SPOTLIGHT ON ... PRIDE, PREJUDICE & THE PERFECT BET BY MARILYN BRANT + GIVEAWAY

Pride, Prejudice and the Perfect Bet

The course of true love doesn’t always run smooth… 

Everyone thought Beth Ann Bennet and Dr. Will Darcy had an unexpected romance in Pride, Prejudice and the Perfect Match (Perfect #1, January 2013). Now, Beth’s best friend, Jane Henderson, and Will’s first cousin, Bingley McNamara, begin their own unlikely love story in Pride, Prejudice and the Perfect Bet (Perfect #2), which starts at the Darcy/Bennet wedding when they find themselves in the roles of maid of honor and best man for the newlyweds. 

Jane is an interning school psychologist and a woman who wears an angelic mask in public, but she’s not as sweet tempered as she’d like everyone to believe. Turns out, she may have just crossed paths with the one person who’ll unnerve her enough to get her to reveal her true self. 

As for Bingley, he’s a wealthy, flirtatious and compulsively social guru of finance, who likes to wager on stocks and, let’s face it, on just about anything that strikes his fancy. But this dedicated ladies’ man may have finally met the woman who’ll challenge his bachelor ways! 

Pride, Prejudice and the Perfect Bet…where life’s biggest gamble is the game of love. 

**Note to Readers: Pride, Prejudice and the Perfect Bet is part of the "Perfect" series, but it can be enjoyed as a stand-alone novel.**

BOOK REVIEW - JANE AUSTEN'S FIRST LOVE BY SYRIE JAMES

OUT ON AUGUST 5th!  

INSPIRED BY ACTUAL EVENTS

Book blurb

Fifteen-year-old Jane Austen dreams of three things: doing something useful, writing something worthy, and falling madly in love. When she visits her brother in Kent to celebrate his engagement, she meets wealthy, devilishly handsome Edward Taylor—a fascinating young man who is truly worthy of her affections. Jane knows a match between her and Edward is unlikely, but every moment she spends with him makes her heart race—and he seems to return her interest. Much to her displeasure, however, there is another seeking his attention

Unsure of her budding relationship, Jane seeks distraction by attempting to correct the pairings of three other prospective couples. But when her matchmaking aspirations do not all turn out as anticipated, Jane discovers the danger of relying on first impressions. The human heart cannot be easily deciphered, nor can it be directed or managed. And if others must be left to their own devices in matters of love and matrimony, can Jane even hope to satisfy her own heart?

My review

Syrie James confirms her skills as brilliant story-teller and creator of lively pictures of Regency life.  Well-researched historical novel as well as delightful summer read,  her  new Jane Austen’s First Love is based on an imaginative interpretation of Jane Austen’s  enigmatic  reference to a “Him, on whom I once fondly doated”    (from  one of Jane Austen’s  letters to her sister Cassandra).  Intriguing matter for a talented researcher and passionate Janeite like Syrie James. (1)

TALKING JANE AUSTEN WITH ... MEDEA YORBA, AUTHOR OF "DARCY'S LAST PROMISE"

Welcome  to My Jane Austen  Book Club, Medea ! I’m always very happy to let my readers and Janeite friends meet new Austen-inspired writers, so thank you for  joining our on line club and  accepting to talk Jane Austen with me.

Thank you so much for inviting me and for such a lovely warm welcome Maria.

First of all,  I challenge you to advertise your  Darcy’s Last Promise  in less than 50 words. Ready to go?

Jane Austen’s beloved characters, Fitzwilliam Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet and their deliciously romantic love story have captured imaginations for over two hundred years. In their final moments together, Darcy makes his Last Promise to Elizabeth. He vows that somehow he will find her and they will be together again.

This is my second question for you: when and how you came to think of  writing  a Jane Austen – inspired book?

In 2008, my mother introduced me to the wonderful world of Jane Austen. I fell absolutely in love with Darcy and Elizabeth and of course the other beloved characters from Pride and Prejudice. Naturally, once I had gobbled up the original, I went on to enjoy several movie versions and to read a great number of the sequels, spin-offs, and prequels based upon Pride and Prejudice. Like so many others, I couldn’t just stop when the story ended. I yearned for more, and then more. So I had the idea of writing a book that not only gave us more, but put them in a tailspin. Two hundred years later, they not only had to rediscover each again, but to go through the challenges of falling in like and then love again.

SPOTLIGHT ON ... HOPE & SENSIBILITY BY P.O DIXON + DOUBLE BOOK GIVEAWAY

From the Author

Anyone who read and enjoyed He Taught Me to Hope will recall the story ended with a lovely little epilogue. It told of the Darcys’ happily ever after: how Darcy’s love for Ben was as great as if they were of the same blood, and how he had given Ben more than a home; he had given him a loving family such as Ben truly had never known.

I supposed at the time that was the end of the story. As more and more readers began embracing the story, not only did they find themselves falling in love with Darcy and Elizabeth all over again, many hearts and imaginations were also captured by young Ben, the precocious child who fancied himself Sir Lancelot and Darcy, King Arthur. So many of Ben’s adoring fans insisted the Darcys’ story continue, and I listened.

The Book

Hope and Sensibility (Darcy and the Young Knight’s Quest, Book 3)

Being the new father of a precocious little boy is but one of the challenges Darcy faces in this delightful sequel to He Taught Me to Hope. Extended family and friends—old and new—also demand their share of attention.

Join Darcy, Elizabeth, and Ben on a diverting adventure, which picks up where The Mission (Book 2 in the Darcy and the Young Knight’s Quest series) ends. Travel with them to Kent, and then Hertfordshire, and finally back to Derbyshire and enjoy young Ben's exploits along the way.

 The ebook is available at amazon.com Kindle Store

JANE AUSTEN IN THE WORLD - A JANE AUSTEN BALL IN HUNGARY: MEET MOLNAR JULIA DORA

Mòlnar Jùlia Dòra

Confessions of a late Janeite

For a long time I didn’t consider myself as a Jane Austen fan – a Janeite as I learned the term a few months ago. Of course I knew the books, or at least I heard about them. But – the moment of truth – I was about 16 when I first saw (saw, not read) the Sense and Sensibility. The Emma Thompson/Kate Winslet movie. And I loved it. But still, the great recognition, the falling in love was still missing. I mean yes, Willoughby was handsome and I admire Alan Rickman, but come on... Neither of them is Darcy, am I right?

So I needed a few more years for The Day to come... My sister showed me the Pride and Prejudice. THE Pride and Prejudice. The BBC one. With Colin. And Jennifer Ehle. And I fell in love. Not just with Darcy, but with the whole ... Austen World! The atmosphere, the characters, the dresses, the balls, the story amazed me and I thought how wonderful it would be to relive or at least try to reproduce the Jane Austen era atmosphere.

After I got hooked,  I not only watched the series many, many times, but I showed the episodes to my best friends, and read the book in Hungarian and in English as well, and read many others and I discovered other writers. By the way my sister’s favourite is  Wives and Daughters (also BBC with Justine Waddell) from Elizabeth Gaskell's novel, but I don’t argue, because I love that too. So I think I can say that slowly but surely now I understand a little more about the regency era.