Hello, Friends! I'm delighted to be part of the Side By Side, Apart Blog Tour! My stop brings you an excerpt from Ann Galvia's new book Side By Side, Apart! I hope you enjoy! Be sure to read to the bottom for details of the giveaway!
From: Chapter Three
Darcy’s first attempt at a Jane Austen impression…
“I fear you will be disappointed with my storytelling regardless, for I did not kidnap you to the Continent and lock you in a decrepit castle until you agreed to marry me. Those are the stories that ladies find most captivating.”
“I am not looking to be captivated,” she replied, not feeling equal to continuing this game. Another time, she might find his attempts at teasing and humour pleasing. “My only wish is to understand.”
Acceptably chastised, Darcy returned to the story of their courtship. “I was made very angry,” he admitted, “by your refusal.” Elizabeth had been well aware of that at the time. She hardly needed it explained. “I had persuaded myself that you were expecting my addresses. I was humiliated to be wrong, felt myself ill-used, and indulged in a fair bit of self-pity that was entirely beneath me.”
Elizabeth opened her mouth to defend her actions, but Darcy silenced her by raising his hand. She was the only one who could not recall the events of the following morning, she reminded herself. She was the only one who had not discussed the event so thoroughly that it no longer wanted for discussion. Darcy knew her feelings on that evening. Darcy knew why she had said everything that she had. She had no reason to repeat it; he obviously had no desire to hear it.
“When I rose the next morning, I wrote you a letter. At the time I wrote it…it has been years since we last discussed this topic, and I dislike dwelling upon it.” He sighed. “At the time I wrote it, I felt myself calm and composed. Afterwards, I realised it was written in a dreadful bitterness of spirit, and parts of it had been intended to cause you pain.”
Mr. Darcy had been growing in her estimation. He had displayed generosity, goodness, and care. But this Mr. Darcy, vengeful and cruel, was closer to the man she expected. Given her situation, she could have no satisfaction in being right. What sort of man could claim to love a woman yet, upon not getting his own way, immediately intend to harm her? If that was Mr. Darcy’s conception of love, she wanted nothing to do with it.
“My object in writing to you,” he explained further, “was to defend myself against the accusations you had made. I was not in such a frame of mind to rationally discuss the incidents involving your sister or Mr. Wickham that evening, but after I left you, I realised I could not let it lie. I wrote a letter to explain my actions, which I delivered to you while on the grounds at Rosings. I took care that we would be unobserved. Subsequently, you were kind enough to read it.”
“Where is it now? I should like to read it.”
But that was to be impossible. “You burnt it upon my request. As I said, some of the letter was composed with the intention of causing you pain. After you accepted my hand, I did not wish for you to have the option of reading it again; I feared your feelings might change should you think on my phrasing. You were not concerned with such a possibility, but you were kind enough to do as I asked.”
“I seem to spend a great deal of time being kind enough to do what you wish me to do,” Elizabeth observed.
“I was born the heir of a great estate,” he replied, “and became master of my own destiny at too young an age. I was accustomed to getting my own way, and it took you some years to train me out of it. In the interim, you occasionally condescended to obey me on matters I felt strongly about.”
Book Blurb:
“You see what a strange circumstance it is,” she said, feeling some fleeting relief. “You know our acquaintance has not been easy.”
Elizabeth Bennet—stubborn, quick to judge but slow to revise her opinions, and entirely prejudiced against the man who had just proposed marriage at Hunsford—awakens to learn she has been in an accident. Bedridden in an unfamiliar house, she learns eleven years have passed since the last moment she can remember.
She finds herself a married woman, the mother of four, and pregnant yet again. Her children are strangers, and most mystifying of all, Fitzwilliam Darcy is her husband! How could she have married a man she loathes?
Confined to the house by her injury, Mr. Darcy’s company is inescapable. But is just being side by side enough to overcome their differences? What happens when Darcy, improved in manners and happily married to Mrs. Elizabeth Darcy, is faced with an obstinate, bewildered Miss Elizabeth Bennet?
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About the Author
Ann started writing sometime before she knew how letters functioned. Her first books were drawings of circus poodles heavily annotated with scribbles meant to tell a story. Upon learning how letters were combined to represent words, she started doing that instead. This has proven to be much more successful.
Sometime after that, she decided she wanted to study Anthropology and sometime after that, she decided she liked cats more than dogs. And sometime after that, she decided to become an educator and teach a new generation of kids how to combine letters to represent words, and use those words to express ideas.
And sometime after that, she realized all she really wanted to do was write, which probably should have been evident from the beginning.
Side by Side, Apart by Ann Galvia
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* * * GIVEAWAY * * *
It's giveaway time!! Meryton Press is doing a group giveaway! There are FOUR paperbacks and FOUR e-copies up for grabs, and EIGHT different people will win! Giveaway is open Internationally! To enter, just fill out the Rafflecopter below and leave a comment.
- Only one copy of Side By Side, Apart per winner.
- Winners picked randomly by Rafflecopter at the end of the Blog Tour.
- Readers may enter the drawing by tweeting once a day and daily commenting on a blog post for the tour. Entrants must provide the name of the blog where they commented (which will be verified). If an entrant does not do so, that entry will be disqualified.
- Open Internationally.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Many thanks to Ann Galvia for this lovely excerpt! *sigh* I just love Darcy! Also, while setting up this post, I took the time to read chapters one and two (from the Kindle preview), and I have to say, this sounds like a wonderful story!
Also, a big thanks to Jakki at Leatherbound Reviews for organizing this blog tour, and to Meryton Press for this generous giveaway!
Don't forget, to enter the giveaway you must fill out the Rafflecopter above, and leave a comment below! Thanks and good luck!
What did you think about the excerpt?
