Find Wonder in All Things Blog Tour! ~ Guest Post with Karen M Cox & Giveaway!

Hello, my friends and Happy New Year! Wow! I can't believe how fast 2019 went by. For my first post of the new year, I have the lovely Karen Cox visiting! Woot! 

Karen is re-releasing a couple of her books this year, and the first and the one we are spotlighting here is Find Wonder in All Things. I've read this book and love it! (I'll put a link to my review at the bottom of the page)

Thank you so much for letting me stop in at So Little Time... to celebrate the re-release of Find Wonder in All Things! 

Several years ago, as I read my way through Miss Austen’s novels for the first time, I discovered marvelous stories that explored timeless psychological truths. As a modern reader myself, I could relate to those who might resist tackling the density of that 18th century prose, but a really interested reader might attempt it, like I did, if the story enclosed within intrigued her enough.
  
And Austen’s stories intrigued me. If I distilled each novel down to one “take-home” message or theme, it was always something I could relate to my own life. For example, Pride & Prejudice is about erroneous first impressions. Persuasion is about forgiveness, second chances and timing. 

Exploring these themes in other eras (specifically, different decades of the 20th century) has been an avid interest of mine since I first began writing Austen-inspired stories over ten years ago. In my debut novel, 1932, changing the setting and time period set Darcy and Elizabeth on an alternate path that made some significant changes to the story. 

With Find Wonder in All Things, a Persuasion adaptation, the story adhered more closely to the Persuasion canon. The major themes I addressed were forgiveness, second chances, and the importance of timing: Wentworth forgives Anne for rejecting him, Anne forgives Wentworth for his callous treatment of her when he returns, and they both forgive Lady Russell for her erroneous advice. Anne and Wentworth’s second chances had to be embraced by both of them to work. Each of them had to take a leap of faith. And the timing of that leap of faith was important: a marriage between a young Wentworth and Anne might have been a disaster, a possibility I believe Jane Austen saw clearly. Wentworth and Anne have a different relationship because they’re older. Another way timing informs the original Persuasion story is that Wentworth happens to return about the same time as William Elliot seeks reconciliation with Anne’s father, Sir Walter, giving the good captain some awareness of Anne—and maybe some competition he can’t resist :) These themes: forgiveness, second chances, and timing—are timeless because they are human and therefore, are still relevant today.


But…

Anne Elliot is an 18th century girl. The reality of that means she is a spinster at 27, past her prime, isolated, subjugated to the whims of her father and sisters, and part of a class system that is beginning to shift from aristocracy to more of a meritocracy (which I think Miss Austen approved.) Society prevents Anne from expressing her feelings to Wentworth the way a modern woman would. She’s a Cinderella with bad sisters, and a flawed fairy-godmother—in many ways unable to take charge of her own life.  

So, Anne Elliot sometimes reads as overly passive, in danger of being seen as pathetic rather than sympathetic to modern reader’s eyes. 

And that, my friends, was what I saw as the biggest peril of a modern adaptation of Persuasion. 

But, how to deal with it? 


After fretting and turning it over in my mind about forty different ways, I decided on this plan of attack:

1. I addressed Anne’s passivity by changing my modern heroine Laurel’s life from being driven by the macrocosm of society to the being influenced by the microcosm of her personality, her choices, her family dynamics, and her profession. 
2. I had to make it easy for Laurel to idolize her Wentworth (James Marshall) by making him romantic, dashing, sexy–and then keeping her in isolation for the ensuing years till he returns.
3. I had to make him unsuitable in her family’s eyes. We don’t have those 18th Century English class divisions, so I did two things to make him “dangerous” to the Elliots: one, I made him a musician (because, what’s more dangerous to a teenage girl’s parents than a musician, right?); two, I chose education level as the great divide between the Elliots’ values and James’s priorities. This take on James’s suitability also affected the characters of “Sir Walter” and “Lady Russell.” 
4. Finally, the advice Laurel received had to be faulty to modern eyes and based on recently outdated views of male/female relationships—but not too outdated, or it wouldn’t fit the time period. 

To make sure I kept the themes and character traits I wanted, I started with the characters’ defining characteristics and wrote modern character sketches: appearances, occupation, schooling, middle names, pets, hobbies, birthdays, childhood traumas, personality strengths and weaknesses. 

Then, I studied and took notes on Persuasion, chapter by chapter, creating a timeline of the plot points/events that drive the story. After that, it was decision time: What would those events look like in the setting I’d chosen? Which ones no longer made sense?  

Finally, I walked my modern characters through the plot points, similar to viewing a movie with a pause function. Whenever I “saw” something interesting, I stopped the movie and “interviewed” the characters. Sometimes they said the wackiest things, and sometimes they surprised me (which seems odd given that they’re in my head, but there you have it.)

Because Jane Austen’s characters are iconic, they adapt well when stepping into another time or place. It’s fun to watch her beloved Elizabeth, or mysterious Mr. Darcy, or her hated Willoughby or horrid Mrs. Norris walk their way through uncharted territory. Fun to read AND fun to write. 

Find Wonder in All Things was a joy to write. I hope all the fans of Persuasion find it a joy to read as well.

Find Wonder in All Things
by Karen M. Cox

Book Description: 

 “There could have never been two hearts so open… Now they were as strangers” —Persuasion 

Mountain Laurel Elliot is like her name—she blooms best in the cool comfort of shade, hidden in the Kentucky foothills of Appalachia. Alone on her mountain, she lives a private existence with only her pottery—and her regrets—for company. 

James Marshall had a secret dream and Laurel was part of it, but dreams sometimes lead to unexpected places. James’s heart broke when Laurel cut him loose, but he moved on—and became successful beyond his wildest dreams. 

For one glorious summer, James and Laurel had each other, but life has kept them far apart. 

Until now. 

“a magnificent modernization of Jane Austen’s Persuasion.” -Austenesque Reviews 

Winner of the Independent Book Publisher’s Award 2012: Gold Medal in Romance and Next Generation Indie Finalist in Romance 2013

Buy: Amazon (paid link)
Add to Goodreads

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

About the Author

Karen M Cox is an award-winning author of five novels accented with history and romance, a novella, and several short stories.

Karen was born in Everett WA, the daughter of a United States Air Force Officer. She had a nomadic childhood, with stints in North Dakota, Tennessee, and New York State before settling in her family’s home state of Kentucky at age eleven. She lives in a quiet town with her husband and works as a pediatric speech pathologist.

If you would like periodic bits of authorly goodness delivered to your inbox, be sure to get Karen’s News and Muse Letter. Updates, sales, book recommendations, etc. are yours for the asking. 

Connect with Karen M Cox

Website • Instagram • Twitter • Facebook • Tumblr • Pinterest


Blog Tour Schedule

Jan. 4 - Karen M Cox

Jan. 7 - So Little Time...

Jan. 9 - From Pemberley to Milton

Jan. 10 - Babblings of a Bookworm

Jan. 11 - My Love for Jane Austen

Jan. 12 - Austenesque Reviews

Jan. 13 - Delighted Reader

Jan. 17 - Margie's Must Reads

Jan. 20 - From Pemberley to Milton

Feb. 3 - Diary of an Eccentric

* * * GIVEAWAY * * *

It's giveaway time! To celebrate the second edition of Find Wonder in All Things, Karen is giving away a signed copy of the book and some Jane Austen swag: fun notecards from The Quill Ink, What Would Jane Do? book of quotes, and Austen coffee mug (if US winner),

or an ebook copy of the book and 25$ Amazon Gift Card (if International Winner - cause #shipping :)

Each comment left on a Find Wonder in All Things blog tour post will serve as an entry.

Winner will be chosen by 11:59 pm EDT on 2.6.20 and announced on Karen's website and social media (Facebook page, Twitter, Instagram).

Good luck, everyone!

Wow! Thank you, Karen, for having a fantastic giveaway! Also, it was a pleasure having you here, and I loved hearing how you adapted Persuasion to a modern setting. It was fascinating to see how you broke down and outlined your story! 

As promised the link to my review of Find Wonder in All Things (first edition).

I hope you enjoyed reading this Karen's post as much as I did! Don't forget to leave a comment to enter the giveaway! :) Thanks for stopping by!