Time to continue the gift bundle giveaways to celebrate the release of Mr Darcy’s Persuasion!
This is the next giveaway gift bundle to celebrate publication day – remember, you can enter as many of the different draws as you wish!
What is it? It’s not just a beautifully crocheted Elizabeth Bennet, but also a Mr Darcy! They are so cute! Included in the bundle is a pretty P&P book key ring and some book cover chocolates! The photo really doesn’t do these adorable figures justice. ❤️
So what do you have to do to enter? It’s even easier this time!
Ask us a question!
Yes, just ask ANY question in the Comments of me, Ada, both of us – can be about anything: our taste in music, what we call our pets (although I don’t have any right now, so that would make me sad), our favourite anything, something about the new book… the options are wide open!
Just asking a question puts you in the draw for this bundle!
Next giveaway bundle will be announced at 4pm (16:00 hrs) UK time!
Mr Darcy’s Persuasion is available in paperback and eBook formats and can also be read for FREE in Kindle Unlimited, and you can find it HERE!
~o0o~
GIVEAWAY nitty gritty:
All giveaways are open internationally and will end at midnight PST (West Coast USA) on Wednesday, 10th March 2021, and the draws will take place on Saturday, 13th March, with all winners announced here on the blog. You will also receive an email telling you that you are a winner!
If a gift bundle isn’t claimed within 5 days of the draw closing, another name will be selected. You can find the Giveaway Terms & Conditions here.
I'm Cass, and I write the sort of stories I love to read - heart-warming, character driven and strong on location. I lean heavily towards the upbeat in both my reading and my writing. 
Cass Grafton - Writer 
I would like to ask you and Ada what is your favourite Austen character and why.
I am a keen crocheter myself and these are adorable!
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I’ve never tried crochet, but something this adorable tempts me to have a go!
Hmm, good question. So hard to pick one, because there are, of course, the popular heroes and heroines, but I really enjoy her character studies. I love the way she portrays people like Mrs Elton and Fanny Dashwood, they are just so entertaining.
I think, much as I love Darcy and Wentworth, I’ll admit to a bit of a crush on Henry Tilney for his wit and sense of fun!
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Hi Cristina! My favourite Austen character has to be Elinor Dashwood mostly because (whether it’s true or not of my own character) I feel as though I was the only grounded one surrounded by Mariannes! Looking back… could it have been the other way around? Possssssssibly!
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Do you two live near each other or is it that you communicate via social media when you compile your stories? How did you meet?
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We live thousands of miles apart, Sheila. Ada is in California and I’m in Switzerland, though I was living in Connecticut when we first met in 2002. We met on a Harry Potter fan fiction forum!
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Interesting. Love Harry Potter stories also.
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We used to write Harry Potter fan fiction – it was the first co-writing we ever did! We even wrote a short story mirroring Chapter Two of book 5, but from the owls point of view. It was a lot of fun!
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YESSSSSSSSSS. I was just writing about my over the top loyalty and love of Harry Potter in a blog of my own soon to be released 😉 Thank you Sheila for asking a question!
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Are these dolls available for purchase and where ?{asking just in case I dont win! 😉 )
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Yes! I’m not sure if she has any in stock at this moment, but here’s the link to her Etsy site – I’m sure she would make one to order!
https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/FimaToys
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Question? Hmmmmmm! Question? 😳🤔 right! I know you’ve only just released this and I have enjoyed (well mostly, cliffhanger excepted!😉) what I’ve read so far. I’ve enjoyed your other books so I’d like to know if your next book will be based on Darcy and Elizabeth? If so will it have ODC getting together early some way instead of enduring all the misunderstandings? (Please?) 😉🥰
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LOL – I’m sorry, Glynis! I think we’ve traumatised you!
I think that might be a bit difficult if it was a Darcy and Elizabeth story, as it would end very quickly! For myself, I am going to be writing more of my contemporary Cornwall series next.
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Yay! I’m happy that you’ll be writing more of the contemporary Cornwall series. I enjoyed the first one.
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I can’t wait to dive back into Polkerran life, Bonnie!
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Glynis! Ha! Thank you for leaving a question. I guess we could center it around Darcy and Elizabeth redecorating rooms and smootching in each of them? 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 My next book has a few murders in it, so we’d best leave Elizabeth and Darcy safe where they are.
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Ooooh yes! I might even have some decorating ideas 😉😂🤣. I’ll definitely be buying that one 🥰🥰
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Which of Austen’s Male characters do you prefer: Darcy or Wentworth?
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Hmm, of the two, it’s hard to choose! I think I lean more towards Captain Wentworth.
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I’ve got to go with Wentworth as well, but only post initial crankiness. While I understand his feelings, it still breaks my heart to see him flirting away!
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OMG, The dolls are too adorable. I will also check out the Etsy link above.
Mine is a writing question: How do you and Ada split up the writing? Do you each take one POV? Do you have to meet constantly to address issues that come up?
Very curious about your process and how you make it work so well.
Thank you again and again for your lovely giveaways!
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Ah, this is Ada’s favourite question, so I’ll let her answer when she gets up! We basically both work on all of it, but she can explain better!
Good luck in the draws!
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Well good morning and thank you for stumbling upon my favorite question… hmmm I wonder how long comment replies can be? Is there a limit? Okay fine. Okay so very basic gist of it is that we come to a meet up with the nugget of the plot. We try to meet IN the place where that nugget is planted so that I (who has been to only some places in England) can get a vibe for the area and have specific references for where the characters will be living. After a day or two of that we sit down (loose term: Sandra sits with her feet tucked in a comfy chair, I lay on the floor because I don’t know why) and we write our outline. This outline is pretty extensive because we want to iron out any disagreements we need to have face to face because even knowing each other for as long as we have – disagreeing over text can so easily be misunderstood. From there we drink a little bit. Then we go home and we both start writing in our own time zone whatever scene is the freshest in our minds. When we’re done, we share it and each of us edits the scene the other did and either add to it, or go on to another scene. The time zone plays an excellent role in this because when I get up in the morning there is something new in my inbox – whether it’s a scene I started or one that Cass did. Nothing is ever stale or stalled because we each fill in where the other is lacking or stuck. For example, I tend to spit out an entire chapter’s worth of dialogue but not place them anywhere. If she’s feeling up to it, Cass will ground the scene in a room etc. If one of us feels lost or if Cass needs to tell me that I’ve gone off the rails again, we meet every few days (late at night for me as I’m a night person just happens to be early in the morning for Cass who is a morning person). I just think it’s the most ideal way to write ever, but that is, of course because I am so lucky to have a partner who is humble and tenacious at the same time. Once we get the whole outlined tied up, it’s time for editing. Generally we’ll just go go go with this, read it beginning to end. And that’s basically it. We also have an incredible editor that polishes it once it’s read for that sort of nitty gritty. I mean… I could go on and on but everyone’s eyes are bleeding, I know!
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Ada, Thank you for your in-depth reply. I admire your extensive planning & outlining and the way you and Cass work together so well. This story especially is such an original crossover, with two of our beloved couples. Thank you for sharing a preview on this site. I’m looking forward to starting on it tonight. Best wishes to you both! 😍
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Thank you for being part of our fun journey, through the read-along to these posts today! Hope you enjoy the rest of the story!
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When were you first inspired to create your own P&P story?
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For me, it was 2005, and I was living in Connecticut. I wrote a novella length story (posted online at the time) which was called Lizzy Bennet’s Diary and followed the novel in journal-entry style from Lizzy’s POV!
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Thank you! Yes, that youtube project was very cleverly done.
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Do you have plans for another Austen inspired collaboration soon?
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Hah! This is where you’ll get a different answer from each of us! We do have a third time travel (with Jane Austen) up our sleeves, but we don’t have a plan to co-write another JAFF novel.
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Lies! I have alot of plans for another Austen inspired collaboration with Cass. I’ve just got to adjust the brain washing devices I have hidden in Cass’s residence and we’ll be off again soon enough!
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Yup. I knew you’d say that! 😂
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My question was going to be “What do you like most about Spring”? A very different answer, I would think, for a resident of England/Switzerland than for a resident of California. But since so many questions are about writing, I will ask if you’ve ever heard of, or written “drabbles.” I’ve been doing some (just started) for the Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes fanfiction. So far, mine are double and triple drabbles (200, 300 words).
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I do love the spring, though!!
I’ve heard of dribbles but never written them – at least, not intentionally! 😂 Sounds like fun! I love Sherlock Holmes!
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Snicker, honestly I don’t know really when Spring starts. Our weather is pretty constant. When I imagine Spring here I think of it being wonderfully not 100 degrees F. That’s generally my marker for anything. “What’s the weather going to be like today?” “I dunno, but it’s not going to be 105!” “Oh, perfect, that’s all I really need to know.”
I think it rains more and can dip into frigid 60 degree F – and thats when we all hunker down and try to stay alive!
Drabbles sound right up my alley! I also love Sherlock, I’ll have to check it out!
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Ada, this is for a fanfiction site for Laurie R. King’s Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes books. Now that you have time to read again… Or have you already read the first one, The Beekeeper’s Apprentice? I’m rather new to the game. They are wonderful books, and the audio books are also fantastic.
And regarding Spring, yes that’s what I figured. Even in Berkeley, where my sister lives, there’s lovely vegetation in the Winter. It’s always a shock when I visit.
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Okay! Thank you so much!
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I absolutely loved your time travel novels and hope there will be more at some future point! I like seeing the similarly between the main characters and yourselves.
What is your favorite memory about when you both met for the first time in person?
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So pleased you love the time travel stories, Sarah!
We first met in person in 2003 at LAX, when Ada came to pick me up at the airport to spend a few days with her. We planned to do some writing together in person for the first time ever!
My favourite memory is of how we fell so naturally into being comfortable, as if we’d known each other personally for years.
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Oo, thank you so much Sarah!
My favorite memory when we first met was that relief that came when she showed up on the escalator and I recognized her. (I’m going to get a little cheesy here.) And by recognized her, I mean that both figuratively and literally. The entire ten minutes waiting in the luggage area I started to doubt that I’d be able to pick her out in 3D, so it was such a relief when I did. And figuratively, it felt in person exactly as it did on line. We really did “know” each other.
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If you could live a month as a Jane Austen heroine, who would it be?
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Hmm, well I think I have to be shallow and go for someone living in luxury to get the best chance at good hygiene facilities! I’d say Emma!
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Oooo, I’m going to have to go with Cass on the basic hygiene attractiveness. But otherwise I think I’d go with Anne post Persuasion 😉 😉 😉
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Much as I love Wentworth, I just couldn’t cope with the sea sickness!
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I would love to know what was the most enjoyable part in coming up with the P&P/Persuasion mashup and if anything particular in either story or both inspired you to create this most interesting combination.
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The most enjoyable part in creating this story for me was the surprise of how well the friendship between Elizabeth and Anne worked (though Anne is 3 years younger than in Persuasion in this story, as it’s set in 1811).
One of the inspirations was around how the characters could meet – I had this feeling Sir Walter Elliot and Sir William Lucas would have met at St James in London, and therefore Charlotte would know Anne.
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The most enjoyable part of the mashup would be a spoiler, so I can’t mention it. But vaguely I’d say bringing in the ancillary characters of the different books was a hoot.
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If you could live in any time period, when would you choose.
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Oooo, fun question. I always get a little stuck, like in an earlier question, with hygiene and whatever horrific world events were going on in the times. So, you know, erase all the societal issues and the Great Depression, it would probably be the 30s or 40s. Ooo, also erase smoking.
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Hmm, tricky question. I loved the glamour of the Crawley family in Downton Abbey, but there was the great sorrow of the war and the Spanish flu… I’d like to ‘try’ the Regency era, if I could be well to do and not a servant – but only very briefly (hygiene)!
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Such a beautiful crochet couple!
My question for you what would you be if you were not a writer?
I am so looking forward to finishing this. Book!
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Drop us a note or a review when you do!!
Well, I’m going to cheat a little on this question because I am also a photographer, so I’d say that. I can’t seem to get away from either; I’ll always write and I’ll always take pictures – the only thing that changes is which line the numbers go on the taxes ;).
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They are adorable, Tiffany!
I’d have liked to be an event co-ordinator. I love organising things!
Hope you enjoy the rest of the story!
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I’m interested to know what works you are currently working on or plan to work on in the future?
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I’ve just finished a romantic suspense novel set here in California, centered around the very surreal experience of having one’s home used for a movie (which we have)! There’s murder, romance, a flunked out K9 officer, and a lot of humor (you know, when there’s not the murder stuff 😉 😉 ). Next up is the sequel to that one and I’ve an epic fantasy novel in my head that keeps writing itself despite me telling it that’s not the genre we’re concentrating on right now!
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I’m working on contemporary uplit story with a quirky heroine, which I’m loving. It went on hold whilst we wrote Mr Darcy’s Persuasion, but that’s next on my list to finish. I then need to press on with more books in the Cornwall series, which is where my heart truly lies.
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Hmm, what to ask? OK this is for both of you. If you were going to have a girl’s night out together and could invite 4 friends, which Austen characters would you invite along?
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Lol! My first thoughts are not good indications of my moral and sweet spirit. My very first thought was Emma because she will a) pay for it b) get things for free/network. Then, Elinor for sure, because we need a designated driver, obviously. Jane would be great as she would definitely walk outside with me if I needed a break. Finally… I think I’d have to bring Lizzy. She’d be the ready to throw down if needed, and would get us to have fun no matter what.
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Ada has already chosen the 4, so I’ll leave it at that!
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Of all the Jane Austen books you’ve read and the setting of the stories, which location is your favorite?
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I wish I had a really creative answer but it’s Pemberley. There’s always been a magic about Pemberley. I will say there is something enticing about Norland Park because I want to take it BACK from Fanny.
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I think I agree, Pemberley. Derbyshire is so wonderful and I love it dearly!
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The dolls are so cute, Cass. I would love to win the pair.
After writing a few Austenesque stories together, tell us how both of you were able to grow as a writer. What do both of you have in common? Any striking differences that you are able to contribute to the partnership?
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Oo, great question! Writing with Cass has strengthened my writing in many ways. I know I go on about this, but one of my greatest weaknesses is one of her greatest strength and that is to be able to ground characters with their location. Being so surrounded by that has made it a bit more of a habit for me. I tend to push us forward and Cass tends to keep us on track, so together we really move. What we have in common is a deep caring for character. We aren’t going to destroy a character for the sake of plot or for a cliffhanger, whether they be original characters or beloved borrowed ones. What we have in common as a negative is that both of us can write a sentence that winds several times around a tree and over a river and through the woods… One of the main things we do when editing is liberally replace commas with periods!
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The urge to write a really long sentence has gripped me… but I’ll curtail it! Simply put, Ada has said it right!
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I have had an international doll collection since childhood (and now I collect cute little mice) … these dolls you are sharing with your fans are ADORABLE and exactly my cup of tea. I would LOVE to win one/some/them. As for my questions … Ada, if you live in Southern California, why is it that we have never met? I live in Los Angeles. Please contact me! When this Pandemic is over, I would love to get together in person. Cass, I missed out on an opportunity to meet you once when I was in England, and hope to have a chance the next time I visit, when the world opens up and it’s safe to travel … and the next time you come to California will you please come visit me? Congrats and Happy Book Publication Day!
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Syrie!! You got it. I’m in Pasadena – er, can you DM me on Facebook or instagram (I rarely look at my FB inbox because it is full of “perfectly normal people” wanting my bank account information). Do you think Wickham would catfish people if he were around today? @adacakes is my instagram.
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Ada, I DMd you on Instagram, but please email me at syrie@syriejames.com, I’d love to correspond!
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Yes! Thank you! I already emailed earlier today! Let me check if I mistyped your email!! ❤️❤️❤️
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Maybe I went off to junk mail automatically! I bet Cass wishes she could set her mail settings to do that every once in awhile when I insist it’s time for someone to go surfing 😉
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Yes, Syrie, such a missed opportunity in Bath back in…was it 2013? Would love to meet you one day. I’ll be living back in the UK from July, so do let me know if you’re ever coming over! Love your books, as you know!
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Yes, it was 2013. Are you moving back to the UK permanently in July? I so look forward to the world opening up and being able to travel again. I’d love to see you! xo
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Yes, permanent move home, and so looking forward to it. Seven years away is too long! Let’s stay in touch! xx
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Too cute! Can’t wait to read mine. Who’s your favorite Austen character and book and why?
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My favourite book is Persuasion, and I am torn between loving Anne or the captain more. I love the romance of the story, of the second chance at love and fresh starts.
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Besides Jane Austen, if you could have dinner with a famous author who is from the past, who would that be?
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Fabulous question!
I am torn between Agatha Christie and Daphne du Maurier… think I’ll opt for Agatha!
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THIS GIVEAWAY HAS NOW ENDED.
WINNERS WILL BE NOTIFIED BY EMAIL ON SATURDAY, 13TH MARCH 2021 AND ANNOUNCED HERE ON THE BLOG.
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