Sophia Rose's Blog - Posts Tagged "guest-post"

Today, instead of my usual 'chatting' with a guest, I have invited author, Victoria Kincaid to come do a takeover of my couch and share with you about her latest book release, President Darcy.

Victoria is no stranger and was a Sofa Chat guest about a year and a half ago.
Here's the link if you'd like to check our our previous chat: https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog...

Without further introduction, I'll let Victoria give you the low-down on her latest book...

Thank you for having me for a visit, Sophia!

President Darcy is my first modern Pride and Prejudice variation and I’ve been very nervous about whether readers will like it, although so far most of them have (whew!).

One of the things that was very striking to me between President Darcy and the original Regency era Mr. Darcy was the degree to which presidents’ lives are constrained. While Mr. Darcy in P & P is a model of rectitude and responsibility, he didn’t have to be. He could have lived the idle life of Willoughby in Sense and Sensibility or Mr. Crawford or Tom Bertram in Mansfield Park or even Walter Elliott in Persuasion. Since Mr. Darcy didn’t have to work for a living, he could have chosen to amuse himself all day every day.

But President Darcy has to behave. Presidents’ lives are under constant scrutiny from the press, the public, and everyone around them. Even the White House staff leaks uncomplimentary things sometimes. If the president says—or tweets—something inappropriate, it’s instantly headline news on newspaper websites and cable news stations. If a president cares about his reputation, he must be very careful about what he says and does. There’s probably nobody else in the country who is under the same degree of scrutiny; certainly Regency-era Mr. Darcy isn’t subject to that constant examination and judgment of his behavior.
This means that when President Darcy insults Elizabeth upon their first meeting, it’s big news (which Lydia tweets to the world). It means that he needs to hide his growing attraction to Elizabeth from everyone lest someone notice and leak to the press. And, ultimately, media scrutiny plays a big role in what happens to Darcy and Elizabeth as a couple.

Presidents also aren’t free to go where they want to. Not only does a president—unlike Mr. Darcy—have a very serious job with specific and unrelenting duties, but his movements are severely constrained by security concerns. The president can’t stop by a 7-Eleven for a cup of coffee or decide at the last minute to visit a friend for the weekend. Every movement must be planned in advance, and every step of the journey needs to be secured by the Secret Service. When the president goes anywhere, approximately one hundred staffers must travel with him.
These constraints made it much harder for my Darcy and Elizabeth to meet up more or less by chance as they do at Rosings Park, so I had to find a new and plausible way to have them encounter each other at the point in the story when Elizabeth is blaming Darcy for ruining Wickham’s life and breaking Jane and Bingley apart. It also meant that it was impossible for Elizabeth and the Gardiners to drop by Pemberley (now a house in the Hamptons) for a visit or to be unaware of when Darcy would be visiting the house.

I didn’t fully anticipate these difficulties when I started writing a modern P&P, and working around these constraints sometimes left me tearing my figurative authorial hair out. However, a strange truism about writing is that sometimes being boxed in forces the writer to be more creative. What I found was that when I resolved these dilemmas, the story was usually stronger because of it. In other words, President Darcy’s problems became my solutions.

Oh my, yes, I did enjoy this piece of insight into how an author works and particularly on this particular novel. I'm keen to read it now. Thank goodness its already released.



On Goodreads: President Darcy: A Modern Pride and Prejudice Variation
On Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/President-Darc...
On B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/pres...
On Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/pres...

Victoria's website: https://victoriakincaid.com/
Victoria's Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/kincaidvictoria

And before she goes, Victoria left us a treat, an excerpt from President Darcy to whet your appetite! Thanks for this and for the visit, Victoria!

As the woman—Elizabeth Bennet— stepped out of the closet, brooms and mops went crashing to the floor. She flinched, and Darcy tightened his grip on her hand, drawing her closer to him as if the cleaning implements represented a serious threat to her safety. It was ridiculous and inappropriate, and Darcy had no idea why he did it.
The woman seemed to provoke unexpected reactions from him. How else could he explain his unwarrantedly casual reaction the potential danger she might represent?
As he double-checked to ensure she was unharmed, Darcy was struck by her eyes—a deep, mossy green he had never seen before on another human being. With such a uniform color…they really were quite fine. He couldn’t look away. No, it would be more accurate to say he didn’t want to look away.
She was about average height for a woman, which meant that she peered up at Darcy, who came in at around six feet. A sweet, heart-shaped face accentuated those marvelous eyes. Lustrous, wavy dark hair tumbled over her shoulders and down her back. And that dress—a floor-length black silk sheath that skimmed all her curves without revealing too much. In fact, it revealed just the right amount of her creamy skin…
Rather pointedly, she cast her eyes down at her hand. Which he was still holding. He noticed her fingers, delicate and tapered and so small, nestled in his grasp.
The touch of her hand was the single most wonderful sensation he had ever felt.
His fingers caressed her fingers.
Her hand trembled in his.
He had no desire to release her.
The rest of his body also responded to her proximity. Leaning toward her, he scented a vaguely floral fragrance…perfume or shampoo perhaps. He flushed with a warmth that had nothing to do with the temperature in the hallway, moisture collecting on his forehead and the back of his neck. His mouth was suddenly parched, and his tongue licked dry lips. Her eyes followed the movement. She is staring at my mouth.
If only I could touch more than her hand. Darcy’s hand rose, needing to learn if her hair was as soft as it appeared. But then the (apparently very small) part of his brain that was still sane reminded him that the woman was a stranger, and he aborted the movement.
I should probably say something. His lips were parted, ready to speak, but all his thoughts appeared to have melted away at her touch.
Bing cleared his throat. “We should get to the dinner.”
The words worked their way through Darcy’s sluggish brain. He understood their import, but the thought of releasing Elizabeth Bennet’s hand horrified him. He desperately needed to touch more of her, not less.
“Just a second, Bing,” he snapped.
Elizabeth blinked, her eyelashes fluttering. Is she as affected by the touch as I am? “I-It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. President,” she said with a note of finality that suggested she preferred he return her hand. Damn. Could she guess he’d been thinking improper thoughts—when he knew literally nothing about her except her name? It seriously had been too long since he’d had a date.
Dropping her hand as if it had burned him, he stepped backward, putting more distance between them and trying to collect thoughts that seemed to have been scattered by a powerful wind.
Why was he reacting this way to this woman? She was pretty—well, more than pretty. Beautiful. And that dress displayed a body he would certainly describe as “hot.” But he saw beautiful, well-dressed women every day.
And she’d been hiding in a closet, he reminded himself. It wasn’t normal behavior. She also didn’t appear capable of assembling coherent sentences. It truly was a shame she wasn’t more …eloquent. Lack of intelligence was always a deal-breaker for Darcy.
Although it was probably a good thing. If she were smart, too, she’d be irresistible.
Bing cleared his throat loudly.
Finally, Darcy tore his eyes from her vivid, dark green ones, but he was still rubbed raw by her proximity. He didn’t know why she affected him like this, but Darcy couldn’t let her—or anyone else—notice the results.
Taking out his handkerchief, he blotted his brow and mopped the back of his neck before discreetly wiping his sweaty hands and returning the handkerchief to his pocket. Elizabeth stared, likely marveling at how profusely the President of the United States could sweat. Bing regarded Darcy warily; he knew how out-of-character this behavior was.
He had embarrassed himself sufficiently; remaining any longer would only produce more shame and more perspiration. It was past time to appear at the dinner and get away from the spacey woman with the lovely eyes.
Without another word, he turned on his heel and strode down the hallway. Behind him, he heard Bing ask, “Will you join us at the dinner, Ms. Bennet?”
Damn! I should have asked that. She had me too flustered.
“Um…sure,” she said uncertainly.
No regrets, he told himself sternly. The woman couldn’t string two sentences together. Her beauty was nothing but a momentary distraction.
Darcy tugged his cuffs into place and straightened his bow tie. Taking the service hallway was intended to help him make up time after his last meeting ran late, but the encounter with Ms. Bennet had further delayed his schedule. Time to focus on the dinner and his political priorities for the evening.