Hi readers! I am so very excited to welcome Cat Gardiner back to Austenesque Reviews today!!! You may have noticed I adore her novels (see here and here if this is brand new information for you), and one of my favorites of hers is Denial of Conscience, her Austenesque spy/thriller with motorcycles, CIA assassins, and traveling around the world. I’m so elated to see that Cat is continuing the story of Iceman and his Lakmé !!!
Happily ever after … le sigh. If only life was that perfect. It’s why we read romance, right? We go through an entire novel, sometimes at the edge of our seats, enduring angst and obstacles leading to true love, and we’re always waiting with baited breath for them to kiss, say “I love you,” maybe even go to bed. Maybe it fades to black but the curtain always closes with the final act: Happily Ever After.
We had that in Denial of Conscience. The stone-cold, impenetrable Darcy who couldn’t trust a woman and swore off relationships (never having had a real one anyway.) And then there was Liz, so sheltered and inexperienced with men, virtual doormat to her father. Heck she was willing to sacrifice her deeply hidden dream of Prince Charming and was set to marry a man she didn’t love to save her family homestead. So, we put these two very different people―who have some commonalities―together, send them on a dangerous quest, and watch the relationship grow. Most likely we encouraged them a few times with each page turn: “Kiss her!” “Carry her off to bed!” “Run away together!”
Finally, three months following the final act, they married on an autumn day. Taking their vows upon the foot bridge spanning the koi pond on Pemberley’s estate, they promise “forever.”
Happily ever after? Yeah, sure, but not without some normal hurdles to overcome. Not even Fitzwilliam Darcy can be perfect out of the starting gate. If only we could ask Jane Austen about her canon hero―after marriage. All things considered, Iceman and Liz are doing pretty darned good when we check in on them at six months of marriage in Without a Conscience.
I wonder about the little things though.
In the first month of my own marriage 23 years ago, I remember thinking that living with an absolute slob was surely grounds for an annulment. Don’t get me wrong, I loved him to pieces but that whole “leaving the toilet seat up” thing grew old after the first two weeks when I woke up in the middle of the night to pee. And no, AC/DC was not suitable music for Mr. Cat to play when he came home from work―at 10:00 at night! No doubt, I’m sure cohabitating with me was no bed of roses either. Although I can’t think what fault he would have found. LOL. So what if I put his underwear in the freezer after finding them on the bathroom floor. Had he not understood me the first 100 times when I politely suggested: Pick. Up. Your. Clothes? Is that so hard to understand? And it wasn’t my fault that he failed to catch my true meaning when I said, “Nothing is wrong.” But we worked out the kinks and he now leaves only his socks on the floor and I have learned that saying “nothing is wrong” has the potential of becoming a powder keg. Now, I actually tell him what is wrong!
Communication. Yeah. That, in a nutshell, is what Liz and her melting Iceman are working on―and the lack of it is at the heart of Without a Conscience, but it takes some dangerous stuff to get them talking about “things.” Both had been conditioned to keep things to themselves, and love for each other, keeps them from hurting the other with their honesty.
Happily ever after? Of course! … but there will be another adventure and then we’ll have to see how they get through it together. Sort of like real life, but I can promise you this: hot loving, deep passion, absolute devotion, and a romantic adventure that takes you to the edge of your seat as Liz lets her hair down and Darcy is there to protect her!
So tell me friends … I’d love to hear some of your own “growing together pains,” stories you 
now look back on and chuckle about, or what you think CANON Darcy and Elizabeth would have experienced in their first six months of marriage.
If you would like a glimpse into the first four months of marriage of Iceman and Liz, all you have to do is comment below with your e-mail address like so: (name at email dot com) and you will receive a FREE bonus book of six vignettes: Guilty Conscience. Everyone can enter to win an e-book of Without a Conscience!
Ooooo!! Thank you so much for writing this sequel, Cat! And the novelette! I can’t wait to read both! I’ll be curious to see what kind of “growing together pains” Darcy and Liz have! 🙂 I’m trying to think what kind of “growing together pains” Mr. Bingley and I had. We kind of moved in together after one month of dating, so I think we adjusted to each other’s living styles little by little early on in our relationship. He is very clean and I like to be super organized, so it wasn’t too bad! 😉
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A FREE COPY OF GUILTY CONSCIENCE!
Cat is so generous! She is sending out a FREE ebook copy of her novelette, Guilty Conscience for all who comment on this post. Woot woot! Just make sure you leave us an email to reach you! 🙂
GIVEAWAY TIME!!!
Also…today Cat brings with her TWO Ebook copies of Without a Conscience for me to give away to TWO lucky readers!!
To enter this giveaway leave a comment answering Cat’s question about “growing together pains,” or some love for Cat below and enter through the rafflecopter widget!
- This giveaway is open worldwide. Thank you, Cat!
- This giveaway ends November 11th!
I loved the Guilty Conscience short story and I’m really intrigued about Denial of Conscience. I can’t wait for it to be published!!
Thanks, Tere! I’m so excited, too! I hope you enjoy it!
Love the post! I love reading sequels that in compasses the up and down of a marriage but Darcy and Elizabeth’s love for each other pushes them pass the difficulty and work things out.
I’m so excited for this book to come out. Can’t wait to read it! Thanks for the giveaways! tdungnvu (at) yahoo (dot) com
Thanks for commenting, Dung! For 99% of the time, they are on the same page, but it can’t be all wine and roses – not when one is a retired assassin and the other has led quite a sheltered life. LOL Growing pains … and a white lie that blows up! Good luck in the giveaway, hon. 🙂
Very well said, Dung! I don’t like to see them get held up with some petty differences but I do imagine that they didn’t have smooth waters all their days!
I am so excited for this one. Love, love, love Iceman!!!!
Thanks, Arelys! I love him, too. He’s really a softie at heart. 🙂 Good luck!
Me too, Arelys! I think he is one of my most favorite Darcy reincarnations!
I will be starting this book tonight, and I can’t wait! Loved Denial of Conscience, so I’ve been eagerly anticipating the sequel.
What a fun guest post! After 16 years of marriage, I couldn’t help but chuckle. I still call my husband a slob, but he’s gotten better over the years. And he still makes fun of my early attempts at cooking. 🙂
Hi Anna! I hope you have fun on the ride.
I must admit that Mr. Cat has gotten better, too. Either that or he totally understands that narrowing eye thing that I do in his direction. We Italians call it the “Malocchio.” LOL Glad to know my man wasn’t the only slob. Thanks for sharing!
I never made it to a 100 times, once, then he was told that anything left on the floor would be thrown out – I really am a bad person
meikleblog at gmail dot com
Not bad, Vesper. Effective. You cut it off at the start and saved yourself unnecessary housework. LOL Thanks for sharing and good luck in the giveaway.
Next year, Dr. D. (he has a Ph.D and six more letters after his name than my three) and me notch up 40 years of marriag and we’ve now been a couple for 42. He STILL leaves the toilet seat up!!! But, considering that there’s very little else that annoys me (apart from the occasional male selective deafness) it’s a pretty small price to pay on the whole. One of the things we agreed on, right from the start, was to never go to sleep with a disagreement unresolved. Sometimes that means having to agree to disagree but never in a nasty way.
I won’t need a copy of Guilty Conscience as I got my own copy just a couple of weeks ago in anticipation of WaC. So looking forward to reading this this Cat. Sending lots of love your way.
Forty years?! Congratulations! But wait … seat still up? Well if that and the requisite selective hearing is all, that’s pretty awesome. 🙂 I’m a big fan of never going to bed angry. Of course, I can’t stay angry at him for long. He makes me laugh. We usually end up going from arguing to laughing in a matter of an hour.
Thank you so much for sharing, Anji!! Good Luck on the WaC giveaway!
Congrats, Anji! That is so lovely! I am with you on the whole unresolved disagreements. After we each say our pieces I want to go back to being happy. No long-term silences or days without apology for me!
I personally think that my husband is pretty messy. I’m not so clean myself, but at least I can actually *see* the mess. If he’s put it down and walked away or gotten distracted, it didn’t happen. I don’t think that I want to hear his impression of our early conflicts. 😮 Yikes.
I’m glad that “Without A Conscience” is finally available. Feels like it’s been forever since it was promised to us! Anxiously looking forward to enjoying it.
Ginna Say What at g mail dot com
Hi Ginna! Thanks so much for commenting. It sounds like you came to a place of acceptance, and I bet you’d both a few good laughs about those early years.
Well, it feels like forever for me, too! LoL. So happy the time is finally here for the next adventure. I hope you enjoy it. Good luck!!
LOL! My darling and I spent a year apart before the wedding and before that we only saw each other for half a year at a time so I was in for a shocker when we finally began co-habitation. He was shocked that he wasn’t living with a gal who cooked and ran a household like his mother and I was shocked by a slob who never got anywhere on time and got lost frequently (this didn’t come out during our college days for some reason, LOL). We figured it out and here we are still going strong.
Personally, the way Lizzy and Darcy were personality-wise in P&P, I see them having quite the learning curve in the first few years of nuptial bliss.
Would love a copy of the novelette, thanks for the generous offer: sophiarose1816 at gmail dot com
Hi Sophia! You two sound like a match made in heaven. Perfect in your imperfections! I love it!
Oh yes, I see our canon couple having a few difficulties. I don’t think Darcy would be a “sharing” type of spouse, maybe keeping things close to the vest as is his reticent nature. I do see Lizzy as the ‘talk to me’ side of the relationship. But I have no doubt they, too, ironed out the beginning wrinkles. 🙂
Thanks so much for the chuckle and sharing! Hugs!
I imagine that Liz’s new found independent streak might cause a problem or two along with Darcy’s desire to protect her mixed with his tendency to keep his feelings to himself. However I am sure their passion for each other will win the day. Great giveaways although I bought Guilty Conscience as soon as I heard of it so don’t need that thank you. Can’t wait to read WaC. Thanks Meredith and Cat.
Hi Glynis!! Oh yes! I love that you can see how “happily ever after” might go. You hit the nail on the head! You truly understand them. Thank you for purchasing GC ((hug)) and for commenting. Good luck in the giveaway!
We’ve been married 16 years now and my hubby still leaves dish rags in the bottom of the kitchen sink to get nasty and smelly instead of hanging them up to dry. Drives me nuts, but I’ve managed to ‘break’ him of several other bad habits over the years.
Thanks for the novella and giveaway chance. Looking forward to reading about the Iceman and Liz’s early marriage. That first year was the hardest.
Congrats on another new release Cat!
Colleenday @ Hotmail dot com
And here I thought I was alone in that dilemma! But, honestly, I can’t complain – he does the dishes on occasion. (so thankful for that!) You are right, the first year is filled with adjustments but when they all get worked out, sorted, and put into greater perspective it has the potential of a great, smooth, ride to happily ever after.
Thank you so much for commenting, Collleen! Best wishes in the giveaway!
Loved DoC and the little GC teaser. Can’t wait to dive into more! Looking forward to more Iceman and Liz by way of WaC! Congratulations, Cat!
Thanks so much, Becky! 🙂
I can not imagine Darcy and Elizabeth happily ever after without some amount of trials and arguments. I mean, perfection is quite boring isn’t it? And Darcy and Elizabeth agreeing on everything just seems out of character for me 🙂 I like their imperfections, even as a couple 🙂
For me it was hard to adjust to my husbands rhythm. I’m always doing something, on my way to somewhere etc and I never have a moment to loose. He is very calm, and takes his time to do everything very calmly. It really got on my nerves to have to wait 20 minutes for him to be ready to leave the house for example, and I know that all my stress and hurry stressed him too, but I think now we’ve gotten used to eachothers rythms and it doesn’t bother us anymore.
Now, I just pick up my kindle and read until he is ready to leave :)))
Thanks for this post Meredith and Cat, I really like it 🙂
Ritaluzdeodato at gmail dot com
Yes! I totally agree, Rita. I think it’s part of their dynamic (which I love.) That little bickering. After all, they are two very decided personalities.
It sounds to me that you and your husband are a perfectly suited balance, learning from the other. And, on your part, a perfect use of time as you chill. Thank you so much for sharing and good luck in the giveaway!
Thank you Cat! I love when I find authors with the same view of Darcy and Elizabeth than me :)) Looking forward to read your books 🙂
LOL! I love how you and your husband balance each other out! Mr. Bingley does that for me too. He is pretty chill like your husband, I tend to not be…lol! Like if something goes wrong, I get pretty anxious and worried and am: “Oh no! This happened, it is so terrible! How are we going to fix it?” And Mr. Bingley is more like: “Okay, so that happened. We’ll figure something out.” It is definitely good to have someone who is a little different from you sometimes!
Spy thriller or mysteries are among my favourite genre. So no surprises that I would love this story. But I am guilty of not reading DoC yet but hope to rectify this soon.
evangelineace2020(at)yahoo(dot)com
Luthien!! So great to see you here. It’s been awhile. 🙂 I hope when you get to the series that you love it! Just a word … read DoC first, then the vignettes (Guilty Conscience) that I’ll email you. Hugs and thanks for stopping by. Good luck!
Hi Sylvia! So happy to see you. 🙂 I hope you are doing well and able to enjoy this fantastic series soon!