Blog Anniversary and giveaway!

Hello everyone,

Until one year ago I had no idea there was such an amazing JAFF community out there and felt alone in this addiction to Jane Austen Fan Fiction.

I remember re-watching the BBC adaptation of Pride & Prejudice by Andrew Davies probably for the 100^th time when I felt an incredible urge to have more of Darcy and Elizabeth, so I decided to search for something on Amazon. I mean, I couldn’t be the only one in need of more right? That is how I discovered Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife from Linda Berdoll and the doors of Jane Austen Fan Fiction were opened to me. With that book I discovered there were authors writing sequels and variations of Pride & Prejudice and soon I got addicted to this genre of literature. I started reading so much, that at a certain point I didn’t know which were the great authors I had loved and which were the ones I wasn’t so fond of. I also realized there were too many sub genres of JAFF and that I preferred some to others, even if Amazon didn’t distinguished that when it presented the recommendations to me.

When I started buying duplicate books and spending too much time in Amazon trying to discern which of those books being recommend to me would actually be the sub genres I preferred, my frustration increased and I started sharing this with my friends and even co-workers. One of them asked me if there was any place where I could find a list of these books by subgenre with a small description that would help me choose my next read, which prompted me to search for websites that could have these lists. I found some web sites with JAFF lists, but none of them would separate them by subgenre and rating, so I told him there was nothing of the sort, and that is when he suggested I did it myself. I started thinking on what I could do and that is how I imagined my Pride and Prejudice and North and South tabs where I have a list of all the books I have read per genre.

Before you tease me, I must confess I’m not very good with technology, so obviously in my initial search I did not discover one single JAFF blog. It was only after launching my blog and posting my first reviews that I discovered Meredith’s Austenesque Reviews, and with it all the other existing blogs.

When I saw Austenesque Reviews I thought that maybe my blog would not add anything to anyone so I was going to give it up, but then, I was so welcomed into the community and everyone was so very nice to me, including Meredith herself, that I decided to continue with my blog, even if it was just another blog dedicated to JAFF.

That was the best decision I have ever taken because until this day From Pemberley to Milton allows me to connect with people who share the same passion for P&P and N&S that I do. It allows me to talk and share experiences with people who understand me, and above all, it has allowed me to make friends that are now an important part of my life.

I am pretty certain Jane Austen never considered her books could one day have such an impact in the life of an unknown Portuguese girl, but she did, and for that I must thank her! Well…for that and for creating the most perfect, passionate, dashing gentleman ever known to mankind of course.

So, here we are, one year later celebrating the first anniversary of From Pemberley to Milton!!!

I hope to have the chance to celebrate many more blog anniversaries with all of you and many more readers who have not yet connected with our community.

From Pemberley to Milton still gives me much joy and today I would like to share that joy with you, by offering a giveaway of the 2 first books reviewed on this blog: Mr. Darcy’s Noble Connections by Abigail Reynolds and The Subsequent Proposal by Joana Starnes.

The giveaway is for paperback copies and is international so that everyone across the globe can have an opportunity to read these 5 star books.

The Subsequent Proposal was offered and signed by Mrs. Starnes, so this is your opportunity to have a signed by the author copy.

To be entitled to the giveaway just leave your comment on this post. Let me know what you think of From Pemberley to Milton, if it meets your expectations or how I could improve it. Share your own experience of how you discovered JAFF, who are your favorite authors and genres or just share your love for Jane Austen. Everything is accepted 🙂

Thanks to all of you for taking this journey with me so far! And I hope we can continue to discover more of Darcy and Elizabeth and Thornton and Margaret adventures together.