Author of the Month – Jan Hahn

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Good Afternoon everyone,

Welcome to my third edition of the author of the month feature. After giving a shout out to Joana Starnes and Nicole Clarkston in the first 2 months of the year, my choice for author of the month in March was obvious, it simply had to be Jan Hahn.

This month Jan Hahn has released her 5th novel called The Child which I have recently reviewed here at From Pemberley to Milton, but that was not why I chose her for this feature, I chose Jan Hahn because I’ve spent the entire month re-reading her books!

Jan Hahn is clearly on top of my favourite authors list and after reading the The Child I felt a compulsion to re-read her other novels. I though I would just have a good time reading The Journey for a couple of hours, but it turns out that just like the first time I read it, once I started I couldn’t put it down. After that one I attacked An Arranged Marriage, and now I’m re-reading A Peculiar Connection, this means the only book from this author I haven’t read this month is The Secret Betrothal… but I’m leaving that to April 😉

There are few authors who are able to truly find their way into my heart with their books and Jan Hahn is certainly one of them. There is something special in her writing that makes me completely and utterly engaged with the characters and the stories. She writes exactly what I want to read and I find her books absolutely PERFECT!

Her characters Darcy and Elizabeth are always exactly as I imagine them to be, and we know how these characters may vary depending on the author who is putting them on paper, so I consider myself lucky because this talented author views these characters just like I do, and always makes me feel connected to them in her books. But that is not the only reason her books are perfect for me; she is not afraid to give readers the taste of angst that I am incredibly fond off. She creates the most beautiful and perfect angst, the one where Darcy and Elizabeth love each other but can’t be together as a couple for some reason (usually a misunderstanding that is always justified and believable in her stories). That’s what makes it so incredible, her angst is not based on them being apart which is a type of angst I dislike, by the contrary, we see them together, we read their conversations and we feel their sorrow for not being together… it’s just delightful. But she never forgets readers who are not so fond of angst, because after she gives us the taste of it, she always takes the time to give readers many chapters of blissful happiness. This is one author who never rushes an ending, she takes all the time she needs to please all types of readers, and by doing it, she creates a perfect balance throughout her books with the ideal quantity of romance, angst and closure.

I’ve spoken about her characters, the tone of her books and their structure but I haven’t yet mentioned the storylines. That is another A grade for Jan Hahn! She devises the most intriguing plots, keeping the pacing of the books very fast and making readers want to keep going until everything is resolved. That is obviously a combination of incredible writing skills and a great imagination!

Jan Hahn’s writing is compelling, intriguing and addictive and her books are the perfect combination of great plotlines, well-developed characters and delightful romance. To me they are perfect in every sense and I must say A Peculiar Connection is my all time favourite JAFF book with The Journey running in second place. I only wish Jan Hahn could continue writing every day because her books are everything my soul needs when I am down.  Her stories and her characters allow me to escape my daily problems and be removed into a world where after some turbulence happiness is always met. Just like Joana Starnes, Jan Hahn is one of the few authors who reaches the deepest parts of my heart with the intensity of the scenes she writes, and that is what I love the most about a book, the ability to make me feel something. It is not easy to do that because it takes more than good writing skills to achieve something so powerful as intensely engaging the readers emotions, but Jan Hahn is quite an expert at it!

Jan Hahn is an author whose books I’ll always read and who I will always recommend to my readers because after reading all her books I can honestly say she cannot get it wrong! Her books are always incredible and she has a talent that words cannot explain, at least I can’t with my limited writing abilities, but I can only say I really hope she never stops writing because a talent like hers should not go to waste.

The last detail I cannot refrain from mentioning is the taste she reveals in the choice of her covers. Her covers are always sooooooo beautiful I can’t resist them 🙂 I remember buying The Secret Betrothal because of the cover and of course, the inside matched the outside, so let me finish by adding that we can judge a book by its cover, and Jan Hahn’s books are always winners 😉

 

 

Award-winning writer Jan Hahn is the author of five Austen-inspired novels. She studied music at the University of Texas, but discovered her true love was a combination of journalism and literature. Her first book, An Arranged Marriage, was published in 2011, followed by The Journey, The Secret Betrothal, A Peculiar Connection, and The Child. The anthology, The Darcy Monologues, contains her short story entitled Without Affection. She agrees with Mr. Darcy’s words in Pride and Prejudice: ‘A lady’s imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony in a moment.’

Jan is a member of JASNA, lives in Texas, has five children and a gaggle of grandchildren.

 

Jahn Hahn’s Facebook Page

Jan Hahn’s Author Page

 

 

Below you can see the books that made me love Jan Hahn:

My Review (coming soon) Amazon.com

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My Review (coming soon) Amazon.com

My Review (coming soon) Amazon.com

 

My Review Amazon.com

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My Review Amazon.com

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And now you can find a little bit more about all of the above books and discover why Jan Hahn keeps writing JAFF 🙂

 

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Thank you, Rita, for honoring me as your author of the month! I’m thrilled that you would choose me from the huge selection of Austen writers out there. You are more than kind. Bloggers like you are treasures in the world of writing today. They are the essential link between readers and writers. Helping to launch a new book or an unknown talent into the reading world is a priceless asset, and it’s done by the selfless generosity of bloggers.

The Child is the fifth novel I’ve written based on Pride and Prejudice. People ask, ‘When are you going to create your own characters?” I laughingly answer when I grow tired of Austen’s perfect creations. But don’t expect it any time soon for who can tire of Austen? I have scattered a few original people throughout my novels. The maid Fiona provoked Elizabeth’s curiosity and a bit of jealousy in An Arranged Marriage. My own bad boy Nate Morgan appeared in The Journey. Father Peter Darcy, Elizabeth Willoughby and her family, and various minor characters played parts in A Peculiar Connection. A maid called Maggie, who plays a significant role in the plot, pops up in The Child, and of course, there’s the child herself named Fan.

I prefer, however, to write mainly about Darcy and Elizabeth. I like stories where they’re thrown together for most of the book even though they may be in conflict much of the time. And I delight in watching them fall in love all over again.

An Arranged Marriage was the easiest book to write. For some reason, the story just flowed out of me, and it’s still my most popular work. The first part of The Journey was fun to write. Since highwaymen in England compared to outlaws in the American westerns my late husband loved, I sought his advice on weapons and camping in the cave scenes. I can’t think of that book without remembering him. A novella I posted online in 2003 called The Engagement emerged into the fleshed-out book The Secret Betrothal. A Peculiar Connection featured a shocking premise, and yet brave readers embraced it.

Last year, Christina Boyd invited me to participate in her anthology The Darcy Monologues. My short story was entitled Without Affection and begins and ends in the twilight years of the Darcy marriage. And that brings me to The Child, a story beginning over two years after Darcy’s proposal at Hunsford. I hope you enjoy it. I want to express my deepest gratitude to all of you who have supported my work through the years. It means the world to me.

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Jan Han and me would like to offer my readers a chance to be delighted with her writing, and I know it may seem presumptuous to say you’ll be delighted but I find it hard to believe that someone will not love her work 🙂 I would like to offer you one ebook copy of The Journey and Jan Hahn is kindly offering the choice of an ebook or a signed copy of it.

To enter the giveaway comment on this post and let us know if you have ever read any Jan Hahn book, which is your favourite, or why you like her writing, you know the drill 🙂

To receive extra entries in the giveaway comment on the review of The Journey I will post on the 9th of April and the review of An Arranged Marriage which will be published on the 12th.  The winners will be announced on the 16th of April.

Good Luck everyone!