Interview + Giveaway with Author Karen Cox!!!

 Author Features, Giveaways
Jul 232018
 

Hello readers! I’m very excited to welcome back one of my long-time favorite authors, Karen M. Cox, to Austenesque Reviews today! If you are unfamiliar with the captivating novels by Karen Cox, her specialty is Austenesque retellings that take place in different time periods, and she is phenomenal at finding inventive ways to tie her story into the unique setting she chooses!

Karen is here to celebrate the re-release of one of my favorite books! Originally published as At the Edge of the Sea, Son of a Preacher Man has received a new title and new cover! And I hope many more Austenesque readers will be picking it up soon (if they haven’t already) because it truly is a sensational and moving story!

Hi Karen! I’m so excited to have you visit my blog and to have this opportunity to finally interview you! I cannot believe in all eight years of book reviews, blog tours, and author visits we’ve never done an interview together! I’ve got to make this is a good one (the pressure’s on!)

Thanks for inviting me, Meredith!

For my first question, I would like to learn a little about your approach to writing. What kind of aspects of your story do you plan in advance? Do your muse or characters ever take you in directions you’d not expect?

I guess you could call my approach to writing a “hybrid” approach—I’m neither a strict plotter nor a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants-er. Usually, I have an idea for setting, time period, characters. My natural inclination is to write character-driven stories, so any major plot points need some extra attention before I start. If the story is Austen-inspired, I puzzle out what things in my chosen setting fit well alongside the novel I’m working with. I also decide what character traits I want to bring forward; for example, when I wrote I Could Write a Book, I wanted to spotlight Emma’s love for her family and friends as motivation for her actions (even though she is sometimes misguided) and her sheltered life, based on the choices she made. Continue reading »

Interview + Giveaway with Author Paisley James!!!

 Author Features, Giveaways
Jul 062018
 

Hi readers! I am very excited to welcome Paisley James, author of a recently released Pride and Prejudice variation titled, To Save and Protect (which sounds phenomenal btw!), to Austenesque Reviews today! To Save and Protect is Ms. James’s debut release and I’m very happy to have this opportunity to have her visit my blog and chat about writing, her new release, and Jane Austen!

Welcome, Paisely! Thank you so much for visiting my blog! Since you are a new author to me and some of my readers, how about we start off with you telling us a little bit about yourself. How long have you been writing? When did you first encounter Jane Austen?

Thank you so much for this interview, Meredith. Let me begin by saying that Paisley James is my pen name. Like many other writers, my love for writing goes hand-in-hand with an even greater love for reading. I started reading great works of literature when I was nine and was introduced to Pride and Prejudice when I was eleven. Needless to say that I fell in love with it and it has been my favourite novel ever since. I have been writing for some time now, but To Save and Protect is my first published work.

That’s so impressive that you read classics at such a young age and how lovely that you  fell in love with and have been in love with Pride and Prejudice all these years! Now tell us a little about your debut novel, To Save and Protect. How did you come up with the idea for this story? What inspired the premise? Continue reading »

Interview + Giveaway with the Holidays with Jane Authors!!!

 Author Features, Giveaways
Jun 272018
 

Happy Wednesday, friends!!! As you may already be already be unquestionably aware, I am a huge fan of the Holidays with Jane series!  Jane Austen inspired short stories that celebrate holidays and seasons, what could be a better combination?!? Hmm….maybe the amazing team of authors that created the stories in this collection? 😉

I had this wish of being able to do a group interview with these authors that I admire so much and I’m happy to say it came true!! Jennifer Becton, Melissa Buell, Rebecca Fleming, Jessica Grey, Nancy Kelley, and Kimberly Truesdale were so kind to chat with me and answer my questions! It is my first time doing a group interview/discussion like this, we hope you enjoy!!

Meredith: For my first questions I’d like ask how did it all begin? What inspired the idea of Holidays with Jane?

Jennifer: It all began with Jess and Melissa….

Kimberly: HWJ started for me with a text from Jess going “So… I had this crazy idea…” She and Indie Jane had been so supportive of my first Austenesque book that I jumped on board. I couldn’t resist the chance to write in such excellent company.

Jessica: Melissa and I were talking about working on a modern Pride and Prejudice adaptation together…sometime in the middle of 2014 Melissa pitched the idea of us writing a modern Austen Christmas short story together that year. I thought it would be fun to do a collection and there weren’t many collections that included EVERY Austen novel, so we brainstormed what a collection like that could look like and what authors we wanted involved. I roped in Jennifer, Cecilia, Rebecca, Kimberly – all of whom IndieJane.org had reviewed and had guest post…and who hadn’t published before because I was so excited to read her takes on the stories. It honestly was supposed to be a one off Christmas collection, but then we kept dreaming up new and exciting ways to kill ourselves and thought it would be cool to have 6 collections, cause who doesn’t want to say they’ve adapted ALL of Austen’s major novels? I hope I am remembering this the same way Melissa does! (Side Note: a LOT of my texts to Kimberly start: So…I had this crazy idea…and they usually end with NEVER LET ME DO THIS AGAIN) Continue reading »

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