Are you a Jane Austen fan? She is one of my favorites. I'm an English Literature Major and, believe it or not, didn't read my first Jane Austen novel until the semester before I received my Master's Degree. When I announced to my class that I was writing my term paper on Pride and Prejudice, I was surprised by the reactions of my fellow students. One man dismissively said, "Oh, that's just about a bunch of silly girls who want to get married." A lady in the class said, "I read that in elementary school." I'm a late bloomer, I guess.
I loved Pride and Prejudice and the 5 sister who inhabit the story. I'm a middle sister and paid close attention to Mary Bennet, "The Forgotten Sister", as I like to call her. I don't think Jane Austen was very kind to her and poor Mary was more or less a foil for her beautiful older sisters and silly, boy-crazy younger ones. There was a lot of room for a writer such as myself to pick up the story of Mary Bennet where Pride and Prejudice left off and show how she develops through the years. Taking up the challenge, I came up with this novel, "The Forgotten Sister: A Sequel to Pride and Prejudice." It costs only 99 cents today, exclusively at my publisher, Smashwords. Just use code RAE50 at checkout to receive it for 50% off. It's available at Amazon, iTunes, Google Play, Barnes and Noble, and Kobo at its usual price of $1.99.
I've written another book inspired by Jane Austen. It's entitled "Nonsense and Sensibility: A Modern Austen Variation." It is a romantic comedy that takes place in modern times. I've changed the locale from Regency England to Southern California. I love how Jane writes about the relationship between Marianne and Elinor and Sense and Sensibility was a particular favorite of my younger sister, who recently passed away. The scene in which Marianne almost dies and her older sister tries to give her the forbearance to keep fighting and not leave her loved ones behind is especially heartbreaking to me. In my book, I use my experiences of watching my sister pass away, as I noticed the different foibles of her friends who came to visit her at the hospital. One of her friends set up a "Care Page" so that there would be a central place for friends and family to talk about their visits and provide updates. It was quite the fodder for me to add some social commentary to my book: the lady who created my sister's care page was very much like Jane Austen's Lucy in Sense and Sensibility and I definitely had her in mind while I was writing my book. I hope you enjoy it. This book received a very unfair and hurtful review on Amazon, which resulted in my unpublishing it for a few months. I've corrected all the typos that were such a "travesty" to this reviewer and I hope readers will give it another chance. It is available today at Smashwords for half off. That's only 99 cents. Use code RAE50 upon checkout. It is also available at Amazon, iTunes, Barnes and Noble, Google Play for $1.99.
