Welcome back to More Agreeably Engaged, Monica Fairview! It has been too long since your last visit and I for one, am glad you are here with the latest release, Mr. Darcy's Pride and Joy, the last in 'The Darcy Novel Series'. Thank you for sharing an excerpt with us from this novel and the enticing blurb. I'm certain my readers will enjoy them as much as I did!
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It’s always a pleasure paying another
visit to Janet’s colorful blog, especially since it gives me a chance to ogle her
romantic portraits of Mr. Darcy kissing Elizabeth! Over the years, Janet has
hosted so many JAFF authors, so it’s great to be part of the group again. Thank
you for the opportunity to be here, Janet!
My latest novel, Mr. Darcy’s Pride and Joy, is the
concluding novel of The Darcy Novel
Series, which starts with Mr. Darcy’s
Pledge. The series is a humorous exploration of Darcy’s feelings after
Elizabeth turns him down at the Rectory in Hunsford, as he gradually begins to
understand that his attachment to her is too strong to be discarded. It’s the
first time I’ve written an interconnected series, and it took much longer than
I expected, but now that it’s over I’m glad that I had the chance to do it,
because I really love the journey Mr. Darcy makes over the length of three
novels. I feel that, like a miniseries, it gave me the opportunity to explore
and elaborate much more than a single novel could do.
For More Agreeably Engaged, I’ve
chosen an excerpt that reflects a crucial moment in Mr. Darcy’s Pride and Joy. It
starts at the point when Elizabeth and Darcy have finally reconciled their
differences and are ready to get engaged and is told from Elizabeth’s
perspective.
From Chapter Five
A pale wintery sun was rising over the rooftops, slowly
turning the white facades of the buildings on Gracechurch Street into a warm
peach. Opening the window, Elizabeth drew her shawl close and leaned out,
gazing down the street to where the cold fog on the river was changing color to
reflect the sun.
Today Mr. Darcy would be coming, and a new chapter of her
life would begin.
She shivered with both cold and excitement and closed the
window. Unable to contain her delight, she did a hop-step-step-jump as she
hummed a tune. She stopped when she recognized it was the music for the country
dance she had danced with Mr. Darcy at Netherfield. How odd it was, to think
that she had no idea as she prepared for the ball that day what her future
would hold. Her only concern had been to see Wickham. Yet here she was now,
about to marry the man she had held in contempt, and now even remembered the
music of their dance. What a strange thing love was!
Too impatient to wait a moment longer in her room, she rang
for the maid to help her dress and do her hair. She wanted to look her best on
this important day and it took her some time to decide what to wear. By the
time she was ready to go downstairs, she was in a fever of anticipation. In a
short while it would all be arranged and she would be officially engaged to Mr.
Darcy. Her happiness knew no bounds.
She was in the breakfast room nibbling on a roll when, to
her surprise, her father came in. Considering the state he had been in last
night, she had expected to have to send someone to wake him up.
“You are up early, papa,” she said, with an indulgent smile.
“I prefer to keep country hours rather than fashionable
hours. I refuse to adopt the slothful ways of the townsfolk.”
“It is only because you did
follow fashionable hours last night that I am surprised that you are awake. It
was at least past three o’clock when you came in.”
“True. And was it my imagination, or were you not also awake
at that very hour? Yet here you are before me.”
She smiled and conceded his point. “You know very well I
have good reason to be awake.”
“As do I. It is not every day that my daughter receives an
offer of marriage. If Mr. Collins is to be believed, it is unlikely that such
an offer will be repeated again.”
“I cannot promise anything,” said Mr. Bennet, chewing on the
roast kidneys and washing them down with some old-fashioned ale.
Elizabeth knew her father was being as vexing, as usual. He
would do the right thing, of course. He just wished to derive some
entertainment from her discomfort. He would never be the instrument of her
unhappiness.
“If that is all,” she said, with a confident smile, “then I
am certain Mr. Darcy will acquit himself well.”
~~x~~
Elizabeth was pacing the library at the Gardiners. Every now
and then she would pause to look out of the window to the street below.
“I wish you would stop pacing, Lizzy,” remarked Mr. Bennet,
mildly. “If you are not careful, you will wear a hole in the carpet and I
suspect it is Oriental and therefore too expensive for me to replace if your
uncle demanded it. Besides, you are blocking my light. It is quite impossible
for me to concentrate on my reading with your shadow roaming back and forth on
my page.”
“You are determined to make a joke of it, I can see, papa,”
said Elizabeth, frowning, “but you must believe me serious when I say this
marriage is something I wish for more than anything else in the world.”
“Make a joke of it?” said Mr. Bennet, taking off his glasses
to peer at his favorite daughter. “Do you really think I would treat my
favorite daughter’s feelings as a jest?”
Elizabeth smiled and came to sit on the arm of her father’s
chair. “I think you would make a jest of anything if you could. How often have
you said, ‘What are we here for but to make fun of our neighbors’?”
“Ah, but that is quite different,” said Mr. Bennet. “I was
speaking of neighbors, not of daughters. I rather think I shall make an
exception in your case, even if I do not entirely approve of the whole matter.
Now if you’ll allow me to continue with my reading while we await the arrival
of your young man and I suggest that you would be better occupied reading than
pacing.”
Elizabeth sighed and, choosing a random book from her
uncle’s shelves, she sat down to read. Her thoughts very quickly went to Mr.
Darcy, however. What could be taking him so long? He had been so adamant about
having the Bennets delay their journey, yet it was now almost noon and he had
not made an appearance. She went over everything he had said. Had she mistaken
the time? Had he not said he would come to speak to her father in the morning?
She had particularly noted it because it was not the fashionable time to come
calling. She looked towards the clock that graced the mantle-piece. Perhaps
there was something wrong with it and needed repairing. As if in answer, a
little figure emerged and a single chime resonated loudly in the room.
“In my experience I have generally found it easier to read
with the page right side up,” observed Mr. Bennet.
Elizabeth realized that she was indeed holding the book
upside down. She shut it loudly, noticing the title for the first time. It was A Treatise on the Game Laws. Setting it
aside before her father could comment about the title, she jumped to her feet
and went to select something else.
A long silence followed in which the clock seemed to make a
point of ticking as loudly as possible. She did her best to absorb herself in
the book, which was a collection of poems, but the words meant nothing to her.
Another glance towards the clock showed it was now almost the quarter hour. The
relentless ticking continued until finally the butler came to announce that
luncheon was being served.
Elizabeth was in no mood to eat. If she ate a single morsel,
she was sure it would stick in her throat and choke her. Hoping against hope,
she remained in the library while her father rose to take lunch, almost afraid
to leave in case Mr. Darcy called.
An hour later, Mr. Bennet reappeared. Fortunately, Mr.
Gardiner was not around and Elizabeth and her father could continue to use the
library since her uncle did not need it for his work.
“It appears your suitor has changed his mind,” said Mr.
Bennet, as he settled down in his favorite armchair and took up his book again.
“Never mind, I am sure you will find another. It is good for a lady to be
crossed in love now and again.”
***
I hope you’ve enjoyed this extract. I’d love to hear your
thoughts after you read it.
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MONICA FAIRVIEW
MR. DARCY’S PRIDE AND JOY
BLURB
A Jane Austen “what-if” novel.
Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet are engaged at last, and Mr. Darcy is preparing to take out a special license to get married quickly. But, just when everything seems to be going just right, he encounters opposition from an unexpected quarter. Then, when his engagement is announced – to someone else – Elizabeth, understandably, begins to doubt his sincerity.
Perhaps their love is doomed after all…
Find out more in this third part of the Darcy Novels series.
BIO
Monica Fairview is a long-time admirer of Jane Austen's wit. She loves to laugh, and she is convinced that her cats can understand everything she says. She is the author of several Austenesque novels: two traditional Jane Austen sequels, one post-apocalyptic tongue-in-cheek Jane Austen spin-off, one multi-author novel THE DARCY BROTHERS, featuring Mr. Darcy’s rakish brother Theo, and now the trilogy, THE DARCY NOVELS. She has also written a Regency Christmas novel, A VERY MERRY CHASE, which was published as part of The Regency Quintet anthology and will be coming out soon on Amazon.
Monica Fairview’s real claim to fame is that she lived in Elizabeth Gaskell’s house in Manchester as a teenager, in the days when it was faded and neglected, so you could say she has the smog of NORTH & SOUTH in her blood.
Monica lived in the USA for many years, where she taught literature to captive victims. She has lived in Illinois, Texas, Colorado, California, Washington State, Oregon, and Massachusetts. By some quirk of fate, she now lives in Surrey within the Greater London area, within a stone's throw of Jane Austen's picnic spot in EMMA, Box Hill. She loves visiting historical properties when it isn’t raining.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Website: www.monicafairview.com
Blog: www.austenvariations.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/monica.fairview
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Monica_Fairview
Pinterest http://uk.pinterest.com/mfairview/
BUYING LINKS
Amazon: viewBook.at/Fairviewbook3
Nook, Kobo, Sony Reader and tablets: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/645094
I'm thrilled to announce it! Finally, Mr. Darcy's Pride and Joy is now available on most major platforms.
A Jane Austen “what-if” novel.
Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet are engaged at last, and Mr. Darcy is preparing to take out a special license to get married quickly. But, just when everything seems to be going just right, he encounters opposition from an unexpected quarter. Then, when his engagement is announced – to someone else – Elizabeth, understandably, begins to doubt his sincerity.
Perhaps their love is doomed after all…
Find out more in this third part of the Darcy Novels series.
Nook, Kobo, Sony Reader and tablets: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/645094
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It's great having you stop by again, Monica. 'The Darcy Novels' have been a favorite of mine. I think I may have to go back to the first and start all over. I'm all anticipation for how Mr. Darcy's Pride & Joy will sum everything up.
Now to this excerpt that you have used to torment us, what were you thinking? You know it was very unkind of you to leave us in such a state as this! :) My, what are we and poor Lizzy to do? Time, time, time...that's all we need to find out the answer to the dilemma of 'where in the world is Mr. Darcy and why has he not arrived?' Thank you, I think, (lol) for such a tantalizing scene. Great choice!
Monica Fairview is offering one eBook to one lucky reader. The giveaway is international so please leave a comment with all your contact info to be entered. The giveaway will end at 11:59 PM on the 8th of August. Good Luck everyone!
