I Could Write a Book...Karen M Cox

It is my pleasure to spotlight the release, I Could Write a Book, by Karen M Cox. This Emma based novel sounds delightful. I'm looking forward to learning more about this George Knightley and Emma Woodhouse of the 1970's. Thank you Karen, for sharing an excerpt and your talent with us. Best Wishes for your new release. 

Dear Readers, don't forget to participate in the Rafflecopter Giveaway. There are a few days left to sign up for the fabulous giveaways. Thank you to Claudine Pepe for organizing this blog tour and allowing me to participate. A special thanks to Karen for sharing the excerpt with us. I enjoyed departing your train at Donwell Abbey! It is quite a pleasant place.

Book Description

“Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever and rich…”

Thus began Jane Austen’s classic, a light and lively tale set in an English village two hundred years ago. Yet every era has its share of Emmas: young women trying to find themselves in their own corners of the world.

I Could Write a Book is the story of a self-proclaimed modern woman: Emma Katherine Woodhouse, a 1970s co-ed whose life is pleasant, ordered and predictable, if a bit confining.

Her friend George Knightley is a man of the world who has come home to fulfill his destiny: run his father’s thriving law practice and oversee the sprawling Donwell Farms, his family legacy in Central Kentucky horse country.

Since childhood, George’s and Emma’s lives have meshed and separated time and again. But now they’re adults with grown-up challenges and obligations. As Emma orchestrates life in quaint Highbury, George becomes less amused with her antics and struggles with a growing attraction to the young woman she’s become.

Rich with humor, poignancy and the camaraderie of life in a small, Southern town, I Could Write a Book is a coming of age romance with side helpings of self-discovery, friendship, and finding true love in the most unlikely places.

Book Excerpt

Thank you, Janet, for helping me wrap up the blog tour for I Could Write a Book.

Let’s depart the blog tour train at the most pleasant place I can imagine.

Donwell Abbey is sometimes considered a secondary “character” in Austen’s Emma. It marks the place in the novel where Emma really becomes aware of just how fine a man Mr. Knightley is. So, of course, the Donwell horse farm in I Could Write a Book had to be impressive, elegant, and beautiful—like the man who waited for Emma there.

There’s a strawberry-picking outing today, upscale Kentucky Bluegrass style.

Welcome to Donwell Farms…

June 5, 1976

The last time I had visited Donwell Farm was the Christmas party where Jack and Izzy had announced she was expecting Henry. To my shame, it had been that long ago. George was always stopping by the house on Hartfield Road, or the Randalls’ place if he saw I was there, and yet I hadn’t visited with him at his townhouse or his family home in a very long time. We were friends, close enough to not need formal invitations, but I was always so busy, with school, with Daddy, with my sillier activities. I hadn’t made time for him, even to check on how he was doing since his break up with Julianne. And that negligence had to change.

“I have such fond memories of Donwell.” Daddy’s eyes met mine in the rearview mirror. “I thought it might be a rather lonely place with Gary and Joanne being gone, but…” He leaned over to look out between Mary Jo and me, sitting in the front seats. “Today, it looks busy and happy. I’m glad I came with you.”

His words made me pay attention to the front grounds as we drove The Lane (and it was officially called “The Lane,” marked with a street sign and everything). Fruit orchards lay about the grounds to each side; the drive itself was lined with cedars, oaks, and maples in a way that suggested they’d been there forever. Closer to the house, the landscaping became more formal, well-trimmed boxwoods outlined the circular drive. In the center of that circle, now filled with parked cars, there was a carefully tended rose garden. The house itself looked as if it had grown there of its own volition over the generations. Our house on Hartfield Road was a two-story Georgian-style, almost antebellum-looking, with its tall Doric columns and porches on both floors. In contrast, Donwell Farms mansion was rambling and massive: rich, red brick with white trim and green shutters; long, generous windows and a decorative spire—much like the ones that adorned Churchill Downs. It was a stark reminder that George’s family wasn’t just rich or steeped in tradition, like my own—the Knightleys combined money, family, and tradition into a genteel sort of wealth that was becoming more and more rare. Jack Knightley had his faults, I mused, but they were minor in comparison to what he brought to the Woodhouse family. He was good to Izzy and the children, and he had generations of class and elegance behind him that would give Henry and Taylor, and any new Knightleys that might come along, a legacy to be proud of.

I pulled up in the circle and saw George Knightley, Esquire, Master of All He Surveyed, standing at the door, waiting for us. Butterflies floated from my stomach into my chest and up into my throat. What can I say? He was a compelling sight. I’d have to be blind not to notice. He wore khaki pants and a polo shirt in a sky-blue that I knew would bring out the blue in his eyes. I stopped the car and got out to get Daddy’s wheelchair from the trunk, and George pushed off the door frame, walking down the steps with a big smile.

I waved at him. “Good morrow, Professor! Don’t worry about our carriage here. I’ll move it as soon as I get Daddy inside.”

“Leave it, Emma Kate,” he said. “The others can drive around it, or I’ll get Benton to move it, if need be.” He lifted the wheelchair out of the trunk and expertly opened it.

“I brought the chair in case he got tired or wanted to explore the grounds some more. He’s been doing really well with the cane for short distances though.” I shut the trunk.

“Good thinking. Good morning, John.”

“Hello, my boy, hello. Beautiful day for a picnic. Perfect for young people to scamper around outside.”

“Indeed, it is.” George wheeled the chair to the open car door, where Mary Jo was helping Daddy stand. “Hello, Mary Jo, how are you this fine morning?”

“I’m well, Mr. Knightley, thank you.”

“Oh, we’re not at the office today. I think you can call me George, won’t you please?”

“Of—of course.” She blushed. “You have a lovely home. George.”

“Thank you. Let’s go in this way.” He led them around to the side entrance and muscled the wheelchair up and over the lower door threshold. “Almost everyone is here. They’re out in the back yard, walking toward the strawberry patch. Except for Nina. She’s on the veranda. I’ve got a place set up for you there too, John, or you can go inside, if you’d rather.”

“I’ll sit with my sister-in-law. We can catch up. I don’t get to see Nina nearly as much as I used to when the girls were smaller. Before she married.”

“Good enough,” George said.

***

How ’bout that George Knightley? I dare say he’s “good enough” for me!

Karen M Cox’s Links

Website: www.karenmcox.com

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B004HIFOO8 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/karenmcox1932/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/KarenMCox1932

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/karenmcox1932/

Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/karenmcox

Author Biography

Karen M Cox is an award-winning author of novels accented with romance and history, including 1932 and its companion ebook novella The Journey Home, and the novels Find Wonder in All Things and Undeceived. She also contributed a short story, “Northanger Revisited 2015”, to the anthology, Sun-Kissed: Effusions of Summer, and a story titled, “I, Darcy” to The Darcy Monologues.

Karen was born in Everett WA, which was the result of coming into the world as the daughter of a United States Air Force Officer. She had a nomadic childhood, with stints in North Dakota, Tennessee and New York State before finally settling in her family’s home state of Kentucky at the age of eleven. She lives in a quiet little town with her husband, where she works as a pediatric speech pathologist, encourages her children, and spoils her granddaughter.

Connect with Karen:

Website: www.karenmcox.com

Amazon Author Page: www.amazon.com/author/karenmcox

Visit with Karen on several of the usual social media haunts such as Facebook, (karenmcox1932), Twitter (@karenmcox1932), Pinterest (karenmc1932), Instagram (karenmcox1932), and Tumblr (karenmcox).

If you would like bits of authorly goodness in your inbox once a month (updates, sales, book recommendations, etc.) sign up for News & Muse Letter

Karen loves to hear from readers, so don’t be shy. Contact her through social media, her website, or online sites like Amazon and Goodreads.

Purchase Links

Kindle US "I Could Write a Book" Amazon Kindle

Kindle Universal Link: getBook.at/ICouldWriteaBook

Blog Tour Schedule

Laughing with Lizzie / September 6 / Launch Post/Dating Game / Giveaway

So little time… / September 7 / Book Excerpt / Giveaway

Book Lover in Florida / September 8 / Guest post / Giveaway

Austenesque Reviews / September 15 / Book Review/ Giveaway

My Love for Jane Austen / September 16 / Guest Post / Giveaway

Granny Loves to Read  / September 17 / Book Review / Giveaway

My Jane Austen Book Club / September 18/ Guest Post/Mr. Knightley / Giveaway

Just Jane 1813 / September 19 / Author Interview / Giveaway

Sophia’s Sofa Chat / September 21 / An Interview with Karen M Cox on Goodreads

Babblings of a Bookworm/ / September 22 / Book Review/ Giveaway

Silver Petticoat Review / September 23/ Guest Post/ Giveaway

From Pemberley to Milton / September 25 / Book Excerpt / Giveaway

Margie’s Must Reads / September 27 / Book Review / Giveaway

My Vices and Weaknesses / September 30 / Book Review / Giveaway

Diary of an Eccentric / October 2 / Book Review / Giveaway

More Agreeably Engaged / October 4 / Book Excerpt / Giveaway

Giveaways

Karen Cox has set up a Rafflecopter for two winners. One winner will receive The Tea Pack: JA mug, Mr Knightley & Emma teas from Bingley’s teas, and a set of Jane Austen coasters. The second winner will receive a Jewelry Pack, which contains a Little Emma charm on a necklace, Regency cameo earrings, Emma Bangle Bracelet, and a Jewelry Roll.  These giveaways are open internationally.

The giveaway ends on October 7th and the winners will be announced through the Rafflecopter widget on participating blogs.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks, Karen for visiting and letting More Agreeably Engaged wrap up your busy and successful blog tour. It's been great having you stop by and give us a delightful excerpt to read and enjoy. Your giveaway is awesome! There will be two lucky winners! :)