As a Proper Lady Would by Bronwen Chisholm - Blog Tour, Guest Post and Giveaway

Well hello everybody! I am posting again after a longer than expected summer hiatus, in which I started a new job and like everybody else in the UK tried to do some home improvements! Now the autumn is coming and the nights are drawing in it’s time to make time for some reading.

Today I’m welcoming author Bronwen Chisholm back to the blog. Bronwen has a new book coming out on 1 October. The story is a Pride & Prejudice variation called As a Proper Lady Would and it’s the first in a series. Bronwen is joining us with a guest post, and she’s kindly brought a giveaway with her! Without further ado, I will hand over to her.

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Hi, Ceri! I am tickled to visit with your readers here at Babblings of a Bookworm again. The first novel in my Defying Propriety Series, As a Proper Lady Would, will be available October 1^st on Kindle and in paperback. Though I did a cover reveal last week at Austen Authors, it has changed slightly. Here it is along with the blurbs for both the series and this first book. 

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We are formed by experiences of our childhood. Family and friends influence our character. Decisions, wise and foolish, direct our path. Through chance encounters and early introductions, our beloved Pride and Prejudice characters come together on a slightly different path which may, to some, defy propriety.

All the books in this series are sweet, clean romances.

In this first book of the Defying Propriety Series, we watch as Elizabeth and Darcy learn what society expects of them, while attempting to achieve what they truly desire in life. The well-known characters, as well as a few new ones, grow from childhood to a marriageable age; some reveal different facets of their personalities, while others are doomed to follow the same paths.

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 Ceri asked me to talk about how I got the idea for this series and what inspired it. At first, I thought I had already covered this at my monthly blog on AustenAuthors.net, but then I realized I only covered the initial idea. So, quick summary: I wrote a scene that I never intended to complete, which I posted on Austen Authors where the readers’ comments inspired me to write the first scene in this book, and then I couldn’t stop.

So, let’s back that up a bit. I have a tendency to get scene ideas lying in bed either before I fall asleep or just after waking up. If it’s the “before sleep”, I usually forget the really good stuff by the time I wake up (yes, I should jot it down, but they usually come the very moment my eyes are drifting shut, and I just can’t force myself to wake up to do it). If they are in the morning, my mind runs with it until I am able to get it on paper. Luckily, in this instance, it was a morning idea.

The idea was a scene with nine year old Fitzwilliam Darcy and his ten year old cousin, Phillip Fitzwilliam (the colonel in this series is named Phillip, click here for that explanation), playing war while their uncle, Lt. Anthony Fitzwilliam, watches them. The comments got me thinking about what Darcy, Elizabeth, and the other characters would be like as children. The opening scene came to me, and then I just couldn’t stop.

As the series blurb says, so much of who we are comes from our childhood experiences and the people in our lives. It was a blast thinking about what made Wickham such a rake, why Lizzy and Jane were more ladylike than Lydia and Kitty, and how Caroline became such a social climber. And the best part, I got to add new characters here and there.

That leads us to the series. Up until now, I have written stand alone stories (Mistress Mary and the General is technically a spin off of Behind the Mask, but it can be read alone). When I got to what should have been the end of this story, there were just too many lose threads. The only couple who had married was Darcy and Elizabeth. Yes, Jane appeared to be engaged, but there were at least two other couples making eyes at each other, and then there was Darcy’s eldest cousin, the viscount. I quickly realized I could not say it all in one book. So that is how the book and the series began.

 

Now, a GIVEAWAY! Just make a comment on this blog and Ceri will pick 1 lucky winner to receive an ebook copy of As a Proper Lady Would. Good luck! I can’t wait to read your comments.

 

Bronwen Chisholm has released seven Pride and Prejudice variations since 2014. She takes great pleasure in searching for potential “plot twists” and finding the way back to a happy ending.

Her love of writing has led her to several writing groups, and she is currently serving as the vice president of the Riverside Writers and organizes the Riverside Young Writers.

For more information, visit her at www.bronwenchisholm.com.

 

Buy Links 

Usually I’d add a buy link but I couldn’t find one! I’ll link instead to Bronwen’s works on various Amazon sites. Remember, As a Proper Lady Would will be released on Friday 1 October in paperback and kindle.

• Amazon US • Amazon UK • Amazon CA • Add to Goodreads shelf

Giveaway Time!

 As Bronwen said, she is offering a giveaway for one of you. To enter, please leave a comment on this blog post by the end of the day worldwide on Tuesday 5 October. If you have any problems adding your comment please contact me and I will add your comment for you :)

Blog Tour Schedule

Please check out the other stops on the blog tour. Details are below: