January 25th, 2010 — Guest Blogger, J-L, Jane Austen
If you're a LRP virgin, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. It's free and easy! See you tomorrow! ~Keira.
by Sharon Lathan, guest blogger and author of My Dearest Mr. Darcy
The pearly treasures of the sea,
The lights that spatter heaven above,
More precious than these wonders are
My heart-of-hearts filled with your love.
- Heinrich Heine, “Of Pearls and Stars”
Several years ago I set out on a mission. Inspired partly by a beautiful love story portrayed on screen and within the pages of a book, and equally by my own love story of over twenty years, I embarked on a quest to intimately reveal a happy marriage.
Today the concept of a “happy marriage” is deemed a fantasy; an oxymoron. I do not believe that, not now or when I first sat down at the keyboard and wrote the opening lines of Mr. & Mrs. Fitzwilliam Darcy: Two Shall Become One
. I knew it was possible to have a fulfilling, contented, romantic, and passionate relationship within a marriage, even after several decades. I knew it because I witnessed it with others. I knew it because God said it was to be so. I knew it because I possessed one myself.
And the moments which find life there
Become the brightest stars above,
Which live forever beautiful
In the sky of my heart’s love.
- Steve Lathan, “Your Smile Stops the Minutes”
I knew it was not a “Mission: Impossible
.” I approached the life of Fitzwilliam and Elizabeth Darcy with my goal clearly in mind. The mission statement was clear. Love. Romance. Passion. Those are the attainable treasures that they would pursue. Daily. Weekly. Monthly. Yearly. And maybe even on into eternity.
Throughout my Darcy Saga series I have faithfully held to the ideal. I wanted to give Darcy and Lizzy the life that I believe Austen intended. I wanted to allow the reader to journey along with them as they attended to their normal lives with an unusual event thrown in occasionally. I wanted to show the Darcys growing in their accord and deepening their love.
Time is too slow for those who wait, too swift for those who fear,
too long for those who grieve, too short for those who rejoice,
but for those who love, time is eternity.
- Henry van Dyke, “Time Is”
My newest novel, My Dearest Mr. Darcy
, follows along in the same vein as the previous two. The Darcys travel to the seacoast for a holiday jammed with history, entertainment, action, and romance. Of course! Then they return to Pemberley, settling in and enjoying the autumn months. The culmination as their first year of marriage draws near is the birth of their child. As with all my novels, the theme is positive with the love between these two heightening as they await the addition to their family.
Have I convinced a skeptical world? Have I succeeded in restoring hope? That is for each individual to decide. I have succeeded in my mission: The Darcys are still in love, are passionate for each other, delight in their company, respect and honor their vows, and are not ashamed to express their feelings.
Darcy was gazing into his lap with a soft smile upon his mouth. He did not answer hastily, finally speaking lowly, “I do not know if I can sufficiently place it into words. Perhaps that is why the poets wax eloquent with platitudes and analogies as mere common phrases do not suffice. All I know for certain is that almost from the moment I saw her she has filled my senses and my heart. There is joy with Elizabeth in every way and every moment, whether present or no. I feel light and buoyant, yet also grounded and secure. Giddy and frivolous, yet strong and steady. Childish and masculine simultaneously.” He chuckled softly, closing his eyes and leaning back against the carriage wall. “Yet you know what the most miraculous part is, Richard? Greater than how she makes me feel is the miracle that she loves me.”
An excerpt from My Dearest Mr. Darcy © Sharon Lathan, Sourcebooks Landmark 2010
True love. Everlasting love. Passionate love. These are goals to reach for. Do you agree?
MY DEAREST MR. DARCY—IN STORES JANUARY 2010
Married life is bringing out the best in the Darcys. Their mutual attentiveness brings readers into a magical world of love and wedded bliss.
Elizabeth is growing into her role as Mistress of Pemberley, and Darcy has mellowed under her gentle teasing and light-heartedness. Pemberley becomes a true home and a welcoming environment for loving family and friends. The Darcys travel to the seaside, welcome their firstborn, celebrate their anniversary and second Christmas, and at every moment embrace the love gifted to them.
“I love you, my Elizabeth. You are my soul, my blood and bone, my very life.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sharon Lathan is the author of the bestselling Mr. and Mrs. Fitzwilliam Darcy: Two Shall Become One, and Loving Mr. Darcy: Journeys Beyond Pemberley. In addition to her writing, she works as a Registered Nurse in a Neonatal ICU. She resides in Hanford, California in the sunny San Joaquin Valley. For more information on Sharon and her saga, come to her website at: www.darcysaga.net
Giveaway: One set of Sharon ’s three books (Mr. & Mrs. Fitzwilliam Darcy: Two Shall Become One, Loving Mr. Darcy
and My Dearest Mr. Darcy) is up for grabs. One winner, US and Canadian readers only please. Sorry international readers! One entry per relevant comment; multiple entries allowed. Ends: February 1, 2010.
Online Stores
September 2nd, 2009 — 2.5 Stars, 3 Stars, ARC, Business, Friends, Gentry, Great Britain, J-L, Pregnant, Regency
Loving Mr. Darcy is the second novel in a trilogy by Sharon Lathan detailing the lives of Mr. and Mrs. Darcy after their marriage vows. As such, I recommend reading the first novel Two Shall Become One before entering into this novel as it follows directly on its heels.
What I liked:
- Sharon really knows how to make Regency come alive. Her descriptions of people, places, and things suck you in and refuse to let you go.
- I loved her Georgiana, Mary Bennet, and Catherine de Bourgh. Their voices were perfect, and Catherine’s futile anger was fun to read.
- Darcy’s 23 gifts to Elizabeth for her birthday. I want a birthday like that.
- Pemberley Summer Festival. I'd spoil a little here but Sharon's done an excellent job teasing about clowns.
What I disliked:
- The over the top cutesy “Do you know how much I really, really, really love you?” dialogues Darcy and Elizabeth entered into at least once every chapter. It is extremely sickly sweet. I liked it in the first novel, but it was excessive in the sequel. Well at least for me anyways.
- If I had a dollar for how many times Darcy asked Elizabeth “Are you well?” or a similar variation of the phrase, I’d be a wealthy woman. Elizabeth’s pregnant, not an invalid! Trust me Darcy; you’ll know when she’s not doing well.
- There was no real direction for a good chunk of the story at the beginning of the novel. I wanted more conflict...
Like the first novel, this novel unfolds slowly taking it’s time to depict their daily lives. For those who've ever wondered how it would look, Lathan's trilogy is definitely something you want to pick up and devour. In this second novel, Elizabeth is pregnant and recovering from her episode in the last book which has the direct result in making Darcy crazy overprotective and hovering.
In the end I think this was the right novel, but wrong time for me to read it as Lathan's writing is very much a leisure read to be done while relaxing in a bubble bath for hours not while getting small patches of time here and there.
Rating: 2.5-3 Stars
Buy: Loving Mr. Darcy: Journeys Beyond Pemberley
Online Stores
March 9th, 2009 — Guest Blogger, J-L, Jane Austen, Regency
by Sharon Lathan, guest blogger and author of the Darcy Saga
It is such a thrill to be spending today on Love Romance Passion. Keira has been so gracious in allowing me two whole days (our fun interview will post on Thursday!) to hijack her website and talk about my debut novel, Mr. and Mrs. Fitzwilliam Darcy: Two Shall Become One. Today I am going to chat a bit about the limitless infatuation with Austen.
Why are people so interested in continuing Austen's books?
It is a great question, but I do not think there is a single answer. I imagine the motivations for writing a sequel or variation or behind-the-scenes or modern spin vary widely from person to person. A cynic would likely say it is merely the greed to cash in on a fad while exploiting a classic piece of literature. Maybe in a few cases, but I truly do not think this is the norm.
I recently wrote a guest blog for Diary of an Eccentric entitled, "Ignorance is Bliss." In it I talked about how I entered the realm of Austen fan fiction (JAFF) largely unaware of just how huge the genre was. I knew of a few online communities and had read enough JAFF to know what I wanted to say and that the reception would be good, but I did not know of the massive collection of books being published. At first it was daunting. But then I realized that the wealth of competition and rabid interest only proved why I had begun writing in the first place: People love Jane Austen and they can never have enough.
So I suppose if I had to come up with a single, simple answer to Keira's question it would be love. Perhaps we feel a bit cheated in Miss Austen being taken from the world so young. We mourn what we presume may have been a dozen more novels if she could only have lived another twenty years or been more prolific while alive. Her perpetual popularity for what is in truth a mere handful of novels is proof of her brilliance. Her stories are the ultimate tales of romance and true love, written with beauty and wit, and set in a world that utterly captivates. They worm into our very souls so that we are satisfied momentarily but left hungering for more. The numerous dramatic adaptations, those both silly and seriously wrought, are further evidence of this devotion. Everyone who reads Jane Austen is touched by something unique within the layers of her stories. They are romantic, yes, but also so much more. Each person is affected to some degree and for a few of us it becomes an obsession to keep that emotion alive.
Thus, I call it "love." But love of what, precisely? Well, again, I think it varies. For me, I was struck by the sheer romantic elements, the glory of a love story conveyed so phenomenally, as well as the history. For someone else it may be the culture of the day, the society that these Regency folks inhabited. Another may be captivated by the witty repartee and crazy misconceptions, taking that into extreme places as they toss bizarre stumbling blocks in the way. Then there are the really creative writers who dream up crazy time travel stuff just to see how these characters will react in wild situations! It is all good, in my opinion, as it points back to the source material with reverence and appreciation.
And the latter is the crux, isn't it? If it is largely love that motivates a writer or producer, then isn't that a good thing? Even if the inducement is plain materialism, people are being entertained (something we need in our depressing world) and hearing of Jane Austen in the process!
As for me, I only wish to carry on the joy of a beautiful love story between two amazingly written characters. I could have created my own lovers to write about - hundreds of authors do just that marvelously well - and I would have written it much the same way. Instead I am overjoyed that my inspiration was Lizzy and Darcy, because then I can continue to live with them as I desired to when the last page was turned and the movie screen faded to black. Furthermore, I can give to those hungery Austen-lovers another offering that may just be precisely what they wanted. I consider that a tremendous honor.
For more information on my saga and how I was inspired, come to my website: www.darcysaga.net. Mr. & Mrs. Fitzwilliam Darcy: Two Shall Become One is available now!
Keira: Thank you so much for joining us today Sharon, feel free to hijiack LRP anytime! It's been a real pleasure! I can't wait to read the next books in your Saga!
Online Stores
