Speechless by Jessie Lewis - Blog Tour, Guest Post and Giveaway

I'm very happy to welcome Jessie Lewis back to Babblings of a Bookworm today with the blog tour for her new book, Speechless. This is a Pride & Prejudice variation with a premise I haven't seen before... a speechless Darcy?! To be fair, that might help him! Let's look at the blurb and then hand over to Jessie for a guest post. There's an ebook giveaway too, so read on.

Book Description

Could anything be worse than to be trapped in a confined space with the woman you love?

Fitzwilliam Darcy knows his duty, and it does not involve succumbing to his fascination for a dark-eyed beauty from an unheard of family in Hertfordshire. He has run away from her once already. Yet fate has a wicked sense of humour and deals him a blow that not only throws him back into her path but quite literally puts him at Elizabeth Bennet’s mercy. Stranded with her at a remote inn and seriously hampered by injury, Darcy very quickly loses the battle to conquer his feelings, but can he win the war to make himself better understood without the ability to speak?

Thus begins an intense journey to love and understanding that is at times harrowing, sometimes hilarious and at all times heartwarming.

Excerpt from Speechless with an Introduction from Jessie Lewis

Hello, Ceri, and thank you for inviting me to your blog to share a little of my new novel, Speechless, with your readers. It’s a Pride and Prejudice variation in which, as the title suggests, our dear couple have a serious impediment to communicating. I’d like to share an excerpt from the middle of the story, at a point when Darcy and Elizabeth have begun to make what they’re saying to each other a little better understood but are still learning to fully comprehend one another’s characters.

***

“Mr Darcy?”

He started, having not heard Elizabeth approach, and carefully rolled his head so as to see her. She was standing at the foot of the bed with an unusually contrite turn of countenance. 

“Forgive me for waking you. I am going downstairs to get some food. I thought you would like to know where I am going.”

He smiled warmly at such a conciliatory gesture. She did not leave directly, but remained rather awkwardly, unable to meet his eye. Though he knew not what troubled her, he could not but be endeared by her manner, in particular the conscious way in which she rubbed her temple with the tip of her middle finger. Just as he thought he must put her at ease somehow, she found her tongue.

“I beg you would forgive my poor manners, sir. No matter how little I like this situation, I recognise it is not your fault, and that you have even more reason to be unhappy about it than I. It is particularly ungenerous of me to be so captious when you are this ill.”

“Pray, do not concern yourself. I perfectly understand.”

She smiled lightly. “I have no idea what you just said, but here—” She came forward, holding out the pen. “I mended it for you. It seems only fair that you should have equal opportunity to express your displeasure.”

He accepted it, as well as the paper she then passed him, then dipped the pen in the watered-down ink she held out for him.

No apology is necessary.

He held it up and smirked when she rolled her eyes at it, for he was so rarely gainsaid in the normal course of things that it made the challenge of convincing her of his sincerity all the more appealing.

It would be entirely forgivable were you scandalised or inconsolable, yet you have been nothing but attentive. Your courage and dignity amaze me.

He passed her the note and watched her read it. She did not roll her eyes again, though it was not a complete victory for her reply made it clear she still was not persuaded.

“I am beginning to think you are teasing me.”

“How so?”

“One moment you are in high dudgeon, the next you are saying something astonishingly generous. I have not the slightest idea what to expect from you from one moment to the next.”

I apologise if I have seemed angry. I am—

He sought for a polite way to explain that unceasing pain and hunger, fear for his recovery, concern for her safety, and the constant battle against his impermissible feelings towards her were somewhat affecting his ability to be civil.

—not feeling myself.

It only made her laugh. “You are more yourself when you are angry than when you are not! It is all this forbearance and generosity that is puzzling me.”

He frowned, unsure of her meaning.

“That is more like it,” she said with a grin. “I know where I am when you are scowling in that fashion.”

Was it her design to vex him into an ill humour simply to prove her point, or was this her real opinion?

You think me an ill-tempered man?

“Mr Darcy, even you think you are an ill-tempered man. You told me as much that evening at Netherfield when we were discussing the evils of each other’s characters.”

He extended a finger in objection, then wrote,

Nay, I said my temper might be considered resentful.

“Oh. And yours is a cheerful sort of resentment is it?” she asked saucily.

He opened his mouth to protest and was exasperated to find that it widened into a smile instead. He could not resist it when she engaged him in this manner. He renewed the ink and his challenge with it.

Perhaps not, but, though deep, intricate characters may be no more estimable than those composed of few sentiments, I hope there is more to me than resentment alone.

“Yes, I am beginning to see that,” she replied pensively, satisfying him that she had recognised the words as those she had said to him at Netherfield. After a brief pause, she smiled wryly and added, “I meant to apologise, not insult you again. You bring out the worst in me, sir.”

The admission set off a minor explosion beneath Darcy’s breastbone.

No offence taken I assure you.

“Then I had better leave before I cause any.”

* * *

About the Author

Jessie Lewis, author of Mistaken and The Edification of Lady Susan (in Rational Creatures), enjoys words far too much for her own good and was forced to take up writing them down in order to save her family and friends from having to listen to her saying so many of them. She dabbled in poetry during her teenage years, though it was her studies in Literature and Philosophy at university that firmly established her admiration for the potency of the English language. She has always been particularly in awe of Jane Austen’s literary cunning and has delighted in exploring Austen’s regency world in her own historical fiction writing. It is of no relevance whatsoever to her ability to string words together coherently that she lives in Hertfordshire with two tame cats, two feral children and a pet husband. She is also quite tall, in case you were wondering.

You can check out her musings on the absurdities of language and life on her blog, LifeinWords.blog, or see what she’s reading over at Goodreads. Or you can drop her a line on Twitter, @JessieWriter or on her Facebook page, JessieLewisAuthor.

Buy Links

Speechless is available to buy now in paperback and ebook. It's also available in the Kindle Unlimited programme - Amazon US / Amazon UK / Amazon CA / Add to Goodreads shelf

Giveaway Time!

Quills & Quartos Publishing is giving away one ebook of Speechless per blog tour stop. All you need to do to enter the giveaway is comment on this blog post, and Quills & Quartos will randomly choose winners for the entire blog tour on 19 December, so make sure you join the conversation! Good luck!

Note regarding comments: I love to read your comments, but a few blog visitors have reported difficulties in commenting while using the Safari browser. If you are unable to comment, please try using another web browser, such as Google Chrome, or please contact me and I will add your comment for you :)

Blog Tour Schedule

Visit the other stops on the tour for more chances to win!

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