My Love for Jane Austen

The Austenesque scout is delighted to cheer your week by bringing news on two giveaways. Maria Grazia of My Jane Austen Book Club is organising a wonderful quiz taken from Pocket Posh Jane Austen: 100 Puzzles . The prize is a copy of the aforementioned fun book. Proceed here to have a look at the questions then email your answers to her address and leave a short comment here without the answers of course. This giveaway is open worldwide and ends next Tuesday, 19 April 2011 when the winner's name will be revealed. Maria is also continuing her interview with authors of Austenesque genre in her Talking Jane Austen with... weekly column at her blog. Her guest this week is Margaret C. Sullivan, author of The Jane Austen Handbook and editrix of Austenblog . Do read the wonderful interview here to discover Ms Sullivan's passion for Henry Tilney, the hero of Northanger Abbey . At the end of the interview, there is a giveaway especially for US and Canadian readers to...

Rating: ★★★★★/★★★★★ According to Jane is a coming-of-age story of a woman on a quest for finding her one true love and in the process, gets a better understanding of herself. This self-reflective novel is told in a series of flashbacks beginning with the protagonist's sophomore year. Ellie Barnett, a fifteen-year-old bookish student is in English class when Sam Blaine, who is sitting directly behind, mercilessly teases and disturbs her. Sam, her childhood friend since kindergarten may be good-looking, popular, smart and athletic but he also brings his fair share of trouble. Ellie is very much annoyed at Sam's antics and vows to ignore him. Later when she opened her copy of Pride & Prejudice for her next assignment, she heard a soft 'tsk' of displeasure and suspects Sam is at it again. It actually turned out to be Jane Austen who is speaking directly in her mind. Little did Ellie know that her life would change forever as Jane continues to diligently whisper wo...

The Austenesque scout is proud to bring you news on five giveaways for this week. My Jane Austen Book Club 's Maria Grazia is continuing her weekly column of interviewing Austenesque authors in Talking Jane Austen With... . Her guest for this week is Vera Nazarian who specialises in writing monster mash-up of Jane Austen's classic novels. Read the interview here . There is a giveaway for two winners to win an autographed copy of Mansfield Park and Mummies and Northanger Abbey and Angels and Dragons . Leave your comment or questions here including your email address to be entered. Contest is open worldwide and ends next Wednesday, 13 April 2011 . Next, Maria also interviewed Lucinda Brant on her Fly High! blog. Lucinda is the author of an upcoming Georgian fiction, Deadly Engagement which is the first novel in the Alec Halsey Mystery series. Read this post to know what the novel is all about. By commenting or leave questions for Lucinda to answer here ...

Besides Amanda Grange and Abigail Reynolds' releasing their latest Pride & Prejudice -inspired novels on the same day, Sharon Lathan is also jumping in the bandwagon with them and celebrate the publication of The Trouble with Mr. Darcy . This makes it three Sourcebooks novelists in the Austen genre having the same release date and it is certainly wonderful news to their readers and any Jane Austen fans. This fifth book in The Darcy Saga tells about George Wickham's return to Hertfordshire and the trouble he caused to Elizabeth and her newborn son which leaves Darcy and his cousin, Fitzwilliam to rescue them and put a stop to Wickham's evil plans. There will be a few copies of The Trouble with Mr. Darcy to be won when you head on over to the book blogs in which Sharon is virtually touring to promote her work. As usual, read the instructions carefully before participating because most giveaways are donated by Sourcebooks and they can only ship to US and Canada ...

Abigail Reynold has done it again! Yesterday marks the release of her latest Pride and Prejudice variations novel re-issued by Sourcebooks with the title What Would Mr. Darcy? . Part of The Pemberley Variation series, this is actually not a new novel for this is one of Abigail's attempt at self-publishing released as From Lambton to Longbourn in 2007. This novel explores the scenario of what happens if Darcy had not immediately left the inn in Lambton after Elizabeth Bennet receives news of her youngest sister elopement with Wickham. What if both chose to speak of their feelings rather than assume the worst? To know more about this novel, do join Abigail as she will either be interviewed or guest posts on the chosen book blogs. There will also be giveaways to win copies of What Would Mr. Darcy? . Do read the rules first to know whether you are eligible to win as some of the contests are mainly for US and Canadian readers. Abigail Reynolds' virtual book tour sits b...

April Fool's Day is a joyous day for Janeites because it marks the release of four Austenesque novels highlighted at my post last December. I will be writing about the giveaways for each of these novels in separate posts so here's a look at Wickham's Diary penned by Amanda Grange who is renown for writing retellings of Jane Austen's novels from the heroes perspective in diary format. Wickham's Diary is a new novella which focuses on the early years of George Wickham's life, the villain of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice and nemesis of Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy. If the premise of this novella intrigues you, do join Amanda Grange as she virtually tour selected book blogs to promote her work. You could even win brand new copies of this novella donated by her publishers, Sourcebooks, when you comment on the blogs. Do note the terms and conditions before participating because some of the giveaways are exclusively for US and Canadian readers. Amanda Gr...

Rating: ★★★★★/★★★★★ As readers of this blog, I'm sure you are familiar that most of the time I would begin my review by mentioning how I came across this gem in my search for good Austenesque novels to read. This is no different compared to previous reviews. You may also know that I have been a long time fan of any Jane Austen-themed novels and would not hesitate to pick it up and put it on my list for books that I am going to read. Although it was available at my bookstore last year, I am only able to read it now. Barbara Cornthwaite, the author of this novel is a member of Crownhill Writers Guild , an independent publishing house specialising in Jane Austen retellings. With the likes of Pamela Aidan ( Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman ), Susan Kaye ( Frederick Wentworth, Captain ) and Laura Hile ( Mercy's Embrace ) which write some of the best Austen-themed novels, George Knightley, Esquire lives up to my expectation of a classic masterpiece worthy of Emma in which it is bas...

The Austenesque scout is glad to tell her readers about two giveaway that was posted this week. Stephanie's Written Word is hosting a giveaway as part of TLC book blog tour . You could win a paperback copy of The Postmistress by Sarah Blake when you leave a comment with your valid email address here . This contest is open to US and Canadian residents and ends next Thursday, 7 April 2011 at 12 noon . The winner will be randomly selected and notified through email. Book review can be read at this post before you decide to enter this contest. Lastly, there is a fabulous giveaway on Facebook organised by Teresa Thomas Bohannon, Regency Romance Author where she hopes to bring authors and readers together. Go to Books are Beautiful Giveaway to read and agree to the rules first before entering the giveaways. There are 16 books on offer so far and generally you must click on each picture of the prize that you would like to win, fill in the entry form and ' like ...

Today is a very big day for debut author, Cindy Jones because it is publication day for her first novel, My Jane Austen Summer: A Season in Mansfield Park . It tells of Lily Berry, who lost her job when her boss caught her reading Northanger Abbey , a novel by Jane Austen. Her friend invited her to spend the summer at a Jane Austen literary festival in England and there embarks on a adventure that she'll never forgets. Cindy will be celebrating this special day by having four blog tours. There will also be giveaways when you leave a comment at each blog. The prizes are an autographed copy of her novel and a package of Lily Berry's Pink Rose Tea which is created and sold by Bingley's Teas, Ltd. Please refer to the following blogs and read the rules carefully as one of them specifically states that it is only open to US and Canadian residents . 1) An Interview with Lily Berry, Protagonist of My Jane Austen Summer @ Austen Authors 2) Launch Day: Here We Go! @ Fir...

The Austenesque scout is delighted to tell her readers of five giveaways that you may be interested. Margaret C. Sullivan, the author of The Jane Austen Handbook: Proper Life Skills for Regency England and Editrix of AustenBlog is featured as a guest blog on Austenprose . There is a giveaway for three copies of her etiquette book for Regency times at the end of the post . To win, leave your comment stating which proper Regency life skills you think one of Jane Austen's erring characters might have benefited from or guess what the C. in Margaret's name stands for. Please note that contest is open to US and Canadian residents only and it ends at midnight PT on Wednesday, 30 March 2011 . Winners will be announced the next day. Jane Austen Today managed by Vic Sanborn, is also having a giveaway of the same prize as above. Just leave a comment here with your question about Regency era or Jane Austen's life to win a copy of the delightful reference guide. Contest...

The Austenesque scout is pleased to inform her readers about three giveaways for this week. Meredith, blogger mistress of Austenesque Reviews is hosting a book giveaway for two new copies of The Jane Austen Handbook: Proper Life Skills from Regency England donated by the publisher, Quirk Books. This Regency etiquette book is actually a re-release of the same contents but with a different cover and was first published in 2007. If you are interested to win, just leave a comment and your email address here . You can also read her review and get more information on how to earn additional entries here . The bad news is this contest is open to US residents only and ends next Wednesday, 23 March 2011 . The second giveaway on offer is Georgette Heyer's novel, Cotillion . This contest is organised by Meredith at her blog and is open to all international readers . To enter, leave a comment here suggesting which Georgette Heyer novel she should read next . For those who have never...

Rating: ★★★★★/★★★★★ Thanks to Meredith of Austenesque Reviews for highlighting this Austenesque novel at her blog post , I came to know of this young adult novel with a very pretty and cute cover. I'm sure by now you know that I am easily swayed to read any stories that is somehow connected to Jane Austen's novels or her life whether it is modern adaptation, contemporary fiction, sequels, prequels, retellings or variations. So this is no different from my type of books that I usually peruse although it is categorised under Teens section in the bookstore. The premise of the story is interesting and reminds me of a time when I enjoyed Enid Blyton's boarding school tales in the Malory Towers and St. Clare's series. In this novel, Elizabeth Bennet, a native of Hoboken in New Jersey, is a talented pianist who has earned a music scholarship to study at the exclusive Connecticut all-girls boarding school called Longbourn Academy. Longbourn Academy is filled with wealt...