Hi readers!! I am so excited to welcome back Maria Grace to Austenesque Reviews today! As many of you already know, Maria has this amazing-sounding series that combines Jane Austen novels with dragons!! 🐉 🎩 I have heard so much praise for this unique series and I am so thrilled that it is has soooo many delighted and devoted fans! 🥰 I really need to get into this series already! Maria is here to celebrate the next installment in her Jane Austen’s Dragons series: Kellynch: Dragon Persuasion. She is sharing a very interesting post about finding a way to tie-in a certain dragon characteristic with historical events. We hope you enjoy! ⚓️🐉

Meredith, thanks so much for hosting me today. It’s always such a pleasure to get to visit with you. Through the years I’ve developed a bit of a reputation for being willing to put very different spins on Jane Austen’s stories and characters. That hasn’t changed with my newest series. In fact, I think it kicks it up a notch.

I’ve written here about how a trip down the research rabbit hole to find the dragon myths of Britain helped inspire the Blue Order and the characters and situations of Elizabeth and Darcy in the first books of the series Jane Austen’s Dragons.

In the latest book, I follow Anne Elliot, Frederick Wentworth and the events of Persuasion as they play out in the world of the Blue Order Dragons. Early readers have told me that Persuasion makes far better sense with the addition of dragons!

Even though I’d already been on my deep dive through mythology for my dragon world, I was not out of the research rabbit hole yet. I found myself needing a source for a hoard of gold–hey, I’m writing dragons, and some of them are bound to hoard gold, right? But, as we all know, the stuff doesn’t just grow on trees. Trying to avoid spoilers here, so I’ll just say there’s several dragons interested in getting their paws on gold in an historically believable way. That could only mean one thing…

Another Trip down the Research Rabbit Hole

So where does one find a rather large stash of gold? Lost treasure, buried pirate’s chests, and shipwrecks all blipped the radar as possibly candidates, But really, what were the chances the buried pirate’s treasure would have been lost somewhere in the vicinity of my plot? It’s never that easy.

Until it is. Seriously.

Every once in a blue moon, things land jelly-side up and you actually find history agrees with your story and provides you exactly what you need. I’m still gobsmacked.

I was half-right. Pirate treasure was a no go. Absolutely nothing on that front. But, I started looking for shipwrecks that occurred well before 1800. Lo and behold! Guess what?

The Merchant Royal, a 17th-century English merchant ship was lost at sea off Land’s End, in Cornwall County, on 23 September 1641. The ship carried at least 100,000 pounds of gold, 400 bars of Mexican silver, and nearly 500,000 pieces of eight and other coins. That ought to be enough to satisfy several dragons, right?

Honestly, I had to reread every article I read several times before I could really believe there was exactly the sort of shipwreck the story needed, where it needed to be, and when it needed to be. And the icing on the cake? As of today, the wreck has not officially been recovered!

(Insert the cry of a soccer announcer screaming ‘GOALLLLL’ here.) ⚽️🥅

I bet your now just chomping at the bit to learn more details about the shipwreck so here you go!

The Merchant Royal

The Merchant Royal engaged in trade with Spanish colonies in the West Indies from 1637 to 1640. The Merchant Royal and her sister-ship, the Dover Merchant, called into Cadiz on their way home to London in need of repairs as she was leaking badly after her long voyage.

A Spanish ship in port at Cadiz at the same time caught fire, leaving the gold that was destined to pay Spanish soldiers in Flanders stranded in port. The Merchant Royal’s Captain Limbrey seized the opportunity to make a little more cash for his ship’s owners, volunteering to carry the treasure to Antwerp on his way home. Unfortunately, the leaky ship’s pumps broke down in the midst of stormy weather and the ship went down ff Land’s End in rough weather on 23 September 1641.

Eighteen men drowned in the wreck, but Captain Limbrey and forty of his crew escaped in boats and were picked up by the sister ship, Dover Merchant.

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Is this a little off the beaten path for Austenesque fiction? Absolutely! But what better time to try out something entirely new and different than a year like 2020?

So how do you think the treasure of the Merchant Royal is going to figure a Persuasion-inspired Dragon story? Tell me in the comments.

If you’d like to have a peek at more previews, check them out on my website, RandomBitsofFascinaion.com. The Dragons of Kellynch and Kellynch: Dragon Persuasion

The Dragons of Kellynch

In order to secure her future, a young lady must marry well.

One would think Anne Elliot, a baronet’s daughter, would find the marriage mart far easier to navigate than a more ordinary woman. One would be wrong.

After refusing a poor, but otherwise perfect sailor, on the advice of her friend Lady Russell, Anne finds an unhappy choice before her: marry deathly dull Charles Musgrove or hope against hope that another suitable proposal might come her way before she becomes a spinster on the shelf.

Anne’s disgracefully independent choice to refuse Charles’ offer turns her world entirely arsey-varsey and not in the expected turned upside down sort of way. She begins to see things … hear things … things like dragons.

And once one sees dragons, one talks to them. And when one talks to them, nothing is ever the same again.

Must a young lady marry well if she hears dragons?

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Kellynch: Dragon Persuasion

Keeping a hibernating dragon should have been a simple thing.

Should have been, but it was not. Apparently, nothing involving dragons was ever simple, at least not for Anne Elliot, junior Keeper to dragon Kellynch.

With the estate in debt, Anne’s father in denial, and the dragon’s treasure missing, Kellynch’s awakening was shaping up to be nothing short of catastrophe. Not to mention there was the pesky matter of her own broken heart and resentment against the old friend who had caused it.

Captain Frederick Wentworth had spent his life making something of himself in the Navy. With the war that kept him employed at an end and a small fortune in prize money, he found himself beached and at loose ends. What was he to do with himself now—take a wife like Laconia, his dragon Friend, insisted? Not when none compared to the woman who had broken his heart.

Working as an agent of the Blue Order, managing dragon matters across England, seemed a much better alternative. At least until investigating one such matter sent him directly in the path of Anne Elliot, the woman who had ruined him for all others.

Now a royal dragon rages, a sleeping dragon lurks, and too many treasures have gone missing. Can Anne and Wentworth lay aside resentment, pride, and heartbreak to prevent Kellynch’s awakening from ending in bloodshed—or worse?

Jane Austen meets Pern in a fantastical regency romp bound to delight readers of Jane Austen and Anne McCaffrey alike.

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~ Connect with Maria ~

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~ About Maria ~

Six-time BRAG Medallion Honoree, Maria Grace has her PhD in Educational Psychology and is a 16-year veteran of the university classroom where she taught courses in human growth and development, learning, test development and counseling. None of which have anything to do with her undergraduate studies in economics/sociology/managerial studies/behavior sciences. She pretends to be a mild-mannered writer/cat-lady, but most of her vacations require helmets and waivers or historical costumes, usually not at the same time.

She writes gas lamp fantasy, historical romance and non-fiction to help justify her research addiction. Her books are available at all major online booksellers.

That is so fascinating, Maria! And I am so glad you shared your findings with us and that you take such deliberate care to find historical tie-ins to include in your stories! Wait…did you say that the gold was not yet recovered??? 😮 Guys…are you thinking what I am thinking??? 🤔 We could buy Pemberley! 😉

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GIVEAWAY TIME!!!

Today Maria generously offers ONE ebook copy of The Dragons of Kellynch and ONE ebook copy of Kellynch: Dragon Persuasion – for me to give away to TWO lucky winners! 

To enter this giveaway, leave a comment, question, or some love for Maria!

• This giveaway is open worldwide.  Thank you, Maria!
• This giveaway ends July 29th!