Hi friends! I’m very excited to welcome back author Sarah Courtney to Austenesque Reviews today! And it is an exciting day for Sarah because she has a new book that releases today!! 🙌🏼 Happy Book Release Day, Sarah!! A Season of Magic is Sarah’s seventh published Austenesque work, and it sounds fantastic. 🔮
Sarah is here to share an excerpt from her new magic-infused Pride and Prejudice variation, we hope you enjoy! 🤗
Thank you so much for having me on Austenesque Reviews! My fantasy Pride and Prejudice variation, A Season of Magic, has been a long time in the making, and I’m really excited to share it with you today!
One of the tricky things about writing a story that takes place somewhere like the Season, a magical university, is that I needed a rather large cast of characters, and especially characters who could be fairly close in age to Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy. To fill their classes, I went through all of Jane Austen’s published novels and picked a number of characters to fill roles both prominent and minor. So you’ll see Lucy Steele as Elizabeth’s roommate, Lieutenant Tilney (Captain Tilney from the book) and Lord Ravenshaw. Readers may recognize some names and not others, as I had to go pretty obscure for a few choices!
Where possible, I tried to keep characters at least a little in line with their original counterpart. Lucy Steele is your typical “mean girl,” and Lieutenant Tilney’s mother died in a rather notable way. But Lord Ravenshaw is such a minor character that I made free with his character, so you will have to read the story to see just what kind of man he is!
Emma Woodhouse, Anne Elliot, and Edmund Bertram are all students in classes with Elizabeth and Darcy. Teachers range from Lady Catherine to the much-talked-about but never seen Mrs. Suckling. And the Mage Council is made up of familiar characters like Lady Dalrymple, Lady Russell, and Sir John Middleton. Even a Jane Austen aficionado might be hard-pressed to remember what book a few names came from!
I won’t spoil it, but the names of the buildings on campus also follow a pattern. I’m looking forward to seeing how many readers figure it out!
The scene I am about to share is from near the beginning of the story. The first assembly at the Season happens after Elizabeth’s first day of class, since she starts a few weeks into the term. To her surprise, she recognized one of the students in her section—Mr. Wickham, a long-ago childhood friend. She has yet to learn the kind of man he has become. For now, he provides an interesting contrast to the upright Mr. Darcy, who is suspicious of Elizabeth from the beginning.
***
“Darcy! There you are!” A voice called out from behind her. “Why are you not dancing?”
Elizabeth resisted the urge to turn, blushing as she remembered the handsome dark-eyed gentleman from her classes.
“At one of these assemblies? Half the women here think of the Season as a marriage market. If I asked one to dance, she would be drawing up invitations to our wedding the next morning.” Elizabeth smiled slightly, remembering what Mr. Wickham had said about Mr. Darcy and the ladies.
The other man laughed. “Perhaps if you asked just one. But if you danced with a few different women, none of them could develop any real design on you from the pleasure of a single dance.”
“You would be surprised,” Mr. Darcy replied darkly.
They were silent for a few moments, then the man spoke again. “You might ask Miss Bennet to dance. I do not think she has had any partners yet.”
“I cannot imagine why that would be a positive recommendation. You know I do not like to give consequence to young ladies who are slighted by other men, as there is usually good reason for it. I know perfectly well the reason in Miss Bennet’s case.”
Elizabeth bit her lip and focused her eyes on a candle across the room. So Mr. Darcy was not so much like his uncle after all.
The other young man laughed. “Well. I do not hold so staunchly to a perfect reputation like you do, Darcy, but I shall yield the point. Perhaps Miss Anne Elliot would be so kind as to honour you with a dance. I have already danced once with her and may ask her for the Boulanger later. Nobody would think you had any intentions towards Miss Anne.”
Mr. Darcy’s response was muffled as the two moved away, and Elizabeth fought against the sting of tears. It had been a mistake to come to the assembly.
“Miss Bennet!”
She looked up to see Mr. Wickham weaving his way through the crowd in front of her.
“I apologise for being late,” he said as he reached her side. “I had to speak with my parents before getting ready for the assembly.” He looked towards the dance floor, where one dance was just finishing. “Would you care to dance?”
Oooh! Sounds like you had some creative fun with this story, Sarah! I love the when characters from different Jane Austen novels interact with each other! And what an interesting twits on the infamous insult scene. Mr. Wickahm coming to Elizabeth’s rescue…? 😯 I cannot wait to read A Season of Magic! Best of luck with your newest release, Sarah!
~~~
~ Book Description ~
Everyone knows Elizabeth and Jane’s parents were magical murderers. But blood isn’t everything.
When the girls are forced to reveal their elemental magic, it does not matter to the Mage Council that they did so only to save lives. Their parents were traitors, and the entire magical community is simply waiting for them to descend into evil themselves.
The Council reluctantly admits Elizabeth to the magical university (and unofficial marriage market) called The Season, where she will learn how to control her powers. If she can keep her head down and avoid drawing any untoward notice, she might be able to graduate and finally be accepted as a fire mage.
But fading into the background will be difficult. Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy, nephew to Lord Matlock of the Mage Council and a student himself, is assigned to observe her and report any misstep. One mistake could send her back to her foster parents, the Bennets—or worse, to prison. Yet when that mistake inevitably comes, he stands up on her behalf. Could he be an ally instead of an enemy?
When pranks between classmates become something more dangerous—and potentially deadly—Elizabeth will be forced to depend upon her friends—including Mr. Darcy. There’s something terrible lurking beneath the surface of the Season, and it will take everything Elizabeth has to survive it.
~~~
~ About Sarah ~
Sarah Courtney loves to read fantasy, fairy tales, and Pride and Prejudice variations, so what could be more fun than combining them? She currently lives in Europe where she homeschools her six children and still manages to write books, which has to be proof that magic exists!
GIVEAWAY TIME!!!
In conjunction with her visit, Sarah brings ONE ebook copy (US residents can choose between ebook or paperback) of A Season of Magic for me to give away to ONE lucky reader!
To enter this giveaway leave Sarah a question, comment or some love!
- This giveaway is open worldwide. Thank you, Sarah!
- This giveaway ends August 4th.
Sounds intriguing. I developed a taste for fantasy JAFF after reading excellent Dragons series by Maria Grace. Looking forward to to reading this one. Congratulations
Maria Grace’s Jane Austen’s Dragons series is so great! I love those books. There are so many great fantasy books coming out now, so I’ve been thrilled to have “an excuse” to combine my two favorite genres, Jane Austen and fantasy.
At first I was thinking that this was a more contemporary novel, but it is not! I love how the other Jane Austen characters are incorporated into the storyline. The Mage Council will be quite hilarious when they argue with each other. I wonder who Elizabeth’s and Jane’s parents are? Thank you for the excerpt and giveaway. This book will be fun to read.
Yes, it’s a Regency novel, albeit with a few adjustments due to magic, and propriety is a little different on a mixed campus. But I tried to maintain the general sense of the Regency era as much as I could. The Mage Council was rather entertaining to write, if frustrating for poor Elizabeth. I hope you enjoy the book!
Meredith, this does sound intriguing. I can’t wait to read it. I too, love it when other Jane Austen characters interact with P&P characters. That makes for a good story, especially if it is more difficult to figure out which book some may be from. I’m also eager to discover if I can figure out the pattern of the names of the buildings. My curiosity is peaked! 🙂 Thank you for sharing the excerpt, Sarah. I also enjoyed reading about the tricky things for you when writing this story.
It was a lot of fun trying to come up with just the right characters to include! I had started with a few, plus some original characters, and it was my editor who suggested making *everyone* from a Jane Austen book. It was a little tricky finding enough noble sons! 🙂
I purchased the book on pre-order and it dropped to my app today. I am so excited and loving it! More than halfway through.
I appreciate how you took the time to build the AU, magic and most especially detailing the situation Elizabeth finds herself in. I just got to the building a romance part. Have a feeling it is going to be a late night 😉
Congratulations on this great release!
I do that to myself all the time, start a book and then WHAM, there goes bedtime! But I will admit that I’m pleased you’re loving it. 🙂
I am excited to read it!
Yay! It was really fun to write, so I hope you like it!
I love fantasy JAFF! Thank you for the excerpt and giveaway. Congrats and best wishes on the new release!
It’s my favorite combination, too! Fantasy plus Jane Austen–nothing better! I hope you like it!
Thanks to Meredith for hosting. Oh, Sarah, magical stories are my favorite paranormal genre. I have the eBook on my wish-list already. It would be amazing to win a copy. That cover is fabulous and draws the reader to peek inside. I am looking forward to reading this. I wish you all manner of success in the launch of this new work. Blessings and congratulations.
Thank you so much! I just adore magic (paranormal as well, but generally I like historical-esque fantasy best). I’m glad you like the cover. It was fun to work with the cover designer to try to convey both P&P and fantasy.
Love to see magic and other characters being incorporated!!
I hope you love the combination!
fascinating twist with magic
It’s my favorite combination; I hope you love it!
Sounds fun! Added to my wish list.
Thanks! I hope you like it.
Oh dear Elizabeth, I do hope she is not taken in by Wickham for long. It would help if she didn’t hear Darcy refusing to dance with her. I have this book on my list as I do enjoy magical stories, especially when Darcy and Elizabeth work together as it seems they do here.
Thank you for sharing this excerpt and for the chance of a generous giveaway.
They do get plenty of chances to work together . . . but it might take a little while for them to get to that point. 🙂 I hope you enjoy it!
Sarah, I’m looking forward to enjoying it!
Ooh, I hope you enjoy it!
I can already tell I would love this!
Yay! I hope you like it!
I am sure I would enjoy this story. Thanks for a chance to win a copy. I have read and enjoyed 6 of her stories already.
Thanks for being a loyal reader! I hope you like this one, too.
I always enjoy it when magic is in the mix!
Yes! I love the combination of magic and Jane Austen!
It sounds like it will be fun to read, and Elizabeth will be rooming with a “mean” girl. Hum. That could lead to lots of trouble. Congrats on publishing another work.
Thank you! It’s always trickier when you can’t even trust your roommate, isn’t it? We’ll see how Elizabeth handles it!
Congratulations on your new book!
Thank you!
I can’t wait to read this!
I hope you like it!
Congratulations! I’m looking forward to ‘attending the Season’! Can’t wait to find out what evil is lurking beneath it!
Ha ha, I like that, “attending the Season.” Enjoy!
I’ve enjoyed the Sarah Courtney books I’ve read so far and have a couple more beckoning me from my TBR list. So, I’m pretty sure I’m going to like this one. Really looking forward to reading it. Best of luck, Sarah! It sounds soooo good.
And I too am a fan of Austen character cross-overs.
I hope you do like it! It’s the first time I’ve tried just a little bit of a crossover, and it was really fun playing with.
This sounds very cool. I love the idea of a fantasy take on Austen–looking forward to seeing it. 🙂
Fantasy and Jane Austen are such a fun combination! I hope you like it.
What a fun concept! I really can’t wait to see Wickhams role here. Congratulations!
Ah, yes, Wickham. 🙂 He plays an interesting role, so I hope you enjoy reading it!
I’m looking forward to reading this one! Thank you for the excerpt and giveaway.
Sorry for coming late to the launch party, Sarah. Congratulations on the release of this P&P fantasy. It sounds like a charming story that I would enjoy specially with the university setting.