Leenie Brown – Page 7

Peonies (Charles Courtney Curran)

Peonies (1915). CC Curran, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

I think I’ve discovered another painter to add to my list of favourites! This gentleman’s work is beautiful! It’s full of life and movement.

This painting made me think of Master of Longbourn because peonies are mentioned in that story. In fact, I find the scene in which they are mentioned to be quite as lovely as the flowers in the painting above – but then, I’m partial. I’ll let you judge for yourself as I am including the full chapter below. (It’s chapter 8 which is about 3/4 of the way through the book.)

Master of Longbourn is a sequel to Mr. Darcy’s Comfort and is the tale of how Mr. Collins becomes the master of Longbourn and finds not just his happily ever after but who he is and where he belongs. I found myself growing to love this version of Mr. Collins as I wrote this story. I hope you will find him to your liking as well.

Enjoy!

The January 2024 Saturday Broadsheet

This month’s Saturday Broadsheet, with all my writing life updates, is now available at the link below.

(Head’s up: I am using a new email provider called Substack. The link below might open and ask you to subscribe. You can but you don’t have to. Look for the place that lets you continue without subscribing. It’s smaller and under the subscribe notice.)

In this issue of the Broadsheet you will find:

an update on my current writing projects
which books have been put on limited time promotions (There are many!)
and a Mansfield Park inspired story vignette

(It might not look like much is included, but I promise this is no short read as far as newsletters go. LOL)

CLICK HERE TO READ THIS MONTH’S SATURDAY BROADSHEET

Have a great weekend!

Man Leading a Horse in Front of a Stable (John West Giles)

This picture seemed perfect to match with Her Heart’s Choice (book 4 in my Choices series). You see, the hero of that story, Alex, works with horses because they are his passion. He’s quite good at his job, and the stables which he oversees are some very, very fine stables.

He is also quite stubborn, which will serve him well since he insists on persuading Anne deBourgh to accept his offer of marriage this time around. (She refused it six years before this book starts.)

Anne, in this book, is her mother’s daughter (aka, determined to have her own way), somewhat immature due to her lack of socialization outside of Rosings Park, fearful of a marriage of unequal status (for her own very real reasons), and even somewhat petulant at times.

I fear she may be one of those characters “which no one but myself will much like” (as Austen says of Emma 😉 ). And I know that to be somewhat true as a few Booksprout reviewers withdrew from reviewing the book because they didn’t much like her.

For me, I knew her secrets. I knew why she was acting as she was. I hope that comes through in the story, but Anne is not going to reveal all very quickly. She hints at it though, and eventually, Alex picks up on it, but will it be in time to see his campaign to win the lady he loves succeed?

Below, is Chapter 5 which introduces Alex to Anne’s aunt, who is one of the guardians put in place to approve or disapprove of any gentleman who wishes to present an offer of marriage to Anne. (You’ll have to read book 3 in the series to understand why that is.)

Enjoy!

Le Bon Genre, 1817, No. 28 Atelier de Modistes

If you have read No Other Choice (book 2 in the Choices series) you know that Colonel Fitzwilliam met Miss Kitty Bennet outside a milliner’s shop in Meryton. You’d also know that Kitty draws dress designs and occasionally sells them to Mrs. Havelston, who is a friend of Aunt Gardiner and a sought-after dressmaker.

That fact plays heavily into book 3, His Inconvenient Choice, and today, I’m plucking chapter 7 out of the book and sharing it here because it takes place outside of Mrs. Havelston’s shop and because it does a fine job (IMO lol) of both showing the desperate place the colonel is in and sharing the tone of the story.

For the curious (like me): There are twenty-three chapters in this book, so this is about a third of the way into the story.

Enjoy!

Evening Dress, 1815 (Rudolph Ackermann)

Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Just before the excerpt from No Other Choice that I am sharing below, Mary was struggling to pick out the patterns she needed to have selected by her appointment time with Mrs. Havelston the following day. Lord Rycroft, Darcy’s cousin, took it upon himself to help her make her selections. Perhaps this gown in similar to one he selected. He did say that green would suit her.

So why didn’t I pair this image with the part right before it? Because I think this one, which does mention the book of patterns and is the first part of chapter four, shows how Lord Rycroft’s opinion of Miss Mary is shifting to something less like a friend and more towards a lady he loves. Not that he is aware of that just yet, and not that she has even stopped to consider him as an option. Perhaps if he could keep from insulting her, it might help?

Enjoy.