Jane of Austin - The Playlist!

Want to experience the music of Jane of Austin? I've put together a Spotify playlist with the songs and bands mentioned in the book, songs they listened to on their road trip, and music they might have heard at SxSW. Give it a listen - you might find some old favorites and make new discoveries! Click below to enjoy. 

Restorative Chicken Soup

Most of the recipes that show up here are ones I've developed and tweaked, and this one is not different. But if you've got the current issue of Real Simple on your sofa, this'll look familiar. I was flipping through and found it the day Danny's parents arrived from Oregon, and thought, "we should eat that."

Inspirational Contemporary Romance Bundle Giveaway!

Exciting news! Booksweeps is holding a super huge giveaway, and Jane of Austin is one of the books in the prize package! See all the included books below and click here to enter.

Jane Austen Week: Day 5 - Katherine Reay & the Austen Legacy

I'm sad to see Jane Austen Week come to a close - I've had such a great time!

To help bring things to a close, I've invited Katherine Reay to come and share about Jane Austen's impact on her own writing. It's a gorgeous essay, so I suggest getting a cup of tea settling in to enjoy the read.

Jane Austen Week: Day 4 - Reflections on Sense & Sensibility

As  Jane Austen Week wraps, I felt like there was a hole here on the blog for Day 4 and I wanted to shore it up.

As part of the official festivities, we watched Sense & Sensibility together - even if you didn't get to participate, you may enjoy reading over the threads! It was a lot of fun, and I'll do something similar again another time.

Watching the movie over again reminded me of my experience reading Sense & Sensibility in preparation for the writing of Jane of Austin. You see, when I was first tapped to write Jane, all I had was a title. From there, I had free reign to go anywhere I liked.

I hadn't read Sense & Sensibility yet - I'd read Pride & Prejudice, Emma, and Persuasion. But I knew I wanted to write a more rebellious, headstrong character than I'd been writing for the last several years. Of Austen's likable rebels, Marianne was the strongest choice - unlike other rebels (*cough* Lydia *cough*), Marianne gets an entire redemption arc. She learns, she grows, and she's offered a chance at happiness.

Jane Austen Week: Day 3 - Q&A with Teri Wilson

Welcome to Day 3 of Jane Austen Week! To recap briefly, on Day 1 I shared the recipe for chamomile and lavender scones, as well as the link to the All Things Jane Giveaway. On Day 2, I got  chat Jane Austen and time travel with author Kathleen A. Flynn.

Today, I'm thrilled to be hosting Teri Wilson, author of Unleashing Mr. Darcy!

Teri came onto my radar via an elderly neighbor from our Vancouver, Washington neighborhood. I'd been gardening and doing yard work with my mom in the front yard and had Shiloh and puppy Sylvie tethered near the front door. The neighborhood's bank of mailboxes was just to the left of our house, and I met most of my neighbors over there. That day a sweet, elderly lady from two doors down introduced herself and, after a fashion, remarked on Shiloh and Sylvie.

"They look just like the dogs from that movie, that Hallmark movie," she said. "The Mr. Darcy movie."

As you can imagine, my ears perked up. Cavaliers? Mr. Darcy?

I did some creative Googling later and discovered that Unleashing Mr. Darcy was indeed a Hallmark Original Movie - which would be re-airing in a couple weeks - and was based on a book by Teri Wilson.

Who has two cavaliers.