Today, I am resharing this video that I made for my series of Pride and Prejudice Novellas called Choices. This series is now available on Kindle, iBooks, and Nook as a bundle at a very good price. It will be available on Kobo as soon as I hear back on a technical issue I had during the publishing process.
Today, the final book in my Choices Series, Her Heart’s Choice, goes live. All those preorders will be filled and (hopefully) new orders will be placed so that many people can enjoy Anne’s journey to happily ever after.
I know that many of you have read snippets of the book while in its rough state as Music Monday posts. — Thank you for that! — I plan to re-share those posts on my FB page. They can also be found grouped together under the menu item Music Mondays on the left, or I have pinned them to a board on Pinterest.
I thought I would end this announcement post with the back of the book blurb and a link to the Amazon preview. (It includes the Prologue, Chapter 1 and part of Chapter 2 — a substantial amount of preview!)
About the book:
Miss de Bourgh wishes to inform those Christian gentlemen of good reputation and having in their possession a title as well as solvent and accurate financial reports that she is willing to accept correspondence and calls with the intent of reaching a marriage arrangement.
Alexander Madoch is delighted to read Anne’s announcement in the paper. Six years earlier, she had soundly refused his offer, claiming she was not yet ready to marry, and he was not good enough. Although he has every intention of marrying Anne, he has no intention of telling her of his improvement in standing or his financial state. He is determined that both should be kept a secret so that should she choose him, it will be for love.
To Anne, it had seemed simple enough. Place an advertisement in the paper, interview the gentlemen who responded, and select the best husband. But nothing is as easy as it seems. Indeed, many things are quite the opposite of how they appear. How is a lady to find a safe and secure marriage when her ideals are turned on their head ─ especially when her heart yearns for a man who is wholly unsuitable?
Link to the preview: Her Heart’s Choice
THE LINK BETWEEN MUSIC AND STORY:
There’s no more mystery
It is finally clear to me
You’re the home
My heart searched for so long
And it is you I have loved all along
~*~
It is you I have loved all along
On Friday of this week, Her Heart’s Choice, book 4 in the Choices series, will be available for purchase. This story completes the Choices series, and, I believe, the hero and heroine of each story could sing this song. However, when you read Anne’s story in this final book, I think you will agree that, more than the others, this song is hers, for her story is one of searching and discovery. She is searching for what she thinks she needs for safety and security in marriage only to discover that what (or who) she needs has been there all along.
THE GIVEAWAY:
To mark the completion of this series and the release of this book, I am having
(click the link to go to the giveaway)
on my Facebook page. Up for grabs are a Kindle copy of Her Heart’s Choice and a $15 Amazon gift card (so you can buy the other books in the series if you need to or something else if you don’t). The giveaway runs until Wednesday turns to Thursday (midnight) eastern time. I will announce the winner of the contest during an Author Chat Event on Austen Authors. This event will be held on Thursday, May 26, 2016 from 6 pm – 10 pm. I have not yet been assigned my time slot, so I can’t be any more specific than that. I will post the exact time on Twitter and Facebook once I have it.
THE LINK BETWEEN MUSIC AND STORY:
I have the first draft of Her Heart’s Choice completed (except for an epilogue) and that means I am about to embark on some editing and will be taking a bit of a break from story/song connections for at least a couple of weeks until I can get into the next story. I will, however, still post a song on Monday’s. I have a few marked that are fan videos that I like and think you might as well.
Now, the excerpt below comes from very near the end of the book — so if you do not like “spoilers,” do not read.
The connection between the excerpt and the song is one of mood. Anne has found herself feeling quite like the song — alone, sad, longing for things to change, but unsure they will. Of course, you and I know that I always give my hero and heroine a happily ever after, but Anne does not know that right now, but she is about to learn that fact…right after this little chat with her aunt in the garden at Netherfield after Kitty and Richard’s wedding breakfast.
EXCERPT FROM Her Heart’s Choice:
Anne had smiled when she was supposed to and attempted to say all the right things but her heart, though happy for her cousin and Kitty, was anything but joyous. It had been two days since she had placed that advert in the paper, and she could not help wondering if he had seen it and if the joy she had seen on Kitty’s face today would ever be hers.
“You look tired,” said Lady Sophia coming to stand near her niece in Netherfield’s drawing room.
Anne gave a small shrug. “I am. I suppose.”
“A bit of air might be just the thing.” Lady Sophia sent a footman scurrying with the request for both her wrap and Anne’s. “It was a lovely wedding breakfast, was it not?”
Anne nodded.
“I have only two nieces left to see happy.” The look she gave Anne was gentle. “I will see them both happy, will I not?”
Anne shook her head. “I cannot say,” she whispered. She pulled her lips into a smile that she did not feel. “I shall attempt to be happy. If I can spend time with you and my cousins and their wives, I think I can be at least content.” She shook her head again. “If I have to spend all my time with my mother, I will be neither content nor happy — although perhaps I will learn to enjoy her company.”
“You will not marry another?” It was the third time since entering the carriage yesterday that her aunt had asked the question.
“I will not.” She took the wrap from her maid and putting it on, followed her aunt into the garden. It was a bright and cool day. The freshness of the air felt good as she drew a deep breath.
“Not for security or position?” Lady Sophia wound her arm around Anne’s and pulled her close as they walked to a bench surrounded by some early blooms and protected by a hedge.
“If I found myself destitute, I might,” replied Anne, “but I do not see that happening. I have you, Uncle Reginald, and my cousins, who I know would come to my aid.”
Lady Sophia patted Anne’s hand. “That we would. But, I must say this is a great change for you, is it not — to be dependent on another and under their power?”
“None of you would ever harm me.” Anne took a seat on the bench. “You love me far too much to allow it.”
Lady Sophia smiled but did not sit next to Anne. “We do, and I am glad you have come to realize it.” She turned to look down the path. “Your father loved your mother, you know,” she said softly glancing back at Anne. “He applied to my father three times before his offer was accepted.” Her shoulders rose and fell with a great breath. “I believe my sister cared for him, but there were stipulations placed on the agreement. My brother, Lord Matlock, was not the best at balancing wants with income. He has since improved, but I would not trust him with my money.” She took a seat next to Anne. “It is not his strength. My father knew this and used the love your father had for my sister to coerce an agreement of support should support become necessary — an inevitable event. You know, of course, how appearance is important to your mother. I can only image the begging and threatening that might have taken place if you father had not wished to give my brother what he requested.” She took Anne’s hand. “I would guess that my imagination was not wrong in this?”
Anne shook her head. “There were many loud discussions.” Her reply was soft, and Lady Sophia bent closer to hear it.
“I am sorry to hear that.”
Anne looked at her aunt. “Did my mother ever love my father?”
Lady Sophia shook her head. “I do not know, my dear. I certainly never saw it. There was an admiration and concern, but nothing of the giving of one’s very soul to the other as I had with my husband.” She sighed. “That is where the issue lay — not with rank or fortune. Do you understand?”
Anne nodded.
~~~*~
Her Heart’s Choice is book 4 in the Choices series.
THE LINK BETWEEN MUSIC AND STORY:
I think I found Alex’s song this week while listening to whatever YouTube brought up for me to listen to. (I do that sometimes to find new songs or ones that I had forgotten about.)
For the past six years, Alex has carried his memories of the woman he loves in his heart. Now, he is trying to convince her that he is worthy of her. He has not understood her refusal — until now…
EXCERPT FROM Her Heart’s Choice:
“It is understandable. It has been six years and ours was but a passing acquaintance.” He dropped his eyes to his plate. “I’ve not had the opportunity to forget you,” he said it softly.
She heard the accusation in Mr. Lester’s tone and looked at Alex, who shrugged. “I spoke often of home and since you were part of those memories, I fear Lester has heard of you often.”
Anne smiled and then focused on the vegetables on her plate. Such comments were definitely not keeping her safe, no matter how closely she sat to any of her cousins or their wives. He had spoken of her and thought of her — often. She wondered if it had been as often as she had thought of him and if he had thought of her in a flattering way or a vengeful way. The thought startled her. Perhaps he wished to marry her, not because he still loved her, but because he wished to repay her for shunning him. Perhaps he did not wish to marry her at all. Perhaps he wished for her to wish to marry him so that he might toss her aside. She stabbed a carrot particularly hard. The tines of her fork made a horrid scraping sound on her plate, and her cheeks flushed in embarrassment. She chewed the offending vegetable slowly and thoroughly before attempting to continue any sort of conversation.
Carrot conquered and embarrassment partially faded, she made a second attempt at small talk. “I would tell you of my uncles, but I believe you already know how they do. Well,” she waved a hand in Darcy’s direction and looked toward Rycroft, “at least the ones who remain.” Her cheeks flushed again. She had not meant for the comment to sound as unfeeling as it did. “I mean to say we have had a great deal of loss in our family over the past six years. Rycroft’s father, Darcy’s, my own.” She hated how her voice always caught whenever she mentioned her father’s death. It had been nearly six years, when would it ever become a topic of which she could speak without that feeling of despair gripping her heart as it did.
“I was sorry to hear of your father’s passing,” Alex said softly.
“Thank you.” She bowed her head so that she could not see the understanding in his eyes. Of course, he knew how dearly she had loved her father, for she had spoken of it to him on more than one occasion.
Alex watched her fidget with the napkin in her lap and draw silent deep breaths and as he did so, he began to reason out her refusal just a bit as a particular conversation came to mind, a conversation that had caused her to act as she was now.
“He wanted to take me to Bath to see the assembly rooms, and I wished for him to take the waters, but my mother will not allow it,” she had fumed as they road the length of a long field near Rosings.
The comment had shocked him. Anne’s father had been ill for several month — three, at least. It did not appear to be anything grave or oversetting but rather a general attitude of malaise.
“Why?” he had asked.
“My uncle requires assistance and so the money that father had set aside for our journey had to be given to my uncle.”
She had fidgetted with the reins in her hands and drawn several deep breaths as quietly as she was now. Then she had continued.
“Lord Matlock must not be refused. He is an earl after all, and my father is merely a baronet. The will of one comes before and at the expense of the other.” She shrugged. “It is just the way things are and will always be.”
She had then clucked to her horse and galloped ahead of him and the topic was at an end. She would not return to it, no matter how many times and in how many ways he had attempted to broach it again.
Alex leaned close to his friend and whispered. “I had not considered when playing how a pawn might feel being used at the expense of the more powerful pieces on the board.”
Jonathan’s brows furrowed.
Alex tipped his head toward Anne, just slightly. “I was thinking of how you accused me of protecting my knight above all, and I began to consider how the other pieces might view such treatment. The pawns would think nothing of it as that is the way of rank.” He shrugged. “Perhaps, I might win more games if I treated the pawns as carefully as I did the pieces of rank such as the knight.”
Jonathan’s brows remained furrowed.
“I am sure you will see what I mean eventually,” said Alex turning back to his meal.
~*~*~*~
Her Heart’s Choice it the fourth book in the Choices Series.