Friday 30 October 2015

SPOTLIGHT ON ... A JANE AUSTEN CHRISTMAS BY CARLO DEVITO + GIVEAWAY


Who wouldn't want to have a Jane Austen Christmas? Jane Austen wrote about Christmas time in each of her major novels. Who can forget Mr Elton's proposal to Emma on Christmas Eve,  Anne Elliot visiting the Musgroves at Uppercross during the holidays, or newly engaged Elizabeth Bennet inviting Aunt Gardiner to Pemberley for Christmas?


Carlo DeVito, the author of A Jane Austen Christmas, does what Austen didn't, since she didn't need to describe in details what her contemporary certainly knew: how to decorate or what to cook for Christmas, what music to sing or play or what little gifts to make. He collects all those  details for us and depicts what a typical British Christmas must have been like in the Georgian Era.



Tuesday 20 October 2015

THE UNTHINKABLE TRIANGLE BLOG TOUR - GUEST POST BY AUTHOR JOANA STARNES & BOOK GIVEWAY

Glad to be hosting again Joana Starnes, this time on occasion of her promoting tour for The Unthinkable Triangle. Ready to discover more about her new intriguing variation of Pride and Prejudice?


Book Blurb - All is fair in love and war – or is it? What if Mr. Darcy’s rival for Elizabeth Bennet’s affections is not some inconsequential stranger, but his dearest, closest friend? How is he to reconcile the claims of loyalty and kinship with the urge to pursue his heart’s desire?



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Author Guest Post

Many thanks, Maria Grazia, for having me here today. It’s always wonderful to be your guest, and I greatly appreciate your warm welcome at My Jane Austen Book Club, on the blog tour for the launch of my latest book, The Unthinkable Triangle.

We are all familiar with the courtship dance of our favourite couple, in the original novel as well as in countless variations. The aloof gentleman, drawn against his better judgement to a pair of fine eyes and the playful, pert disposition of one who, instead of fawning upon him like the majority of his acquaintance, persists in challenging him at every turn. And then there is the opinionated lady, with her deep-set prejudice against him, for valid reasons as well as not so valid ones. They meet, the spar, they part. They meet again, they argue heatedly, and then they part once more. And just as they begin to understand each other, they are drawn apart again, by all manner of adverse circumstances.

Thursday 8 October 2015

LOVELY JANEITES: WHAT WOULD JANE DO? AUTHOR SHERRI RABINOWITZ WONDERS ...

As I began the process of writing my first non-fiction book I tried to figured a way to tackle it.  I have several favorite writers and one of the tops in my book is Jane Austen.  My thought at the time as I began the process was, “What would Jane do?”  How would she handle the transition of writing non-fiction after years of writing fiction?

As I continued the process of writing down memories, settling them in some sort of order I kept thinking about Jane Austen and her talent for writing about everyday life.  She was able to take ordinary things like fighting with her mother, and make it into a brilliant comedy scene in her novels.  Or going to a dance in her neighborhood, and translate it into the scene where Lizzie first meets Darcy.  What I needed to do was the reverse, to take my real life and write it so it is both honest and entertaining.  Not the easiest of missions.

Saturday 3 October 2015

CHARLIE LOVETT'S FIRST IMPRESSIONS IS OUT IN PAPERBACK. READ AN EXCERPT AND WIN A COPY.


Charlie Lovett’s  FIRST IMPRESSIONS is now out in paperback! To celebrate the event, here's a   great excerpt to read and the chance to win a copy! (See  the rafflecopter form below this  post)


Read an  excerpt

Steventon,  Hampshire, 1796
  
FOND AS  SHE  WAS of solitary walks, Jane  had  been  wandering rather  longer  than  she had intended, her mind  occupied not so much with the story she had lately been  reading as with one she hoped  soon to be writing. She was shaken  from this reverie by the sight of an unfa­ miliar  figure, sitting  on a stile, hunched over a book. Her first impres­ sion was that  he was the  picture  of gloom - dressed in shabby clerical garb, a dark look on his crinkled  face, doubtless  a volume of dusty ser­ mons clutched  in his ancient  hand.  Even the  weather seemed  to agree with this assessment,  for while the sun shone all around  him, he sat in the shadow of the single cloud  that hung in the Hampshire sky. Realiz­ ing how far she  had come  from  home,  Jane thought it best to retrace her steps without  interrupting the cleric's thoughts as he had  unknow­ ingly interrupted hers. During the  long walk home, across fields shimmering with  the  haze  of  summer   heat,  she  amused   herself  by sketching  out  a character  of this old  man,  storing  him  away, like so many others,  for possible inclusion  in some novel yet to be conceived. He was, she decided, a natural history enthusiast, but his passion lay not with anything beautiful  like butterflies  or wildflowers.  No, his particu­ lar expertise  was in the way of garden slugs, of which he could  identify twenty-six varieties.