Category: Joana Starnes

Down Memory Lane ~ a Vignette & a Giveaway

Today I’m going for a walk down memory lane, and I hope you’d like to come along with me. An old favourite has a new cover, and I thought I’d celebrate with a special offer and a giveaway. So, what do you think of Mr Bennet’s Dutiful Daughter now? Doesn’t she look like she’s thinking, ‘Oh my …

Continue reading

Courage in Adversity

A few weeks ago I went on a short camping trip with my family, and as luck would have it, I found some material that’s ever so fitting for this month’s post. We camped in Dorset, within driving distance of Jane Fairfax and Frank Churchill’s Weymouth, and of the pretty village of Osmington, where John …

Continue reading

Springtime Celebrations

With so much lush green and brightly coloured flowers everywhere, it’s easy to see why a host of celebrations were held in late spring and early summer in villages up and down the country to give thanks for a fresh season of growth. The customs were observed in Jane Austen’s time, and many have endured …

Continue reading

Snowbound Reselase Day – Giveaway Winners and New Excerpt

  Good morning, and thank you all ever so much for your amazing support and encouragement over the last couple of weeks! Your wonderful comments kept me going! So, my latest Pride & Prejudice variation is out at last. The Kindle version of Snowbound is already live on Amazon. The paperback version has also been …

Continue reading

Cover Reveal, Excerpt & Ongoing Giveaway

Hello, and thanks again for your wonderful comments to my first post about my new book! Your warm welcome means so much to me! Thank you!! You’re amazing!! I hope you’ll like the cover too, and the excerpt I’m posting today.       Book Blurb: A narrow escape and a staggering encounter mere miles …

Continue reading

New Year, New Book

Hello again! I hope you had a good start to 2023. Thanks for stopping by to have a peek at what I’ve been up to in 2022. My WIP is a winter story, so how about starting with an excerpt from a snowy day? I’ve never had the chance to see much snow at Pemberley. Just …

Continue reading

2022 Deck the Shelves in the Closet Book Sale

MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE! The Holiday season is in full swing. We’ve finished Thanksgiving (in the US) and Chanukkah, and Christmas Day coming fast. We’re decking our halls and wrapping our presents. How about something to tide you over in your quiet hours as you await New Year’s Day 2023? Like a great book! This is …

Continue reading

Schoolrooms and Nurseries

Shall we walk in Jane Austen’s footsteps across Forbury Gardens, towards the site of the last school she attended, along with her sister? Paul Sandby’s painting of Reading Abbey Gateway gives us a glimpse of the brick building that housed the Abbey School, a boarding school for young ladies, established around 1755. In Jane Austen’s …

Continue reading

The Carriage Awaits

  Would you like to have a closer look at the sort of carriages that our favourite characters might have used to travel around town or dash up and down the country? Then let’s stroll through the Carriage Museum at Arlington Court in North Devon. There are around 50 vehicles in the collection, the oldest …

Continue reading

Summer Travels

Last month, when I went to stay at Hunsford, I was seriously tempted to drive up to Pemberley as well. When I mentioned that to my husband, he didn’t roll his eyes or anything. He’s always a gentleman, and his patience for everything to do with my obsession borders on the superhuman. He only pointed …

Continue reading

Load more