True Colors by Kristin Hannah

Get out your tissues, you are going to need them.

Wednesday I had a flight to Seattle and back and since it was such a short day I decided I could do without a book and just do work things.  Well as often occurs at the airport flights are delayed and other things occur, so I ended up with 5 hours on my hands.

The first three hours I did alright but then I was bored out of my mind so I headed to the closest book stand.  I browsed for close to half an hour narrowing down my choice to two books.  In the end I chose the one with the most pink on the cover, I know a bad way to finally make a ruling, but I am so glad of the one I chose.

At the airport I only made it through the prologue and part of chapter one, then the book got placed in my briefcase promptly left for a few days.

This weekend with my husband out of town I remembered the book and so sat down (beginning at 11:30 pm) to read a little bit.  Well I am now going on 32 hours of no sleep because I stayed up all night reading.  I did not realize the time until my two sons came into my room wrapped in the blankets saying morning mama.

Once Dallas Raintree, a half Indian with a past littered with unsavory events, entered the book and the life of Vivi Ann Grey the books takes on a ton of intrigue.  There is passionate love (but tasteful and not graphic, you can just feel the passion), heartbreak of the worst kind, sorrow, people in the depths of despair and depression.

In a nutshell, this man with a past is accused, tried and convicted of murder.  The book is the ensuing 12 years of sorrow for the Grey family, 3 sisters and a father.  Winona, the eldest sister and lawyer has a grudge that causes the three sisters to tear apart, and ultimately keeps them off and on estranged for years.

So many things happen in this story that I would love to share with you, but this is a story that telling any piece can ultimately give a piece of the book away and this particular story needs the drama and suspense for a first time reader.

It is amazing and I give it a definite 5 stars and if I could give it 10 I would.

Longbourn's Unexpected Matchmaker

1. Did you like the novel? Were there any surprises? Was it what you expected?
2. Do you have any favorite lines in the novel?
3. What is Mr. Bennet’s initial impression of Mr. Darcy?
4. Why do you suppose Mr. Darcy would so readily trust Mr. Bennet, when by nature he does not trust people readily?
5. What do you think are the most significant differences between Jane Austen’s Mr. Bennet and the Mr. Bennet envisioned by Emma Hox?
6. What are the major themes and turning points in the story?  Which turning point does Elizabeth Bennet begin to gain a greater understanding of Mr. Darcy and his character?
7. At what point does Elizabeth Bennet begin to fall in love with Mr. Darcy?
8. What do you think of Elizabeth Bennet’s tendency to climb trees?
9. Do you consider the relationship of Lady Matlock and Madeline Gardiner too far outside the bounds of class and station or do you approve of their friendship?
10. Do you think Lady Catherine too villainous or her punishment too harsh?
11. What is your favorite part of “Longbourn’s Unexpected Matchmaker”?
12. What spin would you put on Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice?

A Lady of Hidden Intent (Ladies of Liberty, Book 2) by Tracie Peterson:  At the cost of her own dream, a woman seeks to clear her falsely accused father.

Catherine Newbury is a woman who was not stranger to heartache, already living with the loss of mother and siblings to death now she has to lose her father as well, but she does not have the comfort of knowing that he is in heaven with the rest of her family.  At seventeen years old Catherine is torn from her home and sent to America with nothing beyond a few dollars, clothes and some loving servants while her father is stripped of title, home, wealth and freedom as he is sent to jail for the wrongdoings of someone he had trusted.

Through hard work and perseverance Catherine becomes a renowned dress designer and dreams of saving enough money to hire someone to represent her father.  She has no worries of being discovered in her hiding place of America until Carter Danby shows up with his mother and sister for a Catherine Shay gown.  Carter recognizes Catherine although he cannot remember why and endeavors with the help of a friend to find out why he knows her, where from.  What he discovers breaks his heart and he is intent on helping her so that she will be free to love.

Not wanting to give her hope where it may not be possible ha and his friend set out on their plan.  In the meantime a mean-spirited girl named Felicia is out to ruin Catherine so she can have the attention instead.  Catherine and her loving surrogate parents must flee, telling no one where they are going.

Will Carter find Catherine and let her know his love for her or will he never see her again and all his effort be in vain.

I thought that this book was absolutely fantastic, can I have Mr. Danby? he is my new Mr. Darcy and only two letters away. For not being a pride and prejudice adaptation I sure loved this story. What a way of feeling not only Catherine’s pain of loving but the fear of losing even more (her father) if she lets her secret be known. The loving servants that literally gave up everything for the girl they loved and now raise as their own and oh, all that Mr. Danby and his friend do to bring Catherine’s dreams into reality.  Awesome read that everyone will love!

Take the Quiz here!

You are Elizabeth Bennet of Pride & Prejudice! You are intelligent, witty, and tremendously attractive. You have a good head on your shoulders, and oftentimes find yourself the lone beacon of reason in a sea of ridiculousness. You take great pleasure in many things. You are proficient in nearly all of them, though you will never own it. Lest you seem too perfect, you have a tendency toward prejudgement that serves you very ill indeed.

All possible results: Elinor Dashwood, Marianne Dashwood, Elizabeth Bennet, Fanny Price, Emma Woodhouse, Catherine Morland,Anne Elliot

I know what you are thinking.  You think I purposely chose the questions that I knew would best make me ‘Lizzy’ but I assure you I did not.  I answered honestly and truthfully in fact I was worried that I would not get to be ‘Lizzy’ because some of my answers were distinctly Emma Woodhouse, Anne Elliott and even an Elinor Dashwood.  But I guess overall I am still Elizabeth Bennet at heart.  Maybe that is why I love her so much… faults and all.

The description above about Elizabeth Bennet is a little to accurate for comfort, right down to prejudgement.  There were a few other faults that they were kind enough not to mention and I will just smile and hope that others are nice enough to overlook them as well.

The winner of the December 2009 Longbourn’s Unexpected Matchmaker Book Trailer was George Ingram.  I encourage you all to watch the trailer, make a comment and visit George’s website.

Second Edition – Yes, that is correct, there is a second edition of Longbourn’s Unexpected Matchmaker coming soon.

What is the difference you ask? Edits, the first book was edited… but I am sorry to say not very well.  The new book has been edited and scrubbed by an editing master, a woman who knows her grammar and language rules.

In addition, the bookcover has been updated.  Those two little glitches are gone, and the model on the front cover no longer wears two of the three rings.  The advantages of photoshop!  Lastly, the bolded text has been effected on the back as it was on the front.

All in all I am happy.  The book has been selling so well that we are also hiring a publicist for a national media campaign.  Can you believe it.

I am very excited and also pleased to announce that my second and third book, are coming right along.

“The Truth About Mrs. Bennet” is sure to please everyone.  I have been taking all of the feedback given to me as a first time author and applying it to my writing.

Be prepared for the villains to be more villainous, the hero a little more mysterious.  Good will not conquer evil quite as fast and love will take longer to come to fruition.

Be prepared for a very good read!  If you even slightly enjoyed Longbourn’s Unexpected Matchmaker, you will love The Truth About Mrs. Bennet.

Day one of writing a novel in 100 days is critical.  It may seem like a simple task,  but in actuality it is the hardest one.  You must make a commitment to yourself that you are going to write your novel without giving up, that you are going to accomplish this goal that you are setting out to do.

Without this commitment to yourself you may as well save yourself the time and effort, because you will not make it.  The only way is to say you are going to do it and then do it.

Friday December 4, 2009 at Hastings in Wenatchee Washington I had my first book signing for “Longbourn’s Unexpected Matchmaker”.  I signed 23 books and met even more fantastic people from the Wenatchee area.

Here are just a few photos from the day.

Emma Hox with 2 Guests

Emma Hox

]]> http://www.loveprideprejudice.com/2009/12/book-signing-photos.html/feed 0 http://www.loveprideprejudice.com/2009/12/book-signing-photos.html http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/LovePridePrejudice/~3/tczyo2necHE/merry-christmas-lum.html http://www.loveprideprejudice.com/2009/12/merry-christmas-lum.html#comments Sat, 26 Dec 2009 01:30:10 +0000 Emma Hox http://www.loveprideprejudice.com/?p=1278

Merry Christmas Longbourn’s Unexpected Matchmaker, and what a merry one it was.  After my family spent hours unwrapping gifts using the webcam with those members of our family away from us we decided to watch movies while all of the food was still baking.

While everyone else was watching movies I jumped onto the computer there in the front room to do a little shopping at amazon and while there I may as well check the sales rank of my book.  Merry Christmas me, what a fabulous day, my sales rank at 9:58 a.m. was 5,335 and at 5:19 pm was 3,711.  What a great thing, I yelled for my husband and had him come look and make sure I was reading the statistic correctly and that I truly was on my book and not accidentally on someone else’s.

Oh wow, I am estatic.

I have discovered a thing called Amazon Sales Rank.  Apparently as sales of your book occur in relation to sales of other books on amazon the book is ranked.  I researched books and determined that a score of 100,000 or less is pretty good, whereas once it reaches over 100,000 your sales have really dwindles.

This is also the same for Kindle though there are less kindle books and competitine therefore easier to get a better ranking.

This weekend I realized that “Longbourn’s Unexpected Matchmaker” reached a page rank of 19,156 on the booksales and 9,686 on the Kindle rating.  I am super pleased with these rankings, especially considering I am just figuring out all of this stuff.  Too bad I can not go look at all ofthe ranking to see if it went lower and I just missed it.  Unfortunately you have to sit and watch the rankings in order to know if they go up or down.  I wish I had that kind of time, but alas I do not so I will just let you know what it is at as I see it.

Overall I am very pleased.