Hello gentle readers! I’m so honored to be taking part in a special cover reveal of Dangerous to Know today! A few weeks ago we shared the announcement that Christina Boyd and a fabulous team of authors were at it again and creating a new anthology! *woot woot*
But while that news is and of itself extremely exciting…it was topped by the fact that this anthology was going to spotlight a group of characters that really haven’t had much opportunity to “have their say” yet. The bad boys who steal hearts, break promises, and are all around rascals!! We’ve seen many books take us into the hearts and minds of Jane Austen’s heroes, now we finally get to do the same with her ‘rakes and gentleman rogues!’
Dangerous to Know: Jane Austen’s Rakes and Gentleman Rogues
Expected Release Date: November 15th
~ Book Description ~
“One has all the goodness, and the other all the appearance of it.” —Jane Austen
Jane Austen’s masterpieces are littered with unsuitable
gentlemen—Willoughby, Wickham, Churchill, Crawford,
Tilney, Elliot, et al.—adding color and depth to her plots
but often barely sketched. Have you never wondered about
the pasts of her rakes, rattles, and gentlemen rogues?
Surely, there’s more than one side to their stories.
It is a universal truth, we are captivated by smoldering
looks, daring charms … a happy-go-lucky, cool confidence.
All the while, our loyal confidants are shouting on deaf ears:
“He is a cad—a brute—all wrong!” But is that not how
tender hearts are broken…by loving the undeserving?
How did they become the men Jane Austen created?
In this romance anthology, eleven Austenesque authors
expose the histories of Austen’s anti-heroes.
Dangerous to Know: Jane Austen’s Rakes & Gentlemen Rogues
is a titillating collection of Georgian era short stories—
a backstory or parallel tale off-stage of canon—
whilst remaining steadfast to the characters
we recognize in Austen’s great works.
What say you? Everyone may be attracted to a bad boy…
even temporarily…but heaven help us if we marry one.
And without further ado….here is the big reveal!!!
Isn’t it eye-catching? I certainly think so! Well done, Shari and Christina!!
I love the little details like the torn parchment paper, the gold ribbon (similar to the pink ribbon in The Darcy Monologues!), the strong, masculine hand… 😉
That estate looks massive, doesn’t it? I wonder which estate it is? My guess is Mansfield Park or Northanger Abbey…
Do you have a favorite Jane Austen bad boy? I will admit to being partial to Henry Crawford!
Whose story are you most excited for? I love seeing so many great authors assembled in this team, but some are brand new to me (although I have heard of them!) I cannot wait to read everyone’s stories!
~ About the Cover ~
Shari Ryan from MadHat Books created the gorgeous book cover from a rough sketch by the editor, Christina Boyd, and she quickly and professionally created the beauty it is today. The back cover suggests the stories might have some steam (the collection is about Jane Austen’s bad boys after all!) Like in The Darcy Monologues, these authors can turn up the heat with but the turn of a phrase. However, the love scenes are not graphic, and the handful of stories with “mature content” are marked as such in the Table of Contents.
Author Beau North came through again by creating the stunning individual short story promotional graphics. She is quite an accomplished woman. Those individual story graphics will roll out over the next days from their Facebook page The Darcy Monologues, et al., and other social media.
~ About this Project ~
Jane Austen’s masterpieces are littered with any number of unsuitable gentlemen—Willoughby, Wickham, Churchill, Crawford, Tilney, Elliot—adding color and depth to her plots but often barely sketched out to the reader. Have you ever wondered about her rakes, rattles, and rogues? Surely, there’s more than one side to their stories. Dangerous to Know: Jane Austen’s Rakes & Gentlemen Rogues, the book designed to expose certain histories about Jane Austen’s anti-heroes, reveals its cover today.
As an editor, Christina Boyd has been extremely fortunate to work with some incomparable authors. Several authors from The Darcy Monologues anthology including Karen M Cox, J. Marie Croft, Jenetta James, Beau North, Sophia Rose, and Joana Starnes joined Amy D’Orazio, Lona Manning, Christina Morland, Katie Oliver, and Brooke West in crafting this current collection. The intent: create clever, well-informed short stories, each from one of Austen’s male antagonists’ point-of-view—a backstory and, or parallel story from off-stage of canon. This Dream Team certainly upped their game accepting this challenge by undertaking characters that few even like and slyly earn the reader’s sympathies—maybe even adoration—whilst remaining steadfast to the characters we recognize in Austen’s masterpieces. This wickedly delicious anthology is scheduled for release mid-November.
~~~
GIVEAWAY TIME!!!
When Christina published The Darcy Monologues, readers expressed how the blend of the authors’ writing styles worked well to make the overall collection stimulating. One reader suggested that she was so familiar with some authors’ writing styles, she was sure she could match the writers to their stories without being told. This Giveaway Challenge was thus inspired.
To win a $25 Amazon gift card, follow the Google link and complete a multiple-choice quiz, matching lines of prose to the author and her rake/gentleman rogue. Last day to enter is October 18. In case of a tie, a winner will be chosen at random in a Facebook Live drawing. Since it’s for an Amazon gift card, of course, it’s a worldwide giveaway. Gotta play to win. “Dangerous to Know” Challenge.
To enter this giveaway, click the link above and complete the multiple choice quiz.
- This giveaway will end October 18th.
- This giveaway is open worldwide.
Sounds like so much fun! I love games! I may just have to try this one for the fun of it to see how well I do! I anticipate it being quite the challenge! 😉 Thank you so much to Christina and her team for putting this all together! I cannot wait to for the release of Dangerous to Know!!
Be sure to follow the upcoming blog tour of Dangerous to Know beginning in November!
**I’ll be posting my review of Dangerous to Know on November 13th!**
**And I’m so excited to welcome author Jenetta James for a visit on December 11th!**
The cover is so cleverly done! Thanks for hosting us, Meredith!
It is! I love all the colors and choices! 🙂
Lona, I am so glad you agreed to be a part of this project. Your short story is perfection itself. XO
Meredith, It all looks fabulous at Austenesque Reviews. Thanks so much for hosting us and for your enthusiasm. Looking forward to hearing what you think–I think the authors really stepped up to this challenge in writing about secondary and tertiary characters that hardly anybody likes or even know about. I think readers will be pleasantly surprised with each story.
Thank you, Christina! I’m so very happy to take part in this reveal! It is so much fun celebrating with you! That quiz was a lot of fun, I’m not too confident I got them all right, it will be fun to learn the results! 😉 It is great to see these characters come into the spotlight!
Hahhaha! Well, all the answers seem so obvious to me 😉
Congratulations to all concerned – an absolutely stunning cover. Well done. Look forward to reading it
Thank you, Caitlin. I can’t wait to hear what you think of these #RakesAndGentlemenRogues
Me too, Caitlin! It is such a unique collection!
Love the cover; good luck with the release and blog tour. Will definitely be reading this book.
Thank you, Sheila! Hope you read feeling stronger every day! Hope you take the challenge quiz–the answers seem so obvious to me 😉
Can’t wait, Sheila! This will be so much fun!
Did you notice the stubble on the chin? Stunning cover! Can’t wait to read about these bad boys.
Good eye, Eva! I do like that! 🙂 Yay for the bad boys!
Stubble?! HAHA! Love it.
Congratulations Meredith for being a part of the cover reveal! Congratulations to all involved and I can’t wait to read this one! I mentioned on JustJane1813 that I’m looking forward to Tilney’s story as I love a man in uniform. I’m also curious about Willoughby and Henry Crawford!
Can’t wait to hear what you think! All the stories surprised me–and I was thrilled how well they teased right into or around canon. Really proud of this project.
Thank you, Carole! I am thrilled for this project and I am so grateful to Christina and her team for bringing it about! Great choice!! We really don’t know much about Captain Tilney! It will be interesting to see “his side.”
Thanks for being a part of the big reveal, Meredith! And well done Shari for bringing Christina’s vision to life so beautifully with that incredible cover!
My pleasure, Beau! It is great to celebrate and anticipate this release with you all! 😉 I adore all your graphics and can’t wait to see them spotlighted individually!
I do love this cover. It’s a long time since I read the other JA books so I’m not too familiar with the remakes and rascals within but I will say I think Frank Churchill or Willoughby would have to be my favourites from the ones you mention. Admittedly Frank flirted with Emma and teased Jane but he never seemed too serious. And I think Willoughby truly loved Marianne but not enough to give up a fortune and he did father and ignore a child so hmmm rake is a good term.
Christina has chosen great authors and has assured me that there is at least a mention of Darcy so I will of course be reading it. Congratulations on the cover reveal and good luck with the launch.
Thanks, Glynis. What I hope you will find interesting is that all of these stories take place before or off-stage of Austen’s masterpieces…because we are giving you the “other side” of the story. Crossing my fingers that you will enjoy the premise. XO
Great cover and a very interesting premise. I confess I will miss Darcy, but he may appear with Wickham’s story. I’m looking forward to all of them, especially Wickham, Willoughby and Elliot. 🙂 Unlike Meredith I am not a fan of Crawford.
Looking forward to reading this book.
When is it going to be on pre-order?
Haven’t decided on a pre-order date. But thanks for expressing an interest. Publication date is scheduled for November 15.
Ooh! Interesting choices, Kate! It will be great to see what happens to them!
Huge thanks for the wonderful welcome for the Rakes and Rogues, Meredith! Love Shari Ryan’s stunning cover and Beau North’s awesome graphics, and I can’t wait to read what all the bad boys have been up to 😉 Hope they’ll put a smile on your face, although they’re also likely to make you tear your hair out 😀 It was a fabulous idea, Christina, and I’m so excited to be part of this anthology too!
My pleasure, Joana! 🙂 It will be interesting to see the other side from these bad boys – are they all bad, are they misunderstood, do they just need the love of a good woman? Cannot wait! I love this idea so much! Very excited for this project and so glad you are taking part, Joana!
Unless I am very much mistaken, that is not an English castle/house, it is the chateau of Chambord in the Loire Valley.
When I took this quiz the first time, I thought it was referring to Henry Tilney, who is definitely not a rogue! Now I realize it refers to Frederick Tilney, who may be king of the rogues! LOL!
Let’s not take it too literal. It’s just a visual to give you a feel for the book. Haha. For example: like the figure on the reverse–not every rake will bed anyone. Just trying to give you an impression of the collection. Thanks for your observation.
This was fun! I can’t wait to read it. I love the idea of writing their back stories 🙂
I like this cover a lot! So many Austenesque covers make me cringe a bit, but this one definitely doesn’t require a brown paper wrapper. 😉
And another great list of authors! Definitely a collection to look forward to.
Hahahhaha! So glad we didn’t make you cringe. That is definitely my goal from here on out: covers that do not make Abigail Bok cringe. You made me laugh, lady! Xo
Nevah, Christina, nevah! You’ve never made me cringe. (Well, except maybe when I had to add meaningful glances across the room to my story in Sun-Kissed, but I got over it.) 😉
This looks and sounds thrilling!! I’ll be interested in the Mansfield Park crew. Let’s see how bad Henry Crawford really is.
Crawford. Crawford. Crawford. (Sigh) Oh to be in his thoughts. He is an interesting one. But what’s in his soul?
I’m holding out hope that he isn’t all bad, Teresa. I think he genuinely cared for Fanny, just not enough sadly.
That was a fun quiz.
I’ve had a weird admiration for Henry and Mary Crawford.
denise
Thanks, hope you like the book too, Denise!
There are two sides to every story, right? So even if you still don’t approve of our #RakesAndGentlemanRogues and their behavior in Austen’s novels (I don’t 😉 ) you might understand them a bit better. Bad boys can be very charming 😀 Good luck, everyone! And thanks, Meredith!
Thank you, Karen. I love your story and can’t wait for readers to inhale it! Delicious.
Thank you for stopping by, Karen! I am looking forward to seeing Frank Churchill’s story!! 😉
What a cover!!! OMG! I just love that stance. Whew!!
I remember the first time I read P&P and Darcy’s account of Wickham in his letter to Elizabeth. I was horrified that GW was such a bad boy. I had been taken in as easily as Elizabeth had been and I was just sick with the realization that Darcy wasn’t so bad after all and that Wickham was so bed. I can’t wait to read this.
Thank you! I am happy you like it. There were a lot of elements to coordinate but I think Shari did it really well.
Simply gorgeous cover! And I’m sure the contents will match up to it, given the writers involved. I was going to ask Christina the name of the rather fab mansion featured, but I rather think Janis has already done that.
Having listened to three different audio versions of Northanger Abbey recently (it was great fun comparing and contrasting them – one unabridged narration and two dramatisations), I’m particularly looking forward to the two Tilney stories. Plus the ones about the two ‘gentlemen’ I have a bit of a soft spot for; Henry Crawford and John Willoughby.
Gorgeously handsome cover. Super author line-up. Going on my wish list, now. 🙂
she runs away groaning and covering her ears….. :/
The cover is absolutely stunning ! Congrats Christina for completing another interesting project !
Perfect example of why my broadcasting career never took off.
Still we now have a winner for the Amazon gift card from our “Dangerous to Know: Jane Austen’s #RakesAndGentlemenRogues” Challenge. ⚔ Congratulations: MARY COBLE. Thanks to all who took up our challenge!
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