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).

Girl Reading in an Interior (Carl Holsoe)

Carl Holsøe [Public domain] via Wikimedia Commons

[I think she could be reading to an elderly employer or just enjoying herself as she waited to be summoned to do something for her employer. Don't you?]

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He took his wife’s hand again. “I actually had to travel all the way to Scotland just to find her.”

“Scotland?” Lydia cried. “But you do not sound Scottish.”

Lady Matlock laughed. “I am not. My father had died, you see. His estate passed to my uncle, and my uncle thought that it was far better that I take a position as a companion than attend school. As he saw it, I could learn all I needed to about how to behave as a proper lady while earning my keep and costing him not a cent.”

“Fortunately, years earlier, my great aunt had married a Scottish landowner,” Lord Matlock added. “And when he died, she had the great good sense to employ the prettiest companion I have ever seen.”

[from Persuading Miss Mary, book 4 in the Marrying Elizabeth Series]

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Confounding Caroline ~ Delighting Mrs. Bennet ~ Loving Lydia

MAILING LIST PATREON SOCIETY6

Music Monday: The Dance (Doug Hammer)

“I saw you dancing.”

Grace pasted a smile on her lips. She had been doing her best to not meet up with her mother, for doing so would inevitably lead to having to speak with her sister. And, she was not wrong, for Felicity was at her mother’s side, looking all eagerness.

“He was very nice looking and exceptionally light on his feet,” said Mrs. Love.

“Oh, indeed!” Felicity cried. “He might be one of the best dancers here.”

“Even better than Mr. Ramsey?” Grace asked. Her sister should be thinking only of Mr. Ramsey, but, of course, she was not.

“Yes, I do believe so, though I would not for all the world tell him so,” her sister replied.

“What was his name?” her mother asked eagerly.

“Mr. Norman,” Grace replied. “He is a physician.”

Her mother gasped and blinked. “A physician? He has no estate?”

A wicked thought captured Grace’s imagination. “None of which I know, but he has a home here in Bath. Some rooms somewhere. I really do not know where. There is still so much to learn about Bath.”

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

The Dance by Doug Hammer, Provided to YouTube by CDBaby on July 2, 2105.

I chose this song from my Music to Write By playlist because of the title and because of the playful tone. Tomorrow’s story begins with the clip above in which dancing is mentioned and where a dance all of Grace’s own making begins. 🙂 The question is — will the dance go as planned or will some stumbling and tripping happen along the way causing some ungraceful moments or worse, a catastrophe?

I’m also going to share a scene from a previously published book below. In this scene, there is also a game or dance set to begin, but first, let me update you on the progress of my current writing projects. Continue reading Music Monday: The Dance (Doug Hammer)

Woman Playing a Mandolin (De Scott Evans)

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What had his mother done to Miss Mary? Her hair was piled loosely on her head with a few curls arranged in a becoming fashion to frame her face, and her dress was neither somber in color nor fit. Had he ever seen a lady with a complexion so well-suited to that shade of pink?

Lady Matlock coughed softly, and Wes darted a guilty look at her. However, it was not he who was the subject of his mother’s displeasure.

“The lace.” Lady Matlock extended her hand in Mary’s direction.

Surely, she was not going to make Mary discard that lace, was she? The neckline of Miss Mary’s dress was tantalizing enough with the lace where it was.

Mary drew and released a breath in a heavy sigh as she did what Wes feared she would and removed the lace she had tucked into her dress to cover herself.

The effect was pleasing, but…

[from Persuading Miss Mary, book 4 in the Marrying Elizabeth Series]

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Confounding Caroline ~ Delighting Mrs. Bennet ~ Loving Lydia

MAILING LIST PATREON SOCIETY6

Music Monday: Catherine and Mr. Tilney, Your Hand in Mine

“Bea likes to be prepared for all eventualities,” Graeme offered.

“Different sides of the same coin, then,” Mr. Norman muttered.

“Quite,” Graeme agreed.

“It seemed to me that such is also true of Shelton and his wife.” Walter’s lips tipped up as he finally found for whom he was looking. Mr. Shelton was bending to hear what a very pretty young lady named Grace was saying. Miss Love was it? “Is that your guest with Mr. Shelton?” he asked Graeme.

“Yes, that is Miss Love. Would you care for an introduction?”

Yes, yes, he would very much like to meet the secretive Miss Love. “If it is not a bother,” he replied with an air of indifference before following Graeme across the room.

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

Published to YouTube by AuburnAfterglow on January 8, 2018.

We will be at the Assembly Rooms in this week’s chapter of Her Secret Beau, so I thought a video featuring Northanger Abbey would be a good choice.

In writing news:

I wrote nearly one chapter each of Her Secret Beau and Persuading Miss Mary. Persuading Miss Mary‘s chapter needs to be finished.

And…drumroll…

I finally started my third work in progress. Just barely, but it is started. Remember how I said it was going to be titled Robert: something to something? Well, I was wrong. It turns out that it is going to be called Addie: To Wager on Her Future (or something very much like that). 🙂 Continue reading Music Monday: Catherine and Mr. Tilney, Your Hand in Mine

Ultimate Goals

Having goals is a good thing. They can help you focus your work. As a writer, I can’t say I have any lofty ultimate goals. I simply want to honor my Creator by using the ability He has given me to entertain people while continuing to get better at my craft and doing it in such a way that I can continue to write and write and write. (Yes, that’s where the business part comes in as I have to be able to afford to have the time to write.)

You’ll find in the video that Zoe’s goals are very similar to mine.

As you might have noticed, this video was pre-recorded. That is something we are thinking of doing in the fall when we start up our videos again (and there may be other changes, too). We are taking a break from them for the summer as schedules are busy, so this is the last video until probably September. We haven’t set our restart date. Of course, if you’re a blog subscriber, you’ll get a notification when that first videos posts here.

Books and links mentioned in the show:

Leenie’s Links

Actually, this week, I only have a reminder to check the blog menu for the items mentioned in my news this week:

Her Secret Beau (Current Sweet Tuesdays Story)

Persuading Miss Mary (Current Thursday’s Three Hundred Story)

Music Mondays (where you’ll find my weekly writing news updates)

Zoe’s Links

Lady Catherine Impedes

Caroline’s Censure

The Darcy Marriage Series, Books 1-3

Coming Together Series Compilation

Shop for signed print copies

Thanks for joining us! Have a great weekend!

*Longbourn Literary Society (LLS) is a Facebook group founded by three friends, who share a love of writing and Jane Austen for the purpose of promoting those loves and our work.

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You can find Rose and Zoe’s websites at these links:

ROSE FAIRBANKS ZOE BURTON