Austen-Inspired – Page 7

Interior of the billiard room at Lupton House, Devonshire

Ah, the billiard room. How many scenes I have I written that take place in such a room? I’m sure I don’t know. It is a favourite place to set a part of a story when a couple of characters – usually gentlemen – need to have a discussion.

Chapter 7 from Listen to Your Heart takes place, in part, in a billiard room. But it isn’t just gentlemen who are playing and having a discussion. Nope! The ladies get in on it, too. And it’s a scene were a very important discussion takes place between a gentleman and lady.

This book has a lot of games and schemes in it – some present time, some from the past, some friendly (like this game of billiards), some deadly, and all designed to share secrets and either push forward a happy ending or prevent it from happening.

Enjoy!

FYI, this book is currently available in Kindle Unlimited, and therefore, can only be purchased on Amazon.

She is tolerable… (C.E. Brock Illustration)

C. E. Brock, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Isn’t this a lovely book illustration? I thought it would go well with the story excerpt I want to share today…

Have you ever wondered what was going through Mr. Darcy’s head when he made his infamous slighting remark at the Meryton assembly? Have you ever wondered how things might have changed if he had been turned around and forced to say what he said while looking directly at Elizabeth while he said it?

Well, I have. 🙂 And that is exactly the questions that sparked From Tolerable to Lovely in my mind. It’s a short tale with only four chapters, and it’s free for followers to read on Ream this month. (And if I get it up there before Wednesday, on Patreon as well.)

Below is how the story begins – with Darcy’s thoughts and then his getting turned about. I’ll let you read the rest of the tale to see how he proceeds once he’s facing her. I’ve put links to both Ream and Patreon at the end of the story.

Enjoy!

Pride and Prejudice Illustration by C.E. Brock

Charles Edmund Brock (1870-1938), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

On Friday, I have a new Teatime Tales story publishing called An Accomplished Lady (of the Best Sort). So I thought I’d share a little teaser from the story with you today.

You should know that it is a story that is told completely from Bingley’s point of view as he attempts to make his best friend realize that Miss Elizabeth is his friend’s perfect match. And, I’m sure when you read the excerpt, you will know both the setting place and time (as it relates to the timeline of P&P) and why I chose the above image for today’s post.

Enjoy!

A Summer Shower (Charles Edward Perugini)

Three young women standing under a tree to stay out of the rain. — FER96213 A Summer Shower, 1888 (oil on canvas) by Perugini, Charles Edward (1839-1918); 115.6×76.5 cm; Ferens Art Gallery, Hull Museums, UK; English, out of copyright. via Charles Edward Perugini, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

When I was scrolling through pictures on Wikimedia today, I came across this one and my mind immediately went to the scene below for Morning Mist — even if in that scene there are only two young ladies standing under a tree during a rain shower. 🙂

Morning Mist is one of my Nature’s Fury and Delights novelettes. This one, as you will see, is a variation on Sense and Sensibility. In this short, six-chapter variation, which tells how Marianne falls in love with the colonel, Marianne meets Colonel Brandon before she meets Mr. Willoughby, and she meets him in just the sort of setting to make her imagine him as a brave and noble knight. So, by the time she and her younger sister Margaret meet Mr. Willoughby, the colonel has already taken up a place of admiration in Marianne’s mind.

Sweet Solitude (Edmund Blair Leighton)

Sweet Solitude. Edmund Leighton, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

When I saw this painting I thought of the heroine in His Beautiful Bea. She likes quiet escapes and books. So, I chose an excerpt from that book to share today, but it’s not from her perspective. It’s from the hero’s point of view.

This is the hero:

For those who don’t know:

His Beautiful Bea is book 1 in my Touches of Austen series of original sweet Regency romances with deliberate nods to Jane’s novels. This book pairs long-time friends and neighbors as the romantic interests. The heroine lost her father in the war, and his friend, the hero’s father, has promised to care for the heroine’s family.

Those sound like they could be things that nod to possibly Sense and Sensibility or Emma, but in fact, when I wrote this story, the nods I had in mind were to Mansfield Park. After all, our quiet and bookish heroine is infatuated with the younger son of her neighbour’s two sons, but he doesn’t see her as anything other than a friend. Does that sound a bit like a Fanny/Edmund situation?

There are other nods as well, but as you can see from the details that I have given, this is not a retelling or a variation. This story, while inspired by various bits of Austen stories, is completely original — characters, setting, and plot.