Blog Tour - A Lie Universally Hidden by Anngela Schroeder - My Review

Today the Blog Tour for Anngela Schroeder's latest book, 'A Lie Universally Hidden', drops by for my review. Read on to find out more about the book and see what I thought of it! There are chances to find out more about the book on other stops of the tour, and the opportunity to win a copy too.

The Darcy Monologues - Edited by Christina Boyd - Interview with Christina plus Giveaway

Today I have news of an exciting project, which will be available for you to read later this year. You may be familiar with the name Christina Boyd. Even if you're not, you might well have read something she has contributed to. She's a book editor, and has edited many of my favourite Austenesque reads. Read on for more details!

Winner: Passages - A Pemberley Tale by Brenda Webb

Recently Brenda Webb dropped by with an excerpt of her new book, 'Passages - A Pemberley Tale', which features the characters of 'Pride & Prejudice' in a new scenario, as a variation from canon happens before the opening scenes of the events of P&P. Brenda was kindly offering a giveaway of a signed paperback plus two ebooks of the story, and due to the post's popularity, she added in another signed paperback so I have four winners to announce.

I selected the winners using the random feature in excel. The two first winners selected will be offered the signed paperbacks, and the next two will be offered ebooks. So without further ado the winners are:

Christina - signed paperback

Sophia Rose - signed paperback

ColleenL - ebook

MaryAnn Nagy - ebook

Ladies, I will be in touch to check you all still want your prizes and haven't bought the book in the meantime!

Edited to add: MaryAnn bought the book in the meantime! Therefore I chose another ebook winner which was...

Unknown (Katherine L Schmitt)

Thank you so much to Brenda for the excerpt and giveaway. Remember the book is available to buy if you weren't a lucky winner this time - Amazon US / Amazon UK.

PLUS

Brenda is offering a short story ebook for free 17-21 Jan, 'A Twist of Fate' - Amazon US / Amazon UK (please double check price before buying)

Blog Tour: The Best Part of Love by Amy D'Orazio

Today the blog tour for 'The Best Part of Love' by A. D'Orazio stops by. This story is 'Pride & Prejudice'-based but the variation is a big one, with Elizabeth having been married before, and to somebody of rank. I'll share the blurb with you first and then I will hand over to Amy D'Orazio for a vignette of something that happened during the story, but off-page.

Passages - A Pemberley Tale by Brenda Webb - Excerpt and Giveaway

Today Brenda Webb is stopping by to share an excerpt of her latest 'Pride & Prejudice'-inspired book with us. Brenda has written a number of P&P variations, 'Fitzwilliam Darcy: An Honourable Man', 'Mr Darcy's Forbidden Love', 'Darcy & Elizabeth: A Most Unlikely Couple' and 'Darcy & Elizabeth: A Promise Kept' in addition to posting on her Austenesque fanfiction forum DarcyandLizzy.com. Phew!

Brenda's latest story is called 'Passages - A Pemberley Tale' and this, rather than beginning at a point within 'Pride & Prejudice' and diverging, instead takes a different turn before the events of canon, taking us on an entirely different journey. I'll now hand over to Brenda for the blurb and excerpt. There is also a giveaway opportunity, as Brenda is kindly offering a kindle ebook of 'Passages - A Pemberley Tale' to two international commenters on this post, and a signed paperback of the story to a US/Canada winner.

Edited to add: Brenda has now kindly offered to give away a second signed paperback to a US/Canada reader so you get double the chance to win :)

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Planned Reading for January 2017

Happy New Year everybody! I hope you had a lovely Christmas, if you celebrate it. I had a nice time, with lots of time spent with my children. I also got some Austen-y goodies from Santa (I know one of them is Bronte, but still!). In the picture there is 'From Prada to Nada' which is based on S&S, the 1940 'Pride & Prejudice, which is the first adaptation of the book that I ever saw, so I am fond of it, plus the third DVD is the 1980s version of Jane Eyre featuring Timothy Dalton (yum!). The items on the lower half of the picture are some note cards featuring vintage covers of Austen's works, a little portrait of lovely Colin Firth as Mr Darcy, a Jane Austen pin and a trolley token saying I ♥ Darcy, in case I need reminding when I am buying food! Did you get any nice reading treats?

I took some time off work and it was sorely needed, as I find everything hard to fit in around work and other commitments. I didn't get any reading done at all unfortunately but a new year is a new beginning! I always make resolutions, though how well they pan out is variable :) I would like to make sure I fit in some more reading and blogging time this year. I also intend to catch up on some of the reads that people have kindly gifted or sent me that I didn't manage to fit in previously. It's actually my blog birthday this month - I posted my very first post on 2 January 2014, although I didn't make the blog publicly viewable until about April, in case I didn't enjoy doing it. I should do something to celebrate it. Last year, I had a book giveaway, but I'm not sure what to do this time. What do you think? Is a book the best present or should I look out some Austen-related loot that people might like to win?

I have a few visits lined up this month that I hope you will pop back for. Firstly, author Brenda Webb has a new book out, which is already receiving excellent reviews. In 'Passages - A Pemberley Tale' the characters of 'Pride & Prejudice' are taken along another path, as this story has taken a turn even before the events of P&P. Brenda will be stopping by soon with a guest post.

Next, we have a new author that has written a number of excellent stories. I read her work on 'A Happy Assembly' but I don't know whether she posted on any of the other fanfic sites. I am happy say that she is publishing, and Amy D'Orazio will be dropping by with the blog tour of 'The Best Part of Love' which sees a widowed Elizabeth meeting up with Mr Darcy. Things aren't straightforward for our dear couple in this story!

The blog tour for Anngela Schroeder's new book, 'A Lie Universally Hidden' stops by for my review. This book has both Darcy and Elizabeth already having a rival on the scene when they meet. You can see the cover reveal over at Just Jane 1813 today.

As for what I plan to read, well, aside from 'A Lie Universally Hidden' I am going to see where the wind takes me. I have plenty of books I'd like to catch up on! I hope you have some good reads planned for this month. Let me know in the comments :)

And please, if you haven't already, check out my favourite reads of 2016.

ETA: I forgot to say, if you'd like to have some company on your reading journey in 2017 you can join in the fun of Sophia Rose's Austenesque TBR Goodreads Group and if you're on Facebook, maybe you'd like to join us at Mr Darcy's Extensive Readers?

A Very Darcy Christmas by Victoria Kincaid - Winner

Recently, Victoria Kincaid joined me with an excerpt and giveaway of her Christmas-themed book, 'A Very Darcy Christmas', which sees the Darcys first Christmas as a married couple not go as planned as family descend on Pemberley. Victoria kindly offered a giveaway of an e-book of the story to a commenter on the post. The winner, chosen at random, is:

Sheila!

Edited to add: As Sheila has explained in the comments below, since her initial comment she has read the book, so she asked me to choose another winner who is:

Mary!

Hopefully Mary hasn't succumbed and bought herself a copy. I will be in touch.

Thank you so much to all of you who visited the post and commented, and of course, huge thanks to Victoria for visiting the blog and providing a giveaway.

As an aside, I hope this post looks ok, my internet has gone down so I am publishing via my phone! Technology, eh :)