Hi friends! Happy Friday! I’m excited to welcome author Laura Moretti for her first official visit to Austenesque Reviews!! 🤗

(Technically she was a part of the With Love, Mr. Darcy Valentine anthology that released earlier this month and that could be counted as her first visit…but this is truly her first on her own!) 💘

And her visit is to celebrate a new modern Pride and Prejudice adaptation that she released just two days ago titled Heartbroken. 💔

I love the sound of Heartbroken (…the book!). It looks like a second chance romance where Darcy and Elizabeth become good friends, and I always love to see the circuitous avenues their relationship path can take. 💗

Laura is here to share an excerpt from Heartbroken. We hope you enjoy! 

~ Book Description ~

Elizabeth hasn’t heard from Darcy since violently rejecting his declaration of love. But then one day… She’s bored. Yes, bored. No, there’s no better reason for it.

Anyway, she texts him. And Darcy texts back.

For Elizabeth, it’s nothing, sending this first message. It’s a game — an absurd decision that she just makes on the spur of the moment. For Darcy, this is life and death. This is his second chance, to maybe get Elizabeth to look at him, really look at him at last.

So. A party, where Jane and Bingley are annoyingly happy. A business meeting at Pemberley. Short dates in a café, in winter, while it’s snowing outside. Valentine’s Day in February, in the rain.

The game is getting serious. Elizabeth is getting attached. And Darcy will do anything, anything, not to lose her again…

 

10 am. The café. So damn cold. Elizabeth approaches, her steps dancing), woollen hat, woollen scarf, her skin pink (because of the cold). Darcy, standing near a small table on the narrow pavement outside, under a patio heater—heating process, non-efficient.

“Merry Christmas!” Elizabeth says, her smile getting bigger.

“Merry Christmas!” he answers, smiling too—casual, keep it casual, but—God. He adds, “How am I supposed to be obnoxious if you greet me like this?”

“Oh, you have to try,” Elizabeth says joyfully. “You promised!”

“I’ll need time to rally.”

“What have you got planned for Christmas? I mean, Christmas Day—tomorrow?”

“Georgiana and I will be locked in our ivory tower, guarded by armed mercenaries, with orders to shoot—to keep the common people out. I’ve bought my sister blood diamonds, and she’s bought me, um…”

“The keys to a small country?”

“Yes. What about you?”

“Let’s see… It’ll be a mess,” Elizabeth says, eyes still dancing. “The noise level will be through the roof. Lydia and my mum will complain the whole time—for totally different reasons—but it will be…it will be great. We’ve bought my dad a new computer. It’ll make him so happy.”

“You love your dad.”

“I do.”

Silence. Darcy panics. “Ah, well, thanks for meeting me. Sadly, I have to run…”

“What? Wait! We didn’t get our obnoxious Christmas espressos.” Elizabeth glances inside. “Can you still give me, like, two minutes?”

He can. Inside, at the bar, Elizabeth jokes with the barista. “It’s Christmas!” the man says, and he adds whipped cream to both their cups. Whipped cream from a can—a super-cheap, supermarket-value-saver can.

Elizabeth turns to Darcy, all smiles and mirth and rosy cheeks and challenge and whispers, “Oh, come on! You have to say something. Or at least glare! It’s from a can! It’s cow’s milk!” Her hand on her heart, theatrically. “It’s—gasp!—not organic!”

— I love you. —

He writes it later, that afternoon. Hours later, sitting in his office. Then he deletes the text quickly.

Ooh! This scene is so adorable and playful. I love this unique dynamic between Darcy and Elizabeth. I so hope no one will be heartbroken! They are just too great together!  🥰

Thank you for sharing, Laura! Heartbroken looks fantastic! ✨

~ Connect with Laura ~

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~ About Laura ~

Laura Moretti is new to the Pride and Prejudice world, but not new to writing… She is a fantasy and sci-fi writer in another life.

You can find her books here.

And if you want to test the waters before reading “Heartbroken,” you can subscribe to her newsletter and get “A Day in Turin,” a free Elizabeth and Darcy novella, here.

 

~~~

GIVEAWAY TIME!

To celebrate her release of Heartbroken, Laura Moretti brings  2️⃣  ebooks of Heartbroken for me to give away to  2️⃣  lucky readers! 🙌🏼

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

 

• This giveaway is open worldwide. Thank you, Laura!
• This giveaway ends March 1st.