Some New – But “Old” News

Congratulations to the 4 winners of the giveaway! They are:
Linda A (Pemberley’s Promise paperback); Wendy Luther (Something Like Regret paperback);
Anna (Pemberley’s Promise Kindle); and Jan DeVries (Something Like Regret Kindle).
I will be contacting each of you some time this week!

Greetings to you all! It has been a while since I have posted here, except for the few P&P Behind the Scenes I contributed that were posted the last couple years. I have a bit of news I wanted to share, as well as what I’ve been going through the past couple of months.

This past March, severe storms were forecasted for Friday night. For almost the full week before, it was a dire forecast. I was supposed to watch my three granddaughters early Saturday morning, and so I decided to spend the night at their house so I wouldn’t have to worry about getting out. We live on a rural dead-end street with lots of old trees, so in any storm, we can have limbs, branches, or whole trees fall on the road. I didn’t want to get stuck.

The storms were severe, and while at our kids’ house, we all sat in an interior room of their basement watching a Disney movie. Little did I know that as the worst of the storm hit, a tornado was going through my own neighborhood. My husband was apparently rushing down the stairs to our basement when he heard the sound of a train, as people claim they hear when a tornado passes through. It was 10:00 at night, and the power went out, so once it was all over, he couldn’t see a thing.

I couldn’t get home until afternoon the next day because of all the trees down on our road. Fortunately, a neighbor had contacted a tree company the night before, and they had a crew there in the morning clearing the road.

We live at the end of the road and have a circular driveway, which was completely blocked with trees all the way around it. Fortunately, one of the tree crews finished clearing our neighbor’s driveway and then came over and cleared one side of our driveway so we could at least pull in and out. Our road also eventually got cleared enough to drive in and out.

Fortunately, our house suffered only minor damage. There were no windows broken, but we did have some damage to our back deck, 2 outdoor sheds were crushed by trees, and our roof and some of the siding were damaged. We got a brand new “Tough Shed” to replace our 2 sheds, and a new roof. Insurance also paid for a lot of the cleanup from the trees (at least 16 fell or mostly fell). Right now, the only evidence that we were hit by a tornado (on our property) are the many stacks of wood we have around the house. Our street, however, is still quite a mess, but I am grateful!

There were also several power poles down, as well, so we figured it would be quite a while before power was restored. I decided, while we were without power and internet, to pull out my books and re-read them. Now a confession! I have a difficult time reading my books once they are published. I either see things I wish I could change or find little mistakes that make me cringe. But I decided to go ahead and do it. I finished six of them, and I have to say, I enjoyed it!

In the midst of all this, I was able to get the rights back to my two books which were published by Sourcebooks Publications. I had originally self-published Pemberley’s Promise in 2006 (three years after writing it and posting it online) and Something Like Regret in 2010. They were picked up by Sourcebooks and published as Darcy’s Voyage in 2010 and Only Mr. Darcy Will Do in 2011. Unfortunately, these two paperbacks were recently put out of print, although they had still been available on kindle.

But I am excited to say that I have re-published both books, back with their original titles, but with new covers and a few changes that I have made. And the best news of all is that they are much more affordable!

In case you aren’t familiar with these two books or need a reminder, here are the blurbs for each of the books:

Pemberley’s Promise: Pemberley’s Promise – the name of the ship holds promise for those in its confines. When Elizabeth Bennet encounters Mr. Darcy on a voyage to America, their story, known by all in the Jane Austen novel, “Pride and Prejudice,” is significantly altered. When Elizabeth becomes ill down in steerage, and her condition worsens, Mr. Darcy makes a very unexpected offer to assist in her healing. When they later return to England, albeit separately, that offer he made will change the course of their lives and become woven into the events found in Jane Austen’s original novel, with several differences, however, that were affected by it.

Something Like Regret: Mrs. Bennet’s greatest fear comes to pass with the death of Mr. Bennet in the early summer after Elizabeth returns from Kent. Longbourn is entailed away to Mr. Collins. Elizabeth and Jane become governesses in London; their mother and sisters move in with Mr. and Mrs. Phillips in Meryton. Elizabeth could not be happier with the family for whom she works, but soon comes to discover that they have a long-standing association with the Darcys. As she is thrown into his presence and walks the beautiful halls of Pemberley, she comes to a greater understanding of his goodness and admirable character while comprehending the even greater disparity in their stations.

When the books went live last week, I was excited to see that the original reviews for my self-published books had transferred over to these newly self-published books.

If you have read either of the books, do you have a favorite scene you remember without giving too much away. Here are mine: In Pemberley’s Promise it is when Jane innocently tells everyone at Netherfield about Elizabeth’s secret crush on Mr. Wright. In Something Like Regret it is when Elizabeth and Darcy play chess. Oh, and when he saves the cat. What are yours?

I’m giving away two paperbacks (to a US mailing address only) and two Kindle digital copies that I will email to your kindle (worldwide), one book per winner. To enter, let me know your format preference (paperback if you’re in the US, or Kindle anywhere) and which book you’d like. Or you can let me know if you are open to any option. Winners will be randomly selected Sunday evening and announced here at the top of this page and on our Facebook page by Monday afternoon. Good luck!

Here are the links to the books on Amazon:
Pemberley’s Promise
Something Like Regret