FIND WONDER IN ALL THINGS - FEATURE POST

*****Book Blurb*****

“There could have never been two hearts so open… Now they were as strangers”

—Persuasion

Mountain Laurel Elliot is like her name—she blooms best in the cool comfort of shade, hidden in the Kentucky foothills of Appalachia. Alone on her mountain, she lives a private existence with only her pottery—and her regrets—for company.

James Marshall had a secret dream and Laurel was part of it, but dreams sometimes lead to unexpected places. James’s heart broke when Laurel cut him loose, but he moved on—and became successful beyond his wildest dreams.

For one glorious summer, James and Laurel had each other, but life has kept them far apart.

Until now.

SPOTLIGHT ON ... GRAVITY BY P.O.DIXON: EXCERPT & GIVEAWAY

From the Author

Thank you so much, Maria Grazia, for this opportunity to visit My Jane Austen Book Club and talk about my new release, Gravity. It’s such a great pleasure to be here.

When I can, I always like to include a Jane Austen quote as the epigraph in my books. I was amazed to find one so ideally suited to my new release as the following words from Sense and Sensibility:

“What have wealth or grandeur to do with happiness?”

In Gravity, Mr. Darcy is about to find out.

P.O. Dixon

VICTORIA KINCAID, WHEN CHARLOTTE BECAME ROMANTIC. AUTHOR GUEST POST & GIVEAWAY

Hi Maria Grazia, thank you for having me as a guest!  I am pleased to announce the release of a new Pride and Prejudice variation, When Charlotte Became Romantic.  It’s part of a series of secondary character books I’ve been writing that envision the women of Pride and Prejudice in a new light. This novel is for any reader who felt sorry for Charlotte and bemoaned her fate of being stuck with Collins for the rest of her life.  It imagines what would happen if she had other choices and the chance to revisit her opinion on romance.  Below is an excerpt from the very beginning of the book.  Enjoy! 

Desperate to escape her parents’ constant criticism, Charlotte has accepted a proposal from Mr. Collins despite recognizing his stupid and selfish nature.  But when a mysterious man from her past visits Meryton for the Christmas season, he arouses long-buried feelings and causes her to doubt her decision. 

James Sinclair’s mistakes cost him a chance with Charlotte three years ago, and he is devastated to find her engaged to another man.  Honor demands that he step aside, but his heart will not allow him to leave Meryton. Their mutual attraction deepens; however, breaking an engagement is not a simple matter and scandal looms.  If they are to be happy, they must face her parents’ opposition, Lady Catherine’s disapproval, dangerous figures from James’s past...and Charlotte’s nagging feeling that maybe she should just marry Mr. Collins.  

Charlotte had forsworn romance years ago; is it possible for her to become romantic again?

NEW RELEASE! ELAINE JEREMIAH, BY TIME DIVIDED: EXCERPT & GIVEAWAY

 A year ago, in October 2018, Elaine Jeremiah was my guest here at My Jane Austen Book Club and we discussed time travel fiction, Jane Austen fanfiction and other Austen-related topics. The occasion was the release of her debut novel, Love Without Time. (Read the post HERE).

Today I'm thrilled to celebrate with you all the release of her second novel, By Time Divided, with a lovely excerpt and a double giveaway! 

MARIA GRACE, FINE EYES AND PERT OPINIONS

Hello, Maria Grazia! It’s so good to visit with you again at My Jane Austen Book Club. I’m really excited to share with you my latest project, Fine Eyes and Pert Opinions. This has been an odd project for me—I started it, handwritten in 2014 and then set it aside when something shiny and urgent crossed my path. Recently I found the old notebooks and realized I had to finish to tale. I didn’t know how it ended and I just had to find out!

 In Fine Eyes and Pert Opinions Vicar’s daughter, Elizabeth has grown up in the shades of Pemberley, a great friend to Darcy and his sister Georgiana. A baronet’s elegant daughter distracts Darcy from his duties, leaving the Darcy family on the brink of disaster. Elizabeth holds the key to their restoration, but she has fled Pemberley, unable to tolerate another day there. Will Darcy relinquish his pride and prejudice to seek out a woman below his notice before his family is irreparably ruined?

BLOG TOUR - A CASE OF SOME DELICACY BY KC KAHLER: EXCERPT & GIVEAWAY

The plot of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice hinges on timing: when characters meet, when characters travel, when characters read letters. What if one small change occurs in the timing of events early in the novel?

“About a month ago I received this letter, and about a fortnight ago I answered it; for I thought it a case of some delicacy, and requiring early attention. It is from my cousin, Mr. Collins, who, when I am dead, may turn you all out of this house as soon as he pleases.”

~Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 13

In A Case of Some Delicacy, Mr. Collins offers his olive branch to Mr. Bennet a month earlier. When the heir of Longbourn visits with the aim of marrying one of its daughters, he precedes Mr. Bingley’s coming into Hertfordshire. Mrs. Bennet is nothing but encouraging for a match between Jane and Mr. Collins. Elizabeth cannot sit by while the happiness of her most beloved sister is sacrificed for the good of the family. But interfering in the fawning parson’s courtship is a full-time job. Elizabeth receives help from an unexpected ally: Mr. Darcy.

A Case of Some Delicacy is a fun romp with the characters you already love, and a few new ones you’ll come to love. All of the Bennet sisters play roles in the altered events in Hertfordshire, some of them in surprising ways. Eavesdropping abounds, secret partnerships are formed, matchmakers and matchbreakers run rampant, and general hijinks ensue.

NEW RELEASE! A SISTER'S CURSE BY JAYNE BAMBER: GUEST POST, EXCERPT & GIVEAWAY

Hello, it’s good to be back at My Jane Austen Book Club!

I am so excited to share an excerpt with you from my new release, A Sister’s Curse. The story is another high-angst tale, with Elizabeth meeting Fitzwilliam Darcy – and his entire extended family – much earlier on. In fact, she finds herself a part of his extended family long before they ever fall in love – it’s complicated!

A LADY’S REPUTATION BLOG TOUR: EXCERPT & GIVEAWAY

About the Book

“Mr. Darcy, I am eager to hear your explanation for the fact that quite a few people believe we are engaged.”

It starts with a bit of well-meant advice. Colonel Fitzwilliam suggests to his cousin Darcy that, before he proposes to Elizabeth Bennet in Kent, perhaps he ought to discuss his plans with their families first. 

What neither man could have predicted however was that Lord Matlock would write the news to his sister or Viscount Saye would overhear, and tell his friends, or that his friends might slip a little and let their friends know as well. The news spreads just as quickly through Hertfordshire once Mrs Bennet opens the express Mr Bennet receives from Mr Darcy, and in a matter of days, it seems like everyone knows that Mr Darcy has proposed marriage to Elizabeth Bennet. 

Everyone, that is, except Elizabeth herself. 

Her refusal is quick and definite—until matters of reputation, hers as well as Jane’s, are considered. Then Mr Darcy makes another offer: summer at Pemberley, so that Jane can be reunited with Mr Bingley and so that he can prove to Elizabeth he is not what she thinks of him. Falling in love with him is naturally impossible…but once she knows the man he truly is, will she be able to help herself?

BLOG TOUR - THE MIST OF HER MEMORY, EXCERPT AND GIVEAWAY

The Mist of Her Memory

What happened that fateful morning in Lambton?

What brutal attacker caused such grievous, near-fatal injuries?

Does she remain in danger? Elizabeth cannot remember!

Sequestered in her Aunt and Uncle Gardiner’s London home, Elizabeth Bennet tries to recover from a devastating incident that stole her memories during their Derbyshire tour. She continues to suffer from strange, angry voices in her head and to recall events that people tell her never happened. Even those who love her refuse to believe her. Elizabeth can barely endure the confusion!

Fitzwilliam Darcy is desperate for any hint of his beloved’s well-being, yet he lacks the information he seeks as her family forbids him contact with Elizabeth. His frustration mounts when he learns that her mental impairment incited taunting and torment in her home village of Meryton.

BOOK UNDER THE SPOTLIGHT & GIVEAWAY: DEAR JANE BY ALLIE CRESSWELL

Dear Jane - Book Blurb

The final instalment of the Highbury trilogy, Dear Jane narrates the history of Jane Fairfax, recounting the events hinted at but never actually described in Jane Austen’s Emma.

Orphaned Jane seems likely to be brought up in parochial Highbury until adoption by her papa’s old friend Colonel Campbell opens to her all the excitement and opportunities of London. The velvet path of her early years is finite, however and tarnished by the knowledge that she must earn her own independence one day.

Frank Weston is also transplanted from Highbury, adopted as heir to the wealthy Churchills and taken to their drear and inhospitable Yorkshire estate. The glimmer of the prize which will one day be his is all but obliterated by the stony path he must walk to claim it.

Their paths meet at Weymouth, and readers of Emma will be familiar with the finale of Jane and Frank’s story. Dear Jane pulls back the veil which Jane Austen drew over their early lives, their meeting in Weymouth and the agony of their secret engagement.

Read an excerpt 

One of the joys and the challenges of writing Dear Jane has been regressing the characters of Jane and Frank to find out what formative influences made them into the young people who met at Weymouth and embarked on their foolhardy secret engagement.

Enscombe is imagined - by people who have never been there - as a very grand and superior house, equivalent, perhaps, to Rosings Park or even Pemberley. My Enscombe is quite different, a place of chill stone passageways and shrouded rooms. Its inhospitable accommodations and drear surroundings, together with Mrs Churchill’s utterly selfish sway over every aspect of Frank’s life, were my starting point in trying to understand the young man we meet in ‘Emma’.

INSPIRATION BLOG TOUR - EXCERPT & GIVEAWAY

Maria Grace stops with us at  My Jane Austen Book Club to present her new release: Inspiration, a novella that features  Mr Darcy as an artist. For further information go on reading! Enjoy the excerpt and good luck in the giveaway contest (check the rafflecopter widget below this post)

Hello, Maria Grazia! It’s so good to visit with you again. I’m really excited to share with you my latest project, Inspiration. This has been such an unexpected project for me—starting with the plan to just write a scene, then growing to a short story, and finally ending up a novella.

Inspiration tell the story of gentleman artist Darcy and his muse who has fixated upon the one woman in the world wants nothing to do with him. I suppose my muse has been just an insistent as Darcy’s, making sure this tale got told.

Here’s a peek inside:

ELIZABETH IN THE NEW WORLD BY MAGGIE MOOHA: SPOTLIGHT POST & GIVEAWAY

Book Blurb 

Darcy's sudden, passionate kiss sweeps Elizabeth into a bliss she has never known...but their love is short-lived. On a field of honor, Wickham, once again, engages in an irresponsible act, which leaves Darcy mortally wounded and Elizabeth broken. Refusing to leave Darcy's side, the last vestiges of her reputation are shattered, and when Elizabeth sees Darcy in his coffin, she is ruined in more ways than one. Devastated and without hope, reluctantly she agrees to accompany friends to Grenada, a Caribbean island on the brink of revolution.

TWELFTH-NIGHT CAKE & THE ROSINGS GHOST: GUEST POST, EXCERPT & 5 EBOOKS GIVEAWAY

Is there a scarier place than Rosings to have a ghost? I mean, we already have the scary and snappish Lady Catherine at Rosings. But what if this mischievous ghost appears only during the twelve days of Christmas? That’s the story within a story in my Christmas novella, Twelfth-Night Cake & the Rosings Ghost.

The novella opens with Colonel Fitzwilliam and his eight-year-old daughter, Sofia-Elisabete, travelling to Rosings, where they will spend a winter’s month. If you haven’t met my plucky girl hero Sofia-Elisabete before, see I, Sofia-Elisabete, Love Child of Colonel Fitzwilliam: A Perfect World in the Moon, a humorous and poignant novel about an abandoned girl who is born in Portugal during the Napoleonic Wars and who turns out to be the illegitimate child of the colonel.

I wondered how Sofia-Elisabete feels to be half-Portuguese, Catholic and a love child living in England during the Regency Era. She’s not getting along with Lady Catherine, and then the ghost arrives to play its tricks. I imagined a crazy, troubled world for Sofia-Elisabete because Lady Catherine, who doesn’t believe in the Rosings Ghost, blames the girl for everything that goes wrong. What’s a young eight-year-old to do?

Ever since my “perfect moon world” novel, I’ve been immersed in writing YA historical fiction that appeals to all ages, finishing three novellas about the lovable, strong-willed Sofia-Elisabete and her close relationship with her father, Colonel Fitzwilliam. Twelfth-Night Cake & the Rosings Ghost is the first novella to be released in this series. My sincere thanks to Maria Grazia for helping me launch the Rosings Ghost novella on her site!

 Robin Elizabeth Kobayashi

UNWRAPPING MR DARCY BLOG TOUR - GUEST POST & GIVEAWAY

Hello! Thanks so much Maria Grazia for having me today! I can’t wait for everyone to read Unwrapping Mr. Darcy, but in the meantime, I have an extra scene for you. When I first posted the prologue of Unwrapping Mr. Darcy as a sneak peek, someone wished they knew what Charlie said to Lizzy to keep her from quitting on her first day. I liked the idea so much, I wrote it. I’ve overlapped a little and added some in so Darcy’s insult is in the clip. I hope you enjoy it!

L.L. Diamond

Charlie exhaled, sounding a lot like a growl. “You always make a point of meeting new employees. Why are you being so stubborn about this one?”

Darcy slapped the papers in his hand on the work surface. “I’m busy, Bingley. If you haven’t noticed, I have a mountain of paperwork on my desk. I can’t be expected to take the time to welcome a new company attorney—especially one who required her sister’s boyfriend to get her the job. You hired her, Bingley. You make her feel welcome.”

What? Elizabeth gasped, they both looked up, but she backed from the door. She couldn’t stay—not in his office and certainly not at this job! She walked as fast as she could to the elevator. What a mess! Charlie insisted Darcy Holdings needed her, but apparently, he created the position for her. She never asked him for special treatment—after all, he’d been the one who bugged her for months about “moving to the dark side” as he liked to joke. She touched the down button, and thankfully, the door opened quickly.

Charlotte wasn’t around when Elizabeth returned, so she went into the office where her briefcase still remained sitting wide open on the desk. That would definitely make things easier! She reached up over the computer, pulled down her calendar, and threw it inside.

She certainly wasn’t staying where she wasn’t wanted! Charlie had sworn they needed someone with her skills. Why would he lie? She hadn’t been looking for a new job. She’d been happy where she was, but working for Darcy Holdings was a move up she couldn’t ignore. The company was larger than the law firm, and the position held more room for advancement.

“Don’t you dare put another thing back in the case!”

LIZZY BRANDON, RECOGNIZING LOVE - GUEST POST, EXCERPT & GIVEAWAY

I didn’t read Jane Austen until I was forced to do so in college.  Pride and Prejudice – sounded depressing and I actually considered changing sections of my British Literature course when I saw it on the reading list.  After I read the book, I was hooked.  For Thanksgiving break, my roommate and I were both staying on campus, so we borrowed my professor's VHS set of the 1995 BBC Pride and Prejudice that we binge watched twice. 

Like a good dealer, I got my next roommate addicted as well. Days where one of us was sick or having a really bad day we would pop tape #4 into the VCR, curl up in our pajamas, and watch Colin Firth dive into a lake. 

I had never heard of fanfiction and was wandering Target one day when I discovered Linda Berdoll's Darcy Takes a Wife.  I devoured the book, then proceeded to continue my dealer-like tendencies by passing it on to everyone I had already hooked on Pride and Prejudice.  As I was ordering my 4th copy of the book on Amazon, the site suggested some variations by Abigail Reynolds.  After ordering a few of her books I started getting more suggestions and finally realized Pride and Prejudice variations were a genre all their own. Since then, I've been hooked.

As I was writing the epilogue to Recognizing Love I discovered the heart of why I love variations so much.  Not only do they provide an opportunity to spend more time with my favorite characters from all fiction, the stories provide a plethora of ways for Elizabeth and Darcy to find happiness.

VICTORIA KINCAID, THE UNFORGETTABLE MR DARCY - EXCERPT & GIVEAWAY

Hello and happy Sunday, everyone! I'm back from my summer visit to old England, which I consider my second home, and I'm happy to be back blogging featuring a great new release by Victoria Kincaid. Here's her kind message introducing an excerpt from the book she especially granted us: 

Hello, Maria Grazia, and thank you for having me as a guest!  The plot behind The Unforgettable Mr. Darcy has been germinating in my mind for a long time, and I’m so pleased to finally be able to share it with readers!  Below is an excerpt about Elizabeth’s experience after she awakens and is learning to cope with the amnesia. I hope your readers enjoy it!

Victoria Kincaid 

LONA MANNING, A MARRIAGE OF ATTACHMENT. EXCERPT & GIVEAWAY

A Marriage of Attachment, Lona Manning’s sequel to A Contrary Wind: a variation on Mansfield Park, is now available for pre-order on Amazon.

Haven’t read A Contrary Wind yet? No problem it’s on sale this week for $0.99 at Amazon.com. It is also available to Kindle Unlimited subscribers.

GIVEAWAY!!! 

Choose one or all the options you find in the rafflecopter form below the post to be entered into a draw for both ebooks. This offer is open internationally.  The giveaway ends on 13th July 2018. 

PRESIDENT DARCY BLOG TOUR & GIVEAWAY - VICTORIA KINCAID, WHITE HOUSE SECRETS

White House Secrets

All right, I’ll confess that this title is somewhat misleading.  Everything I will discuss is publicly available information.  But it is information that I personally didn’t know before I started doing research for my new modern Pride and Prejudice variation, President Darcy.  I live near Washington D.C. and I knew a fair amount about the presidency and the White House in general, but in order to write a book with several scenes set in the White House, I needed to do a lot of in depth research.  In the process I learned some interesting and new facts about the president’s home.

The White House is divided into three parts.  The West Wing is the most famous part of the White House.  This is where the president and his staff conduct the business of government—and is home to the Oval Office, the press room, and the cabinet room.  The East Wing houses the first lady’s offices.  The center part of the White House has multiple floors.  The bottom two floors have public rooms like the State Dining Room and the East Room as well as functional rooms for the staff like the kitchen.  There’s also a chocolate shop, bowling alley, and a very large flower shop.  Who knew? 

The top two floors of the main building are called the Residence and comprises the top two floors of the main part of the White House.  This is where the president and his family live.  The most famous part of the residence is the Lincoln Bedroom, which has hosted some of the White House’s most prestigious guests.  As you can see from the floor plan, the Lincoln Bedroom is adjacent the Treaty Room, so called because in 1898 William McKinley presided over the signing of a peace treaty in this room which ended the Spanish-American War.  Today it’s used as the president’s personal study. 

DON JACOBSON, LIZZY BENNET MEETS THE COUNTESS

The Process Behind the Cover of “Lizzy Bennet Meets the Countess”

By this point, Janet Taylor and I have firmly established the overall cover format for Bennet Wardrobe stories. There have been two in the “new style” –The Keeper: Mary Bennet’s Extraordinary Journey and The Exile: Kitty Bennet and the Belle Époque. This latest novella will be the third utilizing the unifying “look.”  

One might suggest that if you have the frame, it is a relatively simple process to drop a picture into the hole. However, there is a peculiar zen behind an art director’s craft. As opposed to being almost incidental, what truly drives the underlying creative impulse for the cover design is the core visual. Even if Janet is not creating a new image, she derives the primary background color for the title block and then the complementary colors for the type itself. Wrong choices can have awful consequences.

BARBARA SILKSTONE, MY FAIR LIZZY - EXCERPT & GIVEAWAY

The fun things you discover while creating a new adventure for Darcy and Lizzy! It was important to my new release, a mashup of Pride and Prejudice and Pygmalion, that Lizzy talk with a cockney accent. But how could I do that to our darling girl? And how much of her quirky speech pattern would the reader enjoy? I hope I hit a near perfect balance as the tale begins with Lizzy speaking in cockney only to blend into proper English.

Amazon   Kobo   iBooks   Nook 

A Regency tale ~ Lizzy Bennet, a sassy London shop girl is instantly attracted to Fitzwilliam Darcy, the arrogant, handsome visitor to the Bennets’ struggling Covent Garden flower shop. Darcy insists on purchasing Lizzy’s lucky orchid as a gift for his aunt, Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Will Lizzy sell her family’s much needed good fortune to the haughty know it all?