My Love for Jane Austen

Although not officially released until 1 November, Sharon Lathan's book blog tour for her latest novel for Sourcebooks which is titled Miss Darcy Falls in Love has begun this week. She has brought forward her blog tour by a week is due to her daughter's wedding occurring on the first week of November so she will be busy preparing for this joyous and memorable event. As stated in the subtitle of the sixth book in The Darcy Saga series, it is primarily about Georgiana Darcy, youngest sister to Mr Fitzwilliam Darcy of Pemberley, Derbyshire and her journey of love, life and the passionate pursuit of happiness. She embarks on a Grand Tour to Europe and in the process discovers her deepest passion: composing and playing music. Please join Sharon as she goes on her virtual tour to discuss about Georgiana and the Darcy family. As a bonus, there will be giveaways for Miss Darcy Falls in Love when you comment on the respective blogs below. Do take note that since her publisher wi...

The Austenesque scout is delighted to present good news to readers about five giveaways for this week. An e-book format of Nachtstürm Castle: A Gothic Austen Novel has been offered on My Jane Austen Book Club where blog mistress, Maria Grazia has interviewed writer Emily C.A. Snyder in the weekly Talking Jane Austen With... column. If you want to win this Northanger Abbey sequel, leave your comment with email address at this post . The deadline for this giveaway is on next Monday, 31 October 2011 at midnight (local time). Victoria Connelly, author of Austen Addicts trilogy which comprises of A Weekend with Mr Darcy and A Perfect Hero (to be released next January in US and re-titled as Dreaming of Mr. Darcy ) is launching her third and final book in this series titled as Mr Darcy Forever in UK as Kindle format. It will occur on her Facebook fan page this Friday, 28 October 2011 . If you ' like ' her page and leave a message , you will be entered in the drawin...

Rating: ★★★★★/★★★★★ Marvel Comics has done it again for the third time. Following the success of Marvel Illustrated series for Pride & Prejudice and Sense & Sensibility  which was reviewed here and here , Nancy Butler has helmed the graphic novel adaptation of Jane Austen's fourth published novel Emma with a different collaborator. This time around the illustrations are provided by Janet K. Lee who is fairly new to the world of graphic novels. If you are not familiar with Emma , here's the gist of the story. It is about a handsome, clever and rich twenty-one year old young lady living with her father at Hartfield which is located in the neighbouring village of Highbury in Surrey, England. She has a propensity to matchmake her new friend Harriet Smith after her self-declared success at matchmaking her governess with Mr. Weston. She decides that the man for Harriet would be the local vicar, Mr Elton instead of Mr Martin, a gentleman-farmer who had earlier propose...

The Austenesque scout is pleased to let readers know about a few giveaways this week. Indie Jane is hosting a Northanger Abbey giveaway to celebrate the month of October by reading the original text, reviewing Northanger Abbey sequels and guest posts. There are four prizes offered where the e-book copies are open to all . The remaining two prizes are open to US and Canadian residents only. 1) Masterpiece Theatre's Northanger Abbey (2007) DVD 2) One signed paperback and an e-book of There Must Be Murder 3) An e-b ook version of Nachtstürm Castle: A Gothic Austen Novel Please read the post to know how you can enter to win one of these prizes. This fabulous giveaway ends on Monday, 31 October 2011 at 11.59 PST . Besides this, Lady A~ has a guest post slot on My Jane Austen Book Club . She writes about Jane Austen and her own inspiration to write Merits and Mercenaries which is the first out of seven novels in The Bath Novels of Lady A~ Classic Collection . If...

After reading the introductory post on Jane Austen Week , I feel compelled to share my tale. I remember reading my first Jane Austen novel back in primary school when I was 12 years old. My mother, a secondary Science teacher, took home an abridged version of Pride and Prejudice from her school library. I immediately began reading it since it was the start of school holidays and it was a perfect time to read a new genre after devouring the mystery series of Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys , Enid Blyton's St Clare's and Malory Towers and Sweet Valley High series. Moreover it was my wish to read any classics that my mother had read during her schooling years. When she was a young student studying in missionary school, she was taught English language by native English teachers. She learned the works of famous classical English literary figures such as Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Charlotte and Emily Brontë and the likes. However during my time, the education syllabus have changed...

In honour of the official release today of the Austen-inspired short stories anthology which is aptly titled Jane Austen Made Me Do It: Original Stories Inspired by Literature's Most Astute Observer of the Human Heart edited by popular Austenprose blogger Laurel Ann Nattress, Historical Tapestry is organising a Jane Austen Week to celebrate all things about our beloved authoress who lived two centuries ago. Beginning yesterday and lasting until Sunday, there will be numerous posts revealing the blogger mistresses' thoughts and experiences navigating the world of Jane Austen's novels plus guest blogs by Laurel Ann and Stephanie Barron with great giveaways. Do join the fun and festivities hosted by Alex, Kelly, Anna and Marg as they seek to entertain you for the whole week. The schedule of events quoted from Austenprose and the official blog for promoting this short stories anthology are as follows: Day 1: Monday, 10th October    ♠  Welcome to our Jane Austen W...

The Austenesque scout is delighted to highlight three contests that you can enter this week. Maria Grazia has put up an interview with John Thornton, the hero of Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South , on her Fly High! blog. Read the post by Catherine Winchester for the chance to win a copy of Northern Light which is a sequel North & South when you leave a comment mentioning the question(s) that was not asked by her. Do remember to include your email address as well so that she will be able to contact you in case you are the winner. This giveaway is open worldwide and closes next Monday, 17 October 2011 . A wonderful guest post by Lev Raphael, author of Pride and Prejudice: The Jewess and the Gentile is up at Maria's Jane Austen dedicated blog, My Jane Austen Book Club . Read the post and leave a comment including your email address to be in the running to win a Kindle or Nook copy of Pride and Prejudice: The Jewess and the Gentile . Do state in your comm...

Rebecca Ann Collins, writer of the 10-book series of Pride & Prejudice sequels collectively known as The Pemberley Chronicles has written a new sequel to pay homage to Jane Austen whose first book, Sense and Sensibility was published exactly 200 years ago. The result is the release of Expectations of Happiness: A Companion Volume to Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility . As is the custom for any Sourcebooks authors, she will be going on a virtual blog tour for this month to celebrate and promote her latest novel. Do stop by and comment on her visits because chances are you could win a copy of Expectations of Happiness specially donated by her publishers for this joyous occasion. However do take note that Sourcebooks are base in US so copies of her book will likely be shipped to US and Canada addresses only. Rebecca's book blog tour with giveaways is below: 7th: Expectations of Happiness Blog Tour with author Rebecca Ann Collins, & Giveaway! @ Austenprose ...

Do mark your calendars next Tuesday, 11 October 2011 because it will be the official publication of Jane Austen Made Me Do It: Original Stories Inspired by Literature's Most Astute Observer of the Human Heart for debut editor Laurel Ann Nattress. Popular among the Austenite blogosphere as the mistress of Austenprose , she has gathered and selected a group of 24 talented writers of historical, romance and Austenesque writers to produce an anthology of 22 short stories focusing on the characters created by Jane Austen or the beloved author herself. In the vein of several successful Austenesque authors who have launched their book(s) to great fanfare, she will be taking the grand tour to pay a visit(s) to notable book and Austenesque blogs. Please take some time to join in the celebration by showing her some love. There is the added advantage of winning her book which is kindly donated by her publisher, Random House if you live in US or Canada . The following is Laurel Ann...

Rating: ★★★★★/★★★★★ After many weeks waiting for my order of The World of Downton Abbey to arrive, at last I am rewarded for my patience and immediately bump it up to my list of must read books. This book is the perfect companion to Downton Abbey , the British television period drama series created and written by Julian Fellowes, the Oscar winner writer for Gosford Park . It is no wonder that this hugely successful and critically acclaimed and currently on its second series on UK primetime television deserves a book solely dedicated to discovering the secrets, intricacies and intrigues behind the aristocratic Crawley family who lives there and their servants. Let me talk a little bit about the background of this wonderful new series that has captured my heart. It is set during the Edwardian era and in the fictional Yorkshire estate of Downton Abbey, hence its name. The first series begins just after the sinking of RMS Titanic which leaves Robert Crawley, the Earl of Grantham wi...

Janet Mullany, an author notable for writing Regency romance and publishing last year's paranormal novel featuring Jane Austen as a vampire in Jane and the Damned . The follow-up to this novel is Jane Austen: Blood Persuasion where we find that the Damned, a genteel legion of vampires who help to overthrow Napoleon's secret militia in Bath in the first novel, is banished from polite society. Now her old undead friends are her new neighbours and raising hell in her tranquil village to interrupt Jane's work on what will be her masterpiece. How will it all end? Janet is on a tour of several book blogs to promote this novel by giving interviews and guest blogging. She is bringing along a few copies of Jane Austen: Blood Persuasion as a special treat mostly to US and Canadian readers . In order to win, comment at selected blogs she is stopping by. Here is Janet's blog tour schedule with giveaways (information taken from her website ): October 4th: Jane Austen:...

The Austenesque scout is absolutely thrilled to let readers know about three contests for this week. Jennifer Becton has released the long awaited Caroline Bingley just last week. As such, there will a giveaway for two lucky Indie Jane readers. One signed paperback copy of Caroline Bingley will be available to participants of US and Canadian residents while an e-book of the Personages of Pride & Prejudice which includes the novels of Charlotte Collins and Caroline Bingley in addition to Maria Lucas short story is up for grabs to all international and US readers . Read this post to learn how you can enter to win this contest but remember the deadline is 11.59 PST on next Tuesday, 11 October 2011 . Shannon Winslow is once more featured in My Jane Austen Book Club . This time she is interviewed in Talking Jane Austen With... column by the blog administrator, Maria Grazia. Read the interview and answer her questions with your email address in the comment sect...

Besides Abigail Reynolds celebrating her release this month, her Austen Authors co-blogger Mary Lydon Simonsen is releasing her third novel for Sourcebooks this year alone and the final novel to be released before totally moving on to self-publishing route. Mr. Darcy's Bite is a paranormal Pride & Prejudice story where Mr. Darcy is a werewolf. It is definitely a perfect read for Halloween. As is the case with her previous release of The Perfect Bride for Mr. Darcy and A Wife for Mr. Darcy , Mary will be participating in whirlwind of book blog tour to present her work to Jane Austen fans. There will be giveaway for several copies of Mr. Darcy's Bite donated by Sourcebooks and herself to coincide with this visit. Do take note that most of the giveaways are open to US and Canadian residents so please read the fine print first. Nevertheless, if you like her works you are welcome to leave your comment(s) as she would surely love to read your opinions and thoughts. ...

Abigail Reynold's final novel for her publisher Sourcebooks is the newly published Mr. Darcy's Undoing . Originally self-published as Without Reserve in 2007, this is a Pride and Prejudice variation that forms part of The Pemberley Variation series. The premise of this novel is about Elizabeth Bennet accepting the proposal of a childhood friend before she meets Darcy again. How far will Mr. Darcy go to win the hand of the woman he loves? As in the past when Abigail release a new Sourcebooks novel, she will be virtually touring selected book blogs. To encourage user participation, there will be free copies of Mr. Darcy's Undoing to be given away especially for US and Canadian readers. Nevertheless, do leave your comments even if you are not eligible to win. The following is a schedule for Abigail Reynolds' blog tour: 1st: Mr. Darcy's Undoing Blog Tour with Author Abigail Reynolds: Excerpt & Giveaway! @ Austenprose 3rd: Launching Mr. Darcy's...