Tag: Jane Austen

Happy Birthday Jane Austen (free ebooks)

Posted December 16, 2010 by Holly in Miscellaneous, News | 0 Comments

Sourcebooks, the world’s leading publisher of Jane Austen fiction, is offering a unique deal to readers who want to celebrate Jane by reading special editions of all six of Austen’s beloved novels in a 21st century format.
Special e-book editions of Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Sense and Sensibility, Northanger Abbey, Persuasion and Mansfield Park will be available for free for one day only. These celebratory editions include the full novels, plus the legendary color illustrations of the Brock brothers, originally created to accompany the books in 1898.
In addition to the Jane Austen classics, readers can also enjoy these bestselling Austen-inspired novels. The following bestselling e-books will be free on December 16th in honor of her birthday:
Eliza’s Daughter by Joan Aiken
The Darcys & the Bingleys by Marsha Altman
Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife by Linda Berdoll
What Would Jane Austen Do? by Laurie Brown
The Pemberley Chronicles by Rebecca Ann Collins
The Other Mr. Darcy by Monica Fairview
Mr. Darcy’s Diary by Amanda Grange
Mr. & Mrs. Fitzwilliam Darcy: Two Shall Become One by Sharon Lathan
Lydia Bennet’s Story by Jane Odiwe
Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy by Abigail Reynolds
Amazon and B&N seem to be experiencing some technical difficulties with this right now, but they should have it up and running shortly. As a result of the technical difficulties, Sourcebooks is extending this offer for an extra day. Now, you can download these great free ebooks through tomorrow night (12/17/10).

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Guest Review: Letters from Pemberley by Jane Dawkins

Posted November 11, 2008 by Ames in Reviews | 5 Comments

In this continuation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, one of the best-loved novels in the English language, Elizabeth Bennet, now Mrs. Fitzwilliam Darcy and mistress of Pemberley, finds herself living a very different life of wealth and privilege. Writing to her sister, Jane, she confides her uncertainty and anxieties, and describes the every-day of her new life. Her first year at Pemberley is sometimes bewildering but Lizzy’s spirited sense of humour and satirical eye never desert her.

Incorporating Jane Austen’s own words and characters from her other works (who appear here with different names, either associated with Austen’s life, borrowed from another of her novels, or a word-play on their original name), Jane Dawkins pieces together a literary patchwork quilt to tell the story of Lizzy’s first eventful year as Mrs. Darcy. The result is an entertaining and satisfying tale that will surely delight Jane Austen fans everywhere.

This is the second P&P sequel I have ever read. It’s very different from the first one (Linda Berdoll’s sequel-also available from Sourcebooks). Letters from Pemberley is an epistolary novel and I found it made for a very quick read. I usually don’t enjoy this type of format, but here I did. We were given glimpses of Lizzy’s new life through the loving correspondence of her sister, Jane, also newly married.

As I said, this was a quick read, but not completely satisfying. We don’t see enough of Darcy. This novel is all about Lizzy. And really, Darcy has many many female fans – so that’s where my disappointment stems from.

Also, we know Lizzy didn’t like her cousin (he was odious) but I feel like Dawkins had her poking too much fun of him in every letter. Lizzy isn’t mean-spirited and that’s how this came across.

All in all, Letters from Pemberley was a quick, fun read. 4 out of 5

This book is available from Sourcebooks. You can buy it here or here in ebook format.

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CONTEST WINNERS: Jane Austen Sequels!

Posted May 3, 2008 by Rowena in Giveaway Winners | 2 Comments


First off, I’ve got to say that not only do I have some Jane Austen reading to get done but a lot of our dear readers do too…and I’m happy to announce that I’ve already gotten my first Jane Austen book, picked up the other night thanks to some very thoughtful and welcome comments!

So for the winners of the contest, here they are:

The Pemberly Chronicles by Rebecca Collins will be going to aBookworm.

Old Friends and New Fancies by Sybil C. Brinton will be going to Bridget Locke.

Letters from Pemberly by Jane Dawkins will be going to Alice.

More Letters from Pemberly by Jane Dawkins will be going to Laurie.

And finally Emma and Mr. Knightly by Rachel Billington will be going to Nightcritter.

Thanks so much for participating in our lovely contest and thanks to Sourcebooks for their help in getting this set up as well. And just so you guys know, my first Jane Austen book is going to be Pride and Prejudice. I got a pretty book too, I can’t wait!

To the winners, please don’t forget to send en email with your name and address so that we can get those books sent out lickity split. You can send those emails to thebookbinge@gmail.com.

Thanks again to everyone who participated and stick around, there will be more contests and giveaways here at Book Binge.

See you guys next time!

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Update: Contest Alert: Calling All Jane Austen Fans!

Posted April 30, 2008 by Rowena in Giveaways | 17 Comments


It’s Springtime and we here at Book Binge as well as our friends over at Sourcebooks thought it would be fun to celebrate spring by giving away some fantastic Jane Austen sequels written by some great authors of our time.

Sourcebooks has said that Jane Austen’s witty dialogue and sweet scenes of romance have captured fans for generations, and inspired many an author to continue her stories into new dilemmas, new social situations, new loves—true celebrations of all things Jane!

So we thought that it would be a great idea to give away, 5 DIFFERENT COPIES of some Jane Austen sequels, which include:

* The Pemberley Chronicles by Rebecca Collins
* Old Friends and New Fancies by Sybil G. Brinton
* Letters from Pemberley by Jane Dawkins
* More Letters from Pemberley by Jane Dawkins
* Emma and Knightley by Rachel Billington

Now here’s what you gotta do in order to win a free copy of one of these books:

UPDATE!!!

I can’t believe none of y’all have read Jane Austen. What is the matter with you people? Cryin all night in a bucket of dirty water! But, ok, I can understand. It’s daunting, sometimes, to pick up a classic when there are so many new, nifty books around, right? So, here’s what we’re going to do:

For those of you who have read Jane Austen, see below for your instructions.

For those of you who haven’t: Leave a comment here telling us why you haven’t read JA yet and what book of hers you’d like to read.

And I suggest all of you join Sarah’s A Year of Jane Reading Challenge.

– Holly

I’m pretty ashamed to admit to this but it must be done…I, Rowena of Book Binge, lover of all things romance have never read a Jane Austen novel before. I know, shocking, right? It’s true. I want to start reading the books but I don’t know where to start, so that’s where you lovely readers come in. All you gotta do to win one of the books above is comment on this blog post and choose my first Jane Austen book to read. Now, you must choose my first JA novel but you must also include in your comment why I must read it. Did the book make your heart go pitter patter in your chest? Did the hero make you swoon with delight over something so romantic that he said? I want to know why I should read the book you chose and I will be picking 5 different entries to win one of the books mentioned above.

So, that’s 5 books for 5 readers and all you gotta do is tell me which Jane Austen book I should begin my Jane Austen reading adventure with and why you chose that book for me. We will run this contest all week long to give you guys ample time to consider your choices. All entries must be in by Friday, May 2, 2008 at 7pm, PST. The winners will be announced on Saturday, May 3, 2008 at noon.

So what Jane Austen novel is it going to be, ladies? I can’t wait to see those entries. Good luck to everyone and thanks again to Sourcebooks for helping us out with this awesome contest.

Happy Thinking! =)

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