Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Kara Louise ~ Mr. Darcy's Rival ~ Excerpt & Giveaway!

Hey, Everyone! I'm super excited to have Kara Louise visiting here on So little time...! It's such a pleasure to have her here and you'll see why as you read her post! 

So, without further ado, Kara Louise...

I am delighted to be here with Candy today to wind up my blog tour for the launch of Mr. Darcy’s Rival. I have known Candy for several years, having first met her in 2010 when she drove from Tucson up to Tempe, Arizona for a book signing I did at Barnes and Noble. I also met fellow Arizonians Alexa Cochrane, Roxane Wolff, and author Mary Simonsen that day. At the time, I lived in Kansas, but since I had family who lived in Arizona, some of us met again a couple years later when I visited, joined by another Arizona friend, Linnea Smith, whom I had met a few years earlier. The five of us ate at a restaurant called… Darcy’s! (Actually, it was D’Arcy McGees, but we just called it Darcy’s.) What fun we had! Dare I say we spent three hours talking about all things Austen? Here is a picture. (Unfortunately, Alexa was not able to make that get-together.)



I have been fortunate to have met several from the Jane Austen community, both readers and other authors. When we meet someone else who has been moved by her works in the same way we have, we have an instant connection with them! And just think of how many more are out there that we haven’t had the pleasure of meeting yet!

What is it about Jane Austen that binds people together from all walks of life? She lived 200 years ago, and her life was very different from ours, society was very different, expectations were different; and how they spent their time was different. Our life is easy compared to what they had to endure. Yet we eagerly pick up one of her novels (or a variation) with great expectations of being transported into that world, and we read them over and over again. 

I spoke at our St. Louis Regional Chapter of JASNA in June, just a week after Mr. Darcy’s Rival came out. (It was perfect timing!) One of the gals I ate lunch with showed me her phone and scrolled down as she showed me the hundreds of Jane Austen ebooks she had purchased. After lunch, someone else came by and introduced herself (aren’t you glad we don’t have to wait for someone to introduce us!) and she told me she had read at least 400 Jane Austen variations. (Are there really that many?) What fun it was to talk about some of the different books we had read and the authors we liked. And they were eager to share with me their favorites of mine they had read, as well.

After lunch, I spoke to the group about my writing. Being a very diverse group of ladies, I knew there would be several who had no idea what a variation was. Many were not even aware of all the books that were being published based on Jane Austen’s works. I had to explain what a variation was, and how it takes her characters on a different journey than what she imagined and penned. While some people love to read the variations, others prefer to read nothing but Jane Austen’s own works. I’m sure there were both preferences in that group, and I reassured them that I was fine with that!

The different journey I take Darcy and Elizabeth on in this new book involves a rival for Elizabeth Bennet’s affections. The book begins with the visit to Rosings. Mr. Rickland, a nephew of Sir Lewis de Bourgh, is also visiting, but he has the advantage over Darcy in that he has already been there for two weeks before Darcy arrives. That means he was able to spend time with Elizabeth, and the two had the opportunity to get to know one another. He also has an advantage in that he has open and easy manners and is engaging and friendly. We know what Elizabeth thinks of Mr. Darcy’s manners.

When Darcy arrives, he is surprised by the presence of Mr. Rickland, but even more surprised when he discovers Elizabeth is just across the lane visiting her friend at the parsonage. 

Here is an excerpt from Mr. Darcy’s Rival. In this segment, Darcy and Colonel Fitzwilliam have arrived at Rosings, and they join Rickland on a visit to the parsonage.


Elizabeth watched the men and thought to herself she was going to enjoy comparing their differences. Mr. Rickland was obviously the most comfortable and sat leaning slightly forward with his arms resting on his legs, his hands clasped lightly. His engaging smile and the twinkle in his eyes suggested a familiarity and pleasure in his surroundings. And as had been the rule, he was most inclined to enter into conversation with the residents of the parsonage. 

In the middle sat Mr. Darcy, upright and stiff, and not at all inclined to smile. Elizabeth caught his eyes fixed upon her when she occasionally glanced at him, but he seemed distracted. He did not seem engaged by any of the conversation. His hands rested upon his legs, his fingers tapping lightly; likely a habit he exhibited when ill at ease. He remained, for the most part, silent. 

On his other side sat Colonel Fitzwilliam, an odd mixture of the other two. He sat as upright as his cousin, but it was likely due more to his military training. He entered into conversation directly, and Elizabeth noticed a smile appeared readily and frequently. While he would not be described as particularly handsome, he had a rugged friendliness and gentlemanly politeness that was quite attractive. 

They spoke of the pleasant weather, the upcoming Easter holiday, and a musical soiree the Collinses and their guests had been invited to attend the Saturday following Easter. Elizabeth smiled as she began to consider the men seated on either side of Mr. Darcy. In her mind’s eye, they served as bookends, propping him up. The thought of them being quite stylish bookends, with the unfortunate task of holding up a large, dull book, brought a smile to her lips.



*~*~*

Do you think Mr. Darcy has the slightest chance to secure Elizabeth’s affections when someone like Mr. Rickland is possibly vying for them? I hope you are intrigued enough to find out!

I am offering a paperback (US) and an ebook (international) in a giveaway, drawn from the names of anyone who comments. Share what it is you enjoy about reading Regency stories (Jane Austen’s or variations) or tell us about an experience where you actually met another Jane Austen fan face to face and felt as if you had always known them!


Thanks, Candy, for allowing me to come and share today!

*~*~*

You are welcome anytime, Kara! It was fun having you here. Thanks so much for sharing the picture of us! We had a great time at lunch, and we certainly had plenty to talk about! I of course, knew and read both yours and Mary's books, but I had no idea that I had also read one of Linnea's! Lol! I was blown away. Fun day!


Book Blurb

Mr. Darcy has learned he must prepare himself when he and his cousin, Colonel Fitzwilliam, make their yearly visit to his aunt, particularly when it comes to Lady Catherine’s expectation that he marry her daughter, Anne.

This year, however, will throw in a few additional obstacles to Darcy’s peace of mind with the presence of a nephew on the de Bourgh side of the family, and quite unexpectedly, Miss Elizabeth Bennet.

An interrupted proposal, a letter written and unknowingly lost, a harsh accusation, and a rival all conspire to thwart Mr. Darcy in securing Miss Elizabeth Bennet’s affections when he visits his aunt at Rosings.

Will Elizabeth find the handsome and engaging Mr. Rickland more suited to her than Mr. Darcy? And will a novel she reads that was written secretly by Miss Anne de Bourgh help smooth the path to the couple finding true love?

Author Bio:

Kara Louise began writing Jane Austen inspired stories in 2001 and has currently written nine novels, including "Darcy's Voyage" and "Only Mr. Darcy Will Do," which were both published by Sourcebooks. Her seven other novels are self-published, including the most recent release, "Mr. Darcy's Rival." She is also one of the contributing authors from the austenvariations.com blog.

Kara grew up in the San Fernando Valley, just north of Los Angeles. She and her family moved to Wichita, Kansas in 1991, which was quite a (pleasant) change for them. They left the hectic, crowded busyness of LA and found themselves in a medium sized city with a small town feel. In September, 2013, she and her husband moved to the bustling St. Louis area to be near their son and his wife. In May, 2014, they were blessed with their first granddaughter, whom they love and spoil endlessly. They live on five acres in a wooded area with their five cats, one dog, and a Shetland Pony.

Connect with Kara Louise



* * * GIVEAWAY * * *

It's giveaway time!! As you read above, Kara is giving away one paperback (U.S. only) and one e-copy (International). 


Thank you, Kara!

  • One will win a paperback of Mr. Darcy's Rival ~ U.S. only.
  • One person will win an e-copy of Mr. Darcy's Rival ~ open International.
  • Leave a comment to enter with your email or twitter name. (If you leave your email, please substitute (at) for @ and (dot) for . .  Thanks!)
  • Last day to enter is July 14, 2015, @ midnight pacific time. 

Good luck!

Remember to leave a comment and share what you enjoy about reading Jane Austen or JAFF, OR share if you've ever met a JAFF friend in real life! 

41 comments:

  1. I want to thank everyone in advance who will be coming here and commenting, as I will be away from the internet for most of the day. I will reply to everyone once I return this afternoon. Thanks! :)

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  2. I love your books! Your new book sounds very interesting, I look forward to reading it. Poor Mr Darcy has competition for Elizabeth's heart. Thank you for the giveaway.
    Integr67 at AOL dot Com.

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    1. I agree that Darcy needs some competition to open his eyes! Thanks for stopping by and good luck in the giveaway!

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  3. While I had been reading Jane Austen
    since I was 13, I only began reading Regency romances when a fellow Janeite
    insisted I read Georgette Heyer. We became
    the best of friends and now I read everything
    Austen-inspired and many other Regency writers, too.
    Thank you for this giveaway.
    ladysusan46(at)yahoo(dot)com

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    1. I love Georgette Heyer, too! And unlike Jane, she wrote so many! And you're welcome - my pleasure to offer the giveaway!

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  4. I expect Rickland is too amiable. the Colonel too poor and Darcy is still portrayed as dull. I'll wait and see.
    I love reading JAFF, a good story just draws me in, I have actually never met another Jane Austen fan, not many of my friends actually read more than popular current fiction.

    meikleblog at gmail dot com

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    1. I know what you mean, Vesper - some of my friends have only read my books because we're friends, but not many read and love Jane Austen as so many of us do. I love your analysis of the men. :)

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  5. Go Darcy go!!!
    Can’t wait to read this–it sounds so interesting! I love the idea of Darcy having a little competition.
    Kara, thank you for the giveaway and congratulations!I
    I would so much like to enter the giveaway.
    My e-mail is jakfernandes(at)hotmail(dot)com

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    1. Thank you, you're welcome, thank you, and good luck in the giveaway! :)

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  6. A little competition for Darcy can be only good...

    Thanks for the giveaway (i am international so only the ebook for me)

    adavittoria (at) email (dot) it

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    1. We hope it can only be good for Darcy, although he may not iniitally see it that way! :) Thanks for commenting!

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  7. Oh, Kara, I loved this book as I do all of yours. My sister just borrowed my copy and I can't wait to get her opinion.

    Yesterday I was at the Laundromat and took a printout of my work-in-progress to proof it for changes. A woman asked what I was reading and marking up so diligently. It turns out she is a huge Jane Austen fan that was entirely unaware of the variation/sequel/prequel community. After telling me Pride and Prejudice was her favorite, she quoted Caroline Bingley's description of an accomplished woman.

    I read to her a few sentences from my WIP. "“Mama insisted I return to the garden and apologize to Mr. Bingley. She also demanded I do whatever was needed to become his wife.” Jane gulped in horror at the thought. “Lizzy, I had to tell her ‘no’. I have never done that before today.”

    “Well, that is a peculiar sort of accomplishment, is it not?”

    She chuckled and a new fan was won. How did that make me feel? Joyous!!!

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    1. Joy, that's wonderful! I love that you met and enlighten a Jane Austen fan in a Laundromat of all places!! Lol!

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    2. That's a fun story, Joy! I think it's amazing how many people love Jane Austen and don't know all that's being written based on her, but probably just as many don't want to read anything but her! I'm so glad you enjoyed the book! That means a lot!

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  8. I love the originals and variations. The best part of the variations is that it's a little like alternate timelines in a sci-fi series. And no matter what, we know the right guy gets the right girl (ODC) and there's always an HEA. Thank you for the generous give away. skampe25 (at) gmail (dot) com

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    1. Hi, Deborah! I'm with you! I'm a little ODC about the right guy and girl, and the HEA for that matter! Lol! :)

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    2. I've often thought of all the variations of a type of "Groundhog Day." In that movie, however, Bill Murray's character has to live the same days over and over until he gets it right. In this case, Jane Austen got it right, and we're just giving her characters a chance to do something different. But, yes, the right guy has to get the right girl! :)

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  9. Well I hope Vesper is correct and Mr Rickland is too amiable! Elizabeth likes a bit of debate, maybe she'd find him boring (I hope so!).

    In real life I haven't met any Austen fans, aside from my mother, whose Austen books are the ones I first picked up and read many years ago. However, when I started using Twitter I found people (such as our lovely hostess Candy!) who liked reading the same things as me and it was so lovely to be able to give and receive book recommendations with people with a similar reading taste. I would love to enter the competition for an ebook, I'm at @Frawli1978

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    1. I don't think I would have met any on my own, other than people who like her, but that's about it. It's been fun to meet and spend time with others who love to read and write books based on hers. Good luck, Ceri, in the giveaway!

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  10. Oh no, oh no, oh no! I already have that feeling, and I've barely read anything! I love the premise, and all the twists you have in the blurb make it even more enticing! (myfullauthorname) at gmail dot com

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    1. Do you need some smelling salts? I hope you'll be all right! Well, I'm glad you love the premise, Suzan! Thanks for stopping by and good luck in the giveaway!

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  11. This is so intriguing! I hope to win your book because my budget is really tight right now.
    tgruy at netscape dot net

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    1. Well, I hope you'll get a chance to read it! I'm glad you're intrigued by it and will enjoy it! ;)

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  12. That's me, the ninja JAFF writer. Candy, I had forgotten that you didn't know who I was when we met. lol

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    1. And Linnea, you were the very first 'online' JAFF friend I ever met! I think it was a year or 2 before the book signing (which you weren't able to come to). What fun the day was at the restaurant!

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    2. Hi, Linnea! Yep, I had read 'No More Tears' online, but I didn't know your real name. I was so surprised to find out it was you!! Lol! It was definitely a fun day!

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  13. Thanks for sharing your pleasant experience with Jane Austen fans, Kara. I would so love to meet you and all the Jane Austen admirers but alas I live too far away. I'm international so would love the chance to win the e-book. The excerpt is lovely.

    I enjoy reading Regency novels and particularly Austenesque stories because I love to know what they go through in their lives - I mean the middle class and upper rungs of society, not the lower class. Theirs is so different from ours and I long to escape to their time period and enjoy the privilege of not working.

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    1. Sorry, I forgot to include my email.

      evangelineace2020(at)yahoo(dot)com

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    2. In some ways it would be nice to slip back into the time. Some of it might prove rather difficult for us who are so used to an easy life-style - even if we didn't have to work. :) Good luck in the giveaway!

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    3. Ha, with my luck, I would definitely be a chambermaid!

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  14. I want to see Darcy suffering a bit but I really want to see how he behaves to win Elizabeth :D

    ana (dot) mr (dot) 1986 (at) gmail (dot) com

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    1. I hope you'll get the opportunity to read it and find out those things! Good luck, Ana!

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  15. Congratulations Kara! I love reading Regency books because I just love that time period. I am so excited about this new book! It sounds so good and I cannot wait to read it!!:)
    kellik115(at)yahoo(dot)com

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    1. Thanks, Kelli! I love your enthusiasm! Hope you'll get a chance to read it!

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  16. It's always fun to see Darcy have a rival! Unfortunately, I had not had the opportunity to meet any other JAFF fan in person. I think Candy, you and I came the closes when we were at the LA Times Festival of Books. Hopefully we'll be able to get together soon! I did have a chance to meet a few JAFF authors in person at a library event. It was such a fun experience. I drove 3 hours in LA traffic each way...

    Talk about nerding out... I was super excited to meet them and drive 3 hours in traffic both ways! It was fun to discuss their process of writing and sharing some of thought process regarding P&P books we've read.

    As for P&P variations, sequels, modernization, etc... I have 1259 books on my Goodreads account and read 167 of them so far. When I first discovered JAFF, I was afraid of running out of P&P books to read. So glad to have author's like yourself who continue to write P&P stories so my fear is never realized!

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  17. Wow! That many books? Amazing! It is so much fun to meet people of the same interests! I'm so glad you enjoy the books! Good luck in the giveaway - maybe if you win you can bump it up a little ahead of some of those other 1259 books! :)

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    1. Wow! That IS a lot of books, Dung!! Lol! What was the library event you when to? Was it in Glendale? I'm back in town now, hopefully, we'll get together soon!

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  18. Regency era is my favourite time period, so anything about it intrigues me. I especially love the elegance, the manners that were so important during those years. It seems that these days we have lost something, and through the stories set in the Regency England I have the chance to witness something that in my reality doesn't exist. Hopefully someday I'll live my "Regency dream"! :) As for the other question, I've never met in person another Jane Austen fan, but I've met several good friends through the internet! Hope to meet them in person someday and talk about our dear Jane! :) Thanks for the giveaway. I'm international.

    newyorkgirl82(at)gmail(dot)com

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    1. Thanks for stopping by, Maria, and sharing your thoughts. Regency era is lovely, isn't it? It would be nice to just 'step' into it for a first hand glimpse. Good luck in the giveaway!

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  19. This sounds fantastic! I love reading JAFF because it amazes me how many different ways Austen's novels can be retold, and I love exploring the secondary characters. Thanks for the giveaway. I'm in the US. diaryofaneccentric(at)hotmail(dot)com

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    1. I'm delighted that you are so excited! I wonder if we will ever run out of ideas! Good luck in the giveaway Anna!

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