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Abigail Reynolds writes Pemberley Variations. For the uninitiated this means that she takes the classic story of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and plays a what-if scenario. For instance in From Lambton to Longbourn the what-if is what if Darcy and Elizabeth disclosed their feelings before parting ways after Lydia’s fall from grace? The characters in this what-if scenario all bear the same names, and read fairly familiar, but ultimately are recreated and reintroduced. Attraction is played up and scenes Jane Austen would never write appear involving kissing – great kissing, but a staunch Austen fan will probably feel that even this small break in propriety is too much.

Elizabeth finds out to her dismay how deeply in love with Mr. Darcy she is when the news of Lydia’s foolishness breaks. How could she in all good consciousness expose his sister to her family? She worries a lot about Darcy’s good opinion of her and how the current affairs will certainly provide him with enough ammunition to dislike her from hereafter. To her surprise, Darcy is not at all inclined to think ill of her. He wants her to keep correspondence with his sister, Georgiana, as it his only way to communicate with her. He would marry her tomorrow, no today, if only he could be certain of her regard.

Some provocation on both their parts leads to them sharing their first kiss, part comfort, part passion. One kiss melds into the next and then the worst happens – Elizabeth’s aunt and uncle discover them! Elizabeth does not want to trick Darcy into a connection with her family and he is once again unsure of himself in her affections. This happens a lot actually throughout the novel as they go along their tangent journey toward love and ultimate happiness.

Their insecurities are a little over the top, but ultimately are not distracting from the tale. Reynolds has a way with words and I look forward to reading another Pemberley Variation soon.

Rating: 3.5-4 Stars

Buy: From Lambton to Longbourn: A Pride & Prejudice Variation

Originally posted 2008-12-04 09:22:49. Republished by Old Post Promoter

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This is my lucky day. Two author interviews in one week! It’s complete playtime and fun. I hope you enjoy!

LRP: What is it about Pride and Prejudice that keeps you writing in that genre?

I love the characters.  I can’t get enough of Elizabeth and Darcy.

LRP: I love them too. What do you think the appeal is for readers?

Abigail: Again, the fabulous characters are a big part.  The happy ending helps, too!   I think for a lot of readers, Jane Austen lets them escape present day stresses.  It’s also fun to compare all the different Jane Austen-related novels to discover how different writers see them.  But it comes down to one thing:  Jane Austen didn’t write enough books to satisfy her fans!

LRP: Who is your favorite character in Pride and Prejudice and why? In Pemberley by the Sea?

Abigail: Elizabeth Bennet is my favorite character in Pride & Prejudice.  I love her spirit, her wit, her sense of the absurd, and that quality of archness mixed with sweetness that enchants Darcy.

As for Pemberley by the Sea, that’s a three way tie.  I love both Cassie and Calder, and I feel as if they’re part of my family.  But here’s the surprise - the character who really fascinates me and won’t let go is Senator Joe Westing, Calder’s father.  He’s such a nasty person that you’d think I’d want to bury him as quickly as possible, but he’s actually very complex.  He may even be redeemable!

LRP: I thought Joe was interesting too, but redeemable? I’d like to see that pulled off! How do you define love?

Abigail: I wish I had a good answer for that!  But that very question is one of the things that keeps me writing love stories, because it’s a subject you can explore forever.

LRP: The scene where Calder and Cassie get together for the first time has got to be one of the best lovemaking scenes I’ve ever read. What do you think makes a great bedroom scene?

Abigail: Thank you so much!  For me, a love scene has to have a certain inevitability about it, a build up, and it has to demonstrate something important about the characters or be important to the plot.  Lovemaking scenes that just go through the motions tend to lose my interest.  There has to be something else going on, something deeper.  For example, Calder has a particular style of lovemaking which reflects his character - pleasing his lover is incredibly important to him.   I’m more interested in how a character feels than precisely what is done.  As for that particular scene, I have to give a lot of credit to the setting.  Anyone who has been swimming in bioluminescent waters can tell you how utterly magical it is.

LRP: If you could pick any actor and actress to play your heroine and hero in a movie, who would they be?

Abigail: Another tough question!  I’ll go with Jessica Biel for Cassie.  Calder would be the tougher part to play - so much happening below the surface - but I’d say Brandon Routh or Christian Bale would be good.

LRP: What’s the biggest pressure you face in the whole writing and publishing process?

Abigail: Self-induced anxiety, without a doubt.  I’m my own worst critic, and I’m always afraid that what I write next won’t live up to what my readers expect.  Of course, my readers would probably be happier if I’d just stop worrying about it and write more!

LRP: What is your greatest weakness in writing dialogue?

Abigail: I struggle to keep dialogue simple and natural.  Since I started by writing books set in the Regency, my characters have a tendency to speak in long, convoluted sentences with no contractions and lots of semicolons.  With my modern books, I have to read the dialogue out loud to make sure it sounds natural.

LRP: I hear you’re writing a sequel to Pemberley by the Sea. Could you tell me more about it?

Abigail: Morning Light starts about a year after Pemberley by the Sea ends, and tells the story of Annie Wright, a good friend of Cassie’s and an artist who owns a small gallery in Woods Hole.  She was widowed after just a few years of marriage and has sworn off romance, but a man from her past makes her question her decision.  In the meantime, Cassie and Calder are growing as a couple, and they face challenges from both their families.  Caro and Joe Westing make return appearances, and Cassie’s brother Ryan is introduced.  It culminates at a gala fund-raiser for abandoned dogs (well, you don’t think Calder would be at a fundraiser if there weren’t dogs involved, do you?) where all the main characters discover that they’ve all been acting in the dark.

If you’re interested, the first chapter is posted at my website, www.pemberleyvariations.com.

LRP: I’ll have to go check that out! What do you hope your readers will gain from your books?

Abigail: I want them to love the characters as much as I do (that’s a tall order!), but the biggest thing is that I want them to find comfort and pleasure in the story.  I often hear from readers, especially of the Pemberley Variations, that they re-read my books again and again, and they’re the books they take out when life is stressful or painful.  I couldn’t ask for more than that.

LRP: Could you provide a picture of your workspace? I’d love to see where you do your writing!

Abigail: That would require a whole book of pictures!  My motto is “Have laptop, will travel.”  I have two teenagers, one home-schooled and the other with special needs, and I write at their swim lessons, play rehearsals, doctor’s appointments, karate classes, and just about anywhere else.  The place I associate most with writing Pemberley by the Sea is my son’s hospital room.  He had a serious brain injury when he was 8 and was hospitalized for months.  I stayed with him the whole time, and I wrote big chunks of Pemberley by the Sea there, because at 3:00 in the morning, Cassie and Calder would always be there for me, and the salt marsh was a mental respite from the depressing hospital room.

At home, I don’t have a desk per se.  I write at the dining room table, on the couch, lying in bed, and just about anywhere else.  The only constant is that there’s usually a cat on my lap trying to interfere with my typing.

LRP: Is there anything else you’d like to share with Love Romance Passion?

Abigail: I hope you enjoy reading my books as much as I enjoyed writing them!

LRP: Thanks for chatting with us Abigail!

If you’d liked to learn more about her other Pride and Prejudice variations check out her website listed above!

Originally posted 2008-11-05 05:05:14. Republished by Old Post Promoter

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Jane Austen fan or not you can not help but love Abigail Reynolds’ Pemberley by the Sea. I devoured this four hundred plus page book within days, it was so good. Based on the plot and characters of Pride and Prejudice, this novel is truly one of the best renditions of the tale. Taken to a modern level, Pemberley by the Sea explores science and art equally.

Let’s start with the heroine: Cassie Boulton is a marine biologist on tenure-track with a small liberal arts college. She spends her summers in Woods Hole working on research and taking in the salt marshes. Life hasn’t been easy for Cassie, there are things in her past she doesn’t want anybody to know for fear they’d think of her differently. Cassie presents herself as the golden girl; she was the top of the class and one of the few lucky ones to land a prestigious job and research grant right out of school.

Cassie’s best friend is Erin, who is looking to join biotechnologies instead of academia. Erin is the conventional pretty one: long limbed, blue eyes, and blonde. Erin has been unfortunate enough to have in her past one particularly nasty boyfriend so when she meets Scott at a local dance, Erin convinces Cassie to come pass judgment on him over lunch the next day. This is where Cassie is formally introduced to Calder, our hero, though of course if you know the story of Pride and Prejudice you know they’ve met before at the dance.

Our hero Calder Westing, hates the publicity and fangirls that follow him due to his last name. His father Joseph Westing is a senator, his brother is in the House of Representatives and Calder he’s the first Westing to eschew politics all together. Instead, he writes under a pseudo name and publishes his books despite his father’s disproval. Calder is intrigued by Cassie from the very beginning but his quiet, withdrawn and taciturn nature gets in his way from expressing himself. This must be a first for a published author. Wink.

Cassie can’t believe Calder is actually interested in her. She thinks he tolerates her presence because he’s watching out for Scott and because he’s bored. She’s surprised to find herself drawn to Calder and unable to resist his kisses. When they make love it overwhelms her but when the passion clears Cassie is horrified to have given in so easily. She doesn’t do casual sex and she just gave herself to a man who is surely going to think of her as another notch on his bed post. Upset she leaves Calder behind and makes excuses to not see him.

My favorite part in the whole novel has to be the bioluminescent water play. My second favorite section is reading Calder’s book Pride and Presumption as he struggles to explain in writing where verbal communication failed him. This part is so sweet it just jerks your heart. With Cassie reading his true feelings and feeling the same in return, I wondered how on earth the novel could continue for a few hundred more pages. But it does and the novel beautifully unfolds as Cassie’s fears, Calder’s fears and his family all try to break apart the lovebirds. Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet had it easy in comparison. Even Jane and Bingley had it easier than Scot and Erin if you can imagine!

Contemporary lovers, Jane Austen fans, I recommend wholeheartedly this book to you. Abigail Reynolds will draw you in and keep you there through all the twists and turns. I would be lying if I didn’t tell you that I hope this gets made into a movie and that Matthew MacFadyen plays his contemporary counterpart like Colin Firth did with Bridget Jones’s Diary as Mr. Darcy.

Rating: 5 Stars hands down.

Originally posted 2008-11-03 09:16:10. Republished by Old Post Promoter

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