Pemberley Beckons – A Guest Post with Joana Starnes & Giveaways

Hello everyone,

Today I’m welcoming one of my favourite authors who would like to share some wonderful news with you.

I’m talking about Joana Starnes and I hope she is able to tempt you to listen to Miss Darcy’s Companion on Audible. I’ve listened to it last week, and I’ve got to say that it is one of the best audiobooks I’ve heard. The talent of Joana’s writing combined with Stevie’s impeccable narration makes it irresistible!

If you have not yet tried Audiobooks, you can always try the Audible free trial period.

Please join me in welcoming Joana Starnes 🙂

 

 

 

Thanks for having me as your guest today, Rita, to talk about my latest book to come out in Audible – Miss Darcy’s Companion.

 

What better way to start than by thanking you and Stevie Zimmerman for making it happen? My guest post on your blog, back in May 2017, told the story of these exciting new beginnings, and how it was thanks to you that I finally ventured into the wonderful world of audio-books. You gave me the much-needed nudge, and along with Nicole Clarkston and Elizabeth Adams, who generously shared their experience and advice, you lovely ladies gave me the impetus and the tips I needed to begin releasing my books in Audible too. As for introducing me to the magic of Stevie Zimmerman’s narrations, I really can’t thank you and Nicole enough! Just as I said then, I only had to listen to samples of her wonderful renditions to fall in love.

Stevie’s Elizabeth and Mr Darcy sound just like the voices in my head. To say that her Mr Darcy is 100% swoon-worthy is a serious understatement. He’s in turns dreamy and softly-spoken – or his icy disdain cuts like a knife when some poor fool (like Mr Collins) manages to anger him. Elizabeth’s voice rings and shimmers like a bell and dear oh dear, you’ve got to hear Stevie’s Mrs Bennet and her Lady Catherine! Every character comes alive and speaks to you, enticing you further into the story.

As Stevie produced four of my books in Audible (The Falmouth Connection, Mr Bennet’s Dutiful Daughter, The Unthinkable Triangle, and Miss Darcy’s Companion) I kept falling in love all over again with her exquisite style, and especially with her rendition of Mr Darcy. A recent review for Miss Darcy’s Companion says it best:

‘She has the perfect voice for Darcy, deep, vulnerable, and intense.’

Goodness me, hasn’t she just! Swooning guaranteed when Stevie narrates the midnight kiss scene in The Falmouth Connection, and she’ll tug at your heartstrings with Mr Darcy’s ‘Desist!’ in Mr Bennet’s Dutiful Daughter, or his ‘This cannot be! This cannot be!’ in The Unthinkable Triangle. You can listen to a very deep, vulnerable, intense – and in this case shell-shocked – Mr Darcy in this Audible sample, and you’ll know what I mean.

Stevie Zimmerman’s production of Miss Darcy’s Companion is just as brimming with emotion, as Mr Darcy discovers his feelings and struggles to decide precisely what he should do about them. I hope your readers will enjoy listening to it too. The Audible 30-Day Free Trial is ever so easy to set up and use, and 10 Audible download codes are also up for grabs (there is a link to the international Giveaway at the end of this post).

It was so wonderful to see 2017 bringing the launch of most of my books into Audible, along with several other exciting adventures, and the joy of meeting dear friends.

 

So, what next? Pemberley beckons (doesn’t it always?), and it had recently occurred to me that in three books out of my seven I’ve been terribly unfair to Mr Bennet. So perhaps I owe him a novel where he doesn’t meet with an untimely end, and is rather more central to the story. For once, I thought he might leave his library now and then, and take steps to influence his daughters’ future. His teasingly affectionate relationship with Elizabeth deserves more than a footnote, and besides it’ll be great fun to imagine Mr Darcy suddenly forced to deal with a disconcerting fatherly figure who is not in the least intimidated by him and his position in society, but is quick to join ranks with Colonel Fitzwilliam and take Darcy down a peg or two, or none-too-gently nudge him in the right direction whenever it looks like he’s about to make a complete fool of himself and/or make a hash of his courtship.

Also, in my other novels, there was plenty of opportunity for longing, but not so much for banter. Darcy spent a great deal of time yearning for Elizabeth, but nowhere near as much flirting with her. I think this is about to change. Courtship and flirting are the order of the day, and it looks like Darcy is going to find himself caught in a crossfire between his cousin’s wit, Elizabeth’s and her father’s – and Heaven help him if he can’t keep up!

 

But, as Mr Collins would say, of this – thereafter. Thanks for stopping by, and please follow the link to the international GIVEAWAY, for a chance to curl up with Miss Darcy’s Companion in paperback over the holidays, listen to Stevie Zimmerman bringing the story to life, or win a bag of goodies from Pemberley, Bath and Chawton.

For more chances to win, please follow the blog tour to see your entries add up:

 

24 Nov 2017 – News Page at www.joanastarnes.co.uk

27 Nov 2017 – Austenesque Reviews

29 Nov 2017 – Just Jane 1813

30 Nov 2017 – From Pemberley to Milton

2 Dec 2017 – Obsessed with Mr Darcy

Thanks again for the wonderful welcome, Rita, and here’s to a good end to 2017 and a great start for 2018.

 

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You can connect with Joana Starnes on:

http://www.facebook.com/joana.a.starnes

http://www.joanastarnes.co.uk

http://www.twitter.com/Joana_Starnes

Or visit ‘All Roads Lead to Pemberley’ on Facebook, for places, events and titbits that have inspired her novels.

Books by Joana Starnes at Amazon.com

Books by Joana Starnes at Amazon.co.uk