For ONE DAY ONLY = June 28, 2024, you can download up to 58… yes, 58!.. free Jane Austen FanFiction books! Just go to this link and then click on the book images to discover where you can download a free copy of that book.
I am sharing this a little early for those of you who live on my side of the international date line. I do know that today is not Friday for us. 🙂 I wasn’t planning to share about this promotion until tomorrow which is when it will be Friday for me.
However, I realized, about half an hour ago because that’s how my brain works, that in Australia, it’s already Friday. So, I’m sending this a little early just to give our fellow readers from the other side of the date line time to load up on books.
** While the books listed are only guaranteed to be free for one day, I know some authors have set them free for a bit longer just to accommodate all the various time zones and to allow for some of us who don’t open emails as quickly as others do. (Yeah, that’s me. I look at email once a day, so if it’s not in my inbox when I look, I’m not seeing it until the next day at the earliest.) So some or many or even all of the books might already be free, and if you find this email a day late, give the books a try. You may still be able to download many of them.
I hope you find some fun reads in this lot of books. Maybe, you’ll even discover a new-to-you author in the process.
Feel free to share this event with your friends, but remember the only guaranteed free day is Friday, June 28, 2024.
Happy Reading!
Leenie
CLICK HERE to be taken to the promotion page for links to each book.
You will need a password to access all future chapters. That password is OCR24. (It stands for Oxford Cottage Refresh 2024 if that helps you remember it. 😉 )
This story is broken into three parts. This is the first one in which…
A bright-eyed child captures the attention of an earl and, unbeknownst to her, begins a journey that will lead to Oxford Cottage.
The four chapters in this section are not numbered as chapters but are rather numbered with the date on which the events took place.
This story has already been published, and can still be purchased at your favourite retailer. The plot will not change, but I hope to deepen the emotions and limit the number of points of view – something I did not do when I first started writing but I do now.
Updated chapters will be posted on Thursdays as I get them ready.
—–
October 1797
Elizabeth Bennet clapped a hand over her mouth to stifle a giggle as one of the marbles she had taken from her pocket rolled across the floor and hit the boot of the finely dressed gentleman sitting in the armchair across from her uncle.
The gentleman’s leg leapt in the air, and he muttered a startled oath as he looked around the floor, trying to discover what had thumped his foot.
In her hiding spot behind the velvet draperies in Uncle Gardner’s study, Elizabeth sat as still as a five-year-old girl possibly could. She was sure she was not supposed to hear the words that man had said. Mama scolded Papa when he said that. She waited, counting to ten before she sent another marble rolling. This time, she could not quite catch her giggle as she watched this marble hit her uncle’s boot.
His leg did not leap. Nor did he look for the marble. Instead, he continued his conversation with the man in the other chair and selected one of his chess pieces to move.
Elizbeth gasped. He was going to lose! He had placed his pale-coloured piece directly in the path of a dark horse. She stuffed her last marble into her pocket. Perhaps it had been the tap against his foot which had distracted him from the game and was going to be the cause of his loss. Her heart pinched at the thought. She loved her uncle and hated to lose. Therefore, she simply could not be the cause of something so tragic happening to Uncle Gardiner.
Taking care to not move the drapery too much and keeping low by not standing up completely, she crept out of her hiding place and tip-toed across the floor. Fortunately, the back of her uncle’s armchair was just as tall as she was, so she could stand behind him without being seen. She waited until her uncle had started talking about something that had happened a long time ago when he was a boy, and then, cautiously, she reached out her hand and grabbed the chess piece that her uncle had moved. She had just wrapped her fingers around it when she was snatched from behind.
“I caught you.” Uncle Gardiner swung Elizabeth around and placed her firmly on his lap.
Elizabeth squealed and laughed. Her eyes sparkled with delight. She loved playing games with her uncle.
“What are you up to my little scamp?” he asked.
“You were going to lose. You moved the wrong one.” Elizabeth reached over to the table and placed the chess piece in what she considered a better location – safely out of danger from the dark horse. “There. That is better.” She felt quite pleased with herself until a startling thought crossed her mind.
She placed a hand on each of her uncle’s cheeks. Tipping his face so she could look in his eyes, she whispered, “Did you mean to lose? Papa does that sometimes when he is playing with Jane. I can put the piece back where it was if you wanted to lose.”
Her uncle chuckled. “No, my dear Lizzy, I did not mean to lose. Lord Matlock is perfectly capable of winning without my help. What I meant to do was tempt my tormentor from her hiding place, and it worked.” He gave her nose a little tap. “Matlock, I would like you to meet my niece, Miss Elizabeth Bennet, Bennet’s second daughter. Lizzy, this is Lord Matlock who is a dear friend and has been for many years.”
“It is an honour to meet you, Miss Elizabeth.” Lord Matlock’s eyes crinkled as he smiled at her. He looked very friendly.
“Thank you, my lord.” Elizabeth used her most proper voice and bobbed her head instead of a curtsy since her uncle still held her securely within his arms.
“Have you been in here since before we began our game?” Uncle Gardiner’s friend asked. His voice was as friendly as his smile.
Lizzy nodded. She had been sitting behind the drapery for a long time. That is why she had started the game of seeing how many marbles she could roll across the floor before Uncle Gardiner found her.
“And what is a young lady such as yourself doing hidden away in a study?” Lord Matlock asked. “Should you not be playing games with the other children?”
That was the best part! Even while she was playing with Uncle Gardiner, she was also playing with her sister. “But, I am, my lord,” she answered. “I am playing with Jane. I am hiding, and she is looking for me, and since Jane never comes in here, I am going to win.”
“Now, why would Jane not come in here?” Her uncle raised his eyebrows as he questioned her which meant both he and she knew that answer to that.
Elizabeth looked at her hands as her stomach did a little flip. She disliked being scolded, and being in here deserved a reprimand. “Aunt told us not to disturb you because you were working. But you are not working. You are playing.” She caught the corner of her lower lip in her teeth and turned soft brown eyes up at her uncle.
Her uncle chuckled. “It definitely would appear that way to young eyes, I suppose, but I assure you, we are working. Now, I think you should go back to the nursery before your aunt discovers you here.”
“Yes, Uncle.” Elizabeth slipped off her uncle’s lap and gathered her marbles – all five of them. She stuffed them in her pocket before dipping a quick curtsy that caused her chocolate brown curls to bounce and then, opening the door to the study. She paused at the doorway to look up and down the corridor before racing toward the nursery.
Click the image to for more details and to find links to purchase this collection.
Bibliotheek van Strawberry Hill te Twickenham, Jean Godefroy, 1784. Rijksmuseum, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
I love libraries! How about you? They’ve always been one of my favourite places since I learned what they were. I even worked at the library during my college years and while going to work wasn’t necessarily “fun,” I did enjoy the environment — quiet and book filled. 🙂
Today’s excerpt from With the Colonel’s Help takes place in a library. It’s a shorter excerpt since I didn’t want to run the risk of sharing too many spoilers. While this lets you know that there is some trouble that has happened, it doesn’t tell you how or why, so I hope it’s more of a teaser and not a spoiler. 🙂
…While Jane and Richard continued their conversation regarding Mr. Bingley, Darcy pulled yet another book from the shelf, flipped through it and with a nod of satisfaction declared this to be a book he suspected Elizabeth would enjoy.
Elizabeth took the book from him and paged through it. “A fine selection,” she said as she closed the book and gave him a smile of delight. “Mr. Coleridge is very good.”
“That he is,” Darcy agreed with a smile. It was so very pleasant to be once again in a library discussing books with Elizabeth. He had not done so since he was at Netherfield, save for those few moments in Rosings’ library when he had given her the book she returned to him today. He sighed. “Has Bingley called?”
Elizabeth nodded. “He has.”
“I sent him a note regarding your sister’s being in town and my apology for having been so grievously wrong. Richard delivered it for me.” He motioned to a pair of chairs in one corner of the room.
“You have not seen him?” Elizabeth asked in surprise as she took a seat and glanced to where Jane was talking with Richard. Jane said something that caused Richard to turn and look in Elizabeth’s direction. Then after giving her a nod of his head, he led Jane to a place where they could sit while continuing their discussion.
“I have only seen you since arriving back in town,” Darcy admitted. “I have not wished to see anyone else.” He blew out a great breath. “It was good of you to come, but I do not see how…” He paused. “I do not see a way…” He shrugged. “You cannot continue to borrow books forever.”
Elizabeth nodded her understanding as her eyes swept the shelves. “Not for lack of items to borrow.” She lifted a brow and gave him a small smile. “If only I could borrow each and every book,” she added sadly. “I would read them rapidly so that I might return regularly to retrieve a new one.” She blushed under his close scrutiny of her face. It was as if he were attempting to read her mind for the desires that lay behind her words.
“And when you had come to the last book, what then?” he asked. The fluttering of hope he had felt earlier was stirring and increasing in his chest.
She arched a brow. “Is your library complete? Would you not add to it with time? I cannot say that I would expect you to be satisfied with what is here and never increase your holdings by even one new volume of work. Why, what will you do when Wordsworth or Coleridge put out a new collection of poems? Shall you leave them for others to read and have no curiosity to read them yourself?”
He chuckled. “You know me well. I will certainly add to my library in time, but what if I did not?”
“Do you doubt my determination, sir?”
“Never, Miss Elizabeth, but I should like to know its extent.”
Her eyes followed her hand as it ran nervously over the cover of the book she held. “I dare say I could read this book a thousand times over.” She lifted her eyes to him. “And each of the others as well.”
His lips parted, and his brows furrowed. Was she saying what he wished or was his mind merely twisting her words to its purpose? Had he indeed won her affections? There was only one way to know. “Do you wish to see me so often or just my books?” He watched her lips tip up, and her eyes spark with impertinence.
“Might I not wish to see both?’
“If you had to choose,” he pressed on. He needed to know if her heart was engaged as his was. If it was, then come what may, he was going to find a way to win Mr. Bennet over and claim Elizabeth as his wife.
Elizabeth swallowed. She had spoken of her heart to her sister, and Jane, much to Elizabeth’s surprise, had urged Elizabeth not to hide her feelings if an opportunity should present itself. Jane had endured much because of being circumspect. She had tried to guard her heart against hurt, but her doing so had been the very cause of her own grief. Elizabeth had promised to not do the same, and so, as she drew a breath, she gathered her courage and replied, “I would choose you.”
A smile spread across Darcy’s face. “You would choose me?”
She nodded.
“And I would choose you,” he replied. “Forever and always you. If you would have me.”
Her lips trembled, and tears gathered. It was so very wonderful to hear such things, but reality was not such that she could choose him, nor could he choose her. Her father would not allow it.
He grasped her hands. “I will find a way if you will say that you will be mine. I love you, and I always shall. Please give me a reason to hope. Would you marry me if you were free to do so?”
A tear crept out of the corner of her eye and raced down her cheek as she nodded. “I would.”
He lifted her hand to his lips and gave it a quick kiss. “Then, I will find a way. I promise you. I will find a way.”
All currencies reduced at all stores until June 30, 2024
An impromptu #writinglife update from one of my favourite places
What’s a girl to do when she’s enjoying a lovely interlude in the park?
Why, film a writing life update so she can share a little bit of her life with you. 🙂 I did not have a mic with me, and since it was windy and the highway is not far away (and it was coming up on rush hour), there is some background noise to contend with. (Not to mention I’m looking a little windblown. Haha!)
Oh! And I did get the date wrong for the multi-author promotion. It’s next Friday, June 28th, and I discovered this morning that we’re almost at 60 participants. There’ll be lots to choose from!
I hope you enjoy this little peek at one of my favourite places!
I made this graphic some time ago. Probably right around when this book was a new release. Maybe a bit later. I’m not sure exactly when it got made, but I like it, and when I was thinking of finding a image of punch to share for today, it popped into my mind so I dug it out of storage.
In Matching Mr. Darcy, Darcy’s evening at the Meryton assembly goes from determined to not be introduced to or dance with Elizabeth to being able to think of little else than dancing with her — even if his stockings are doused in punch.
Below is the scene from chapter two when the punch mishap happens.
