The Flight Path Less Traveled Blog Tour! ~ Guest Post, Excerpt & Giveaway!

Hello, my friends! I'm delighted to have Leigh Dreyer visiting today with her new book The Flight Path Less Traveled which is the second book in her Pride in Flight Books! She is also offering an e-copy to one of my readers! Details for the giveaway are at the bottom of the page! 

Hello, amazing readers! First off, I want to thank Candy for hosting me! I love watching So Little Time... during book launches and am so honored to be here.

I wanted to write a little about some of the new characters in

The Flight Path Less Traveled. In the first book, I kept very true to Pride and Prejudice and the characters there, however, after the events at the end of The Best Laid Flight Plans, Elizabeth has some new trials which demand a new cast of characters. I will try to avoid spoilers but just be warned, that some of the events of book one may become obvious after reading this article, so if you haven’t finished The Best Laid Flight Plans yet, nows the time to escape! The characters I want to introduce are Hetty Bates and Mrs. Jennings. You might recognize some favorites in that group, but let’s start with Ms. Bates.

Hetty Bates is Elizabeth’s new physical therapist. Let me begin by giving you a little background information about myself. I have an autoimmune disease that has required physical therapy every week or two for the last seven years, so I have a tremendous amount of respect for the physical therapists I have worked with. When I thought through the possibilities of Elizabeth receiving physical therapy, the character I jumped to first was Miss Bates from Emma. I wanted someone who was naturally caring, who truly loves the people around her, and wants the best for people. Austen’s Miss Bates is a little flightier than the Hetty Bates from my novel, but she really had the perfect foundations for exactly what I wanted. If I could have anyone play Hetty Bates, DPT in a movie, I would love Octavia Spencer. Someone feisty and fun, but that cares deeply about Elizabeth and her success. Someone who can give Elizabeth wisdom learned from her father, a former Reverend.  I loved writing her!

Mrs. Jennings is Elizabeth’s new behavioral therapist. Mrs. Jennings is slightly based on a previous therapist of my own. She was one of the sweetest ladies I’ve ever met, but also a little silly. For Elizabeth, I needed someone who could take charge and kind of punch Elizabeth out of her rut, but also someone who had a sincerity that Elizabeth could not question. The best therapists I’ve had have this amazing way of getting me to recognize the right answer for myself rather than spoon-feeding it to me. They helped me work through my problems and feelings without ­beating myself up. One thing I do like about Austen’s Mrs. Jennings is for all her ridiculous gossiping, she does care for those around her and attempts to provide the Dashwood girls with opportunities beyond their means. Marianne and Elinor figure out the solutions to their problems around her in the novel occasionally with her gentle probing (here’s looking at you Colonel Brandon!).

I have loved the opportunity that writing The Flight Path Less Traveled has given me to go back through and get to know Hetty Bates and Mrs. Jennings again. They are such close friends now that I’ll be seriously depressed if I need to give them up for Came a Flight Gently (book 3 in the series).  


Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy the book! Tell me what other Jane Austen character you would love to see in a future book. I’d love to find some great suggestions for the team in book 3.

The Flight Path LESS Traveled
by Leigh Dreyer

In this modern Pride and Prejudice continuation and sequel to The Best Laid Flight Plans, 2nd Lieutenant Elizabeth Bennet and Captain William Darcy are facing trials after the events of Elizabeth’s last flight. Darcy’s proposal lingers between them as Elizabeth becomes almost single sighted to her rehabilitation and her return to pilot training. A secret is revealed to Elizabeth about Mr. and Mrs. Bennet’s past that throws all she has known to be true into a tail spin. The romance between our hero and heroine begins to blossom through military separations, sisterly pranks, and miscommunications. Can Darcy and Elizabeth come together or will flying in the Air Force keep them apart?

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FTC Disclaimer: Link to Amazon US. I am an Amazon Associate. Should you purchase a copy of the book through the link provided, I will receive a small commission. Thanks!

Here's an excerpt from Chapter 17:

     Thanksgiving dinner had been wrought with danger. After their arrival, the elder Mr. and Mrs. Bingley looked down their noses at Netherfield. The couch was too old, that framed art too gauche, and the drapery was all wrong. Susan Bingley had promptly called her interior designer and set up an online meeting for Jane the next day. Does she not comprehend that her son is only leasing the house?

     David Bingley had immediately pressed for the liquor cabinet and bemoaned the lack of Cambridge Distillery vodka for five minutes before mixing himself a dry Beefeater gin martini and loudly elucidating the floral hints of his drink which Elizabeth suspected was in fact gin with an olive.

     “Have you had the bespoke small batch Cambridge?” David asked Thomas who had found amusement observing the ridiculous complaints of his posh counterpart.

     “Always been more of an Oxford man myself.”

     David looked confused but pressed forward, despite the strange comment.

     “I have a few bottles of the anty gin, you know,” said David in between drinks. “They distill the essence of ants to achieve the taste. Phenomenal.”

     “Ants?” Lydia crinkled her face in disgust. “And you drink it?”

     “Of course, it has interesting citrus notes. Truly unexplainable without tasting it yourself—almost like lemon.” David stood wistfully swirling his glass. “You would drink lemonade, wouldn’t you?”

     “Without bugs in it.”

     David laughed. “I’ll admit I thought it was a little strange at first. My prize though are two bottles of the Watenshi. Do you know very much about Japanese alcohol, Tom?”

     Thomas Bennet, who had never been called Tom in his life, smiled widely. “Not since an unfortunate sake incident in college. I believed a waitress infatuated with me until I was informed that I was quite mistaken. Fortunately, I had the rest of the bottle to help me forget her with only a headache the next morning.”

     “That reminds me of a couple glasses of Tanqueray in my twenties…” David continued in his attempts to discuss the finer points of his experiences with various London based gins; Mr. Bennet kept up his part of the conversation, but David needed little encouragement to continue. After several minutes, Mark Hurst joined his father-in-law at the cabinet, poured himself a rum and Coke, and nodded his agreement while blandly evaluating the glassware.

     Caroline and Louisa, meanwhile, had stationed themselves in Caroline’s room where they likely gossiped cruelly about the Bennets in the hour before dinner. Luckily for Jane, the Bennets were on their best behavior. Even Lydia, who in past years was sent on last-minute shopping trips for “necessary” ingredients to get her out of the house and decrease the inhabitants’ headaches, was pleasant.

     The sisters talked about the high school’s Turkey Bowl, how Kitty had found a new job, and Mary’s newest attempts to bring Longbourn into the technological age.

     “I heard about the new website,” said Darcy while walking through the living room on an errand from Jane.

     Mary sat up straighter on the couch. “It’s not only a website. It’s an app, a booking system, and guest survey. It will not only bring us into the modern era, a feat which rivals David battling Goliath, but it will make us actually competitive with nearby bed and breakfasts. You would be shocked by the systems some of the inns near San Antonio have and they are charging three to four times more per night than we are for inferior quality rooms, staff, and food.”

     “Mary is very passionate about our work, Captain Darcy. I’m sure you can understand that yourself coming from a farm turned into another enterprise,” said Fanny Bennet.

     On the other side of the kitchen door, Elizabeth finished slicing the bread and raised her eyebrows at the thought of the Pemberley she had visited being compared in any way to Longbourn; Darcy was much pleasanter than Elizabeth could have ever imagined when he responded.

     “I know you’re younger than Elizabeth, but how much longer do you have in your program? I assume you’re doing business online?”

     “I want to go to school, of course, but with Jane and Elizabeth in college and Lydia in high school, Kitty and I needed to work the Inn for a little while…” her voice trailed off. She bit her lip and shook her head, her eyes avoiding Darcy’s.

     “Mary, I’m sure with your expertise, Longbourn will see increased profits and better-quality bookings. I’m sure you are one hundred percent comfortable with whatever software system you have chosen, but if you have any questions, I have a cousin in the tech field who would love to talk to someone as passionate as you are about this subject. I’ll put you in touch with him.”

     Elizabeth could hear him leave the room and the door closing behind him while the hum of her family talking in the living room buzzed as a background noise to her work. Bread done, she moved on to sorting through Jane’s china and the china her mother had brought from Longbourn.

     After getting through seven place settings, Darcy returned to the kitchen and stood next to Elizabeth.

     “You are probably being marked down as beatified in the Vatican right now for your kindness to Mary. Do you think they’ll make you into one of those little votive candles,” she said, cracking a lazy smile while she nudged his shoulder gently with her own.

     “As long as they set mine right next to Mrs. Reynolds’.” He kissed her cheek before sitting across from her and taking her hand. “Mary is much more pleasant to speak to than half of my investors and seems to actually know what she is talking about. It’s refreshing, to be honest.”

     “When you say investors, how many do you interact with? I thought Pemberley was fairly small as far as wineries go.”

     “The Pemberley label is fairly small as far as American vintners go, but Pemberley’s holdings also operate as a négociant which buys up grapes from other vineyards. Ours come predominantly from smaller vineyards in Napa, and then we produce it under other labels within the Pemberley organization. When you toured with Gardiner, you didn’t get to see the vineyard portion. Our wine label hosts very specific and relatively expensive wines which aren’t consumable by the average consumer, so we use other, cheaper grapes to bottle less expensive varieties for sale through Costco and a few other national vendors.”

     “National? Aren’t those for major brands? I don’t think Costco would just take anyone.”

     “Well, it’s a bit less impressive of an accomplishment when you consider that Costco is the number one wine seller in the world, but we do okay.”

     “What does okay mean?”

     “We haven’t cracked the top ten, but for this last year we were able to push about a hundred million in sales. We’re hoping to top that number by at least two percent next year.”

     Elizabeth blinked at him. Her mind could not compute a hundred million dollars. That was an inconceivable amount when she was happy with the three thousand a month she received as a lieutenant.

     “Maybe we can go over some of my holdings a little later? You look frightened.”

     “I knew you were rich—I mean I don’t know any other captains with their own planes but”—Elizabeth struggled for the right words—“that is a lot more than I expected.”

     “I probably should have told you sooner. I honestly assumed Bingley had told your sister.”

     Elizabeth suddenly remembered the guests at Netherfield and looked over her shoulder to see if Jane was immediately behind her. Seeing Jane turn into the living room, Elizabeth lowered her voice, then spoke barely above a whisper. “Do you think things are going well with the Bingleys?”

     “I’ve known Charles a long time and I’d say this is fairly typical. I should have remembered about his dad and the gin thing. At home, he tends to go for the most expensive bottles he can find. Out and about, he’s a little particular.”

     Elizabeth raised an eyebrow and Darcy shrugged. They worked together in companionable silence, listening to the sounds of china tapping as they neatly placed them on the table and the chink of silverware clinking against the plates.

     “How’s Georgiana?”

     “She’s doing well. I talked to her this morning—she’s at Richard’s parents—and she seemed happy. I know she misses having dinners at Pemberley, but I’m hopeful that maybe next year I can be up there with her.” Darcy pulled out a chair from the table and sat down, looking at a blank wall almost hopefully before smiling and looking back at Elizabeth. “I’d love it if you joined me, of course.”

     “We’ll have to see. I don’t know where I will be stationed then.” Elizabeth wanted badly to go to Europe; it was half the reason she had joined the Air Force in the first place. She wanted to serve her country and she wanted to fly, of course, but seeing the world seemed like the icing on the cake. Being initially stationed in Meryton had been a stiff disappointment that she had been weathering, but she could not stop herself from continuing to hope for a miracle.

     Darcy cleared his throat. Please don’t fight with me about it. Not today. Elizabeth had just come to terms with her weird family situation and did not think she could deal with a fight with William about her staying in the military.

     “Of course, I have Sheila, so I could get you wherever you were and fly you to Pemberley.”

     Elizabeth had forgotten about his Bonanza. It was a fantastic airplane, and she had loved handling the controls when they flew to Rosings for the Base Closure meetings.

     “That would be perfect then. How is Richard?”

     “He said he wished he was here since we have drinks and someone who actually cooks. His parents are having their dinner catered while their regular cook is off, and he hates their menu. I don’t remember all of it, but he made several contrary comments about how portabella mushrooms and goose liver don’t agree with his finely tuned Army palate.”

     Elizabeth laughed and enjoyed the flash of his smile. His angular jaw made his profile distinct. When their eyes met, electricity jolted through her body…especially when he smiled at her like that.

     She cleared her throat and felt the heat of a blush on her chest. “I’m sure he’ll make it through, but his sacrifice should be noted for history. Has Georgiana finished applying for schools?”

     “I’m not sure. She told me she had a few in, but Julliard auditions aren’t until March, so she has a little more time for recording the audition videos she can send in and filling the last few out. She’s completely stressed out, but Mrs. Annesley sent me an email saying there was nothing to be concerned about—just nerves.”

     “I know you’ve told me before, but remind me, who is Mrs. Annesley?”

     “Julia Annesley. She’s Georgiana’s piano teacher.”

     “Right.”

     “She’s pretty phenomenal in the field. Used to be the Met’s practice pianist, as a matter of fact, and had an amazing career before that. She took Georgiana as a special favor.”

     Elizabeth listened to Darcy in awe. She had known Georgiana played the piano but the stunning realization that he had the means to not only send her to an elite private high school but also to hire a piano teacher who likely played in the best concert halls around the world….

     “I’m sure Georgiana will do her best,” she said.

     “Of course she will.” Darcy fiddled with a napkin he was placing on the table, twisting one corner in his fingers. “Elizabeth?”

     “William,” she teased.

     He chuckled softly. “I have something to tell you.” His hand tightened around hers, but instead of letting go, she placed her free hand over his gently.

     “If you’re going to tell me you’ve fallen madly in love with me, I’ve already heard that one.”

     He laughed, a booming laugh that filled the room and caused Elizabeth’s smile to widen.

❤️❤️❤️

About the Author

Leigh Dreyer is a huge fan of Jane Austen variations and the JAFF community. She is blessed to have multi-generational military connections through herself and her husband, who she met in pilot training. She often describes her formative years in this way: “You know the ‘Great Balls of Fire’ scene in Top Gun (‘Goose, you big stud!’), where Goose and Meg Ryan have their kid on the piano? I was that kid.” Leigh lives with her pilot husband, a plane-obsessed son, a daughter who will one day be old enough to watch romantic movies with her, and another little one expected in September 2019.

Connect with Leigh Dreyer

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* * * GIVEAWAY * * *

It's giveaway time! Leigh Dreyer is generously giving away one e-copy of her new book, The Flight Path Less Traveled! To enter, fill out the Rafflecopter below! 

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• Rafflecopter will randomly select the winner.
• Open Internationally.
• Last day to enter the giveaway is April 2nd, 2019, at 11:59 PM, Pacific Time.

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Many thanks to Leigh Dreyer for visiting us today! It's such a pleasure to have you here! I'm also grateful for your offer to have a giveaway with me!  Thank you, Leigh!!

So, friends, do you have an answer to Leigh's question? What other Jane Austen characters would you love to see in her one of her future books?