Book Description
When arrows fly, Cupid better get out of the way . . . or risk being shot
It-girl and blogger Emma Worth appears to have it all: beauty, brains, connections and a fabulous Manhattan apartment. Emma makes it her business to tell others what to wear and who to date because she knows best. Obviously.
Despite her designer outfits and glitzy New York lifestyle, something's missing . . . If she only knew what it was. That is, until a hot A-lister swoops into her life and sends Emma's pulse racing and fills her head with red-carpet fantasies.
Emma's neighbor Adam Knightley is disapproving, telling her she needs to fix her priorities and stop chasing celebrity pipe dreams. The man would look hot on a red carpet himself, if only he’d stop frowning for more than five seconds.
When Emma’s matchmaking backfires and her meddling causes mischief, what's a girl to do? Try to lie her way out of it, of course. Anyway, who cares, right? Because Emma's finally getting the kind of attention she deserves. Except in her fantasies, things looked a lot different. And it didn’t feel this heartrendingly painful . . .
Love her or hate her, Emma is back––with a sexy makeover, 21st-century problems, and another chance to redeem herself in this grippingly entertaining, thoroughly original retelling of the Jane Austen classic.
Guest Post
Thanks
so much, Ceri, for your interest in Emma
and the City and for welcoming me to your blog.
I
first had the idea to modernize one of my favorite books, Emma, and set it in New York when I was working there as a
bartender and cocktail waitress in my late 20s. I pictured the Harriet
character being new to the city and working as a waitress in Emma’s local café.
With
this basic set-up, I thought it would be easy to find parallel modern-day
situations and do a play-by-play of the original Emma.
But
it’s never as simple as it seems.
First,
because you can’t just take old-fashioned characters and drop them into 2006
(which is when my novel is set). For the book to work in a contemporary
setting, my characters needed to have believable modern backstories and
motivations, jobs and sex lives. Pinning down these details was much harder
than I’d anticipated.
And
because I was the one making up the rules—How loosely based or true to the
original would it be?—the challenge, then, was in deciding what to keep, what
to change, and what to throw out.
For
example, in my first draft, the Frank Churchill-Jane Fairfax storyline didn’t
feature at all because I thought it was a stretch that modern characters would
hide a romantic relationship. Instead, I
introduced separate characters who would play similar roles but have no
connection to one another. I also left out Miss Bates because I couldn’t see
how to fit her into the mix of younger characters.
By
doing that I was ignoring a major plot element and a key character, leaving my
story rather thin on the ground. I realized I couldn’t just cut out the secret
romance because I was too lazy or daunted to work out a plausible reason why
two people might try to hide that they were dating. What I ended up with drives
Emma’s motivations for much of the second half of Emma and the City and takes the book in a fabulous new direction I
hadn’t originally foreseen.
Certain
scenes, however, had to be cut because they didn’t serve a real purpose, for
example the scene in which Harriet gets snubbed by Mr. and Mrs. Elton. I wrote
a great scene in which my characters are waiting to go into a nightclub, Hailey
(Harriet) gets dissed and Adam (Mr. Knightley) comes to her rescue. But then
nothing relevant to the book actually happens at the club. So I axed it and
instead have a couple of situations where Knightley “rescues” the Harriet character,
which work far better with my story.
Ultimately,
I needed to learn how to make the novel my own. Both my editor and my husband told
me that if my story isn’t new or different, why bother modernizing it.
So
while Emma and the City does stay very close to Emma, it really comes into its own when it veers away from Austen’s
original, towards the last third of the novel, when the new circumstances and
characters I’d created start to take on a life of their own.
These,
I think, are some of the best parts of the novel exactly because they are the
most creative, original and surprising.
Excerpt from Emma and the City
“That’s
great,” she said, “except there seems to be something a bit off about him.”
“What
do you mean?” asked Adam.
“I
can’t quite put my finger on it. He seemed too eager to please somehow.”
Adam
laughed. “Phew, I thought you were going so say, psycho-stalker off, like that
guy you dated.”
“Now
that you mention it,” said Emma, “he was in Café Bisou the very next day, you
know. He was bothering Hailey while she was trying to work. And then he started
asking me all kinds of questions about you, about Hailey, about what I was
doing, about my blog. Then he started spouting off to me about CSS and SEO and
plugins and widgets and God knows what else. At the time I thought he was just
brown-nosing, like he might get me to put in a good word for him. But now
. . . maybe he was trying to worm his way into my trust and get
information out of me.”
“I
think someone has an overactive imagination,” said Adam, walking around the bar
to the fridge.
“Don’t
laugh at me,” said Emma. “I’m worried about Hailey, actually. I think she might
be his target.”
“Or
maybe,” said Adam, pouring a bottle of craft beer into two glasses and handing
one to Emma, “he’s just a normal, young guy—someone who’s perhaps a bit awkward
when he’s around pretty girls—who might be interested in Hailey. I wouldn’t
blame him if he were; she’s a really sweet girl.”
Emma
took a sip of her beer, pleased by Adam’s approval of her prodigy.
He
continued, “I’m happy to see you take an interest in someone like Hailey, but
I’m kind of surprised.”
“Why?”
“She’s
very different from the women you normally hang out with, Annalisa and Isabel
excepted. They’re usually catty, self-centered and ambitious.”
“That’s
not true!” was Emma’s automatic response. Racking her brain, Emma thought of
Sasha, her friend Lauren from Luxe who now worked on a celebrity gossip
magazine, and a couple of the women she sometimes socialized with. Unable to
come up with anyone who didn’t fit the bill, she said, “Hailey is sweet. When I think of my ideal blog
reader, I think of Hailey and that helps me gear the content and tone.”
“I
hope you’re not just using Hailey for the sake of your blog.”
“Of
course not. I like her. I’m helping her: introducing her to the city, helping
her find her place in it.”
“Are
you sure, Emma? Just make sure you let her live her own life, okay?”
“What’s
that supposed to mean?”
“You
know what I mean. I don’t want to see someone like her get hurt.”
“She
won’t,” said Emma. “I only have Hailey’s best interest at heart. Honest.”
And
Hailey’s best interest wasn’t to date a weirdo geek like Rob, it was to be with
a hot rock star like Zak.
* * *
About the Author
An
American expat, Amy lives in Zurich, Switzerland, with her German husband and
their two UK-born sons.
Find
out more about Amy’s crazy, nomadic, multi-culti life, the evolution of Emma and the City and Amy’s future books
at www.amyhilliges.com.
LINKS
Buy Links
Book Trailer
Giveaway Time!
Amy Hillages is offering a generous giveaway for 6 winners!
 |
| *Note, Author not included in prize pack |
I'll be posting my review of Emma and the City on Monday 24 September. You can earn an extra giveaway entry by commenting on that post too!
Other Blog Visits
Amy is stopping by at other blogs too, if you'd like to read more excerpts and have another chance for a giveaway!
Sept 27 - https://www.
Sept 29 - https://
* * *
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Ooh this sounds like such an interesting read! I do like the idea of the story of 'Emma' reworked to be in modern New York. It seems like a really good fit. I enjoyed the excerpt. The banter between Emma and Adam (Knightley) is spot on.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your thoughts with us, Amy, and for the generous giveaway. Count me in! I'm in the UK and my email address is: elaine(dot)jeremiah(at)gmail(dot)com
Thanks, Elaine! Glad you enjoyed the excerpt. Good luck!
DeleteThanks Elaine!
DeleteI love the sound of this book! Especially with it having a Sex and the City kind of vibe. I've always been attracted to Emma inspired stories...I think it is mostly because of Mr. Knightley! He is one of my favorite Jane Austen heroes! Will definitely look forward to checking this book out!
ReplyDeleteCongrats on your release, Amy! And thank you for the great feature, Ceri! :)
Mr. Knightley is also one of my favorite Jane Austen heroes. In fact, he is probably one of my favorite literary heroes of all time! =)
DeleteI think you will like Mr Knightley in this one, Meredith, he is lovely :)
DeleteI really like the premise of this book as I've never read anything like it before. Thanks for the chance to win a copy. jadseah4(at)yahoo(dot)com
ReplyDeleteGood luck!
DeleteThanks Darcybennett!
DeleteOh a new author! This is exciting and one who has taken 'Emma' on! This definitely sounds intriguing! Congratulations on your debut Amy!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Carole!
DeleteIt's unusual to have a new take on Emma isn't it Carole, as so much is based on P&P, or sometimes Persuasion.
Deletelove the background on this story. and the excerpt sounds wonderful
ReplyDeletedenise
Glad you like the sound of it, Denise!
DeleteHi Denise, glad you enjoyed the guest post and excerpt! For more background on what drew me to write this book, check out my guest post on Saturday at the blog For Love of Jane Austen. There will be other excerpts there and tomorrow at Agents of Romance as well as on my website. (All links above.)
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your motivation to pen an Emma modernisation, Amy. I like your version of Emma and cannot wait to read the book. Btw, the cover is stunning.
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting, Luthien!
Delete