Darcy By Any Other Name by Laura Hile - My review

Recently I was joined by author Laura Hile for a guest post and excerpt of her new book, 'Darcy By Any Other Name'. I was also lucky enough to read the book, so here's what I thought of it.

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Winner - Darcy By Any Other Name by Laura Hile

Last week Laura Hile visited with a guest post, excerpt and giveaway of 'Darcy By Any Other Name' which sees Mr Darcy and Mr Collins getting hit by lightning and waking up in the other's body! Laura was kindly giving away an e-book of the book to a commenter on her guest post. The winner, selected at random, is:

MonicaP!

Congratulations to you, Monica! I will be in touch. My thanks to everybody who commented on the post, and big thanks go to Laura for the guest post and giveaway.

'Darcy By Any Other Name' is available to buy now - Amazon UK - Amazon US

Winner - Mr Darcy's Journey by Abigail Reynolds

Recently I welcomed one of my favourite Austenesque authors, Abigail Reynolds, to the blog. Abigail gave us a guest post and excerpt of her latest book, 'Mr Darcy's Journey' which weaves he Luddite uprising, a real life event, with the characters of 'Pride & Prejudice'. I reviewed Mr Darcy's Journey too.

Abigail was kindly giving away an e-book copy of 'Mr Darcy's Journey' to a commenter here. The winner, drawn at random, is...

Vesper!

Edited to add: Vesper was lucky enough to win the book from another blog, so I selected another winner using random.org. The new winner is...

Maria!

Congratulations on  your win! I will be in touch :) Thank you so much to everybody who dropped by and commented on the blog post, and of course huge thanks to Abigail Reynolds for the guest post and the giveaway.

Jane Austen Speaks About her Life, the Modern World, & Heavenly Pursuits - Guest Post and Giveaway

I have the great pleasure of welcoming Maria-Emilia de Medeiros today. She has written a book about what Jane Austen may have thought about modern life, 'Jane Austen Speaks About her Life, the Modern World, & Heavenly Pursuits'. Read on to see what Maria-Emilia thinks that Jane Austen may have thought about feminism. There is also a giveaway associated with this guest post, as the author is kindly giving away an e-book of the book for a commenter on this post.

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The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy

I had obviously heard of this book but never felt any impetus to read it. The reason I picked up the book is that Jack Caldwell has written  a book where the worlds of Baroness Orczy and Jane Austen come together, with characters from ‘The Scarlet Pimpernel’ and ‘Northanger Abbey’ featuring in his new book, ‘The Last Adventures of the Scarlet Pimpernel’. I plan to read Jack’s book later this month so I wanted to have a fuller idea of ‘The Scarlet Pimpernel’, and I am so glad I did, as it was a really compelling read! I read the book partly as an audio book, and partly as a kindle read, and followed it up with watching the DVD of the 1982 adaptation of the book, so here are my thoughts on all three of those!

Darcy By Any Other Name by Laura Hile - Guest Post, Excerpt and Giveaway

I have author Laura Hile visiting today with a guest post, excerpt and giveaway of her latest book, 'Darcy By Any Other Name' which has a 'Pride & Prejudice' meets 'Freaky Friday' premise.

Here, Fitzwilliam Darcy and William Collins swap bodies! My first thought is: "Ewwwww!", but it is closely followed by other thoughts, like whether poor Elizabeth might find Mr Collins acceptable with a less ridiculous personality and then find herself married to him! I am assured that this story has a happy ending so I am guessing that Laura fixes it all by the end. Read on to find out more about the book and for a chance to win a copy for yourself...

Mr Darcy’s Journey by Abigail Reynolds - My Review

Earlier this week I was joined by author Abigail Reynolds for a guest post, excerpt and giveaway of her latest book, 'Mr Darcy's Journey'. Visit the giveaway post to enter to win an e-book copy of the book. You can gain a bonus entry by commenting on this review post.

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Winner - Chaos Comes to Longbourn

Recently Victoria Kincaid dropped by with a guest post, excerpt and giveaway of her latest book, 'Chaos Comes to Longbourn'. If you missed the guest post you can enjoy the ego-deflating scene of George Wickham trying to impress the lady he has been forced to propose to here! The giveaway closed a little while ago so I hope you will forgive the delay in choosing a winner, I've had a very busy week.

The winner of the book is....

Priscilla T!

Congratulations, Priscilla! I will be in touch. Thank you so much to everybody who dropped by to comment, and huge thanks to Victoria for the guest post and giveaway.

Chaos Comes to Longbourn is available to buy now in e-book and paperback!

Amazon UK - Amazon US

Mr Darcy's Journey by Abigail Reynolds - Guest Post, Excerpt and Giveaway

I am very pleased to be welcoming author Abigail Reynolds to the blog today. When I first discovered the Austenesque genre the first book to absolutely knock my socks off was 'Mr Darcy's Obsession'. I thought it was fantastic, and so far it has remained my all time number 1 Austenesque read. I am always excited when Abigail has a new book out and her newest book, which came out last month, also has the benefit of mixing some real-life history into the lives of Elizabeth and Darcy.

Jane Austen wrote 'First Impressions', the story that later became 'Pride and Prejudice', quite a few years before it was published. General consensus is that P&P is set around 1812, but in that year, there was quite a lot of Luddite activity in the North of England, which makes it less likely that the Gardiners would have chosen to go to the North on their holiday. What if... the Luddite activity affects our dear couple? This is what Abigail has chosen to explore in her latest story and she has come here today with a guest post, excerpt, and giveaway for a reader here. I will now hand over to Abigail for a guest post and excerpt from 'Mr Darcy's Journey'

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Northern Rain Blog Tour - Guest Post and Giveaway

One of my favourite reads of all time is 'North and South' by the Victorian writer Mrs Elizabeth Gaskell. It's a wonderful story of two people from very different backgrounds, gentlewoman fallen on hard times Margaret Hale, from the South of England, and an honourable tradesman, mill owner Mr John Thornton, from the North. There are authors who are taking Mrs Gaskell's characters and imagining new paths for them, which is very exciting to see, as N&S is a wonderful book. Author Nicole Clarkston has written both 'North & South' and 'Pride & Prejudice' stories and her latest story, 'Northern Rain' again takes John and Margaret on a different journey. Nicole has dropped by today with a vignette, set before the events of the book. There is also an opportunity to win a copy of 'Northern Rain' or an audio book of one of Nicole's earlier books. Read on for more details!

Winner of Hope for Mr Darcy by Jeanna Ellsworth

Recently Jeanna Ellsworth joined me with a really charming guest post relating to her new book, 'Hope for Mr Darcy. Jeanna was offering a giveaway of the book for a commenter on the guest post. I just got my daughter to draw out a name at random, and the winner is....

Ana!

Ana, your contact details weren't on your comment, so please could you contact me to claim your prize? If I haven't managed to get hold of Ana by the end of the day on Monday I will select another winner.

Thank you to everybody who commented on Jeanna's post and of course, big thanks to Jeanna herself for the lovely giveaway!

Chaos Comes to Longbourn by Victoria Kincaid - Guest Post, Excerpt and Giveaway

Today I am pleased to welcome author Victoria Kincaid back to the blog. Victoria has a new book out with a very chaotic premise. There are wrong engagements aplenty here, and many tangles to unravel. Let me share the blurb with you, and then I'll hand over to Victoria for a guest post explaining her thought processes in coming up with the premise for this book plus a very amusing excerpt from the book. Victoria also brings with her a giveaway of winner's choice of either a paperback or kindle e-book of 'Chaos Comes to Longbourn' for a lucky reader here. Read on for more details!

Winner - Holidays with Jane: Summer of Love

Recently, author Jessica Grey stopped by with a guest post and giveaway of the latest 'Holidays with Jane', 'Summer of Love'.  I was also lucky enough to read the book and you can read my review of the book here.

The winner, chosen at random, is

Mary!

Congratulations on your win. I will be in touch. Thank you to everybody who commented on Jessica's post, and thank you to Jessica for sponsoring the giveaway.

Holidays with Jane: Summer of Love - Review

I was recently joined by Jessica Grey, one of the authors of the ‘Holidays with Jane’ anthologies. The summer-themed book ‘Summer of Love’ was released last month – you can see Jessica’s guest post about the book here, along with synopses of the short stories. Here’s what I thought about the book.

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Planned Reading for July 2016

Hello everybody! It's the first of the month again. My reading took a little dip at the end of last month. This is not the place for politics, but there was an unexpected poll result at the end of June which left me feeling discombobulated and affected my reading. I have some books I wanted to read in June that I didn't get to, and I am behind on my reviews too, so I have some catching up to do in July, but I also have some things planned that I'd like to share with you: