Monday, April 20, 2015

Excerpt and Giveaway: Suddenly Mrs. Darcy by Jenetta James

Welcome to the blog tour of Suddenly Mrs. Darcy by Jenetta James, brought to you by Meryton Press! Today we have the very first excerpt from this new work of Austenesque fiction, as well as a giveaway.  Thanks for stopping by The Calico Critic, and be sure to check out the other posts along the tour, which runs until May 3rd. If you'd like to enter the giveaway, please utilize the Rafflecopter widget below.

Content Note: Portions of this passage are a bit steamier than ones I usually share here. As the characters are married, there's nothing inherently wrong with this scene. I just wanted to make note of it for those readers of more conservative sensibilities.





Elizabeth Bennet never imagined her own parents would force her to marry a virtual stranger. But when Mrs. Bennet accuses Fitzwilliam Darcy of compromising her daughter, that is exactly the outcome. Trapped in a seemingly loveless marriage and far from home, she grows suspicious of her new husband’s heart and further, suspects he is hiding a great secret. Is there even a chance at love given the happenstance of their hasty marriage?


Suddenly Mrs. Darcy: Prologue

     I have never felt less sure of myself than I feel now. The candlelight flickers over the plain walls and shadowy furnishings of this room. Darkness and damp press against the small windows. An empty rambling countryside lies beyond, and the rumble of unknown revellers roars quietly below. I know he will come to me, and I pull the heavy blanket higher against my person. I can hardly credit I am here, nor know how the compromise of my life shall ever be made right.

     When he does come, I know I must welcome him. It cannot be that he truly wants me, for we are strangers, and in his manner, he has made it plain. He says little, and in view of what has happened, I dread to imagine what he thinks. Even my mother, a woman of mean understanding, little information, and uncertain temper, seems to know all is not quite as it should be. She knows, as I do and as he does, that she is the author of our situation. I mull, not for the first time, the way in which this began. The confusion and speed of events and the ambiguous nature of the tricks played upon me scream through my mind. I can make no sense of his part. Is he motivated by honour or hatred of scandal or pity, or some other unknown creature in his head? Does he lack the imagination to act other than he has done? I have only the scantest knowledge of him. You could not call it intimacy; you could not call it friendship. Even so, it is a secret between us that he is in some sense guilty if not exactly guilty as charged. However, we are here in this place, and the best must be made of it if we are not to run mad.

     Occasionally, I hear a tread upon the stair and I start, marshalling my courage and straightening my face. But then the tread moves in another direction or returns to the public bar. Some servant perhaps or another guest—not him, coming for me. I turn onto my side in the unfamiliar bed, thinking that, by moving my limbs, I may still their trembling. Apart from the fear of what must come, I am also tired to the bone.

      The journey north began almost immediately after our wedding and is not yet complete; it has been long and the weather treacherous. Mr Darcy sat opposite me in the carriage and said little. In my head, he is “Mr Darcy.” Our connection, short and strange, does not seem to merit any other appellation. In the darkness, I miss my sister Jane and the sweet smells and familiar shapes of our chamber at Longbourn where I have slept all my life. The memory of my mother’s advice, given in that chamber on the subject of this night, returns to me. I begin to wish it would start rather than hound me by being so protracted in the anticipation.

     And so it does start. Steps on the stair do not recede or return. Instead, they grow louder, heavier, and closer; they pause only briefly before I hear a tap upon the door. “Come,” I say, not knowing whether it would be better to say nothing for he knows I am in here. Where else should I be but in this room in this bed? I have nowhere to run as he well knows.

     His appearance in the light of the doorway makes me feel small, but I resist the urge to shrink further to the edge of the bed. Something inside me rises, and though I am fearful, I raise my head slightly and look at his face. It wears a blank expression, and as he closes the door behind him, he asks if I am comfortable.

     “Yes, sir. Thank you. I am.”

     He sits upon the bed and stretches out his hand to me, not touching. “Good. I hope that you are. Madam. Elizabeth. I know you must be fatigued.” He seems to want to say more but does not. The emptiness of the air and the words unspoken swell the space between us, and I remember my resolve.

     “I am not so fatigued, sir.” I try to smile and not appear embarrassed by my circumstances. A shadow of a reply plays across his lips in acknowledgement, and he begins to undress. I turn my head, for watching a man disrobe is wholly without my experience, and I had not anticipated it. I knew it was not a spectacle I should usually witness since Mr Darcy would normally be undressed by his valet. But this night we have been, as so often during our short association, wrong-footed by matters outside our control. Only one chamber was available, so only one chamber do we have.

     And only one bed—so I know I must make the best of it. When he wears only his lawn shirt, he lifts the side of the blanket and, looking at my face for only a moment, gets in. He also looks at the candlelight flickering across the empty wall before turning to me and saying “Elizabeth, come,” as he takes my shoulder and rolls me towards his embrace. My mother had told me it would be over quickly, and so indeed it was. He is not rough and has the goodness to warn me it may hurt at first. It does hurt, but I do not cry out; I will not allow myself to do so. I simply lie before him and allow him to part my legs and enter me as I had been told he would. I find I am not prepared for the odd feeling of his great weight upon me nor the solitary feelings of indistinct woe that beset me as I lie on my side afterwards, feeling his wetness, hearing his breathing, and hopeless of sleep for myself.

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a Rafflecopter giveaway
 
 
 
About the Author

Jenetta James is a lawyer, writer, mother and taker-on of too much. She grew up in Cambridge and read history at Oxford University where she was a scholar and president of the Oxford University History Society. After graduating, she took to the law and now practises full time as a barrister. Over the years she has lived in France, Hungary and Trinidad as well as her native England. Jenetta currently lives in London with her husband and children where she enjoys reading, laughing and playing with Lego. Suddenly Mrs. Darcy is her first novel. 


Connect with Jenetta







The Suddenly Mrs. Darcy Blog Tour Schedule
Sponsored by Meryton Press and Leatherbound Reviews

4/20: Excerpt & Giveaway at The Calico Critic
4/21: Review at Songs and Stories
4/22: Guest Post & Giveaway at My Jane Austen Book Club
4/23: Guest Post & Giveaway at So Little Time…
4/24: Review at Diary of an Eccentric
4/25: Excerpt & Giveaway at My Love for Jane Austen
4/26: Review at Babblings of a Bookworm
4/27: Guest Post & Giveaway at Austenesque Reviews
4/28: Guest Post at Songs and Stories
4/29: Excerpt & Giveaway at Best Sellers and Best Stellars
4/30: Review at My Kids Led Me Back to Pride and Prejudice
5/1: Review at Margie's Must Reads
5/2: Guest Post & Giveaway at More Agreeably Engaged
5/3: Excerpt & Giveaway at Laughing with Lizzie

38 comments:

  1. Wedding night scenes like this make me so sad! I know it could be infinitely worse but it's just so empty. I wonder how different it might be from Darcy's POV.

    I'm looking forward to reading this one! I like the angst of forced marriage scenarios, and we have a mystery too, it seems.


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    1. Hi MonicaP - thank you for your interest and comment. I think it must have been very sad indeed to be corralled into marriage in this way. I have thought about writing from Darcy's perspective because of course there is a lot going on on his side of the story as well - but I guess that is another book! I hope that you enjoy the rest of the "tour" and happy reading. Jenetta

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    2. Hi MonicaP, thank you very much for your interest & comment. I think it must have been very sad indeed to be corralled into marriage in this manner especially for women who must have felt very helpless. I have thought about many of the scenes from Darcy's point of view and think that is a really interesting idea - but I guess that is another book entirely! I hope that you enjoy the "tour", happy reading, Jenetta

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  2. I love the idea of this variation - will Darcy and Elizabeth still find love if forced to marry before the ill-fated proposal?

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    1. Hi Nicole, I am glad to hear that you like the idea - I hope that you enjoy the other excerpts that are coming in the next 2 weeks. It is one of the fun aspects of "forced marriage" variations that they effectively do away with the best scene - of the ill fated proposal - so your challenge as the author is to try to replace that - you will have to be the judge! I hope that you enjoy the tour and the book and thank you for your comment and interest, Jenetta

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  3. Sounds cold, very realistic and interesting! I love arrange marriage variations of Pride and Prejudice, so I will look forward to new excerpts from this book. For now this start and the author's writing style appeals to me. I very much hope this new book by this new author will be wonderful additions to the JAFF community.

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    1. It is really touching that you like the style - thank you. I am fascinated by arranged marriages too and think it is a really interesting concept to play with. It is cold indeed, but I hope that there are some hints of warmth to come. I hope that you enjoy the rest of the "tour" - thank you for reading and commenting, Jenetta

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    2. I think I slightly misused the word "cold". Usually, in arranged marriage variations Elizabeth is heatedly arguing and rebelling against such arrangement, she is refusing to accept it, but this time I feel that she is detached and resigned to her fate and she is feeling cold. So such beginning of a new variation sounds realistic and refreshing for me. Looking forward to other stops of this wonderful tour!

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  4. I look forward to finding out how Mrs Bennet enginered to compromise Elizabeth

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    1. I hope that you enjoy it! Poor Mrs Bennet, sometimes I think she gets a bad press.... thank you for reading and commenting and I hope that you enjoy the next 2 weeks of "touring", Jenetta

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  5. I edited this and I am so proud of being a part of this project! Jenetta James is an emerging author to watch! I snickered at your steam warning--I didn't read any gratuitous "throbbing or moaning" or any "pulsing members"--just some tender moments that left my heart pounding. I think she did a great job of allowing the imagination take its course.

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    1. Christina: Congratulations on the completed project. I bet you've been hard at work for some time and are thrilled for this new release! You're right, the "steamy section" could have gone into much more detail, but it's still racier than I usually publish. Thanks for your excitement and comments!

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  6. By the way, love your blog site! I've subscribed and look forward to more posts!

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    1. Yay! New subscriber! I have more Austenesque fiction in the pipeline, too!

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  7. At 7am here in the Pacific Northwest, I couldn't help but chuckle about the warning--as I stayed up nearly all night reading a really steamy book that was too embarrassed to have my husband see--so the warning about Jenetta James seemed amusing. But I totally understand your warning in regards to your blog. Hope you like the book as much as I have! Btw--this is a terrific site! Well done. Thank you.

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    1. Thanks for the kind thoughts about the site, Christina. That really means alot-- I feel like I've just been hacking away at this for a few years, and hoping I can bring something to the table in the blogging world. I have alot of work I need to do here, but juggling life gets in the way. Hah! Have a great morning out west, from out here in North Carolina!

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    2. It is a great site Laura & you deserve praise for it, thank you very much. Also - it is amazing to think of all you lovely people all over the world sharing a love of reading - when Christina is waking up it is practically home time here in London:-)

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  8. This is a heartbreaking excerpt and I feel sad for Elizabeth. I wouldn't think she would give in to her mother's demands and marry a complete stranger but if her father also insisted, she certainly doesn't stood a chance. I have much hope that she will find happiness with her new husband and have romantic feelings for him in the end.

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    1. Let's hope so.... It is extremely sad and I hope that Elizabeth's voice reaches out to readers in that way. I also hope that buried somewhere in there are hints of how things may be resolved. I think that the reality of a woman's position in this era was that she would have had very little choice - although of course as an author you have to reconcile that to Elizabeth's personality which as we all know is pretty punchy. Thank you for reading and commenting and I hope that you enjoy the rest of the tour, Jenetta

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  9. I am surprised that Darcy was satisfied with performing the consummation at an inn. Considering his nature, you'd think he'd want the experience to be more private.

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    1. Hi Ginna, thank you for reading and commenting. I guess that it is private (they are not in the public bar after all...) but of course it is far less luxurious that he would like or would usually expect. I hope that the thing which comes across is the sense of compromise here - the fact of things being less than they should be. I hope that you enjoy the rest of the "tour", happy reading, Jenetta

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  10. I cannot wait to read this! The preview intrigued me to no end.

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    1. I'm really glad - there are more excerpts coming in the blog tour. happy reading, Jenetta

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  11. Ah, poor Elizabeth, the uncertiany of her marriage to a man she hardly knows! I wonder what Is going through Darcy's head? Looking forward to reading this novel.

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    1. Hi - what is going through Darcy's head? Several people have asked about that so maybe that is something to think about for a new project! Happy reading and thank you for your interest, Jenetta

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  12. I have so much curiosity of the plot of book and I look forward to reading and seeing as the novel develops

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    1. I hope that you enjoy the excerpts that are to come in the next couple of weeks & the book itself. Happy reading and thanks for your comments, Jenetta

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  13. Sad but intriguing...how we're they compromised? I anxiously await the next excerpt!

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    1. I hope that you enjoy it, and there are a few more to come over the next couple of weeks. Happy reading and thanks for your interest! Jenetta

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  14. Seems like a very intresting variation. I would really love to read it.

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  15. I hope that you enjoy it, good luck in the giveaway & happy reading, Jenetta

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  16. I find this to be quite an interesting variation. I am looking forward to reading it. Thank you for the generous give away.

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    1. Good luck in the giveaway, thanks very much for your interest & I hope that you enjoy the book when it reaches you, Jenetta

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  17. I know that I will enjoy reading this P&P
    variation! Thank you so much for the
    giveaway.

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    1. Good luck in the giveaway & enjoy the book. Thank you for your interest! Jenetta

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  18. thank you for this giveaway...
    would love to read this!!!

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    1. Good luck in the giveaway & happy reading! Jenetta

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  19. Hi everyone, very excitingly Suddenly Mrs Darcy is now available on kindle & here is the link: http://t.co/zFEhTrFTS7 paperback coming soon, happy reading:-) Jenetta

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