Story Excerpt – Page 3

Meet the Characters: Tom and His Angel in Disguise

If you’re looking for books that have prim and proper young misses who sit and wait to be rescued by their knight in shining armour, this book isn’t for you. 😉

The heroine of Tom: To Secure His Legacy, Faith Eldridge, is all that is prim and proper until it become “necessary” to be otherwise, and frankly, for Faith, those otherwise times seem to pop up on a regular basis, as in more than once per week.

First, there was that time her brother’s friend fell from his horse and nearly died when she stepped in to play the part of nurse maid. (Mr. Bertram doesn’t remember that she was there, sitting next to his bed, while he convalesced. Or, at least, she hopes he doesn’t remember.)

Meet the Characters: Mary Crawford and a Privateer

What is a privateer?

That’s an important thing to know when reading book three in my Other Pens series, Mary: To Protect Her Heart.

This is the definition of privateer from the Online Etymology Dictionary:

1660s, “private man of war, armed vessel owned and officered by private persons, usually acting under commission from the state,” from private (adj.), probably on model of volunteer (n.), buccaneer. From 1670s as “one commanding or serving on a privateer.” As a verb, 1660s (implied in privateering) “to cruise on a privateer, to seize or annoy an enemy’s ships and commerce.”

Why would you need to know what a privateer is before reading Mary Crawford’s rather bumpy road to happily ever after?

Because the hero of her story owns and has sailed on privateers, which makes both him and the ships he owns privateers. 😉 Yes, it is a word that refers both to people and things.

And if you read that definition thinking that privateering sounds a lot like piracy, you wouldn’t be alone in that opinion. Even at the time when privateering was being practiced, there were those who did not see privateers as defenders of the country but rather no more than legalized pirates.

How is privateering different from piracy?

To state it simply, a privateer sailed under a letter of marque from the government which allowed them to legally attack and capture vessels from a nation with whom the government was at war. When a vessel and its cargo were captured, they were brought back to a port and the prize was evaluated as to whether or not it was legitimate and then, if it was a clean capture, it was listed and sold. The privateer owners and crew shared in the amount of money brought in by such sales.

If you look up the history of privateering you will see that there were rules the privateers were supposed to follow and that there was also often confusion over whether things were done legally or illegally. It was definitely not always all neat and tidy.

And that describes the hero of Mary: To Protect Her Heart pretty well. He was a man of stalwart integrity, don’t get me wrong. However, he was also someone with whom few, who were wise, would wish to tangle.

But before we meet him, let’s look at story connection.

Meet the Characters: Charles and Evelyn

We’re moving on to book two of my Other Pens series this week. You’ve met these characters already if you’ve read Henry: To Prove Himself Worthy since both of these characters are good friends with the main characters in book one.

This is how I like to build series. Each book is a stand alone, complete romance, but what happens in earlier books lays the foundation for and adds to the fictional world in which the characters live.

I like reading, and therefore, writing, series that are like this since it really gives me a feel for a place and society/group of friends or family that I might wish were real enough to visit. So when, I say, “step into their world” at the end of this little promo video I made for the series, I hope you really do feel like you are doing just that when your read any of my books!

Now, back to Charles and Evelyn, also known as Mr. Edwards and Miss Barrett. Let’s step into their world as they are at a play in chapter 3 of Charles: To Discover His Purpose.

You’ll notice some other familiar faces – Aunt Gwladys, Constance, Henry, Trefor – in this partial scene because everything that happened in the last book is what this book is building on.

And, I have another fun addition to the end of this post like I did last time. It’s another video but much longer.

Meet the Characters: Henry and Constance

It will come as no surprise to those who have been readers of my stories for a while that I do not just write Austen-inspired stories that reimagine Austen characters in new places and situations. I do write those kinds of stories, but I also like to develop my own characters to insert into Austen-inspired stories and, of course, to populate my own original stories.

My Other Pens series is one that combines a few of Austen’s characters, as reimagined to some extent by me, and many original characters. This is a series where we step off of the last page of Mansfield Park and into Henry Crawford’s world as it continues past Austen’s novel.

Did you know?

The Other Pens series title comes from the first line of the final chapter of Mansfield Park:

Let other pens dwell on guilt and misery. I quit such odious subjects as soon as I can, impatient to restore everybody, not greatly in fault themselves, to tolerable comfort, and to have done with all the rest.

Music Monday: Falling Leaves (Brian Crain)

Some days just need a little Brian Crain, and I decided that today is one of those days. 🙂

I selected this particular song* for a couple of reasons (besides the fact that I love it). First, while there are no falling leaves in this excerpt, the scene is happening when it is raining, and the music lends itself well to imagining rain falling in place of the leaves. Second, it’s October, and October means falling leaves around here. 🙂

So, Happy October to you! And enjoy the excerpt. 🙂

Bea made a show of concentrating on the flowers she was planting in the garden on her canvas, and said, “A house party will be exciting, I am sure.”

“Oh, indeed!” exclaimed Grace before beginning a litany of things that she just knew would happen at this party. This, in turn, led into another recital of many of the interesting bits of gossip from the season. This meandering stream of stories which were of great interest to the Misses Loves and of little interest to Beatrice continued until there was a soft tapping at the door and in walked Max, followed closely by Everett and Graeme.

A story about an unfortunate gentleman who had been rejected twice by the same lady ended abruptly and was replaced with excited exclamations of greeting and cries of how dreadfully dull the day had been without the gentleman for company.

“Did you miss me?” Graeme asked Bea. He had wandered away from the shrill voices of the Misses Loves and had found his way to the corner where Bea was working. “It is a fine representation,” he said, tilting his head to study her painting. “You are becoming quite proficient in landscapes, which means you will soon have to move on to other things such as handsome neighbours whom you missed.”

He had missed her. As he settled himself against the wall just behind her to her left, he had to admit how pleasant it was to be greeted by her smile. He had been restless all day, but here, he finally felt at ease.

Bea chuckled. “Did I miss you?”

“Oh, you did,” Graham replied with a smile. “I hear it was quite dull around here without me.” Beautiful blue eyes filled with amusement met his.

“Most dreadfully, but if you do not believe me, you may ask Grace.”

“There is no need for her to repeat it. I heard her quite well when we arrived,” he replied with a laugh.

[from His Beautiful Bea]

Click the image to find *His Beautiful Bea* in your Kindle store.

*The link in the first paragraph is to the song on Spotify. This is not an affiliate link. It is just my way of attempting to help out the artists whose music I share.