Elaine Jeremiah GIVEAWAY & Guest Post

I don't think it's any secret that I can't get enough JAFF lately (that's Jane Austen fanfiction, fyi); far from confining my Jane Austeny bits to Austen in August, as I usually would, I've reviewed or featured four Austenesque books since then, and have read at least half a dozen more (including two this week!). Even my December pick from Book of the Month YA is Austenesque! I can't seem to get enough.

And neither, it seems, can a lot of you. To that end, today I'm featuring a new release from Austenesque author Elaine Jeremiah, who has stopped by to tell us a bit about growing up in Jane-country, as well as sharing an excerpt of her latest book, and a chance to win the whole series so far!

Check it out below, make sure to leave Elaine some love in the comments, and don't forget to enter to win!

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Thank you to Misty for featuring me on your blog today. I just wanted to share some thoughts about Hampshire, where I grew up.

I do feel very privileged to have grown up in the same county as Jane Austen, although of course Hampshire today is very different from the Hampshire that she grew up in. There are many more people living there for one thing – it’s quite a crowded, busy area of Southern England and yet some of the places that Jane knew haven’t changed a great deal.

But despite the busyness of modern-day Hampshire, there’s still a lot of countryside around to enjoy and I did love going for country walks with my family and our dog when I was growing up. The New Forest, a national park, is not far from where I grew up and is one of the places where we’d go walking as a family. It’s very old and was established in medieval times.

Then there’s Winchester, where Jane Austen died. It’s still a beautiful city even today and the huge, ancient cathedral is stunning. I went to university there and it’s quite an intimate place – it’s not a very big city and there’s so much character to it. There are some lovely old buildings apart from the cathedral, some Regency and some medieval, including the Great Hall which is all that is left of Winchester Castle. I would visit it now and then with my family and funnily enough I once saw an exhibition of costumes from Jane Austen adaptations there.

Of course, I can’t talk about Hampshire without mentioning Chawton, which is of course where Jane Austen’s house is and where she wrote several of her fabulous novels. Chawton is actually less busy now than it was in Jane’s time because the main road to Winchester passed right through the middle of it in her time, just outside her house. It’s now a lot quieter and it’s such a lovely place.

Jane Austen’s house is gorgeous and if you ever get the chance to visit, you should. It’s well worth it. I’ve also visited Chawton House, which belonged to her brother Edward Austen Knight and is now a library of early women’s writing. That is magnificent too and a stone’s throw from Jane’s house.

So those are just a few thoughts about Hampshire. Although it is very urbanised in many areas now, there are still plenty of places of outstanding natural beauty and many historic towns, cities and villages. If you’re an Austen fan, it’s a great holiday destination idea!

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By Time Divided

I stopped walking and reached for Mia’s hand. ‘There’s nothing wrong with you, Mia. You look lovely as always. But I should warn you that the people we’re about to meet…’

‘Are a bunch of racists?’

I winced. ‘By our standards, yes. But they’re also from a different time, a different society. It’s 1815 here, the slave trade has been abolished, but in Regency England the vast majority of people are white, they’re not used to being around people of different ethnicities so…’

‘I should expect them to treat me like dirt?’

‘I’m not sure they all will,’ I told her. I couldn’t imagine Isabella treating anyone like dirt. ‘Just don’t be surprised if some of them make comments to you or about you that are offensive. We’re not in the twenty-first century any more.’

‘You can say that again,’ Mia replied, wrinkling her nose as she gazed up at the leaden sky, seemingly oblivious to the fat drops of rain falling onto her face. She turned back to me.

‘So if they’re rude to me, I’m supposed to stand there and take it, am I?’

I sighed, giving her a rueful look. ‘No, I don’t expect you to do that, just… don’t be rude back. Find a witty retort to make. I’m sure you’ll think of something. You usually do in similar situations.’

‘Similar situations? Cass, what planet are you on? There’s nothing similar to this situation in… in the whole of the universe.’ She threw her arms out wide to reiterate her point.

It was then, as I took a quick glance over my shoulder, that I caught a glimpse of someone standing at one of the windows of the house which overlooked the lawn. We’d been spotted.

‘Come on, Mia, I think someone’s seen us.’

‘What do you mean, someone’s seen us?’ Mia replied. ‘What are they gonna do to us?’ There was no mistaking the panic in her voice.
‘Don’t worry, they’re not going to throw us in a dungeon,’ I told her as we trudged across the lawn. ‘They know me… well sort of and I as I told you, I became friends with those girls. They’re actually quite nice…’ I realised that Mia had stopped walking. I turned to her, seeing that the usual glow of her skin was gone and her face looked unnaturally pale.

‘But I’m not you, Cass. I don’t know anything about Jane Austen and I’m… well I’m clearly not white.’
My brow furrowed as I laid a hand on her arm. ‘I understand your fears. Just let me do the talking for the moment.’ I squeezed her arm. ‘You haven’t done anything wrong, they’re not going to accuse you of anything, or do anything to harm you.’ They might accuse me of a few things though, I thought grimly.

Mia still looked anxious. ‘All right, I’ll just follow your lead, but I don’t think I’m gonna be any good at this Regency thing.’

‘Well hopefully we won’t be here that long,’ I replied. ‘For now, though, we need to get out of this awful rain.’
Mia nodded and we continued on, soon reaching the steps which led to the great house. The door to the breakfast room was thrown open as we approached. But it wasn’t my friends standing there. It was a middle-aged woman who I’d never seen before.

****GIVEAWAY****

Elaine has generously offered up an ebook prize pack of her Love Without Time series, 'Love Without Time' and 'By Time Divided' to one lucky winner!
This giveaway is open INTERNATIONALLY!
Giveaway ends Fri December 27th at 11:59pm EST.
To enter, fill out the Rafflecopter below.
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Please do not leave any sensitive info (mailing or email addresses, etc.) in the comments section!
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ABOUT THE LATEST BOOK:

Having accidentally time travelled to Regency England, Jane Austen fan Cassie Taylor finds herself unexpectedly back in the twenty-first century. But everything has changed. She’s been missing for three weeks and her parents are upset and disbelieving when she tells them where she’s been. The police aren’t too pleased either.


Cassie’s best friend Mia doubts the story, yet stands by her friend. And then the unthinkable happens when both of them end up in Regency England. Now Cassie has an even bigger problem: Mia is mixed race and they’re stuck in an era where the slave trade has only just been abolished. Cassie must somehow explain herself to her Regency friends – why she vanished and who her friend is. She also needs to find Ted, the love of her life.

How will Cassie manage to protect Mia from the insults of Regency people who see her as worthless? And how will she ever find a way for her and Ted and Mia to finally return home?

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Elaine lives in Bristol, South West England with her husband and their golden retriever, Dug. But she was privileged enough to grow up in Jane Austen country, in Hampshire.

Writing has always been a passion of hers, but it’s only been in recent years that she’s been able to devote more time to it. She decided to self-publish with the help of her wonderful husband who’s very tech-savvy! In 2013 she self-published her first novel, but it was only with her fourth, her novel ‘Love Without Time’, that she felt she finally found her niche: Jane Austen Fan Fiction!

She’s always loved Jane Austen’s writing and the Regency era, so this felt like a natural thing for her to do. ‘Love Without Time’ is the first in a trilogy best described as a Jane Austen-inspired time travel romance. ‘By Time Divided’ is the second book in the trilogy.

If you want to connect with Elaine online, her Facebook page can be found here:
https://www.facebook.com/elainejeremiahauthor/

Her Twitter handle is: @ElaineJeremiah

Her website is here: https://elainejeremiah.co.uk/

‘Love Without Time’ is available from Amazon.com here: http://amzn.to/2DxRPHO
It’s also available from Amazon UK here: http://amzn.to/2Dywq0y
‘By Time Divided’ is on Amazon.com here: https://amzn.to/2YEKzzH
It’s on Amazon UK here: https://amzn.to/2KokZtv