MR DARCY'S PERFECT MATCH BLOG TOUR: AUTHOR GUEST POST & GIVEAWAY

Austentatious and Covent Garden

If you live in London or ever travel there, do yourself a favor and go see Austentatious at the Fortune Theatre. The theatre is located within the Covent Garden section of London, a delightful area to have dinner and explore. Covent Garden is served by the Piccadilly line at Covent Garden Tube station on the corner of Long Acre and James Streets. During my family’s first ever vacation in England this past June, we found London’s subway system to be a wonderfully efficient, economical, and speedy way to travel throughout the city.

When strolling the streets of Covent Garden, you are apt to find a restaurant to suit anyone’s tastes. All manner of shops are scattered throughout the area, ranging from the most exclusive upscale shops to popular chain stores. Covent Garden’s Apple Market offers a wide range of homemade goods and art. The East Colonnade Market features a variety of gift items, jewelry, and sweet treats. Street performers often entertain the passersby on the pedestrianized piazza.

SPEECHLESS BLOG TOUR & GIVEAWAY: TALKING JANE AUSTEN WITH AUTHOR JESSIE LEWIS

Hello and welcome to My Jane Austen Book Club, Jessie. Congratulations on your new release,

Speechless! Let’s start right away talking about the premise of your Pride and Prejudice Variation. 

It’s set during the winter following the Netherfield ball, after which Darcy leaves Hertfordshire and takes Bingley with him. As I’m sure your readers will know, at that point in the original story, Darcy is in denial about his feelings for Elizabeth, whereas Elizabeth is very clear about her feelings for Darcy: she detests him! That is how we find them at the start of Speechless, when a horrible accident leaves them stranded together at a remote inn. Darcy has been badly injured,and despite her antipathy towards him, Elizabeth is forced to be his nursemaid. You can imagine how unimpressed either of them is with this turn of events, and it gets even worse when they realise Darcy’s wound has left him unable to speak. Our dear couple have to work out how to understand the words they’re saying before they can even begin to understand what each other means.

THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT DARCY - INTERVIEW WITH DR GABRIELLE MALCOM

Hello and welcome, Dr Malcolm! Thanks a lot for accepting my invitation. First of all, can you tell us how you came to write There’s Something About Darcy? 

Hello – and thank you for inviting me, it’s a great pleasure to be here.

My inspiration to write the book, firstly, comes from my fascination for Austen’s characters and – of course – huge admiration of her work and legacy. But I also had an encounter soon after I moved to Bath when I was standing at a bus-stop. I saw a young woman carrying a tote bag with the slogan ‘I “Heart” Darcy’ on it. This got me thinking – what other 19^th Century character from a classic novel could possibly provoke such a sentiment? So much so, that merchandise would be created, and people would buy it! From there, it took me to investigating – why Darcy? Why does he provoke such interest and adoration around the world?

  

What is your personal interpretation of Darcy’s appeal, especially to contemporary readers? 

I simply love what Austen did with her hero. This is at the heart of his longstanding and continuing appeal. I think it’s because she created a character with a fascinating story arc. She expertly crafted his learning process, in company with and apart from Elizabeth, with input from other family members and new acquaintances. Without drawing attention to it, Austen cunningly demonstrates Darcy’s education in the world. She even has him write a long essay explaining himself halfway through! Stroke of genius. He accounts for his actions and apologises. I think that goes down well with contemporary readers. He is also devoted and full of hope. He carries out his tasks for Elizabeth’s family without knowing if he will ever have the chance to see her again. He remains hopeful and in love throughout the second half of the book.

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

A CHANCE ENCOUNTER IN PEMBERLEY WOODS - BLOG TOUR: AUTHOR GUEST POST AND GIVEAWAY

Thank you, Maria Grazia, for hosting me today! I am honored to be visiting My Jane Austen Book Club. For my post today, I wanted to share some of what I learned while working on A Chance Encounter in Pemberley Woods.

I confess I never paid much attention to the travel times in my favorite author’s books. Working with the lovely folks at Meryton Press, however, has opened my eyes to the intricacy of travel during Regency England.

At one point in my novel, Mr. Darcy undertakes a journey from Pemberley to London. I thought it might be interesting to examine his travel options!

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?

AUTHOR GUEST POST: BEAU NORTH ON MAKING THE COLONEL

Hello, and thanks so much for hosting me today! After nearly a decade of having this story kicking around in my head (and through countless incarnations on my Google Drive) I’m thrilled to be able to finally share ‘The Colonel’ with all of you. Some of you might be familiar with my first book, Longbourn’s Songbird, and the trials and tribulations of Will Darcy’s cousin, Richard Fitzwilliam. When I set out writing this story back in 2009, I had an idea of telling Pride and Prejudice from The Colonel’s point of view, in a more modern setting while still keeping the action at a pivotal moment in world history.

After several drafts, I put most of Fitzwilliam’s story aside in favor of getting to the juicy Darcy-and-Elizabeth story. But Richard lingered in my head. A kind-hearted rake, the archetype of men I’d been watching on AMC since I was a girl. The final product, this character I’d borrowed from my beloved Austen, had become a sort of Frankenstein of these leading men. My Richard would have the quiet intensity of Cary Grant’s TR Devlin in Notorious, his exterior cool while his eyes devoured every expression on his lady love’s face. He would have the gin-soaked humor and self-depreciating wit of Bogart’s Richard Blaine in Casablanca, and the looks and go-to-hell attitude of Gene Kelly’s Victor in Cross of Lorraine.

REGINA JEFFERS, MOURNING CUSTOMS IN REGENCY ENGLAND & WHERE THERE'S A FITZWILLIAM DARCY, THERE'S A WAY

The mourning rites we customarily think of as being so strict during the Regency era, were actually those imposed by Queen Victoria after the death of her husband, Prince Albert. Victoria was known to wear black for many years and strict forms of comportment during the mourning period. The Georgian Era/Regency held its moments, especially during the country's mourning for King George III and later, King George IV. But the mourning of individuals differed. 

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 

LONDON HOLIDAY BLOG TOUR & GIVEAWAY: NICOLE CLARKSTON, A FOOTMAN'S LIFE

In London Holiday, Darcy spends some time *gasp* in disguise as a footman. While the circumstance is terribly uncomfortable for him, it does afford him some freedoms he would not have had otherwise. However, life as a Regency era footman was no cake walk. If your name did not happen to be Fitzwilliam Darcy, and if you did not get to replace your livery with a custom-tailored set of clothing the next day, what would your life have been like?

First of all, footmen were typically fit, young, handsome, and tall. Darcy would have looked rather fetching in livery, and it is not so surprising that there might have been a set somewhere that would fit him. The footman was almost a functional piece of furniture in a wealthy household, for his appearance was one of the first considerations upon hiring him. His job, as Elizabeth says in the book, is to be handsome, and a well-turned calf which showed well in silk stockings was considered a job qualification.

JUST OUT! THE BEST LAID FLIGHT PLANS BY LEIGH DREYER. AUTHOR INTERVIEW AND GIVEAWAY

Would Mr Darcy with any other name - not Fitzwilliam,  I mean - be the fascinating hero he is? Today's guest, Leigh Dreyer, author of a Pride and Prejudice modern retelling thinks so. In her version of our beloved story, Darcy and Elizabeth form their bond while flying high in the sky. Read her answers to my questions and discover more about The Best Laid Flight Plans. Don't forget to try your luck in the giveaway contest below!

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. 

10 DARCY QUESTIONS FOR VICTORIA KINCAID

DARCY’S HONOR

Victoria Kincaid has just released her new Pride and Prejudice Variation, Darcy’s Honor.  

Her imaginative retelling sees Elizabeth Bennet relieved when the difficult Mr. Darcy leaves the area after the Netherfield Ball. But she soon runs afoul of Lord Henry, a Viscount who thinks to force her into marrying him by slandering her name and ruining her reputation.  An outcast in Meryton, and even within her own family, Elizabeth has nobody to turn to and nowhere to go.

Darcy successfully resisted Elizabeth’s charms during his visit to Hertfordshire, but when he learns of her imminent ruin, he decides he must propose to save her from disaster.  However, Elizabeth is reluctant to tarnish Darcy’s name by association…and the viscount still wants her…

Can Darcy save his honor while also marrying the woman he loves?

10 DARCY QUESTIONS FOR VICTORIA KINCAID

I have this set of 10 Darcy Questions in my archive that I find great fun to ask. I thought that after writing several books featuring Mr Darcy as the protagonist, Victoria,   you must have got to know him  very well. Would you mind answering a few questions about our beloved Fitzwilliam? It’s a quick “either …or …”  game.   

 Not at all. That must be fun.

 Thank you, Victoria.  Let's start, then. To you Mr Darcy is …

1.    Proud or prejudiced?

Both.  The first few times I read the book, I thought Darcy was proud and Elizabeth was prejudiced (against Darcy), but I’ve come to realize that they both exhibit pride and prejudice.

LINDA BEUTLER LAUNCHES MY MR DARCY & YOUR MR BINGLEY BLOG TOUR WITH A BRILLIANT VIGNETTE + GIVEAWAY

Greetings again, Maria Grazia, and thank you infinitely for hosting the My Mr. Darcy & Your Mr. Bingley blog tour—it’s first stop, too, you brave lady! It is a pleasure to be back at My Jane Austen Book Club. Hard to believe we met here four years ago, for the debut of The Red Chrysanthemum! You have requested I share an unpublished vignette from my new novel with your readers, and since you and I both adore Colonel Fitzwilliam, I offer this little scene. (I’ll just mention I gave the dear colonel the Christian name Alexander in my third novel, A Will of Iron and my best friend loves it so, I’m likely to stick with it, rather than the ubiquitous “Richard”.)

To set the scene, we have the Colonel heading to bed in the room saved for him at Darcy House. He and Darcy suffered a less than enjoyable evening at the London theatre in a box adjoining that used by the Gardiners and their guests, Jane and Elizabeth Bennet. It is about ten days since the contretemps between Darcy and Elizabeth at Hunsford. The colonel has been scolding Darcy, but has now retired from that particular field of battle.

THE DARCY MONOLOGUES BLOG TOUR - CHRISTINA BOYD LAUNCHES THE TOUR AT MY JANE AUSTEN BOOK CLUB & ... MUCH MORE!

Thank you, Maria Grazia, for inviting us to launch the blog tour for my latest project, The Darcy Monologues, here at My Jane Austen Book Club. Similar to your own lovely blog, Austen’s brooding hero has an audience of devoted readers that spans from one corner of the world to another, making it an absolute pleasure to share this collection with your readers and connect with people all over the world who have the same deep and abiding love for Mr. Darcy.

Christina Boyd

When my Dreamcast of Austenesque authors joined me in creating this collection, I knew I had a singular opportunity to collaborate on this collection of fifteen short stories. Since I have fangirled each and every one of these talented authors for quite some time now, we decided to turn the spotlight back onto them, as I have asked each author to join us as they fangirl one another throughout this blog tour. It is with the greatest pleasure that I thank you and your readers for allowing me to share with the world this anthology of Austenesque stories all told from the point-of-view of the most tolerable man in all of England!

I hope everyone who joins us for this tour finds delight in these author spotlights, the multimedia touches we’ve included for your everyone’s reading pleasures, and the fabulous grand prizes, which have been generously donated by this amazing group of authors. I can’t thank them enough for taking part with me in this exciting endeavor! Please allow me to introduce The Darcy Monologues.

MISTRESS BLOG TOUR LAUNCH. AUTHOR GUEST POST & GIVEAWAY: MASCULINITY IN THE REGENCY

Sophie Turner: Masculinity in the Regency

Good morning, Maria Grazia, and thank you for welcoming me to your wonderful blog. I am thrilled to launch the blog tour for my latest release, Mistress, here at My Jane Austen Book Club. Today I wanted to share with you and your readers a post about one of my favorite Austen heroes, Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy. Like quite a few women, I was mildly horrified by the New York Times article that envisioned Mr. Darcy as a pale, rather thin man with powdered hair. Horrified, and a little perplexed.

Darcy from the study mentioned in the article, vs., of course, Colin Firth’s portrayal

Assuming the 1811 timeline of Pride and Prejudice, Darcy was better than 15 years past when hair powder was common. Following a tax on hair powder in 1795, use fell off rapidly. It’s pretty possible that Darcy might never have used hair powder at all, and I can see no way that an 1811 Darcy would have had powdered hair.

DARCY'S HOPE AT DOWNWELL ABBEY BLOG TOUR - 5 DARCY QUESTIONS FOR AUTHOR GINGER MONETTE

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Hello Ginger and welcome back! This time we'll focus on Mr Darcy. You’ve imagined him as a man living and fighting during the Great War in your Darcy’s Hope saga. Is he very different or slightly different from the Austen hero we met in Pride and Prejudice?

Only slightly different. The realisation that Regency Era Fitzwilliam Darcy could have dined with the Edwardian Era Crawleys at Downton Abbey with little change in decorum was one of the things that sparked inspiration for Darcy’s Hope.

I’ve written Darcy’s temperament as essentially the same. He’s just exchanged his frock coat for an officer’s tunic, added a telephone and bathroom to Pemberley, and become comfortable calling his friends by their Christian name. But he’s still the brooding, taciturn, yet sensitive and romantic landowner of Pemberley that we all love.

BLOG TOUR & GIVEAWAY - AMY D'ORAZIO, THE BEST PART OF LOVE

Blog Tour Opening by author Amy D'Orazio

Maria Grazia, thank you so much for being hosting my “coming-out” party for The Best Part of Love! I hope that everyone will enjoy this book as much as I enjoyed writing it.

The story started with a simple premise — what if Elizabeth Bennet wasn’t what she seemed? What if Darcy came to know her as the country maiden of limited means and poor connexions … and then discovered she was something entirely different?

There have been some excellent books by very talented authors who have explored this theme, but it was in developing the backstory of how and why Elizabeth, a.k.a Lady Courtenay came to be (secretly) wealthy and titled that my story really began. I spent many happy days researching ancient plots, conspiracies and all manner of intrigue to come up with the rest of it.

The story incorporates many of our favorite characters from “fanon” including Lord and Lady Matlock, Darcy’s aunt and uncle, who happen to be intimate friends of Lady Courtenay. Lady Matlock as you will see below hopes to arrange a match between her favorite young countess and her nephew — but alas, Darcy’s behavior in Hertfordshire has come back to haunt him.

Amy 

REGINA JEFFERS, ANNUITIES IN THE REGENCY ERA AS THE BASIS OF THE PLOT OF 'MR DARCY'S BARGAIN' + GIVEAWAY

Much of the action of latest release,  Mr. Darcy's Bargain, is based around a scam perpetrated by Mr. Wickham upon the citizens of Meryton, as well as Mr. Darcy's attempts to thwart him. Wickham convinces many in Hertfordshire to invest in an annuity scheme. But how exactly did annuities work during the Regency?

First, if you are like me, your eyes blur over when people in other fields start tossing around the "jargon" associated with their occupations. I do not pretend to be an expert in such matters as annuities, but I will attempt to keep my description of public funds at the time as simple as possible.

First, there were Navy five percent annuities that were produced from about fifty millions of stock, partly formed out of navy bills and converted in 1784, into a stock bearing interest at five percent, whence the name.

Four percent consolidated annuities were popular at the time. They were produced from a like stock as was the Navy five percent funds. They offered a profit of 4% as the title indicated. They originally carried a higher percentage rate.

DARCY'S HOPE ~ BEAUTY FROM ASHES, A GREAT WAR ROMANCE - AUTHOR INTERVIEW + GIVEAWAY

 Darcy’s Hope ~ Beauty from Ashes
A WW1 Pride & Prejudice Variation
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Escape to the era of Downton Abbey and experience all the drama of World War 1 alongside literature’s iconic Elizabeth Bennet & Fitzwilliam Darcy. You'll watch their tender love unfold as they learn to work together and reconcile their differences amidst the carnage of war.

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1916. World War I has turned French chateaux into bloody field hospitals, British gentlemen into lice-infested soldiers, and left Elizabeth Bennet's life in tatters.

Her father is dead and her home destroyed. Never again will Elizabeth depend on a man to secure her future!

But when an opportunity arises to advance her dreams of becoming a doctor, she is elated—until he arrives....

Heartbroken. Devastated. Captain Fitzwilliam Darcy is left rejected by the woman he loved and reeling from the slaughter of his men on the battlefield. “Enough!” Darcy vows. “No more sentimental attachments!”

But arriving at a field hospital to pursue a covert investigation, Darcy discovers his beloved Elizabeth training with a dashing American doctor and embroiled in an espionage conspiracy.