Hi, friends! I’m so happy to welcome back author Christine Combe to Austenesque Reviews today. Christine is celebrating the release of her newest book – Born to be a Heroine – which just came out a few days ago! And I really like the sound of it! It looks like the Bingleys will play host to some characters who are familiar to us…😃 

Christine is here to share an excerpt from Born to be a Heroine. We hope you enjoy! 🤗

Greetings, fellow Austenians! I’m so excited to be visiting Austenesque Reviews again to talk about my latest book, Born to be a Heroine. Thank you so much, Meredith, for having me. This book is a Pride and Prejudice variation, but as you surely guessed from the title, there’s a Northanger Abbey connection!

Now that you’re intrigued by the blurb (the hardest part of the book to write!), here’s a look at chapter one:

~ Excerpt from Born to be a Heroine ~

“I do hope she is a handsome girl.”

Fitzwilliam Darcy only just stopped himself rolling his eyes. Caroline Bingley and her elder sister, Louisa Bingley Hurst, had been going back and forth about the handsomeness—or possible lack thereof—of the mysterious Catherine Morland who had inherited the bulk of their great uncle’s fortune for the whole of the morning. In truth, the topic had been bandied between the two ever since Charles had read to them the letter which related both his uncle’s death and the dispensation of his wealth.

It was only for Charles’ sake, as the two of them were close friends, that Darcy didn’t make some remark about the foolishness of their curiosity. It mattered not at all whether the young lady was handsome—the fortune was hers. In the back of his mind, from the moment Charles had informed them of the fate of their uncle’s money, Darcy believed his friend’s sisters more disappointed that they had not received a greater share of it than the hundred pounds he had bequeathed each of them than they cared whether Miss Morland was handsome.

“I should think, Caroline, that you would wish her to have warts and a leer,” said Charles Bingley cheerfully. “Then she would be less competition for you in next Season’s marriage mart.”

“Oh Charles, do be serious!” Miss Bingley cried with exasperation. “How could she possibly be competition for me when she will surely be married by next Season?”

Her brother looked up from his book, and though Darcy did not, he found himself surprisingly curious as to his friend’s response to the question.

“And what, pray tell, makes you think the young lady will be married before the next London Season?” Bingley asked.

Miss Bingley glanced at her sister, then at her brother with a smile. “Because I have decided we should invite her to join us here at Netherfield, and surely you—with your propensity for falling in love with pretty girls wherever we go—will be so struck by her beauty, should she have any at all, that you simply won’t allow any other man to have her.”

Bingley laughed heartily. “Oh, I see what you are about now! You think to marry Miss Morland off so that her newly acquired fortune—which I understand is equal to my own—does not attract all the eligible gentleman of Town, like Darcy here!”

Darcy allowed himself a soft snort, then said, “Perhaps you ought to wish Miss Morland plain as the day is long, Miss Bingley, for should she accept your invitation—providing your brother allows one to be sent to a young lady we have none of us ever met—I might find myself as taken with her as Charles. In such a case, we would engage in an increasingly foolish competition for the young lady’s affections that could only end in a round of fisticuffs, with the champion being allowed the honor of claiming Miss Morland’s heart.”

He rarely engaged Miss Bingley in conversation directly in order to discourage her obvious interest in him, but Darcy had found himself compelled to tease, for surely it was only her own vanity she hoped to satisfy rather than any genuine desire to see her brother happily settled. If Miss Morland was indeed handsome, then if Caroline could marry the girl to her brother, she would sate both her need to eliminate the competition as well as not be embarrassed by having to claim a plain girl as a sister.

Bingley laughed again, then said, “That was well said, Darcy! Imagine—you and me fighting over a girl. I almost hope to see it come true, though I know full well I should lose that round of fisticuffs most soundly.”

He sighed then, and added, “However, Caroline does have a fine idea. If it is not disagreeable to you all, I should like very much indeed to invite Mrs. Allen and Miss Morland to stay with us here at Netherfield for a time.”

Darcy at last looked up from the newspaper he had been reading to regard his friend. “Did you not say your mother was not close with this uncle of hers, and that you had not met him since childhood?”

Bingley nodded. “That is true enough. But surely the lady—our aunt, I mean—would like to get away for a time. Her home must be full of bittersweet memories of my uncle, as I believe my mother once said that they genuinely loved each other. And a change of scene and society can only do both Mrs. Allen and Miss Morland good in any case.”

Darcy conceded the debate with an incline of his head. “A good point, my friend. And as this is your house and I merely a guest in it, whom you invite to take up residence with you is entirely your choice. I will admit that I should not mind greater society even if it is two ladies, for surely we will not find much intelligent conversation among the denizens of this little hamlet you now live in.”

His host laughed a third time as Miss Bingley rose gracefully from her chair and started toward Darcy. “How readily you and I agree, Mr. Darcy—I wonder at Charles very much for choosing an estate so near to such vulgar society.”

Bingley scoffed. “Fiddlesticks, Caroline! How can you say such things about people you’ve not yet even been introduced to?”

He gave his sister no time to reply, for Bingley laid his book aside and popped up from his seat. “I shall write to Mrs. Allen immediately,” said he as he made for the writing desk across the room. “If she and Miss Morland should accept and come straight away, they will be here in time to join us at the assembly!”

Darcy again refrained from rolling his eyes and returned his attention to the newspaper. Bingley was far too eager for his comfort that they should all of them attend the local market town’s monthly assembly. The younger man greatly enjoyed such gatherings, where he could converse and dance to his heart’s content—neither of which were activities Darcy enjoyed in the least. Well, in fairness he did enjoy intelligent conversation and could find himself as pleased as his friend perpetually was to dance with a graceful partner. But much unlike Bingley, Darcy had never been comfortable in a room full of strangers and was more likely to offend with his reticent manner than recommend himself.

At times, he truly envied Charles Bingley his ability to easily converse with those he had never met before. How he was to get through the evening of the assembly without making himself appear either too proud or utterly foolish Darcy could scarcely begin to imagine.

Ooh! This sounds like such a fun twist! Catherine Morland is an heiress and comes to stay at Netherfield Park? It will be interesting to see what types of changes this will produce! I love the idea of Catherine becoming friends with Elizabeth and Jane, I wonder if she will be taken in by the Bingley sisters? 🤨 Thanks so much for sharing, Christine!

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Hope you like this look at the start of the story. Born to be a Heroine is now available in eBook, paperback, and hardcover at Amazon!

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About Christine

Christine, like many a JAFF author before her, is a long-time admirer of Jane Austen’s work, and she hopes that her alternate versions are as enjoyable as the originals. She has plans to one day visit England and take a tour of all the grand country estates which have featured in film adaptations, and often dreams of owning one. Christine lives in Ohio and is already at work on her next book.

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What do you think readers? Are you a fan of Catherine Morland and Jane Austen crossovers?