REGINA JEFFERS, PEMBERLEY'S CHRISTMAS GOVERNESS: A HOLIDAY PRIDE AND PREJUDICE VAGARY

 

GOVERNESSES IN THE 19th CENTURY

Parents of the 19th Century required different skills from their governesses. Some governesses taught only a few subjects each day. Others oversaw the children throughout the day. Most families chose a particular governess for the lady’s strengths in specific subject matter. A “finishing” governess might be hired to prepare the older daughters for their society entrance. This might include music lessons, painting, drawing, singing, and social etiquette.

JANE AUSTEN'S FIGHTING MEN: PERSUADED TO SAIL

Greetings, everyone. Jack Caldwell here. I’d like to thank Maria  Grazia for the opportunity to visit with you today to talk about my latest book, PERSUADED TO SAIL: asequel to Persuasion and Book Three of Jane Austen’s Fighting Men.

PERSUADED TO SAIL picks up at the end of Persuasion—the wedding of Anne Elliot to Captain Frederick Wentworth. Planning an uneventful honeymoon cruise aboard HMS Laconia to Frederick’s posting in Bermuda, the Wentworths’ plans are thrown into disarray by the Hundred Days Crisis.

Hold on a second. What is the Hundred Days Crisis?

To explain this, I have to go back to the genesis of the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815). This era of conflict arose out of the Wars of the French Revolution (1792-1802). Europe had been locked in a bloody conflict between the homicidal French Republic and the autocratic European monarchies. The chaos allowed a little-known general from the French island of Corsica, Napoleon Bonaparte, to prove his military prowess, to seize power in a coup d'état, and then smash the Coalition armies and force a peace. Peace only lasted a year, and a third coalition of European powers was formed in 1803 to fight the self-styled Emperor Napoleon.

RAKES AND ROSES BLOG TOUR OPENS TODAY!

Bestselling author Josi S. Kilpack tours the blogosphere May 4 through May 22, 2020 to share her third novel in the Mayfield Family series, Rakes and Roses. The blog tour kicks off here today and will see forty popular book bloggers specializing in historical romance, inspirational fiction, and Austenesque fiction will feature guest blogs, interviews, exclusive excerpts, and book reviews of this acclaimed Regency romance.  

DRESS-UP JANE AUSTEN: DISCOVER HISTORY THROUGH FASHION. WIN A COPY!

Think you know your morning dresses from your riding habits? Whether it’s dancing the night away or preparing for a winter walk are you sure you know what it is the best outfit to wear? Have a close look at the costumes contained in Dress- up Jane Austen and you'll find wonderful suggestions. 

And what about discovering Jane Austen’s Regency era through fashion! Aren't you curious to know more about such a fascinating time? Thanks to Dress-up Jane Austen you'll get to find out unusual details, how a Regency bride and groom dressed for their wedding  or why everyone used to wear hats, for instance.  

What is Dress-up Jane Austen?

It is a beautifully illustrated activity book. Written by Catherine Bruzzone and illustrated by Hennie Haworth, it is part of a series,  Fashion Paper Dolls,  and it's all about discovering the history of the Regency Era through the fashions of the time. It provides a healthy dose of nostalgic paper dolls fun and interesting information.  Whilst the series of books is meant for children, leafing through its lovely pages,  I'm sure that adults, especially Jane Austen fans,  might enjoy the level of detail in the drawings, too.

MR DARCY'S BRIDEs BLOG TOUR & GIVEAWAY - AUTHOR REGINA JEFFERS, BREACH OF PROMISE LEGALITIES IN THE REGENCY

In Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Miss Austen brings up the issue of “Breach of Promise Suits” as they apply to Lydia and Wickham. This exchange actually occurs after Darcy’s second proposal (chapter 60) when Elizabeth is asking Darcy when he fell in love with her:

THE INNKEEPER OF IVY HILL BLOG TOUR - 5 QUESTIONS FOR ... AUTHOR JULIE KLASSEN

About the book

The lifeblood of the village of Ivy Hill is its coaching inn, The Bell. When the innkeeper dies suddenly, his genteel wife, Jane Bell, becomes the reluctant landlady. Jane has no idea how to manage a business, but with the town's livelihood at stake and a large loan due, she must quickly find a way to save the inn.

Despite their strained relationship, Jane turns to her resentful mother-in-law, Thora, for help. Formerly mistress of The Bell, Thora is struggling to overcome her losses and find purpose for the future. As she works with Jane, two men from her past vie for her attention, but Thora has promised herself never to marry again. Will one of them convince her to embrace a second chance at love?

As pressure mounts from the bank, Jane employs new methods, and puzzles over the intentions of several men who seem to have a vested interest in the place, including a mysterious newcomer with secret plans of his own. With the help of friends old and new, can Jane restore life to the inn, and to her empty heart as well?

Visit talesfromivyhill.com to find a map of the village, character profiles, a book giveaway, and more!

SYRIE JAMES: EIGHT REASONS WHY I LOVE NOVELS SET IN THE GEORGIAN AND REGENCY ERAS - JANE AUSTEN'S FIRST LOVE HOLIDAY BLOG TOUR & FABULOUS GIVEAWAY

I have a soft spot in my heart for historical fiction novels set in England during the Georgian and Regency eras. Why? There are so many reasons, but I’ll condense them down to eight:

1. I love stepping back in time.

Reading a novel set in the past is like discovering your own personal time machine. I love being immersed in all the sights, sounds, and smells of a time gone by, and experiencing, through the characters’ eyes, thoughts, and feelings, what it was like to live in another era. The Georgian and Regency eras are particularly appealing to me because it’s the time in which Jane Austen lived and wrote. Jane grew up during the Georgian era, which began in 1714 and spanned the reigns of the first four Hanoverian kings of Great Britain who were all named George. The Regency (which we more readily associate with Austen) was a brief sub-period of the Georgian era between 1811 and 1820, when King George III was deemed unfit to rule and his son, the Prince of Wales, ruled as his proxy as Prince Regent. 

It’s such fun to read about the way people lived then, and to spend time with them in their country houses, where even the poorest of the gentry class had servants to wait on them. Nobody in Austen’s novels is ever seen doing anything we’d recognize today as work. They ride horses, drive in carriages, play cards, play music, sing, read, sew, embroider, draw, paint, hunt, take long walks in the shrubbery, and dance at balls. Of course, it took servants to make all that leisure time possible—but what fun it is to lose ourselves in what seems like a lovely, fairy tale existence.