Audiobooks, Part 3

Since my last installment about audiobooks, Charlotte Collins and “Maria Lucas” have both been through the last stages of the creation process. Charlotte Collins is already available at Audible.com and will soon be on iTunes too. “Maria Lucas” is still in the validation stage. More about that in a bit.

Here are more tips based on my experience with ACX.

Proofing
As an editor, I found proofing the audiobook difficult because I was tempted to, well, edit myself. As much as I love Charlotte Collins, there is always something that could be improved, but by this point in the book’s life, it’s just not an option.

To ensure a smooth proofing experience:

Make sure your text is in its final form before beginning the audiobook creation process.
As your narrator reads, she may discover typos. Typos happen, folks, and you can fix them if you plan ahead with your reader. When you discuss the process with her, be sure to tell her to contact you with any questions about text that looks funny or reads oddly. That can save you both time and money.
If you find errors in the final proof of the audiobook, keep in mind that your narrator is not being paid to be your proofreader. If you feel that certain errors—typos that are your fault—need to be corrected in the audio, realize that you are asking quite a lot from your narrator. They can’t just go in and change a word; they have to reread entire pages. Offer to pay them extra if you find such issues.
Narrator mistakes do not fall into the above category. They should be corrected as per your ACX agreement.
Because proofing is such a big deal, be sure to give good notes to your narrator regarding pronunciation etc.

Payment

ACX isn’t terribly clear about how this works, but that’s because it’s really between you and your narrator. You can send a check or use Paypal, which is probably faster.
Once your narrator receives payment, they notify ACX and the book goes into “validation stage.”

Validation

According to ACX, validation normally takes 10-14 business days. At this time, they are behind and estimating 14-20. Sit tight.

Sales

ACX offers a $25 bounty payment each time an audiobook produced through ACX is one of the first three purchases on Audible.com by an AudibleListener member.
Once your book is on sale, you will be eligible to sign up for Audible Author Services. This program offers an additional $1 per audiobook sold at Audible and iTunes. (It is meant to encourage authors who don’t get royalties to advertise their audiobooks.)

I hope these tips will help you as you create your own audiobooks. In the meantime, you can enter to win a free copy of the audiobook of Charlotte Collins on my blog.

Posted on May 24, 2013 by Jennifer Becton in Indie Publishing 4 Comments

No End in Sight

“We should be careful never to imagine, that the wedding-day is the burial of love, but that in reality love then begins its best life; and if we set out upon that principle, and are mindful to keep it up, and give due attention and aid to the progress of love thus brought into the well ordered well sheltered garden, we may enjoy I believe as much happiness as is consistent with the imperfection of our present state of being.”
James Boswell

When your intention is to write a love story – especially a period love story – your natural inclination is to view the subsequent marriage as the natural end. Sure, you can put your unsuspecting hero and heroine through all sorts of misunderstandings, have them ebb and flow on emotions and mutual regard for a deliciously long time, revel in unfulfilled sexual tension and draw out the inevitable happy ending for all you are worth but at some point they must “have each other” and then you are surely done.

Except, we found we were nowhere near done.

It was as if our two protagonists pushed us on even after it was very clear they were going to see sense and finally tie the knot. There was so more to tell, it seemed, so many questions and situations that were part of a love story but that came after the wedding and even after the honeymoon. We didn’t know Holly Tournier and Lord Baugham nearly as well as we thought we should. With two such strong characters, with two such intricate back stories, how could the story – their story – end at the wedding?

Of course it couldn’t end there. We found that we kept spinning and spinning a yarn that seemed endless, where each answered question only brought about another subject to be explored. Thoughts and situations kept intruding and stories set in different places, circumstances and in different moods kept demanding to be written. We found ourselves thinking about what happened to all the other characters, too. What happens when Lord Baugham introduces his bride to his ancestral home, a place filled with such tragedy and heartache for him? Who will they meet there? And what about his parents, couldn’t we learn a little more about them and their circumstances? What happens when he faces the prospect of becoming a father? Because there must be children. But what kind of children? Who are they? And how many? What happens when Holly really has to give up her old role as independent-minded daughter to an impoverished but proud bluestocking and join the peerage? What about London? What happens to them if they go and stay in London? How does Holly fit in such a cosmopolitan city? And what about Lord Baugham’s past, when will it catch up with him and what happens when it does?

So, just as the quote on top suggests, we refused to believe that the love story would end with a wedding. A marriage is so much more! And thankfully our readers agree! That is why there are now three Lord and Lady Baugham stories in print, there is one additional story being preened, dusted off and put in shape for future publication as we speak, and four stories hanging around our archives waiting to see the light of day at some point.

*****

Gail McEwen and Tina Moncton

G&T. Tit and tat. Odds and Ends. Old world and new. Two peas in a pod. Or, as one of their readers has so aptly christened them: Two Perfect Scheming Wenches who do NOT write books and stories about Miss Bennet and Mr Darcy! Deciding that rather than explore the what-if’s and variations possible within Austen’s existing works and much loved characters, they would introduce two new players to navigate the Regency world of Pride and Prejudice alongside them.

You can visit Gail and Tina on their website.

Make sure to check out our review of Twixt Two Equal Armies and enter to win a copy.

Posted on May 22, 2013 by Indie Jane in Austen, Guest Post 3 Comments

Review & Giveaway: Twixt Two Equal Armies

Twixt Two Equal Armies is the delightful story of Elizabeth’s cousin Holly Tournier, and her romance with Lord Baugham. Elizabeth’s plans take her to Holly’s home in Scotland after Lady Catherine visited her, and Darcy convinces Lord Baugham to follow so that he can court her. Against this backdrop, Holly meets Lord Baugham and they embark on their own journey of self-discovery and romance.

I really enjoyed the way the novel introduced Holly and Lord Baugham, who is a good friend of Darcy’s. It is always fascinating to me to see how Mr. Darcy interacts with his other friends, who might not be so easygoing and pliable as Mr. Bingley, and watching his easy friendship with Lord Baugham made me feel like I was seeing a fresh side of a well-loved friend. Elizabeth, too, is still every bit the Elizabeth we love from Austen’s novel, but watching her interact with her cousin and aunt brings new facets to her character that are both wonderfully fresh and wonderfully faithful.

But the story is not mainly about Elizabeth and Darcy. As the book goes on, and you come to love Holly and Lord Baugham through their eyes, they fade into the background and the focus of the main romance comes forward. This transition was rough at first, and there were some passages early on that seemed to drag a lot. But I barely noticed by the time Elizabeth left and Darcy followed, so wrapped up was I in what Holly and Baugham were doing!

Holly is struggling with her reputation, her place in the world, and her identity, and through the course of the book I enjoyed watching her find a balance in her precarious position–balance that Lord Baugham does everything in his power to disrupt, and not always intentionally. Their relationship is the kind that slips into romance without either one noticing, and there are no shortage of obstacles along the way. I was never quite sure how it would all turn out, and I found myself turning pages faster and faster the closer I got to the end.

The supporting cast was also fantastic. I really felt like I was given a glimpse into a larger world where people had lives far beyond what I got to read about. My favorite of all, though, was Holly’s mother. Mrs. Tournier is a strong woman with a good head on her shoulders and the same sparkling wit as her brother, Mr. Bennet, shares with Elizabeth. I came to love her just as much as I did Holly, and I was so pleased that she remained an important character throughout the whole book.

If you’re looking for a chance to see a new side of some familiar characters, to meet some new ones who will fit right in, and enjoy a truly delightful romance, you’ll be sure to find them in Gail and Tina’s Twixt Two Equal Armies.

Four out of five stars.

*****

Gail McEwen and Tina Moncton

You can visit Gail and Tina on their website.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Posted on May 20, 2013 by Brittany Gulbrandson in Giveaway, Review 14 Comments

Fun with Jane

*This is a reposting of a post that I wrote for Indie Jane in 2011 and that was lost in the crash last year. I hope you enjoy it!*

There are lots of really great research books out there, books that will tell you everything you want to know about the Regency era (and cost you an arm and a leg). While these are great for research, personally, I prefer to learn by doing and by having fun! Here are a few of my favorite “Jane” related fun books, or as I call them Fun with Jane books. . . and you can learn somethin’ too!

The Jane Austen Cookbook by Maggie Black

I love this! My mom got it for me for Christmas a few years ago and it is actually has a place of honor with my other cookbooks. It’s so much fun. But then again, I am the kind of nerd that has “recreated” the food served at the First Thanksgiving (somewhere, right now, Rebecca aka RivkaBelle is getting ready to call me a homeschool nerd . . . I can actually feel her thinking it as she reads this). Some of the recipes in this book are truly mind bending, but the author manages to set them in time period and context so that they are easier for modern minds to grasp.

Jane Austen’s Sewing Box by Jennifer Forest

This books is gorgeous, and amazing, and gorgeous. Did I mention gorgeous? I drooled over it for the longest time, but it wasn’t available in the US for under $100. My friend in Australia actually sent it to me for Christmas last year because she is awesome and she loves me. Of course, now you can buy it from Amazon sellers for 17 bucks plus shipping. But I digress. I am a sewist and so was salivating to try some of these projects. They range in difficulty level, but even if you are brand spankin’ new to sewing (as in you bought the book and have never sewn anything before) you will find some great projects to learn with. These are the kind of items that Jane and her sister, or Lizzy and her sisters would have had with them during the day to work on while they were sitting around not tweeting, playing angry birds, or facebooking their days away. It also has an amazing page of cravat tying styles. Love. Did I say it was gorgeous? Oh, I did? Well, good cause it is!

In the Garden with Jane Austen by Kim Wilson

This is the one book in this post that I don’t have . . . yet. It is most definitely on my wish list. From the publisher: This book strolls through the sorts of gardens that Jane Austen would have known and visited: the gardens of the great estates, cottage gardens, gardens in town, and public gardens and parks. With lush photos, social history, excerpts from the novels, information on her life, and period drawings, In the Garden with Jane Austen brings Jane Austen’s world and Georgian and Regency gardens to life. The book also includes gardens featured in film adaptations of Austen’s novels and provides instructions on creating one’s own Jane Austen garden.

Creating my own Jane Austen garden? Yes please! It might help if I had a yard . . . but this is a minor detail my friends. Minor. Detail. I think understanding the gardens of the time period are essential to understanding how people lived, and if you are writing an Austenesque novel it helps to be able to visualize the setting! According to Amazon this book is currently out of stock, but will be coming back into stock, so I suggest you snag it when it does. Before I do!

Which is your favorite out of the books that I’ve highlighted? Do you have any of them, or are any of them on your wish list? Do you have any other suggestions for Fun with Jane books?

Posted on May 17, 2013 by Jessica Grey in Austen, Friday Fun 2 Comments

How to Look for Stock Photos

As self-publishers we all have heard how important covers are. And as readers we know it’s true. Covers are extremely important – they can help create a brand not just for a series but for an author. As much as we’d like to say “don’t judge a book by its cover,” we do.

I know that many self-published authors look at covers as a burden, something we “have” to do. I look at covers as an opportunity. I think it is beyond cool that we get to have control over this part of our work and image. I always, always feel so sad for an author when one of their books gets re-released with a truly bad cover.

I posted before about some good stock image / stock photo sites and today I want to talk about planning for your image search as well as the image search itself.

Here are my Top Eight Rules for Image Searching.

1. Know What You’re Looking For

Finding a needle in a haystack is hard. It’s even harder when you don’t know that you’re looking for a needle. It may be possible that you find something so amazing and wonderful and it wasn’t what you were looking for at all. This, however, is different from randomly looking for images with no idea of what you’re objective is. I’m not saying that you have to have a complete picture in your mind of your finished cover, but you have to know what you’re aiming for and what options you’re open to. Not only will this help you narrow down what sites you search on, it will also inform your search terms.

You can even use image searching as a part of the “what am I shooting for?” process. For example, with Attempting Elizabeth I thought of a few different ideas for the cover. One idea was to have a close up on a “split face” – One half Kelsey’s face and one half Elizabeth Bennet’s face… this is a fun idea but the lack of photos with regency appropriate hair and a model that fit the description who also happens to be looking straight ahead nixed that idea for me. Another idea was to have Kelsey looking into a mirror and Lizzy looking back at her. Similar problems with this idea. Another idea was to have Kesley holding a copy of Pride and Prejudice and “thinking” about jumping into it. Of the three the most potential for conveying what I wanted and finding an image that worked was that one.

2. Know What’s Going on in Your Genre

This is almost a subsection of point one. I cannot stress enough how important it is that you look – really look – at covers of books that are similar to yours and know what you like/don’t like about them. Personally, I’ve seen enough covers that I recognize stock photos on certain sites. Why is this important? There’s a great image out there that would have been a pretty perfect image for the cover of Atone: A Fairytale. However, this image is on no less than three books in the YA fantasy/paranormal genre so I kept looking.

Knowing what the trends are in your genre can help you avoid using the same image as someone else – or ensure that you use the image in a different enough way that your books won’t get confused. It can also lead you into avenues you wouldn’t have explored before. If there’s a trend in your genre that you really don’t like it can help focus your search in other directions.

3. Invest the Time or Invest the Money

This probably should be number one because to me it is the most important. Like I said before, you’re not just a writer you are a publisher. Your cover is the first impression people will get about your book. The number one investment you can make in your cover is time. Investing the time, or paying someone else (like a designer) to invest their time pays off. Even if you’re paying a designer you should still be spending some of your own time in looking at images and helping give direction to your designer. (And let me tell you the worst thing you can do to a designer is say “I have no idea what I want but I want it to look nice.” At the very least send them a few books covers you like and a few you hate so they know where in the world to start.)

If you do not have time to invest in researching and planning your cover – make it. You are the publisher. If you were being traditionally published and your publisher told you they didn’t have the time to put into researching cover images for your book you would (rightly) be angry.

So how much time do you need? It depends. It could take you two hours it could take you twenty. But if you only allot a few hours for it you will find yourself frustrated. Looking for cover images can actually be fun if you can limit the stress. Especially if you’re looking for something that might be hard to find, please don’t set yourself up for failure by not setting aside the time. Try breaking it up into chunks: Spend 30 minutes a week during your writing process looking for images…which brings me to my next point.

4. Plan Ahead

If you leave your cover until the very last minute or limit yourself to two hours of searching just a few weeks before publication you are going to be frustrated. You may end up settling for something you aren’t happy with. It is never too early to start thinking about your cover. You’re writing the story, you know what’s going on it – what the themes and feel are. If you’re planning to write a series, book one is not too early to be planning a way to make those covers consistent. Plan the time it takes to look for cover images INTO your publishing schedule.

The number of girls with their eyes closed I looked at for Awake can’t even be properly measured. Or for Attempting Elizabeth – I knew what I wanted, but most images of women holding books are just plain odd looking. Luckily, there wasn’t a lot of panic because I started searching early. Search early. Search often.

6. Don’t Limit Yourself to Common Search Terms

Really this should be – don’t limit yourself. It’s not just the search terms. Don’t limit yourself to only one site, don’t limit yourself to only what’s popular in your genre, etc. Getting stuck in a search terms rut can reduce the number of images you find. Sometimes you need to spend some time messing around on a site like Wikimedia Commons or Dreamstime to get a feel for the way their search feature works. For example searching “Regency era portrait” on Wikimedia Commons is going to get you about three results, two of which aren’t portraits. However, searching “1800s portrait” is going to get you pages and pages of results.

If you see a picture you like on a stock photo site like Dreamstime take a look at the tags the photographer has used to describe it when it was uploaded. Use those tags as your search terms! For example – the image of the cover of my short story collection Views from the Tower is not tagged as “Rapunzel” or “long hair” or “long blonde hair,” – all of which you’d think were basic search terms it should come up under. However, I saw another picture by a completely different photographer that I liked and I noticed one of the many tags they used was “fairytale lady.” I swear to heaven above “fairytale lady” is not a search term that would have crossed my mind but without it I wouldn’t have found that perfect image. But I was on a mission – hunting down the best way to search…which brings me to point 7:

7. Be Investigative

Searching for the perfect image is a bit like finding a fugitive, you have to have patience, dedication, and the desire to keep trying until you find your suspect. Here are some practical ways you can be investigative. As I mentioned above with search terms – if you see a picture you like, look at what search terms that photographer has used. If you see an image that just blows your mind but has nothing to do with your book – find out what else that photographer or artist has done. If you see a photograph of a woman that looks exactly like your heroine but she’s got weird makeup on, or is looking off to the side and you need an image that’s someone looking ahead, or she’s making a funny face, etc… see if there are other pictures of the model. Many search sites have “see other images with this model” as an option. They also often have a “see similar images” option. Here’s where building that time into your schedule comes into play. Do not be afraid to spend a few minutes following a bunny trail.

8. Believe in the Power of Cropping

Be open to the possibilities. Especially if you write historical it is not always easy to find a quality image of someone in an exact replica dress. Often times portraiture from the era is available but there might be issues with getting a quality digital image big enough for print. If you are working with a designer ask them about what type of images they want and how much alteration they’re willing to do to an image. If you’re doing this yourself it is still possible to crop and/or to focus on certain aspects of an image without necessarily getting a B.A. in design.

I know it sounds like I’m telling you to put a whole lot of time into your cover. You might argue that you just don’t have a full day, or a full week to put into it. I really do believe that putting in the time can result in a quality cover and that the time doesn’t have to be necessarily in big chunks but worked in throughout the publishing schedule. I also think that most of the time is an upfront investment. There’s a reason I am able to narrow my search terms quickly now when looking for images and that’s because I’ve “learned” how to search on the various sites that I use. Take some time now – even if you don’t have an upcoming release – to play around on these sites!

How do you work the time needed for creating a cover into your publishing schedule? Are there any tips or tricks you’d like to share with us?

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Jessica Grey in Indie Publishing 11 Comments

A Prettyish Kind of a Little Wilderness

Indie Jane recently asked A Most Civil Proposal author C.P. Odom about his favorite part of Pride and Prejudice.

What is my favorite part of Pride and Prejudice? Wow, that’s kind of like asking what is my favorite movie, or what is my favorite seafood at Fisherman’s Wharf. Half a dozen contenders come immediately to mind, and others would likely pop up in short order. Then, as usually happens, I would likely wake up in the middle of the night remembering at least one scene that I forgot. However, after some consideration, I narrowed it down to this one: The confrontation between Lady Catherine and Elizabeth at Longbourn, where her ladyship tries to bully Elizabeth into giving up Darcy.

Why that scene? One reason is the near-universal enthusiasm for the average person when confronted by a domineering person possessed of the advantages of position, prestige, and fortune. Who could help but cheer for the underdog when facing such a bully, sure of success and never contemplating the possibility that their desires could be thwarted? Then there was the confidence and wit that Elizabeth displayed. Did she hesitate or consider her options? Of course not! Lady Catherine made her first attack, and our heroine parried it immediately, deflecting it by pretending not to know why Lady Catherine had made her journey. Thrust and parry, parry and thrust, back and forth the contest continued until Lady Catherine finally runs Elizabeth out of maneuvering room and Elizabeth admits she is not engaged to Darcy. Then, sensing victory, Lady Catherine pounces, demanding a promise that Elizabeth never agree to an engagement, and she snatches the victory away from her adversary by stating she will make no promise of the kind. Classic David and Goliath stuff! I just wish at least ONE of the several movie adaptations had simply played that scene just exactly as written and hadn’t either shortened it or modified it for “artistic” reasons. Grrrrrr! There ought to be a bounty on Hollywood screenwriters.

“A Most Civil Proposal” was my first effort at writing a P&P What-if story for the fan-fiction group, and I could not pass up including a version of this scene in my first effort. Possibly it was not strictly necessary, but when I thought upon it further, it began to seem more and more appropriate. Now, all this did not occur due to some kind of master plan. This was my first time, since most of my writing since college has been in the area of technical writing as part of my job in engineering. Various parts of the story got written, then they would get linked to a plot outline, which sometimes caused parts to be re-written or even eliminated. It wasn’t pretty, but I was learning how to tell a story.

The main criteria in deciding to include a version of the confrontation scene was the plausibility of that confrontation, as I just mentioned, and I finally concluded that it met that test. In “Pride and Prejudice”, Lady Catherine travels all the way from Kent to Hertfordshire when all she had was the report of a rumor from her tame clergyman, Mr. Collins. In my book, she had something more concrete, an actual announcement of the engagement in The Times. If she was willing to travel a greater distance based on a rumor of an engagement (which was untrue at the time, of course), then it seemed reasonable that she would travel to Darcy’s house in London based on an actual announcement.

Of course, while the confrontation did contain similar elements as in the book, there had to be differences. First was the location. It could not be at Longbourn, since Elizabeth was not at Longbourn due to her father withholding his blessing on the marriage. Darcy’s house in town thus became the default location, since Lady Catherine would travel to meet him and bully him into breaking the engagement, and the occasion of the dinner party became the default time, since I clearly wanted Elizabeth present.

The next difference was Lady Catherine’s demeanor. In P&P, she acts superior, dismissive, and snobbish to Mrs. Bennet and Kitty, but she wasn’t blatantly rude. She at least spoke to Mrs. Bennet, though she showed scant civility in doing so. In my book, she’s rude, angry, and outright contemptuous of everyone at the dinner table from the beginning, including a Peer of the Realm and her own brother (of course, I envisioned that she had been getting her own way for so long that she didn’t see her behavior as inappropriate but rather as justified outrage). I considered that her fervency was elevated to that at the end of the actual confrontation in P&P, when Lady Catherine takes no leave of Elizabeth and sends no compliments to her mother.

Another difference was mandated by the situation, and that was all the witnesses. Since she interrupts Darcy’s dinner party, she faced first her nephew instead of Elizabeth. Then Elizabeth inserts herself into the fray, and finally her brother and her other nephew arrive on the scene. Both Elizabeth and Darcy have parts in resisting Lady Catherine, and then, instead of having to retire in frustration at not having gotten her way, she is instead utterly routed, as her brother tells her off and then packs her off to Rosings in total defeat. Possibly this might stretch the bounds of credibility (perhaps the nobility might tend to side with their own, after all), but, hey, it was my first story and I couldn’t help myself. I enjoyed writing it, and I hope the readers get some enjoyment out of reading it.

*****

Born in 1947, Colin’s man credentials are firmly in place. He played football and served in the US Marines. After graduation, he spent thirty-five years as a software engineer and about seven years before that as an electronics tech. he did a lot of technical writing on the job, and, like most jobs, when you do a task half-way decently, you get assigned more of them. Plus, for many years, he’d had an itch to actually write some kind of fiction but had always imagined doing so in the science fiction field.

His interest in Jane Austen began after his first wife passed away from cancer. She discovered the JA novels when she was recuperating from surgery, and she really recommended them to Colin. He didn’t actually take her up on that suggestion until several years after her passing. It was an accidental viewing of the last half of the 1995 Pride & Prejudice miniseries that started it all. He wanted to find out what he had missed and what had motivated all the furor that went on in the video, and the simplest way he knew was to dig out Margaret’s copy of P&P. He quite enjoyed it, and gradually picked up various videos of other Jane Austen movies and watched them and read several of the books. Pride & Prejudice remains his favorite, but he is also partial to Sense & Sensibility, Persuasion, and Emma. You can find Colin online on his website.

Posted on May 13, 2013 by Indie Jane in Austen, Guest Post 4 Comments

An Austen Summer

We’re almost a third of the way into May, and hopefully your weather is finally warming up. In the blog world, summer often brings fun blog events to keep us busy. Here are a few Austen events coming up that you should keep an eye out for.

Jane Austen Giveaway HOP, hosted by wb32: This is part of the TEA at Pemberley event being hosted on the same blog. Austen bloggers (including several Indie Jane authors) will host giveaways on their own blogs, giving people an option to meet new Janeites and win fun stuff.

Jane in June, hosted by The Book Rat: A two week long celebration of Jane, Austenesque literature, and Jane Austen crafters, Misty’s event is always fun.

Austen tour blog posts, hosted by Nancy Kelley: I’m going on the Austen tour in England this summer with Laurel Ann Natress and Syrie James. I have every intention of writing blog posts that will make you all green with envy, and hopefully give some new insights into our Jane.

Posted on May 8, 2013 by Nancy Kelley in Austen, Community 6 Comments

Review & Giveaway: A Most Civil Proposal

A proposal is that crucial episode in a couple’s relationship where one person makes their argument for why they want to spend the rest of their life with the other. The answer is usually based on how good of an argument the person makes in their proposal. But what if you have notoriously bad luck properly communicating with the person you want to marry? That gets you Mr. Darcy’s infamously terrible first proposal. But what if Mr. Darcy had thought out his proposal, would it have changed the outcome?

That is the premise of C. P. Odom’s book, A Most Civil Proposal. In this book, Mr. Darcy decides to write out his proposal beforehand and revise it until he has a proposal that effectively communicates his feelings. But, despite putting so much thought and effort into his proposal, he did not have a plan for a negative outcome. Because, why would anyone turn down such a love-filled proposal from Mr. Darcy?

In the process of the altered proposal, we get a better understanding of Mr. Darcy’s feelings towards Elizabeth and then the heartbreak when she still turns him down. He could not have foreseen that Lizzy would have reasons for turning him down besides his manner of proposing. The poor thing put all his love and hope for a beautiful new life together into his proposal and had his dreams crushed.

Lady Catherine de Bourgh plays a critical role in ensuring the marriage of these two individuals and in this alternate version, she does not lose that role which she must have cherished playing. Lady Catherine’s servants end up, in their own way, destroying her dreams for a union between Darcy and his cousin Anne. Not a heartbreak for Anne, who admits to being physically unsuitable for the role as mistress of Pemberley. And this is something I liked about this book, the supreme irony between Lady Catherine’s wishes, her actions, and the results she gets in the end.
My issue with the book was the difference in the relationship between Elizabeth and her father in this version. Due to the altered circumstances surrounding Mr. Darcy and Lizzy’s engagement, Mr. Bennet does not get to see that they will be marrying for love. But the effect of his opinions on the marriage changes how he treats his once favorite daughter and soon to be son-in-law. I do not agree with this interpretation of how Mr. Bennet would have reacted because I do not believe that Mr. Bennet could have allowed a letter from Mr. Collins to estrange his relationship with his daughter to that extent. I feel that it goes against his character.

However, I found A Most Civil Proposal to be a fun read for those who love to read alternate versions of Pride & Prejudice. I personally love reading alternate versions because the possibilities are limitless.

I am excited to see what C. P. Odom’s second book, Consequences, will bring.

Four out of five stars.

*****

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Posted on May 6, 2013 by Patty Marq in Giveaway, Review 14 Comments

Friday Fun: Literature Traveling

This pin has been going around Pinterest recently and honestly, this is kind of a genius promotion tool by CheapFlights. It speaks to the imagination and the reader’s desire to travel to the locations in their favorite books.

Of course, as Austen fans I am sure that we’ve all wanted to go on an “Austen Tour” of England. Our very own Nancy Kelley is attending one this fall, in fact.

What other book locations would you like to visit?

Posted on May 3, 2013 by Jessica Grey in Friday Fun 1 Comment

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