BLOG TOUR AND GIVEAWAY: NORTHFANGER BY JAYNE BAMBER

Are you ready for a Gothic Austen mash-up? NORTHFANGER is a a campy, vampy Northanger Abbey/ Pride and Prejudice crossover just released by Jayne Bamber. Read an excerpt and take your chances to win a copy in the giveaway below. Enjoy and ... good luck!

MEET JOHN KESSEL, AUTHOR OF PRIDE AND PROMETHEUS

Hello John and welcome to My Jane Austen Book Club. I’d like to start our chat with a question that came to my mind as soon as I read you were publishing, Pride and Prometheus ,  a mash-up tale based on Jane Austen’s  Pride and Prejudice and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Do you think Jane and Mary could have ever been friends? (time lap apart)

I think that it would be unlikely that they would be friends, if only because of their different life choices. Jane was the conservative daughter of a clergyman and was raised in polite upperclass British society. She cared about the strictures of society and what was and was not proper behavior.

Mary was the daughter of two radicals; her mother Mary Wollstonecraft wrote one of the first arguments for women's equality,  A Vindication of the Rights of Women and her father William Godwin was a supporter of the French Revolution. Mary ran off with the poet Percy Shelley when she was seventeen while Shelley was still married to his first wife. Shelley abandoned his wife and son to go off with her. If Mary were a character in a Jane Austen novel, she would be the "bad girl" or the "ruined woman" who violated every rule of society, like Maria Bertram in Mansfield Park.

FIFTY SHADES OF PRIDE & PREJUDICE

Does it make sense? No? Well, it makes fun!

Fifty Shades of Pride and Prejudice? Does something like that make sense? I mean, really? A mash –up of Fifty Shades of Grey and Pride and Prejudice? Improbable.  That was my first thought. But, then, I decided to have a look at the video and it was a parody  and  I had to admit that if it didn’t  -probably - make SENSE  it made good FUN.

The trailer parody runs 1:55 and stars Jason Michael Snow (Book of Mormon on Broadway) and Nicole Wyland (Video Game High School) as Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett and was written by Los-Angeles based comedy writers Caitlin Cohen (Dead State) and Heidi Lux (Reductress). 

Now, try it yourself!

SPOTLIGHT ON ... SNOWBOUND AT HARTFIELD BY MARIA GRACE + GIVEAWAY

One of the things I love about Jane Austen’s characters is that they stay with you long after you’ve read the book. They become like old friends and you wonder how they would get along if they met each other. Of course, it might be challenging to manage to get them all together for tea, or better yet a house party, but it certainly would make for a fascinating time.

In Snowbound at Hartfield, a freak blizzard is just the thing to strand the Darcy party, including the Darcys, Colonel Fitzwilliam and Mr. Bennet, and Sir Walter Elliot’s party at Hartfield with Emma and George Knightley. Though Knightley has Emma’s assurances that she is finished with matchmaking, can she really resist the temptation their guests provide?

Maria Grace

 About the book: Snowbound at Hartfield  

Colonel Fitzwilliam should have been happy facing retirement. No more Napoleon, no more tromping the Continent, and his distant cousin had unexpectedly left him an estate. What was more, two of his favorite people, Darcy and Elizabeth, were travelling with him to visit his new home.

But the colonel wasn’t happy, not when he was forced to watch Darcy exchanging enamored glances with his wife. No, he wanted to pitch his cousin out the window. It didn’t help when Darcy kept lecturing him on the joys of wedded life— as if women like Elizabeth Darcy grew on every tree.

MR DARCY'S BITE BY MARY LYDON SIMONSEN - REVIEW + GIVEAWAY

To combine the Regency with  parallel paranormal worlds has become a steady and successful reality it seems. Mashup they are called in the fan fiction market and they appeal to both readers who even happen to ignore who Jane Austen was and what her world was like as well as Janeites fond of gothic tales. Will the mashup trend also win new fans over and bring them to read Austen novels? I really hope so.
Mary Lydon Simonsen, after publishing more traditional sequels to Pride and Prejudice like Searching for Pemberley and The Perfect Bride for Mr Darcy,  decided to have a try at writing an original paranormal novel following the trend of "Mr. Darcy, Vampyre" by Amanda Grange (35,000 copies sold!).  The result is this fresh diverting story in which the characters of Pride and Prejudice quite naturally interact with the mysterious and fascinating world of werewolves. 

"As soon as he saw the fire and candles, he froze, and Lizzy froze as well. His eyes darted back and forth, scanning the room, and her heart went into her throat. She barely managed to croak out, "Mr Darcy, it is Elizabeth". But rather than her voice reassuring him, and he told her to come into the light. "What are you doing here?" he asked in an emotionless voice that contrasted sharply with the fire in his eyes. "I'm very sorry, sir. I have made a mistake." She started t walk backwards, but before she could reach the door, he grabbed her roughly by her arm. Now she was truly frightened. "(p. 58)

Mr Darcy with a lean and hungry look ? You can bet on  that.
However, before I go further on, you must know that  I'm not a fan of paranormal, gothic, horror, mystery, ghost stories. I avoid reading them as much as I can. Moreover, I have never read a mash-up of this kind,  combining Austen characters with paranormal events and characters. Hence, you're not going to read the opinions of an expert or of a fan.

That said,  if someone picks up this novel expecting  Darcy to be a steamy, beasty  werewolf, they will be disappointed with the very sober scenes in which they will learn that Darcy is definitely able to resist his strong instincts. He is an "almost" perfect gentleman, as he "almost" always was. Darcy is here strong tempered, sexy and romantic at the same time. He must disappear every month for a couple of days for there is no denying that the full moon seems to be affecting his behaviour and  Elizabeth's love is going to be tested in ways she never dreamed ...
This time Darcy has more than family pride to protect: he is also the leader of a pack and is responsible for others of his kind.
Elizabeth has got a charming gorgeous rival in Lady Helen and this makes everything spicier: Lady Helen seems determined to get Darcy all for herself. After the initial shocking discovery about Darcy's past and present hidden nature,  Lizzy is puzzled and frightened but she will react and fight back because she doesn't want to lose the man she loves either. She will fight back with her smart wit and her ingenuity.

I especially liked Mary Lydon Simonsen's humorous style.  She is good with words and there are very amusing pages in this novel, for instance those describing Elizabeth and Darcy engaged in  their inevitable skirmishes. It is a delightful paranormal romance that will appeal to mashup fans and to those loving Austen sequels with a new take on familiar events. 

The official date for the release of Mr Darcy's Bite is October 4th. Tomorrow! You'll find it in Paperback  or Kindle edition

GIVEAWAY TIME !!! Leaving your comments to this post  + your e-mail address you can have the chance to win a copy of Mr Darcy's Bite granted by Sourcebooks to My Jane Austen Book Club  and its readers. This giveaway contest is limited to US & Canada only and ends on October 10th.