Hi readers! I’m so thrilled to welcome back a very special guest to Austenesque Review today – Abigail Reynolds! And on Jane Austen’s Birthday too! 🎂 What a great way to celebrate! 🥳

As you may have seen – Abigail just published a new book – Spellbound at Pemberley – Woot woot! Spellbound at Pemberley is a magical Pride and Prejudice variation, and the beginning of her trilogy – Fitzwilliam Darcy, Mage. 📕📗📘

Abigail is here to answer some of my questions about her new book, her writing, and her life! We hope you enjoy! 🫶🏼

Welcome, Abigail! How about we begin by talking about your new release – Spellbound at Pemberley? As a big fan of Mr. Darcy’s Enchantment, I’m so happy to see this story is fantasy-inspired. What inspired this magical Austenesque tale?

I had such fun writing my first Austenesque fantasy, Mr. Darcy’s Enchantment, that I’ve been longing to get back to combining magic and Pride & Prejudice. One day as I was writing a traditional JAFF where Darcy was thinking about how important Pemberley was to him, I thought, “What if his bond to Pemberley was a magical one? What if owning Pemberley was the source of his magic?” And it all grew from there.

I love how the idea just came to you while you were mid-story! Your Muse loves to take over. It seems like magic and fantasy-inspired Austenesque are continuing to grow in popularity lately. What draws you personally to this genre? What does writing a story in this genre change for you – does it create more freedom, more challenges?

I’ve always loved fantasy, especially magical tales set in historical times. I love that it gives me new ways to explore the dynamic between Elizabeth and Darcy. In a fantasy, it’s easier to give them adventures, and that’s fun, too. It’s much more technically challenging to write, though. It’s easy enough to throw magical creatures and powers into a story; creating a consistent Regency magical world, one you can actually believe in, and still providing strong character development, is much harder. I’ve gotten very serious about studying how to write fantasy. I’m a member of SFWA, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association. But my roots are still in romance – in fact, I serve on the SFWA Romance Steering Committee.

Readers appreciate all your efforts to create a believable Regency magical world! I noticed that this book is the first installment of a trilogy – which is maybe a little new for your readers? Can you share some of what readers can expect with the books in this series? And how has the writing experience changed for you with this book knowing it is the first part of a trilogy?

I knew all along that I couldn’t fit this entire story arc into one volume, but I wanted to make sure to resolve Darcy and Elizabeth’s romance in that first book because I hate being left at the end of the book with the main characters at odds. So in Spellbound at Pemberley, Darcy and Elizabeth are in love at the end, but there are dangers ahead, so it isn’t a stand-alone book. Writing a trilogy is more complicated than just splitting a very long book into three parts, though. My first version of Spellbound was ready to go last spring – until my editor told me I’d ended it at the wrong place in the story arc. So I had to write a whole new ending!

It’s very hard to write a story in one volume that does justice to both the romance and creating a memorable fantasy world. I tried hard when I wrote Mr. Darcy’s Enchantment, because JAFF fantasy was a new thing then, and I didn’t think people would read a multi-volume work. Instead it became a double-length novel, which created problems of its own, and meant short-changing some plot elements I would have liked to develop further.

That make a lot of sense because there is so much world to build – so much that needs to be introduced. As loyal fans may realize, your most recent release before Spellbound at Pemberley was The Price of Pride – which was released three years ago. A break like that is a little atypical for you, isn’t it?

Very atypical, but real life unexpectedly got in my way. My dearest friend Deirdre, my college roommate who loved Jane Austen and the Regency as much as I do, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. I spent much of the last couple of years traveling back and forth to be by her side, helping with her care. It was emotionally and physically exhausting, and most of the time I didn’t have anything left for writing. But it was a gift to have that time with her, and I’d do it again in a heartbeat. She passed at the end of September, just as I was finishing Spellbound. I talked to her a lot about the story, because she loved JAFF fantasy and it was a good distraction from her pain, and her ideas live on in the book.

Oh, my condolences, Abigail. I’m glad you got to share that time with her and that this book will forever have a bit of her in it. 💗 What is next for you, Abigail? What should readers look forward to?

I’m halfway through The Magic of Pemberley, Book 2 of Fitzwilliam Darcy, Mage, and hope to release it in July, 2024. I also have an almost completely standard Regency JAFF novella that I’m hoping to get out there sometime soon, but I need to get that trilogy out there as quickly as possible, because readers are waiting!

Don’t you know it! Best of luck with finishing these projects. How about we end with some Quick-Fire Questions – one of my favorite interview segments, that I started with our third interview back in 2011!

But this time I will make it fantasy-inspired! 🐉🧙🏼‍♂️🏰🧚🏽🧝🏼‍♀️🔮

Where would you prefer to live – in a world with fae or a world with mages? Mages, definitely! I don’t trust the fae. 😊

What mage power or ability would you most like to have? I’d like to be able to create illusions. After all, that’s what I do in life – I create illusions with words in my books!

Do you have a favorite fantasy character from literature, myth, or film? So many of them! I’ll go with one from the first fantasy I fell in love with – Princess Eilonwy from Lloyd Alexander’s Prydain series, who never let anything stop her – especially being a princess.

Do you have a favorite fantasy character from your own stories? To avoid spoilers, I’ll go with Titania from Mr. Darcy’s Enchantment.

What appeals to you the most about living in a magical or fantasy world? It may sound trite, but imagining a fantasy world helps me see how astonishing our world is.

What would be the thing you’d like least about living in a magical or fantasy world? The power dynamics. It would be great being one of the people who has magic – but maybe not so much fun to be without it.

Would you rather work with dragons or trolls? Oh, dragons, anytime!

What do you think Jane Austen would say about her characters becoming mages, fae, and other fantasy creatures? I think she’d laugh at the idea! But while the educated people of the Regency had left the idea of the fae behind, Jane Austen probably knew common people who thought the fae might be real, and may have passed farmhouses that put out bowls of milk for them.

Thank you for hosting me! It’s always a delight to visit Austenesque Reviews, and I love the chance to talk about Spellbound at Pemberley!

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GIVEAWAY TIME!!!

Today, Abigail brings with her TWO ebook copies of her new novel, Spellbound at Pemberley, for me to giveaway to TWO lucky winners!

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

• This giveaway is open worldwide.  Thank you, Abigail!
• This giveaway ends December 23rd!