Kobo Sale February 2020

Clicking this image will take you to the Historical Romance 40% off page where my book is listed. Use the code FEBSALE at check out for the discount.

Kobo has included Persuading Miss Mary in its February 40% off sale! So from now until Monday is a fantastic time to pick this book up if you are a Kobo reader. You must use the code FEBSALE at checkout to take advantage of the special pricing.

About the book:

Reginald Arthur Fitzwilliam, Viscount Westonbury, has never met a lady like Mary Bennet. Most debutants would be happy to have his attention, and who could blame them? He’s titled, wealthy, charming, and handsome — everything one could want for in a husband unless you’re Mary Bennet.

From their first meeting when she scolded him for his behaviour and made it perfectly clear that she did not care one jot for his title or fortune, Wes has known that Mary is no standard-order, ton-approved debutant. She is something far better. She is a lady who sees him for himself and not his accouterments.

However, there are two things that Mary Bennet absolutely despises — a flagrant disregard for the rules of propriety and disrespect, and Lord Westonbury, who has treated her sisters ill, embodies both. She would rather he ignored her, but sadly he seems bent on provoking her at every turn. It is, therefore, with trepidation that her father allows her to accompany her sister to town.

When Wes discovers that his mother is hosting Mary and her sister at Matlock House, he sets about the task of persuading Mary that he is not so bad as she thinks, for he would dearly love to court her. However, he will soon discover that even his charm is not going to be enough to sway her. She demands more than pretty words, which will require him to take a serious look at his life of pleasure and weigh it against those demands and his growing love for her. But can he make the necessary changes to prove his devotion, and if he can make them, will they be enough? Or will he always be found wanting in her eyes?

You may like to also know:

Persuading Miss Mary is book four in my Marrying Elizabeth series and was a Thursday’s Three Hundred weekly work in progress before it was published. Book 5 of that series is now posting on Thursdays.

Purchase Persuading Miss Mary at this link. (Use code FEBSALE)


Music Monday: Christmas in the County (Thomas Rhett)

I just added this song to my ‘Tis the Season playlist either last week or the week before. I’ve been doing a lot of listening to Christmas music while working lately, and this song is just so happy. It makes me want to sing along (which is only possible if doing things that don’t require concentration. I have a ‘Tis the Season instrumental playlist for that.) 🙂

PUBLISHED TO YOUTUBE BY THOMAS RHETT ON NOVEMBER 19, 2019

This past week, I was busy getting First Blooms and Second Chances ready to send out and to publish, so there were several tasks that did not require the kind of concentration that writing does. Therefore, I did sing along with this song and many others.

(Waiting for the print previewer to open in Kindle Direct Publishing takes forever — usually more than one song and often long enough to switch over laundry 😉 )

Most of the publishing details for both the print and ebook versions of First Blooms have been completed. The print version just went live today (I am writing this on Saturday) I just need to submit a request to have the two versions linked on Amazon and to have a series page created since there are now two books in my Nature’s Fury and Delights series.

If you subscribe to my mailing list, make sure you check your inbox. You should have an email containing a link to download a free copy of First Blooms and Second Chances. If you are not on my mailing list, you can subscribe between now and January 2, 2020, and receive this book as part of your welcome gift.

Things are winding down on the frantic get-these-projects published front. I just have Her Secret Beau to work on soon. That book will publish in the new year.

I have not, however, gotten the next book in that series (Mr. Norman’s story) started as I had hoped. Maybe this week? Maybe next? Sometime soon that book needs to be started as I hope to begin posting chapters on Tuesdays shortly after the new year. (However, I also need to do some Christmas stuff. 🙂 So, my workdays will be fewer in number.)

I did get one more chapter of Kitty’s story written this week, which puts me at eight completed chapters and probably in a safe place to start giving some of my writing time to Mr. Norman’s story.

The only other writing-related note for this week is that it is my turn to post at Austen Authors this week, and I am sharing some samples from a few books — First Blooms and the three books I have on sale. (In case you missed it, I shared chapter one of Two Days before Christmas here on the blog on Friday.

Today, I think I will share chapter one from the second book in the Darcy Family Holidays series, One Winter’s Eve. (And the song choice kind of goes with the story — in a squint your eyes and don’t look too closely kind of way — since Caroline does find herself in the country for Christmas. 🙂 )

CHAPTER 1

Continue reading Music Monday: Christmas in the County (Thomas Rhett)

Music Monday: Believe Me if All Those Endearing Young Charms

Today, I am reaching into Georgiana’s Music Folder and am including both a beautiful instrumental version of this song that has a wonderful storytelling video with it and a lovely vocal version so that you can hear the lyrics.

The instrumental version has this bit of information about the song as part of the introduction. I typed it out here so that it would be easier to read. It’s a beautiful story.

“Thomas Moore, the Irish Poet, upon his return home from war, found his wife to be unwilling to let him see her. During his tour abroad, she had contracted smallpox, disfiguring enough to hide her face from him. Ever devoted to her and their love, Thomas penned a song that he sang softly to her through the bedroom door. He was hoping to woo her back into his graces and to once again see her face.”

Published to YouTube by Jenny Oaks Baker on February 9, 2015.

Published to YouTube by JamesPigBandit on November 28, 2010.

There is a story connection that goes with this song, but I am not revealing that today. I’ll let you discover it on Thursday in the last chapter of Loving Lydia. 🙂 If you’re the sentimental softy sort like I am, you might want to have a tissue handy for that last chapter, just in case your eyes get misty. 😉 At least, I hope I’m not the only one who needed a tissue as I did when writing it and then every time I have read the chapter since. But then, sentimental sweetness (I had read his story about Thomas Moore so that was in my mind) mixed with the end of a story always tugs on my heartstrings.

Because of the story about Thomas Moore which accompanies these videos today, I have chosen not to include a snippet from tomorrow’s Sweet Tuesday story,  but I will include an excerpt from a previously published book below so that you are not left without a bit of an interesting tale to start the week off.

My writing news is not very elaborate this week. There are just a few items to mention.  Continue reading Music Monday: Believe Me if All Those Endearing Young Charms


Music Monday: Emma 2009 – If You’re not the One (Daniel Bedingfield)

He glanced down the table at Victoria once again. She had taught him many things over the years. Was there ever a better friend that anyone could have? She leaned toward Clayton again. Roger caught his scowl before it could form and turned back to his soup.

“If she is such a good friend,” Grace whispered, “why do we not attempt to find her a husband? Every young lady needs one eventually.”

“She does not wish to marry just yet,” Roger answered.

“But she does look very pretty sitting next to Mr. Clayton and talking as she is. I know he has his heart set on my sister, but…” she let her words fall away, replacing them with a simple shrug.

Victoria looked pretty no matter who was sitting next to her or whether she was talking, being silent, or scolding him. Roger applied himself to eating his soup and attempted to keep his eyes from too often wandering down to where his friend sat.

[From His Darling Friend, A Touches of Austen Novella]

Published to YouTube by elementoffun on January 4, 2010.

Roger is just about to start listening to his heart in our Sweet Tuesday story, so I thought this would be a good song for this week. The video is a bit fuzzy, but I found it enjoyable anyway.

In writing news, I am continuing to work on Loving Lydia and His Darling Friend. I got a chapter of each written this past week. So, I am still one chapter behind where I would like to be with Lydia’s story, but both stories are progressing well. 🙂

I also finished the first chapter in the new story I mentioned in last Monday’s post. I also gave the story a name, which I will keep under wraps until I have an excerpt to share from it, and I changed my mind about who the hero will be. 🙂 So progress, even if it is not in the form of written words, is being made on that story, and I am feeling excited to get elbow deep in it.  I’ve only spent about 2000 words or so with Kitty, but I’m really liking her.

If you saw my Friday Feature post, I also finally got that bundle of books I have been talking about published in Kindle Unlimited, where it will be until June. Because I intend to rotate some titles through Kindle Unlimited, I have also created a page on my website which will list them and have links to their Kindle sales pages. You can find that page by clicking on the drop-down arrow on the Leenie B Books item in the menu or here.

My newest book baby, Tom: To Secure His Legacy is doing well so far. He has out-earned the other books in the series when I compare their first month numbers and that is excellent even if that number is not a large one. I am delighted to see progress. 🙂 Thank you to all who have read or purchased that story. Your support of my writing is so appreciated. It’s still hard to believe after four years of publishing (as of yesterday) that I get to play games with my imaginary friends 😀 and share those stories with you. (I dreamed about being an author when I was young, but to have actually accomplished it is a wonderful feeling of being blessed. 🙂 )

Well, I do not have any new work in progress words to share with you today, so I am once again going to share an excerpt from an already published book. This book is in the bundle I just put in Kindle Unlimited and goes with the song/theme of following one’s heart.

AN EXCERPT FROM Listen to Your Heart Continue reading Music Monday: Emma 2009 – If You’re not the One (Daniel Bedingfield)


Music Monday: Emma – Better Together (Jack Johnson)

Roger flopped back onto the grass and placed his hat over his eyes. “You will keep me safe from marauding females if I fall asleep, will you not?”

“Perhaps,” Victoria replied.

Roger lifted his hat and looked at her. She smiled in return, and he once again put his hat over his eyes. She would not let anyone accost him – at least, not anyone he did not wish to have accost him. The thought of him finally choosing someone to be his wife pricked her heart.

“You would not consider a parson, would you, Miss Hamilton?” Mr. Clayton asked.

“No, she would not,” Roger said from beneath his hat.

“I think I can speak for myself,” Victoria retorted.

[From tomorrow’s chapter of His Darling Friend, A Touches of Austen Novella]

Published to YouTube by Val on September 24, 2007

I really do not have a tie in between song and stories this week. I just happened to like this video. 🙂 So, let’s just get right into my writing news.

 

First, and absolutely most importantly…

Today is release day for Tom: To Secure His Legacy!

It is available in the Kindle store and in Kindle Unlimited. Currently, the price is reduced ($2.99 USD) and will remain that way until the end of the week, when it will go up ($4.99 USD). [All currencies are reduced and all currencies will be going up. I just could not list them all.]

Tomorrow, I will have a post about Tom’s story on Austen Authors. I hope you will drop by and maybe discover a few facts about coffeehouses, the London stock market, and how the two things go together.

Of course, don’t forget to also stop by and read Roger and Victoria’s story here tomorrow. 🙂 I managed to get caught up on this story this week! (But, I fell a week behind on Lydia’s story. 🙂 Eventually, it will all get caught up.)

Aside from writing two chapters of Roger’s story and getting my Austen Author’s post written. I started a new story! It has no title, and I have only written 1000 words or so. BUT… it is started! The plan so far has Kitty Bennet as the heroine and possibly Mr. Waller as the hero.

If you have read or when you read Tom’s story, there is a scene where Tom and Faith meet the Darcy’s (from Two Days Before Christmas) at a ball, and they have Mrs. Darcy’s sister Kitty with them because Kitty is visiting the Gardiners. The story I have just started will be set during this visit. The book will (probably) be the third in the Darcy Family Holidays series even though it stars a character from the Other Pens, Mansfield Park series. I am really enjoying having these two story worlds merging in places. I just love thinking of all these characters living in one big world.

I have removed Oxford Cottage, For Peace of Mind, Listen To Your Heart, Through Every Storm, and With the Colonel’s Help from all vendors except Amazon in preparation for the publication of Darcy and… A Pride and Prejudice Variations Anthology later this week. This anthology will be available in Kindle Unlimited for a minimum of three month. I have not committed to a definite plan on this yet as this is the first Pride and Prejudice work I have offered ever in Kindle Unlimited. Depending on how it does. If page reads stay high or sales are good, I might extend the Kindle Unlimited enrollment for a second three-month period. This is all a grand experiment at this point. But I know that just as there are some readers who only read in Kindle Unlimited, there are also parts of the world where buying books from Amazon is not a possibility. Therefore, I would love to figure out some way of rotating books through the Kindle Unlimited library and then back out to other distributors. I’ll do my best to keep you up-to-date on that here as well as in my newsletter.

And, that, I believe, is all my writing news for this week. I am still not far enough along in that new story to share from it. So, once again, here is an excerpt from a previously published story, and I think this excerpt might sort of go with the theme presented by today’s music choice of “Better Together” — even if not all the participants in this scene are terribly willing to cooperate 😀 and work together.

AN EXCERPT FROM One Winter’s Eve [Book Two of the Darcy Family Holiday’s Series]:  Continue reading Music Monday: Emma – Better Together (Jack Johnson)