His Choice of a Wife – Excerpt & Giveaway

Good Afternoon everyone,

I’m very happy to be welcoming author Heather Moll for a wonderful guest post about her recently released book, His Choice of a Wife. Ms. Moll choose to bring to From Pemberley to Milton an excerpt where Mr. Darcy allows Georgiana to waltz in a ball and because this was still a new type of dancing in 1812, she also developed a guest post where you can learn more about this dance.  Also, there is more to this scene then the excerpt you see here today. There is another wonderful scene at Meredith’s blog Austenesque Reviews, so if you want to know more about waltzing, please stop by her blog and check it out 🙂

 

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Thank you for hosting me at Pemberley to Milton today, Rita! I’m very excited to share a short excerpt from His Choice of a Wife and talk a little bit about waltzing in England. In the scene below, Elizabeth is returning Georgiana Darcy’s call—at her brother’s house—where the two talk about learning a new dance.

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“I spend Thursday mornings in dance lessons with other ladies. There is but one in the group for whom I felt anything akin to friendship. My brother may loathe dancing”—Miss Darcy offered a small smile—“but even he would agree to the importance of learning what is fashionable.”

“To execute perfectly the steps of an English country dance and to make polite conversation while remaining attentive to the demands of the dance requires skill. What did you and your companions review today?”

“The turning waltz” was her reply, and they spoke animatedly about the intimate dance and its supposed affront to English morals. Miss Darcy declared she would be too mortified to be seen clasping a gentleman so closely but conceded the dance was graceful.

“It is fortunate that I am far too proper for such wickedness,” Elizabeth said playfully. “Otherwise, I might regret not having the opportunity to learn the steps so I might scandalize my country neighbors.”

“There is nothing shocking in the side-by-side position, only in the closed.” Miss Darcy inhaled deeply and nearly tripped over her words. “Would you care for me to show you the steps?”

Is Darcy doing something scandalous by allowing his little sister to learn to waltz in 1812? But no one even waltzed in Regency England, right?

While it’s true that a waltz on Dancing with the Stars was nothing like what the English danced in early 19th century, the waltz WAS danced then, and by the time Georgiana is learning it wasn’t as inappropriate as you might think. Early waltz music was sold by London’s music vendors in the 1780s. At first, waltz only referred to the music and the dancing figures were the same as English country dance steps.

By the 1790s, the couple-waltz appeared in England at society balls— twenty years before His Choice of a Wife is set. The Morning Post in 1801 describes how the Marchioness of Abercorn opened her ball with the “German waltz” and it was attended by much of the nobility and royalty. Other balls mentioning a waltz appear in the newspapers in the first decades of the 19th century, and dancing masters begin advertising their services in teaching the waltz.

So what was the controversy about this new dance?

Some hints appear in what was said in this 1811 article: “… no considerate father, mother, husband, or brother, can approve of this familiar clasping German Waltz, and that it can only find advocates among volatile young men who like to twist, twirl and spin the girls about, and turn them into whirligigs”.

The author of the etiquette guide The Mirror of the Graces also said in 1811: “There is something in the close approximation of persons, in the attitudes, and in the motion, which ill agrees with the delicacy of woman, should she be placed in such a situation with any other man than the most intimate connection she can have in life.”

All of that spinning and close holding and extended eye-contact was quite a change from country dances!

The debate waged through the first decade of the 19th century, but the nobility danced it… and the moralists were worn down. Change is hard, right? A turning point was in 1814 after the—temporary—defeat of Napoleon when European dignitaries had state visits to London and the waltz was widely danced. Even Jane Austen’s brother Henry attended one of the state balls that summer!

Different classes of London society had differing opinions of the waltz, but the truth was it was popular among higher circles and foreign dignitaries, and it gradually made its way down the social ladder and substituted country dancing.

So what exactly did Georgiana teach Elizabeth in 1812 in His Choice of a Wife?

 

 

About 50 seconds in to this short clip you’ll see the side-by-side promenade position, and then the more intimate closed position, with left arms arched over their heads and right arms wrapped around their partners. These are what the Elizabeth and Georgiana practice first, but it’s the faster-paced—and noisy— hopping and skipping that attracts the attention of anyone else who might be in the house…

If any of you are interested in reading a longer excerpt from that waltzing scene, visit yesterday’s blog stop at Austenesque Reviews.

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When a man’s honor is at stake, what is he willing to risk for the woman he loves?

After a disastrous marriage proposal and the delivery of an illuminating letter, Fitzwilliam Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet hope never to lay eyes on one another again. When a chance meeting in Hunsford immediately throws them in each other’s way, Darcy realizes his behavior needs correcting, and Elizabeth starts to appreciate his redeeming qualities. But is it enough to forgive the past and overcome their prejudices?

Jane and Bingley’s possible reconciliation and Lydia’s ill-conceived trip to Brighton pose their own challenges for two people struggling to find their way to love. When scandalous news threatens their chance at happiness, will Darcy and Elizabeth’s new bond be shattered, or will their growing affection hold steadfast?

 

 

You can find His Choice of a Wife at:

Amazon.com

Amazon.co.uk

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Heather Moll is an avid reader with a B.A. in European history and a M.A. in library science, so it is astonishing that she did not discover Jane Austen until her late-twenties. Making up for lost time, she devoured all of Austen’s novels, her letters, and unpublished works, joined JASNA, and spent far too much time researching the Regency era. She is thrilled to have found fellow Janeites and the JAFF community, if only to prove that her interests aren’t so strange after all. Heather is a former librarian turned stay-at-home mother who struggles to find time for all of the important things, like reading and writing.

You can contact Heather thought the following social media:

Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/HeatherMollAuthor/

Twitter Author Page: https://twitter.com/HMollAuthor?lang=en

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Heather-Moll/e/B07V5KLGB8/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1

Goodreads Page: https://www.goodreads.com/HeatherMoll 

 

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We are right in the middle of the blog tour, so you still have plenty of excerpts, guest posts and reviews to read. You can see the next stops below:

July 25 More Agreeably Engaged

July 26 Babblings of a Bookworm

July 27 My Love for Jane Austen

July 28 Half Agony, Half Hope

July 29 Austenesque Reviews

July 30 From Pemberley to Milton

July 31 Savvy Verse & Wit

Aug. 1 Darcyholic Diversions

Aug. 2 Diary of an Eccentric

Aug. 3 Margie’s Must Reads

Aug. 4 My Jane Austen Book Club

Aug. 5 So Little Time…

Aug. 6 My Vices and Weaknesses

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Meryton Press is giving away 8 eBooks of Heather Moll’s His Choice of a Wife. To apply to it all you have to do is comment on this post and click on this rafflecopter link.

Good Luck Everyone!

 

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Fitzwilliam Darcy, Poet – Review & Release Day Giveaway

Fitzwilliam Darcy, Poet was released today at Amazon.com, but I was very lucky to receive an advanced readers copy, so I am already in a position to tell you what I think about this book. In one word, I think it is PERFECT! If you want to know why, keep reading…

I have to start this review by saying Fitzwilliam Darcy, Poet is by far the best JAFF book I’ve read this year! I was craving for something that would capture my heart just like in the old days and that is what this book did. I was lucky to receive an advance readers copy and from the moment I started reading this book I couldn’t stop! I hadn’t read anything I considered uputdownable since last year and being this immersed in a story once more was superb!

Fitzwilliam Darcy, Poet is definitely the most romantic book I have ever read from Jennifer Joy. It is clean and sweet but also intriguing and captivating. The premise is quite simple with only a few interesting and innovating changes, and that was the recipe for a magnificent book.

In this story, Mr. Darcy secretly writes poetry and one of Elizabeth’s favourite occupations is reading poetry. This common passion will allow them to create a beautiful solid bond with one another. The main difference in this story is that the Bennet sisters have to remain a few more days at Netherfield after Jane gets sick, and the coyness of having the story mainly placed in one single location was very alluring to me.

Fitzwilliam Darcy, Poet doesn’t have any unnecessary misunderstandings, or incredibly intrusive villains. It only has two people who build a relationship and face the same dilemmas we all face in our lives.

I absolutely loved the changes Jennifer Joy did in this book, and I believe the JAFF community needed something like this. Instead of overcomplicating the plot, she made it simple. She changed it in a credible manner and kept readers interested in the story because they cared about the characters and wanted to know what they would do or say next. This is what a good writer should do! A good writer has the ability to make readers get involved in the story and to fall for the characters. If readers connect with the characters, they will love the book, and that is what happens in Fitzwilliam Darcy, Poet.

Mr. Wickham’s character is the best surprise this book has to offer readers. It will make you want to read the book non-stop because it is completely new, yet still in character and believable! It was refreshing to see a character that was this unpredictable! We never knew what Mr. Wickham would do next. We were not sure of his true intentions but because he was still the same character we were introduced with in Pride and Prejudice, we keep waiting for him to reveal his true character at any time. This is another reason why we get glued to this book, we kind of keep waiting for something to happen, but we don’t know what that could be.

Mr. Darcy’s character is so romantic that it is impossible not to fall for him, or his poems. And Elizabeth, well… she is adorable! I loved her unbiased character, her passion but also her rationality and maturity.

Even Mr. Bingley surprised me in this book with the advice he gave Mr. Darcy because it gave merit to his character. I was not expecting that speech, which surprised me in the most positive manner! I’m tired of seeing Mr. Bingley being portrayed as a prop in a movie set. In Fitzwilliam Darcy, Poet he gained some depth with that speech, and it made me realise why Mr. Darcy is his friend.

I loved the book in its entirety but two scenes come to mind as favourites. The discussion Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy have about Darcy’s poem, which was delightful and perfectly demonstrates how they are intellectually equal, as well as why they would obviously fall for each other, and the proposal scene! I confess I saw that one coming, but it was just as good as I expected it to be.

With this book, Jennifer Joy demonstrated that authors do not need to change the entire story and go to extremes to be successful. Most of the times, less is more when it comes to creating plots, and this book proves it! It was the first JAFF book I read this year that made me want to read non-stop, and the only problem I have it with, is that it will make my next read fall in caparison for sure. Simplicity was the key to make this book a perfect enjoyable read and I’m certain readers will fall in love with this story and its characters. I highly recommend it, and I’m sure you won’t regret reading it, it will probably become one of your favourites too. It is perfect!

You can find Fitzwilliam Darcy, Poet at:

Amazon.com

Amazon.co.uk

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Can you fall in love with someone you have never met?

He has given up on love.

Fitzwilliam Darcy was burned once. Never again. Hiding his emotions, Darcy takes pride in his marble-like façade … until he meets a lady who threatens to expose his true character, Miss Elizabeth Bennet.

She loves a poet she has never seen.

Elizabeth Bennet longs to meet the man whose poems touch her soul — the elusive Mr. Walter Wyndham. He is her ideal; her dream … and everything emotionless Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy could never be.

When Mrs. Bennet and a surprise visitor conspire to throw them together, they’ll either strangle each other … or end up engaged.

Stuck in each other’s company, Darcy’s carefully constructed barriers come crashing down when he discovers the secret identity of Elizabeth’s beloved poet. It’s him!

Will Darcy measure up to the man she’s been dreaming of for years? Will Elizabeth stubbornly pursue an illusion, or will she fall for an imperfect (and very real) man?

Fitzwilliam Darcy, Poet is a sweet and clean romance variation of Jane Austen’s timeless classic, Pride and Prejudice.

Let the poetry lessons begin! Get your copy today!

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Jennifer Joy is offering 4 ebook copies of Fitzwilliam Darcy, Poet to some of my readers to celebrate its release. The giveaway is international and all you have to do to apply is comment on this post. Let us know what you thought of the permise, or share any comments on the review.

The giveaway will end on the 2nd of August and the winners will be announced shortly after.

Good Luck everyone!

Undeceived- Excerpt

Good Afternoon dear readers,

I hope you had a lovely week and that your weekend will be just as good. I have lots of plans for my weekend but this time I am not reserving a lot of time for reading, which means my TBR pile keeps growing and growing.

Luckily today I’m bringing you an excerpt of a book I have already read, so I don’t feel so bad with myself 🙂 I’m talking about Undeceived by Karen M Cox which was just re-released this week.

This book has a beautiful new cover but the story remains just as engaging for those who love a good spy story. If you like this genre, take a sneak peek at the excerpt, I believe it will convince you to acquire the book if you haven’t done it already 🙂 Oh… Have I mentioned that due to the re-release it is still on sale at Amazon for 0,99$? 😉

 

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…if I endeavor to undeceive people as to the rest of his conduct, who will believe me?

–Pride & Prejudice, Chapter 40

 

Elizabeth Bennet, a rookie counterintelligence officer, lands an intriguing first assignment—investigating the CIA’s legendary William Darcy, who is suspected of being a double agent.

Darcy’s charmed existence seems at an end as he fights for his career and struggles against his love for the young woman he doesn’t know is watching his every move.

Elizabeth’s confidence dissolves as nothing is like she planned—and the more she discovers about Darcy, the more she finds herself in an ever-tightening web of danger.

Unexpected twists abound in this suspenseful Cold War era romance inspired by Jane Austen’s classic tale.

 

First Edition Reviews:

“Just when you think you figured it out, you’re wrong!!” – Amazon Review

“One of the slickest Pride & Prejudice variations I have ever had the pleasure of reading.” – Just Jane 1813

“…a who-done-it page turner…” – Amazon Review

“It’s dexterous writing, with a smart premise. Undeceived is unique…” – Amazon Review

“…an incredibly unique and riveting tale.” – Austenesque Reviews

 

 

 

 

You can find Undeceived at:

Amazon.com

Amazon.co.uk

 

 

 

 

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Thanks, Rita, for inviting me back to From Pemberley to Milton! Today, I’m sharing an excerpt from my re-release of Undeceived: Pride and Prejudice in the Spy Game.

Our favorite couple have a little bit of history by this point. Darcy has had a second mission blow up in his face and now finds himself in East Berlin with non-official cover—a definite step down from his place as Prague chief of station. He’s discovered that his colleague from Hungary is also in town, and he’s finding it hard to stay away…

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East Berlin, Germany

August 1982

Applause thundered through the theater. Liam Reynolds glanced at the man next to him, and after exchanging looks, they both rose to join in the ovation. From his third row seat, he saw all the actors as they came up to take their bows. His eyes were riveted, however, to one Beth Steventon, known to him now as Elizabeth Bennet, his translator and fellow CIA officer from Budapest. She was right when she told him she’d never be Liz Hertford again, just as he would never be the smooth American businessman Darby Kent again. New city, new assignment, new pocket litter in his jacket—scribblings, tickets, and cards to convince the Stasi about the veracity of this new life.

New assignment but not where he wanted to be. Liam was frustrated with his lack of progress toward the top post in the USSR. East Berlin was on the front lines of the so-called Cold War, but he was still a case officer with a non-official cover, what the career embassy officers called a “damned NOC.”

Beth avoided eye contact with him in his third row as she should; they were supposed to be strangers. But somehow, he took a perverse pleasure in trying to draw her attention.

Last week, Reynolds was floored when he walked into the British Embassy and saw Beth chatting up his longtime friend and MI6 contact, Richard Fitzwilliam. Honestly, Liam assumed he’d probably never see Beth again after they parted ways in Vienna. Yet there they were, starring in their very own Casablanca moment. His lips quirked into a wry smile, thinking “of all the gin joints,” etc.

Her hair was different, shorter, a new auburn color—becoming but not too conspicuous. She laughed heartily at something Fitzwilliam said, making Liam’s insides twist in an odd way.

“Reynolds!” Fitzwilliam called him over with a wave.

He approached the pair, waiting to see whether she could cover her surprise at seeing him in East Germany, assessing her poise. He was oddly disappointed when she turned to face him without a hint of recognition whatsoever.

“Fitz,” he acknowledged his friend. “How’s the BBC?”

“Good, good. Glad to see you. What brings you to East Berlin?”

“I’ve got a traveling position, working for the Goodwin Theater Company—looking for new ideas, fresh talent.”

“How long will you be here?”

“Unknown. Depends on what I find, I guess.”

“I guess.” Fitzwilliam’s eyes twinkled. As if suddenly remembering he wasn’t alone, he turned and gently took the elbow of the woman next to him. “Speaking of fresh talent, I’d like you to meet Beth Steventon. She’s an Oxford grad student on a theater fellowship at Humboldt University this semester. Beth, my friend, Liam Reynolds.”

She held out her hand. “Pleased to meet you.”

When their hands joined, he felt the old familiar tingle in his arm, the same one he felt when he first spun her around the dance floor in Budapest. That instant spark, unfortunately, hadn’t dulled at all. He rubbed his palm with his other hand to try and displace the feeling.

“Beth is a dancer in the new show at Rosengarten.”

“Oh?” He’d had no idea she could dance well enough for professional stage work.

“It’s a small role.” She looked away as if to downplay her part. “Just an extra really. But that’s what you expect when you’re a student—and an outsider. It’s been a good learning experience.”

“I’ll have to look for you when I attend the show on opening night.”

Fitzwilliam jumped in. “Liam’s organization, the Goodwin Theater Company, is one of the oldest in the States.”

“I’m familiar with the name,” she answered. “You’ll have to let me know what you think of Stolz und Vorurteil, Liam.” She twisted the ring on her finger, a well-established signal she was giving him a message with her next words. “The female lead is a talented actress. Make sure you see the show—for her performance if nothing else.”

“I will.”

“I’d be curious to know what you think of her and the play in general. I hear they’re having a cast and crew party to celebrate opening night. You could keep her out of trouble; ask her to dance.”

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Karen M Cox is an award-winning author of five novels accented with history and romance: 1932, Find Wonder in All Things, Undeceived, I Could Write a Book, and Son of a Preacher Man, and a novella, The Journey Home, a companion piece to 1932. She also loves writing short stories and has contributed to four Austen-inspired anthologies: “Northanger Revisited 2015” appears in Sun-Kissed: Effusions of Summer, “I, Darcy” in The Darcy Monologues, “An Honest Man” in Dangerous to Know: Jane Austen’s Rakes and Gentleman Rogues, and “A Nominal Mistress” in Rational Creatures.

Karen was born in Everett WA, which was the result of coming into the world as the daughter of a United States Air Force Officer. She had a nomadic childhood, with stints in North Dakota, Tennessee, and New York State before settling in her family’s home state of Kentucky at the age of eleven. She lives in a quiet little Central Kentucky town with her husband, where she works as a pediatric speech pathologist, encourages her children, and spoils her granddaughter.

Channeling Jane Austen’s Emma, Karen has let a plethora of interests lead her to begin many hobbies and projects she doesn’t quite finish, but she aspires to be a great reader and an excellent walker—like Elizabeth Bennet.

 

Connect with Karen:

www.karenmcox.com

https://www.instagram.com/karenmcox1932/

https://twitter.com/KarenMCox1932

https://www.facebook.com/karenmcox1932

https://karenmcox.tumblr.com/

https://www.pinterest.com/karenmc1932/

 

If you would like bits of authorly goodness in your inbox each month (updates, sales, book recommendations, etc.) sign up for her News & Muse Letter. She loves to hear from readers, so don’t be shy. Contact her through social media, her website, or on-line stores.

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Mr. Darcy’s Mail-Order Bride

In Mr. Darcy’s Mail-Order Bride J. Dawn King decides to take our beloved characters from Pride and Prejudice into the Wild, Wild, West where females are in short supply and Mr. Bingley convinces his friend Will Darcy, to help him write a letter offering marriage to a Miss Bennet.

That is how this Mail-Order story starts, and I must say I find the 19^th century in the USA a very appealing time period, which means I loved the premise and the prospect of getting absorbed in this whole new reality. The first chapters didn’t disappoint and the authors writing ability made me feel transported right into it.

It was nice to see this setting and this era because it was an agreeable change that allowed these characters to behave in manners that would not have been possible in regency. They faced new and different challenges, which were realistic and grabbed my attention by showing the characters true integrity.

The first chapters of this book are real page turners and I loved reading the scenes where Elizabeth believes Bingley is the man she loves and Darcy believes Jane is the woman for him, but what I loved the most was the way the characters built their relationships after all these misunderstandings were over. I mean, even though I absolutely loved the different setting, what I loved the most about this book was the way it shows us how a relationship may grow steadily with time, how love is much more
than a first sight attraction, how it is an understanding of the other person and full acceptance of who they are. There was a maturity in this book that is not always found in JAFF and that deserves my respect and attention.

Mr. Darcy’s Mail-Order Bride is a sweet and mature romance with a different setting, and I recommend it to those who want a scenario change with a steady love story.

You can find Mr. Darcy’s Mail-Order Bride at:

Amazon.com

Amazon.co.uk

and on Kindle Unlimited and Audible

The Colonel- Excerpt & Giveaway

Good Morning everyone,

I hope your week was a good one and that you already have plans for a wonderful weekend 🙂

If you don’t have any plans yet, allow me to recommend buying and reading Beau North’s latest book, The Colonel. I haven’t read it yet, but I absolutely loved its predecessor Longbourn’s Songbird and I’m sure that The Colonel will be just as good, so it will be perfect for a weekend read.

Have you heard about this book yet? Today I bring you a beautiful excerpt that will hopefully spike your interest. And if you haven’t read Longbourn’s Songbird yet, this is a good time to do so as it is currently on sale on Amazon for 0,99$.

I have read it when it was released and absolutely loved it! It was the book that made me want to read different era books. Before Longbourn’s Songbird I would never feel inclined to read something that occurred after regency, but after reading it I am not as skeptic anymore. That is how good this book is :)But I digress and prevent you from reading the excerpt, so I’ll stop now 🙂 Enjoy!

 

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“This isn’t a love story, but the end of one. The story of two ships forever passing in the night. This is the story of my father and the woman he spent most of his adult life loving, a woman who was never really his.”

1950:

After letting his chance at love with Elizabeth Bennet slip through his fingers a second time, Richard Fitzwilliam loses himself in women, whiskey, and war as he tries to forget what he left behind. Putting oceans, continents, and decades between himself and his heartbreak, Richard seeks his future, only to be pulled back to the past again and again.

2002:

Shaken by recent events, Ben Fitzwilliam has left everything familiar behind, walking away from his relationship, his Manhattan apartment, his career as a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist to return to his family home in Annapolis, Maryland. Struggling to navigate a world that makes less and less sense, Ben finds purpose where he least expected it: in his father’s private letters. With the help of Annapolis PD Officer Keisha Barnes, Ben attempts to uncover his father’s secrets, heal the rifts those secrets caused, and find the answers he seeks on far shores.

Spanning decades, continents, wars abroad and wars at home, The Colonel is the anticipated companion to Longbourn’s Songbird.

 

You can find The Colonel at:

Amazon.com

Amazon.co.uk

Barnes & Noble

Kobo

iBooks

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Excerpt Setup:

After a somewhat disastrous New Year’s Party at the Fitzwilliam home in New York City, Richard sends his cousin a letter that is partially an apology, and delivers some surprising news.

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January 15, 1951

Dear Will,

Greetings, salutations, etcetera. Thank you for dragging your family complete up to the city for the party. It was, as always, good to see you, but even better to see you so happy. You can be pretty fun to be around when you’re not glowering and putting everyone off of their feed.

You must think I’m very foolish. No need to deny it―I saw the look that passed between you and your excellent wife. Did you know that the two of you, taken separately, are about as easy to read as Greek—but when you’re together, you’re comically transparent.

So yes, I was a foolish man. Nothing to be done for it now. If I can be grateful about anything, it’s that I never fancied myself to be in love. I was thrill seeking, endangering life and limb, hell, my very sanity (or what’s left of it) but never in love. You may be glad to hear that that is all over with now. In any case, I don’t want either of you to worry about what kind of trouble I’ll be getting myself into next because well, damn it, there’s no easy way to say this, but I am back in the army. Old man Tilney himself pulled some strings and brought me back in, with a promotion.

When I took two bullets in Brest, I was a captain. The old bastard got me kicked out as a major, and now I’m going back in a lieutenant colonel. I could be one of the youngest men to make colonel, provided Uncle Sam doesn’t get fed up with my antics before then. I’ll have a bigger command now, which is good but troubling too. I hope that I’m up to the task. I think that there is more to this little skirmish than they’re letting on.

I’m to leave at the end of the month. I was hoping it wouldn’t be an imposition to come spend my last week there at Pemberley. We could settle my affairs (just in case) and I could say my (temporary) goodbyes to you all.

Confer with Mrs. Darcy and ring me up when you know.

Your faithful friend,

Richard

Darcy looked up from the letter at the two women dearest to him. Georgiana had her nose buried in a book while Elizabeth sat buttering her toast. She wore a bemused little half-smile, as if remembering a joke she hadn’t heard in years. She was beginning to show, getting more beautiful every day. She seemed to glow from within all the time these days, even when she was wretchedly sick or weeping or falling asleep every few minutes. His heart beat almost painfully when he thought about the child she carried, their life to come.

He honestly had no idea how she would take this news.

“So,” he began, watching Elizabeth’s face. “I have a letter from Richard here.”

Her only acknowledgment was a tiny lift of her eyebrows. “Any messages from Charlotte?”

“Ah, no. So I’m assuming things must be well.”

Georgiana put her book down and picked up her coffee, making a face. “Wasn’t his girlfriend so awful?”

Elizabeth’s lips twisted in a wry smile. “Actually, I rather liked her, though probably for all the wrong reasons. She was vastly entertaining.”

Darcy smiled. “She was rather appalling. I think she might have even been ruder than I am.”

“Impossible,” Elizabeth teased. “Still, I shouldn’t laugh at her. If she makes your cousin happy…”

She never said his name, Darcy noticed. It was always your cousin. He wondered if she was even aware of it.

“Ah, well. That’s part of why he writes. It seems that Miss Huntington-Whitney is out of the picture now.”

“Thank goodness,” Georgiana said with a sigh. “Poor Richard.”

If any of this talk bothered Elizabeth, she didn’t let it show.

Darcy turned to his sister and asked if she would excuse them for a minute. She shrugged and gathered her things before breezing out the room. Darcy reached over and took his wife’s hand.

“Elizabeth, do you mind if Richard comes to stay for a bit?”

“Why on earth would I mind? As long as he’s not bringing that little goblin with him. Not that I mind but I think she would probably upset Georgie.”

“I think you know what I mean when I ask, and it has nothing to do with Georgiana.”

“Oh good lord, not that again. I think we’d better get used to our new family situation sooner rather than later. We’re all adults, aren’t we?”

“That point is debatable. There’s…something else.”

“You’re worried! Is everything all right?”

“Richard has…well, damn if he’s not in the army again. That’s why he wants to come for visit. He’ll be headed out at the end of the month.”

She looked down at her plate, a small crease appearing between her eyebrows.

“I see. Headed out where?”

“I think you know.”

She cleared her throat, a habit she was picking up from him. “Are you going to tell Georgie or should I?”

“Don’t you want to tell her together?”

“One of us ought to inform Mrs. R, don’t you think? Yes, I think I will. You tell Georgie. I’m sure she’ll have all kinds of questions.” She stood suddenly, smoothing the fabric of her dress with the palms of her hands.

“Elizabeth—”

“I’m fine, William.”

But he wondered. Wondered at the tight set of her shoulders as she walked out of the room, the overly precise and careful way she closed the door behind her.

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Beau North is the author of four books and contributor to multiple anthologies. Beau lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband. In her spare time, she is the co-host of the podcasts Excessively Diverted: Modern Classics On-Screen and Let’s Get Weirding: A Dune Podcast.

You can find more about Beau North in the following social media:

Website

Facebook

Twitter

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 is offering a very generous giveaway. On this stop you can either win a $10 Amazon Gift Card plus eBook or Audiobook of winner’s choice which will be

Beau North would like to offer one of my readers an ebook copy of The Colonel and another one of Longbourn Songbird.  The lucky winner will receive both books, and the best news is this giveaway is open internationally!

To apply to it all you have to do is comment on this post and click on this rafflecopter link.

Good Luck Everyone!

 

President Darcy

I read President Darcy last year and didn’t review it at the time but I remembered loving it, so I decided to listen to the Audiobook to be able to write a review, and this was definitely the right decision because the audiobook is incredible! The narrator did an amazing job and became one of my favorite narrators! If you are a reader, I suggest you listen to anything narrated by Lucy Emerson and if you are an author, then I suggest you hire her! Her Darcy interpretation was incredible and that is not always well accomplished by narrators.

The name of the book gives away the premise, President Darcy it is a modernization where Mr. Darcy is the President of the United States, and what better role could he have in the modern world? Victoria Kincaid really nailed it with this premise.

Washington DC was one of the US cities I most enjoyed visiting, it had a good vibe and I felt really well there. Somehow, it felt familiar, as if I had been there before (I blame the FBI shows for that), so when I learned that Victoria Kincaid was writing a modernization where Mr. Darcy is the President of the USA I was thrilled! I could only think that it would have many descriptions of Washington DC and that I would get that feeling of wellbeing all over again while reading it.

It turns out the book doesn’t describe Washington DC that much, and that wasn’t even necessary because Victoria Kincaid was able to gain my full attention with everything else in the book.
I also love politics and the topic is obviously addressed, which spiked my interest, but this is not an overly political book, it is a romance with interesting and intellectual characters that readers will love to get to know.

One of the things I enjoyed the most about President Darcy was the fact that Darcy is not only attracted to Elizabeth’s physique, but mainly to her intellect. In Regency, we know he likes her wit, but in President Darcy, Victoria Kincaid created a female character that is intelligent, caring, knowledgeable, honest and with an incredible strength of character. All of these traits enable her to attract the President of the United States, despite the awkward manner in which they met each other 🙂

As you can see I loved Elizabeth’s character, but she was not even my favorite character, my favorite was President Darcy! He was honest, charming, smart, sexy, with so much sense of duty and leadership skills one would not be able to resist him. One can feel his charm coming out of the pages of the book 🙂

Some of the secondary characters were very interesting too and I have to mention how much I laughed with this version of Mr. Collins, and how much I wanted to kill Lydia!

I don’t usually love modernizations but the investment Victoria Kincaid made in developing the characters personalities and their feelings was so well done that she made me love this one. I loved this Pemberley version and everything that happened in it, and in President Darcy I read the most unexpected proposal I have ever seen in JAFF and kind of surprised myself for loving it!

President Darcy remains until this moment one of my favorite modernizations of JAFF, if not my favorite. I highly recommend it to all those who love a good story with a powerful romance story able to keep readers entertained until the very end.

You can find President Darcy at:

Amazon.com

Amazon.co.uk

and on Audible

Darcy In Hollywood- Excerpt & Giveaway

Hello dear readers,

How are you this week?  It’s been a busy one for me, but I can’t complain as yesterday was my birthday and I felt really cherished by my family and friends 🙂 I’ve received lots of messages from many of you and I want to thank you all for the love you shared with me 🙂

Today I am welcoming an author whom I really like due to the versatility of her work, and we will be sharing an excerpt of her latest novel that has once more proven she can take ODC anywhere 🙂 I am talking about Victoria Kincaid, and this time she decided to take Darcy to LA, more precisely to Hollywood!!!

Have you heard about her latest novel Darcy in Hollywood? If you haven’t you can find the blurb  below along with an excerpt of the book 🙂

I hope you like knowing about this book and that you find the excerpt appealing 🙂 I’m already reading this book and I’m really enjoying it, so a review will pop up shortly too 🙂

 

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Rich and arrogant movie star, William Darcy, was a Hollywood heartthrob until a scandalous incident derailed his career. Now he can only hope that Tom Bennet’s prestigious but low budget indie film will restore his reputation. However, on the first day of filming, he nearly hits Bennet’s daughter, Elizabeth, with his Ferrari, and life will never be the same. Okay, she’s a little sarcastic, but he’s certain she’s concealing a massive crush on him—and it’s growing harder to fight his own attraction….

Elizabeth Bennet has a lot on her plate. She’s applying to medical school and running the studio’s charity project—while hoping her family won’t embarrass her too much. Being Darcy’s on-set personal assistant is infuriating; he’s rude, proud, and difficult. If there’s one thing she dislikes, it’s people who only think about themselves. But then Elizabeth discovers Darcy has been doing a lot of thinking about her.

She might be willing to concede a mutual attraction, but events are conspiring against them and Darcy subject to constant public scrutiny. Do Darcy and Elizabeth have any hope of achieving Hollywood’s elusive happy ending?

 

 

You can find Darcy in Hollywood at:

Amazon.com

Amazon.co.uk

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Hello Rita and thank you for having me as a guest! It’s always a pleasure to visit your blog.

One of the tricky things about modern P&P variations is that I must find appropriate professions and origins for the characters, things that are conveniently supplied by Austen in Regency variations. For Darcy in Hollywood, I wanted Elizabeth to have a profession that was very different from Darcy’s (he’s a movie star) so they would need to overcome some fundamental incompatibilities in their approaches to life.

Originally I envisioned her as a recent college grad who was embarking on a career in non-profit organizations, but that didn’t work for a variety of reasons. So eventually she became a pre-med graduate who was applying to medical schools. Her entire family works in Hollywood, so she really is the black sheep—and Darcy finds her equally inscrutable.

The scene below takes place in Elizabeth’s hospital room after she injured her head while narrowly avoiding being hit by Darcy’s car.

 

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“So you have a concussion,” her mother clucked at Elizabeth.

Feeling more than a little muddled, Elizabeth hoped she could avoid a long, involved family conversation. “I’m really tired. Can someone just take me home so I can sleep?”

Her mother ignored this. “I don’t know how you managed to get a concussion on a film set!” she exclaimed. “It’s not like you’re a stunt man…woman…person.”

“Don’t you know?” Lydia said as the other daughters crowded in behind their mother. “She was hit by William Darcy’s car!” Elizabeth winced as her sister’s high-pitched voice jangled her scrambled nerves.

Their mother’s eyes lit up. “William Darcy? Now that was quite clever of you, Lizzy.”

“He didn’t actually hit me.”

Her mother waved this inconvenient fact away. “That is unfortunate, but I’m sure we can still make something of it.” Elizabeth exchanged a long-suffering look with Jane, who had taken the chair by her bedside. “Mr. Darcy did have that scandalous incident, but he is so well connected. Perhaps he could give your career a boost in exchange for a promise not to sue.”

Elizabeth took a deep breath, praying for patience. “I don’t need a career boost from him.”

“I know. Everyone believes they can make it on their own, but in the film business, connections mean every—”

“Mom,” Elizabeth said, trying to keep her voice low as the pain in her head surged back. “I’m going to medical school. Remember? Knowing Darcy won’t matter at all.”

“Medical school? Medical school?” Her mother gaped, aghast, although this was far from the first time she had heard of this plan. Franny Bennet gave her husband a stricken look. “First Stanford and now medical school. Where did we go wrong, Tom?”

Being in the habit of not responding to his wife, he simply shrugged. Being in the habit of not expecting a response, she continued to speak. “I just don’t think it’s practical, becoming a doctor. The world is full of unemployed doctors.”

“There are a lot of good jobs for doctors,” Elizabeth said wearily, wishing she could just sleep.

“Well, I don’t know about that. How useful are doctors, anyway?” Franny Bennet fluttered her hands as her eyes took in the hospital room. “I don’t understand why you insist on this medical school pipe dream when you could have a perfectly good career in Hollywood—a career most people would kill for.”

How many times do I need to explain this? Elizabeth wondered. “I don’t want a career in Hollywood. I don’t like Hollywood.”

Her mother gasped and crossed herself, although they weren’t Catholic.

Elizabeth pressed on. “I’m not an actor or director, and I’m not interested in being on the production side doing makeup or camera work or special effects.”

Her mother sniffed. “I suppose there’s no harm in fostering that delusion a little longer.”

“It’s not a delusion.”

“If you say so, my dear.” Her mother leaned over the bed and patted Elizabeth’s hand in a most irritating manner. Turning to Lydia, she spoke in a loud stage whisper. “She does have a concussion, the poor thing.”

Elizabeth clenched her fists in the sheets, knowing the only way to stop the argument was to change the subject. If only I had been born into a different family.

“Are you ready to leave the hospital?” Jane asked.

Bless her. “As soon as the nurse brings a wheelchair. Will you drive me home?” she asked her sister. “I’m supposed to have a responsible party with me for the next twelve hours.”

Jane squeezed her hand. “Of course.”

I can always rely on Jane. Elizabeth’s eyes stung; apparently head injuries made her maudlin.

A gleam in her mother’s eye suggested she was about to return to the subject of Darcy. Quickly Elizabeth asked, “How did the table read go?”

“Lydia was magnificent!” their mother gushed before anyone could say anything else. “Her line reading about the meatloaf was so nuanced.” She nodded approvingly at her youngest daughter. “I knew that adding a little more irony would create the subtlety the line needed.”

Lydia preened at the compliment while Kitty slouched into her customary pout. Mary was just as happy to be ignored by their mother since she was quietly steering her career toward being a camera operator, but Kitty resented not getting her share of maternal attention.

“Mom, you weren’t at the table read,” Jane pointed out.

Franny shrugged. “Lydia told me all about it.”

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 is offering a very generous giveaway. On this stop you can either win a $10 Amazon Gift Card plus eBook or Audiobook of winner’s choice which will be

Victoria Kincaid would like to offer one of my readers an ebook copy of Darcy in Hollywood. This giveaway she is promoting is international and will end on July 10.

To apply to it all you have to do is comment on this post and let us know what you thought about the excerpt. 

Good Luck Everyone!