New Year, New Look

Hello everyone,

Usually a new year starts with resolutions and changes but I have never been in the habit of establishing resolutions or expecting many changes with the coming of the new year… until 2017 that is 🙂

This year I have established 3 goals I would like to achieve:

1 – Lose some weight and actually do some exercise. Trivial, I know, but I’m starting to feel more like my mother than myself and that will not do! Let’s face it, I’ll never be a model and that is definitely not my intention, but continuously buying new clothes because the old ones are too tight cannot continue to happen, my budget won’t allow it!

2- Spend less time at the office, and obviously gain more time to read, sleep, write and whatever gives me pleasure 🙂

3 – A very personal goal I will disclose with you if I do achieve it 😉 I know it sounds superstitious, but we never know 🙂

As for changes, I’m not changing my hair color, buy a new house or find a new job, but…I will change the face of From Pemberley to Milton!

I started this blog more for myself then for others, so I never really thought about getting a special e-mail address, twitter account or Facebook page. I’m still not doing that because my readers already know who I am, how to contact me etc,  and I’m not someone who likes major changes, I’m a “fear the unknown” kind of girl, but there was something that kept bothering me and I’ve finally decided to do something about it. From Pemberley to Milton didn’t have a logo!

So my big change for 2017 was to get a logo that would be the face of From Pemberley to Milton.

I came up with the idea, but I’m not that good with editing programs, so I asked my brother in law to help and he actually presented me with the logo in no time. He was impeccable and I couldn’t have done without him, so thank you, thank you, thank you David!

But I’ve been talking about it (or writing if you wish) and I haven’t even shown you the logo, so without further ado, here it is the new look of From Pemberley to Milton:

What do you think about it? I so hope you like it! I personally love it and I think it has everything to do with my blog, but I truly wish my readers will like it too and that you will remember it when thinking of From Pemberley to Milton. As I said, I’m not a big fan of changes, so I might not change it in the near future…or ever 🙂

A Very Darcy Christmas Giveaway winner

Hello dear readers,

Welcome to From Pemberley to Milton’s last post of the year! I had thought about posting about my favorite reads from 2016, but the year isn’t exactly over is it? So I thought it would be best to leave it to the beginning of the year 🙂

Today I would like to announce the winner of A Very Darcy Christmas ebook that Victoria Kincaid kindly decided to offer to one of my readers 🙂

If you haven’t read this book yet I highly recommend it! I absolutely loved it, and I’m very happy that my last post of the year is concerning this book and this wonderful author who keeps amazing me! (I’m reading Darcy vs Bennet right now, and wow…).

Anyway, I was starting to digress again…so without further delay, the winner is:

 

***Priscillateh***

 

Congratulations Priscilla! Could you please send me your e-mail to ritaluzdeodato at gmail dot com so we can send you the ebook?

 

***

I would also like to take this opportunity to wish all my readers and my Janeite friends a Happy New Year!!!

Let’s hope 2017 will bring us many, many, many enjoyable JAFF books, and many more discussions about them 😉

To Forget: Darcy’s London Christmas

Hello dear readers,

How are you? And how was your Christmas? For the first time I had my family coming over to my house for Christmas and I really enjoyed it! Too bad it was only 2 days and I didn’t have time to rest a little…

In fact I’m still catching up for everything and I have to apologize to you for being absent for so long. I intended to post several Christmas reviews and ended up only posting one, so today I will post the review for one of my favorite Christmas reads this year, To Forget: Darcy’s London Christmas by Maria Grace.

On their first Christmas as a married couple Elizabeth asks Darcy how he spent his previous Christmas. He starts remembering and telling her how he spent his days after leaving Hertfordshire, how he struggled to forget her, how she haunted him in every social meeting, in every social encounter and even how went to Mr. Gardiner’s shop in the hope of seeing her.

Seeing Darcy remember those days and reading everything from his point of view was absolutely delightful as it made me feel really close to Darcy and his heart.

But last Christmas is not the only thing Mr. Darcy recalls, he remembers several moments spent with his mother while he was a child and as a young boy. He remembers her teachings and the lessons she gave him to become the honorable and kind person he turned out to be. This may seem a small detail, but I loved how Mr. Darcy’s mother made me feel calm and relaxed while reading this book. I could feel the love she felt for her child and it was somehow reassuring to know Mr. Darcy still had these fond memories of his mother.

If you want to spend some time with Mr. Darcy and to get to know him and his deeper feelings and thoughts, this is the book for you. When I was reading this book I felt there was no one else with me except Mr. Darcy. It was just me, him and a warm cup of coffee.

This is a perfect short story to read on a Saturday afternoon while the rain is falling outside, it is cozy and it gives us a sense of peace that fills our soul. I highly recommend it, but please bear in mind that it is a short story and it will be a very fast read.

You can find this book at:

Amazon.com – To Forget: Darcy’s London Christmas

Amazon.co.uk  – To Forget: Darcy’s London Christmas

Meryton Vignettes – Giveaway winner

Hello dear readers,

Last month I was honored to receive Elizabeth Adams at From Pemberley to Milton with a guest post about Meryton Vignettes, her latest release and a whole new concept that I was happy to read and review a few days later.

Mrs. Adams brought with her one copy of Meryton Vignettes to offer to my readers and I have to apologize for taking so long to announce the winner, my real life job has been taking too much of my free time, and it has been driving me away from bonnetland.

As I am quite late already I will not add the suspense towards the winner, so without further ado, the randomly chosen winner is:

 

***Sheila L. Majczan***

 

Congratulations Sheila! Please send me your e-mail address to ritaluzdeodato at gmail dot com so that the eBook can be sent to you.

Mr Bennet’s Dutiful Daughter – Giveaway Winner

Hello everyone,

Yesterday I was happy to announce the winner of the giveaway of Joana Starnes latest release, Mr Bennet’s Dutiful Daughter, however, the winner already had a copy of this book and that means a new winner had to be randomly picked!

This time, the lucky name that was picked was…

 

***Dung***

 

Congratulations Dung! Could you please let me know to which e-mail Joana Should send you the e-book? You can send me the details to ritaluzdeodato at gmail dot com.

Giveaway Winners Announcement

Hello everyone,

This month I was honored to receive in my blog 2 wonderful ladies that I was lucky to meet face to face on a beautiful Sunday morning in the beginning of the year: Joana Starnes and Elizabeth Adams.

They are amongst my favourite authors and it was an honor to meet them, and of course, to receive them in my blog all these months later.

 

Elizabeth Adams released the audiobook for one of my favorite books: The Houseguest. To celebrate that I reviewed it in From Pemberley to Milton where I spoke both of the story and the narration.

Joana Starnes released a new book, Mr. Bennet’s Dutiful Daughter and I was very happy to be the first one to review it during the blog tour.

To accompany the reviews these 2 ladies decided to bring one copy of their books to offer to my readers, and today, I’m happy to announce the winners.

I would just like to thank the generosity of these authors and their presence in my blog, it is always a privilege to receive you!!!

Thank you!!!

 

Now without further ado, the randomly selected winners are:

 

Mr Bennet’s Dutiful Daughter

***Carole in Canada ***

The Houseguest

***Nicole Barton Sasser***

 

Ladies, could you please send the e-mail addresses to which the books need to be sent to ritaluzdeodato at gmail dot com? Nicole, could you please specify if you prefer an ebook copy or the audible?

Thank you girls 🙂

Letter From Ramsgate – Giveaway Winners

Hello everyone,

The Blog tour of Letter from Ramsgate has come to an end and it is time to reveal the giveaway winners.

I would just like to thank Janet Taylor for organizing such a wonderful blog tour and Suzan Lauder for putting so much of her efforts on this tour. I can honestly say this was one of the best blog tours I’ve seen, with many different and creative posts that kept my interest from the beginning of the tour until the end. Every new post had something that I found interesting and my interest in the tour never waved, so congratulation ladies!

Now, without further ado, the winners of the paperback and eBook copies of Letter From Ramsgate are:

 

Paperback Winners:

Becky Boerner

Margie Longoria

Michele

Raquel Muniz

Ebook Winners:

Glynis Whitelegg

Anji Dale

Vesper Meikle

Kirsten

 

Congratulations ladies! I’m sure your books are on your way already 🙂

If you have not been one of the lucky winners, you can always find Letter From Ramsgate at Amazon.com.

Vampire Darcy’s Desire

Hello everyone,

How was your Halloween? Did you have fun?
Halloween is not an important tradition in my country, in fact, it is not a tradition at all, so I didn’t prepare anything special for this time of the year. However, I have been reading Regina Jeffers new edition of Vampire Darcy’s Desires and last night, of all nights, I had to stay up until I finished reading it. I could not just go to bed when my favorite characters were still fighting Wickham could I? I thought that spending the Halloween night reading this book had to mean something, and obviously, when I woke up this review was the first thing that came to my mind.

“Tormented by a 200-year-old curse and his fate as a half human/half vampire dhampir, Fitzwilliam Darcy vows to  a solitary life rather than inflict the horrors of his life upon an innocent wife and his first born son. However, when he encounters the captivating Elizabeth Bennet, his will is sorely tested.
As a man, Darcy yearns for Elizabeth, but as a vampire, he is also driven to possess her. Uncontrollably drawn to each other, they are forced to confront a different kind of “pride” and his enemy’s “prejudice,” while wrestling with the seductive power of forbidden love. Evil forces, led by George Wickham, the purveyor of the curse, attack from all sides, and Darcy learns his only hope to survive is to align himself with Elizabeth, who is uncannily astute is how to defeat Wickham, a demon determined to destroy each generation of Darcys.”

I love the paranormal and was eager to read a book where Mr. Darcy is a vampire, but I didn’t read the blurb and my head was so filled with The Vampire Diaries books that I was completly caught by surprise. Vampire Darcy’s Desire is very original and different from what I was expecting. I expected a vampire Darcy who could not get old, who could not survive without human blood, and who would turn Elizabeth into a vampire so they could live an eternal live together. But that was not at all what I found in this book. I encountered a tormented Darcy cursed to live without love and family. A Darcy destined to fight George Wickham until the end of his live and without any human affection to console him. A man who has never known hapiness and peace, and worse than that, a man without hope…Until he meets Elizabeth Bennet, and suddenly hope arises in his heart and he finally allows himself to live and dream of hapiness.

I wasn’t truly convinced by the beginning of their relationship, it seemed too sudden and physical, but I’m glad this small detail didn’t stop me, because as I continued reading, I discovered in Vampire Darcy’s Desires one of the most compelling relationships I’ve ever seen of Darcy and Elizabeth. Their love was everything I imagine it to be: intense and transcendent. We will have plenty of Darcy and Elizabeth moments, and the time they spend together will allow them to see they were destined to be together, and to form a bond that life itself could not destroy. Elizabeth’s love and trust in Darcy is pure perfection, and I felt nothing could ever tear them apart. Regina Jeffers creates in this book one of the most beautiful and strong love stories I’ve seen of our beloved characters. It is even hard to put into words how much I loved the way she developed their relationship.

Darcy was not so proud as we are used to and had some insecurities, which makes perfect sense considering his background in this book, but he is a flirtatious, passionate and sexy Darcy to whom I would gladly surrender.

Elizabeth is witty, courageous, independent, strong minded, dedicated and utterly in love with Darcy. Together they become a force of nature, and a force of nature they need to be to conquer the curse that has afflicted Darcy’s family for centuries! This is another aspect of the book that I loved, it wasn’t only excellent in terms of romance, but also in terms of adventure and terror! Some of the scenes were so well written I actually felt afraid, and at a certain point I had no idea how D&E would defeat Wickham. I loved Wickham’s character as well, and even if he is pure evil, I confess that at times I felt sorry for him.

Other characters caught my attention and I wonder if we will not see them again in a continuation 😉

Vampire Darcy’s Desire kept me hooked from the beginning until the end, and I highly recommend it to anyone in need of a great adventure and romance! It was the first book I’ve read from Regina Jeffers, but it will certainly not be the last one. If this is how she portrays Darcy and Elizabeth, then I will surely become addicted to her books.

You can find Vampire Darcy’s Desire at:

Amazon.com – Vampire Darcy’s Desire

It’s Giveaway Time!!! Winners Announcement…

 

Hello everyone,

This month started at From Pemberley with Milton with the visit of 2 wonderful authors with guest posts and giveaways.

Laura Hile brought to my readers a guest post by Fitzwilliam Darcy where he shared with us a little of his experience at Darcy From Any Other Name, and Renée Beyea presented us with the cover and the very first excerpt of What Love May Come and Other Stories that will be released later this year.

I want to thank these 2 ladies for being present in my blog, for their generosity with the giveaways and the all the support they gave me! Most of all I would like to thank them for writing such beautifully crafted books and allowing me many pleasurable hours while reading them.

Today I’m announcing the winners for the giveaways these authors promoted, namely one ebook of Darcy From Any Other Name, one ebook of A Fine Stout Love and Other Stories, and one ebook of What Love May Come and Other Stories (to be delivered once the book comes out).

I would like to request all winners to send me their e-mail contacts until the 30^th of September so that the ebooks can be sent to you.

Now…without further ado the giveaway winners are:

 

 ***Darcy By Any Other Name***

Amanda

***A Fine Stour Love and Other Stories***

Dholcomb1

***What Love May Come and other Stories***

Patricia Finnegan

Congratulations ladies! Please do not forget to send me your e-mails 🙂

The Subsequent Proposal Giveaway Winner

Hello everyone,

Last month I announced the winners of my Blog Anniversary giveaway, but Laurie May Aquino, the winner of The Subsequent Proposal never contacted me to provide me with her address and I could not find her on social networks so I had to randomly choose another winner.

That being said, the randomly selected winner is :

 

*** Glynis***

 

Glynis this giveaway was for a signed paperback of The Subsequent Proposal, so I’ll need your address to mail you the book, could you please send it to ritaluzdeodato at gmail dot com?

Happy Reading!