for sharing it with us and I hope to discover it for myself one day but in the meantime, I look forward to seeing it through the eyes of the characters in your book.
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It is a great city going through tremendous growing pains right now. I think they estimate about 100 people a day are moving here — no wonder the cost of housing is growing out of control! I hope you enjoy the city when you get your hands on a copy of the book :).
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Thanks for stopping by, darcybennett!
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sounds like a good book.
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I just grabbed this one on sale the other day. So excited!
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Me too Anna and I loved it. Definitely worth the five stars I gave it!
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Glad to hear it!
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I love hearing this ❤ !!
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