Author: Leenie Brown

Leenie Brown fell in love with Jane Austen's works when she first read Sense and Sensibility followed immediately by Pride and Prejudice in her early teens. As the second of five daughters and an avid reader, she has always loved to see where her imagination takes her and to play with and write about the characters she meets along the way. In 2013, these two loves collided when she stumbled upon the world of Jane Austen Fan Fiction. A year later, in 2014, she began writing her own Austen-inspired stories and began publishing them in 2015. Leenie lives in Nova Scotia, Canada with her two teenage boys and her very own Mr. Brown (a wonderful mix of all the best of Darcy, Bingley and Edmund with healthy dose of the teasing Mr. Tillney and just a dash of the scolding Mr. Knightley).

Still Life with Silver Pot and Pie (Willem Heda)

Willem Claesz. Heda [CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)] via Wikimedia Commons.

I'm not sure what kind of pie that is in the painting above, but it looks like a lovely meat pie to me. Perfect as part of an evening meal. :) I wonder if they were serving meat pie at the dinner mentioned in the excerpt below? Of course, the real question is what has Lady Matlock said to Mary?

~*~*~

Lord Westonbury was not at dinner.

The fact should have put Mary’s mind at ease since she would not have to look at him while unsettling thoughts from what his mother had said scurried around her mind, bumping into this memory and that.

It was a very quiet dinner for Mary. She said barely a word and attended to only a few more than she spoke. No one seemed to do much more than cast a questioning look her way. Not one person pressed her to join a conversation. They gave her time and space to ponder.

[from Persuading Miss Mary, Marrying Elizabeth book 4]

~*~*~

Confounding Caroline ~ Delighting Mrs. Bennet ~ Loving Lydia

MAILING LIST PATREON

Music Monday: Arwen’s Vigil, Original Tune (The Piano Guys)

…Grace sat up. Her heart was racing. “Why? What has happened? Tell me what has happened.”

Mrs. Love wrung her hands together – which Grace noticed were not gloved. Her mother never left her house without a pair of gloves on her hands. Something was most certainly wrong…

[from Her Secret Beau, Touches of Austen book 3]

Published to YouTube by ThePianoGuys on November 12, 2013.

I’m going to leave these here just in case anyone needs one or two of them this week when reading story updates. We’ve come to that part of each story. The good news is that it’s always darkest before the dawn — so the happy ending is coming… soon… ish. 😉

That is also why I picked a song with a melancholy tone for this week. It seems to fit the feel of the stories.

Now, for my writing news, which isn’t all that much this week. That does not mean I did not write A LOT this past week. I did. It just all happened to be for the same story. Continue reading Music Monday: Arwen’s Vigil, Original Tune (The Piano Guys)

The Serpentine, Hyde Park (George Sidney Shepherd)

The bit of conversation below takes place while Colonel Fitzwilliam, Lydia, Lord Westonbury, and Mary are out for a drive in the park.

~*~*~

“I am certain my sister and your brother did not agree to come on this drive so that you could spend the whole time flattering me for who knows what purpose.”

“I do not mind,” Lydia interrupted. “I would find it delightful to hear what Lord Westonbury finds pleasing about you.”

“No, you would not.” Mary gave her sister a pointed look. Lydia was wearing that secret smile of hers which never led to anything good. She might be maturing, but her desire to poke her nose in where it did not belong seemed to be unchanged.

[from Persuading Miss Mary, Marrying Elizabeth book 4]

~*~*~

Confounding Caroline ~ Delighting Mrs. Bennet ~ Loving Lydia

MAILING LIST PATREON

Music Monday: So Happy Together (Northanger Abbey) + a Free Book Day

Mrs. King tilted her head and smiled at him as a proud mother might gaze upon a child who had done something of merit. “Now, see, Miss Grace, this is why I thought you should set your cap at him instead of Mr. Norman.” She shrugged. “But, it seems you were correct, and he is not free.”

No, he was not free. His heart was irrevocably gone both now and forever.

[from Her Secret Beau, Touches of Austen book 3]

Published to YouTube by AnneDarcy on January 8, 2008.

We’re stepping back a few decades for today’s song. I remember hearing this when I was young, but even then, it was not a new song. 🙂 However, it is a fun and uplifting song, perfect for a Monday morning.

I’m just going to jump right into my writing news as there is a good bit of it. Continue reading Music Monday: So Happy Together (Northanger Abbey) + a Free Book Day

The Sackville Children (John Hoppner)

Portrait of Lady Mary Sackville (1792–1864), later Countess Amherst and of Plymouth; George Sackville, Earl of Middlesex (1793–1815), later Duke of Dorset and Lady Elizabeth Sackville (1795–1870), later Countess De La Warr and Baroness Buckhurst. The picture was shown at the Royal Academy in 1797 under the title “Portraits of a nobleman’s children.” John Hoppner [Public domain] via Wikimedia Commons.

I sharing this adorable picture of children for this week's post since I think a good title for this week's chapter of Persuading Miss Mary would be an "Impish Lord and a Gaggle of Children." This week, Lord Westonbury invites himself along to the Gardiners for tea and meets the four Gardiner children. I also think it is interesting that the Mary in the portrait above becomes a countess. That seems fitting for our story, too. Doesn't it? :)

~*~*~

A maid stepped into the room. “The table is laid, ma’am.”

“Very good. We will be in straightaway.” She turned back to her guests. “We are taking tea with my children, and I never do that in here.” She rose. “They are just learning their manner, my lord,” she cautioned.

“I will do my best to remember mine,” he assured her as he followed her out of the room and down the hall to a modest-sized dining room.

[from Persuading Miss Mary, Marrying Elizabeth book 4]

~*~*~

Confounding Caroline ~ Delighting Mrs. Bennet ~ Loving Lydia

MAILING LIST PATREON