Conceit & Concealment

Conceit and Concealment is amongst my all-time favorite books but I never got a chance to review it, so I am doing it now in the hopes that those who, for some reason, have not read it yet, may consider adding it to their to be read list.

You may ask why you should read this book, well; for starters, the historical component of this book is an unbelievable addition that will get readers hooked to the story from the start. Not only will readers want to know what is happening to the main characters, but most of all, they will want to know what will happen to the country and the resistance. In this book England is at war with France, the French army has actually overpowered British troops, and entered English soil ruling it on behave of Napolean. You may think you will stand by the English people who have apparently lost the war, but I must warn you that readers will have a hard time picking sides because they are shown both sides of the conflict and both arguments will seem valid. You may want to choose the side of our heroes, but you will definitely understand that on the other side you have people who are just following orders, and for whom you start to grow a lot of sympathy. I found this a beautiful aspect of the book, and even if I didn’t research a lot to know if there is historical accuracy, I am sure the author did a lot of research because she made me love reading every single historic aspect that was depicted in the book.

Most readers want to know about the writing style and romance present in the book, of course, and even if I didn’t start with that aspect, they are both incredibly good! The dialogues are witty and engaging and I would personally love to have those type of discussions with Darcy. Moreover, the women are portrayed as thinking beings, and not just as fragile creatures who need to be protected by man. They are intelligent and take action into their own hands. They are courageous and an important part of the plot, which was another aspect I really enjoyed.

The secondary characters aren’t just there to fill the pages either, they are well built with their own backstory, which makes us intrigued at first and in love with them as pages go by.

I haven’t spoken much about the main characters, namely Mr. Darcy, but my, oh my! He is absolutely perfect in this book! I have certainly loved him and how his relationship with Elizabeth was built. We could feel real chemistry between them as we flipped the pages in this book, and even when we thought things would get cold between them, something happened to bring the sparkle back. The depth of their feelings is addictive in this book and readers keep craving for more Darcy and Elizabeth moments. It is one of the most beautiful relationships I have seen in JAFF, and I can say with certainty that most readers will be rendered to it.

I have initially read this book and more recently heard the audiobook so let me tell you that if you prefer audios, the narration makes justice to the quality of the book. All characters are easily distinguished and the accents are very well done. Usually I find accents from different countries annoying in audiobooks because they never seem quite right (in my line of business I hear a LOT of different accents, so I’ve become quite the expert), but that doesn’t happen in this book so I need to congratulate Elizabeth Klett for a wonderful narration.

Conceit and Concealment is a roller coaster of emotions, it is fast paced with something always happening in the narrative, but the author also takes the time to ascertain certain characters feelings and let the reader experience their interactions, making it perfect in terms of balance between action and character development. It is an incredible narrative full of passion, history and supported by strong and well-built characters that will compel readers to turn the pages franticly until the end. I highly recommend this book to all my readers.

You can find Conceit & Concealment at:

Amazon.com

Amazon.co.uk

and on Audible

Mr. Darcy’s Enchantment – Launch Post & Giveaway

Good Afternoon everyone,

Abigail Reynolds is one of the first JAFF authors I’ve ever read and she remains one of the names that immidiatly comes to my mind when I’m discussing this literary genre. She has written around 20 books that shaped the evolution of Pride and Prejudice variations and is now releasing another book which promises to do the same. Today it is the release of Mr. Darcy’s Enchantment and I am incredibly happy and honoured to be doing its launch release post here at From Pemberley to Milton.

I’ve read Conceal & Concealment this year and it became one of my favorite reads this year so I’m really eager to start reading Abigail Reynolds newest release!

Mr. Darcy’s Enchantment has gone live a few minutes ago and it is now available not only in paperback but also on ebook format   at Amazon.com. You can also read it for FREE at Kindle Unlimited.

If you want to know more about this book please read the guest post that Ms. Reynolds brought to us today where she explains how this book came to life and what you can expect from it. You should also read the book blurb, it may surprise you if you haven’t heard anything about this book before.

I would like to thank all of you for visiting today and also give a very special thank you to Ms. Reynolds for stopping by. It is an honor to receive you here 🙂

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I’m so excited to be launching Mr. Darcy’s Enchantment! Writing a Pride & Prejudice variation with magic has been in my mind for years, a sort of tribute to the line, “Darcy had never been so bewitched by any woman as he was by her. He really believed, that were it not for the inferiority of her connections, he should be in some danger.” But though it was tempting to write a Darcy who was truly bewitched, I kept running up against the idea that he and Elizabeth would both feel that casting spells on people was wrong. That was the genesis of one of the themes in Mr. Darcy’s Enchantment: the conflict between good magic, as practiced by mages who put spells on things, and evil magic, where sorcerers put spells on people to control their behavior.

My muse is apparently a sorceress, since she kept controlling my behavior by introducing unplanned subplots, each creating new complications, and each bringing Elizabeth and Darcy closer to a true understanding. Since there are a lot of obstacles in their way, it became a very long book, despite keeping the main focus on Darcy and Elizabeth all the time. It’s much longer than any of my other books, long enough that I debated whether to split it into two or even three books. There were a lot of practical arguments in favor of splitting it, but it finally came down to personal preference. I don’t like being taken away from a story as it moves from one book to another, so I decided to keep it as one very long book. It’s divided into five parts for those who like to take a break.

I do have to give one word of warning based on feedback from my betas. If you decide to start reading Part 5 close to bedtime, you may be up half the night! 😊

I hope you’ll give Mr. Darcy’s Enchantment a try. It’s a different approach, but it’s still a Pride & Prejudice variation at heart. Even my beta readers who told me they didn’t like fantasy ended up liking it a lot. But since many Austenesque readers aren’t particularly familiar with fantasy, I posted the entire first part of the book so that you could try it before you buy it. Here’s a link to the first post: http://www.pemberleyvariations.com/2018/11/05/coming-soon-mr-darcys-enchantment/

 

Big thanks to Rita for hosting today’s launch and helping me celebrate!

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In a Regency England where magic and faeries are real…

Fitzwilliam Darcy is a powerful magician who controls fire, water, and wind. What he cannot control is his growing feelings for Miss Elizabeth Bennet. But Darcy is also sworn to uphold the laws which forbid women to use magic, and Elizabeth knows it.

Elizabeth’s sentiments towards Darcy are quite different. She detests his arrogance, and she fears he will expose her use of forbidden magic. He is the last man in the world she would choose to help her on a difficult and dangerous task.

But when a magical war looms between the land of Faerie and their world, a Lord of Faerie demands that Darcy and Elizabeth serve together as his emissaries to make peace with the other mortals. That mission throws them into the middle of a chaotic power struggle between magicians whose power dwarfs their own, and everything Elizabeth has ever believed about her family, her friends, and her enemies will be called into question.

This magical variation of Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice makes the land of Faerie as real as Regency London and Rosings Park, as bestselling author Abigail Reynolds presents new challenges for Darcy and Elizabeth in her longest and most enchanting story to date.

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Abigail Reynolds may be a nationally bestselling author and a physician, but she can’t follow a straight line with a ruler. Originally from upstate New York, she studied Russian and theater at Bryn Mawr College and marine biology at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole. After a stint in performing arts administration, she decided to attend medical school, and took up writing as a hobby during her years as a physician in private practice.

A life-long lover of Jane Austen’s novels, Abigail began writing variations on Pride & Prejudice in 2001, then expanded her repertoire to include a series of novels set on her beloved Cape Cod. Her most recent releases are Conceit & Concealment, the national bestsellers Alone with Mr. Darcy and Mr. Darcy’s Noble Connections, and Mr. Darcy’s Journey. Her books have been translated into five languages. A lifetime member of JASNA, she lives on Cape Cod with her husband, her son and a menagerie of animals. Her hobbies do not include sleeping or cleaning her house.

You can contact Abigail through the following social media:

Website: http://www.pemberleyvariations.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/abigail.reynolds1

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

Twitter: https://twitter.com/abigailreynolds

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/559634.Abigail_Reynolds

 

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Abigail Reynolds would like to celebrate the release of Mr. Darcy’s Enchantment by giving away for 4 Christmas ornaments – 2 with art by Jane Odiwe and a set of Darcy and Elizabeth figurines – a P&P tote bag, and an e-book copy.

The Christmas ornaments, figurines and tote bag are for US residents only, but she would also like to include international readers in the giveaway, so the e-book copy is also available for international readers.

 Comment on this post until the 5th of December to be included in the giveaway, and let us know what you thought about this very different premise! We are very curious to know all your opinions 🙂

Good Luck everyone!

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.