We have a winner!

Congratulations, Ginna! You’re last week’s winner! I will send you your copy of Mark of Character as soon as possible. I hope you enjoy it!

I loved hearing everybody’s thoughts on their favorite secondary characters. While Colonel Fitzwilliam, especially the fanon version, is probably generally my favorite, I think just about every one of Jane Austen’s characters (and quite a few originals) has at least one story that makes them really shine. I think that’s one of the things I enjoy the most about JAFF: seeing all of the different possibilities for a character.

We’re only one week out from release date, so I have another excerpt to whet your appetite! If you don’t care for excerpts, feel free to skip past it to get to this week’s giveaway.

Darcy locked the door to his room, leaving the key in the lock so that it could not be opened from the outside, then wedged a chair under the doorknob for good measure. Jones, his valet, would do the same in the dressing room to the door that led to the servants’ passage.

It did not sit well with him, this reluctance to consider his betrothed with any delight or pleasure. In fact, the idea of marrying Miss Caroline Bingley and having children with her—if anything, it made an icy shiver run down his spine.

Was he so cold, so closed off to emotions that even a soulmark could not penetrate his heart?

Wickham and even Georgiana had accused him of coldness in the past. What was it that Wickham had once said? “You are more statue than man.” His temper had risen hot at the insult, but now . . .

Could Wickham have been right all along? Was this why Wickham had been able to gain his father’s affections and attention, because he was so much warmer and open?

But how did one change?

And did he even want to, if that meant falling in love with Caroline Bingley?

He stretched, wincing at the twinge in his back. It had been aching since the ride from London. Perhaps he would have been better served sitting in the carriage instead of riding alongside, but he had never liked being confined in the carriage if the weather was fine.

And since his betrothal to Miss Bingley, everything felt confining.

The worst part was that he could not seem to take his eyes off Miss Elizabeth Bennet.

What was it about her that caught his attention? She was pretty—very pretty, even, though most would probably consider Caroline Bingley more handsome, and neither could compare to the incomparable Jane Bennet. If the eldest Miss Bennet had had a season in London . . . Even without a fortune or connections, she would probably have received the queen’s notice for her beauty alone.

No, it had not been for Miss Elizabeth’s beauty.

A flash of memory. There had been that moment when he had shamefully insulted her. He had not meant for her to overhear, but he had taken no precaution to prevent it, either. It was badly done of him.

In that moment, she could have reacted any number of ways. She might have burst into tears, or ignored him, or rushed out of the room. She might have gone to complain to her mother or Sir William, or perhaps gone to hint for a dance with some other gentleman to undermine his insult.

But she had laughed. She had retold the story with vigour and amusement, mimicking both him and Bingley and delighting her friends with the retelling. She had not spared her own vanity by hiding that a handsome, if ineligible, bachelor had insulted her looks. Instead, she had found a way to laugh at his rudeness.

Why? How could a young lady from a small village in the country, to whose society any new gentlemen must be a novelty and delight, so easily laugh off his insult?

He slipped under the cold sheets and shivered again, stretching his stiff, aching legs.

And why was it that when he thought of his own betrothed he felt nothing but coldness, yet he felt warm just thinking of Miss Elizabeth Bennet?

This will be the last giveaway before release day, so it’s your last chance to get the book early. I have it ready now and will be sending out the giveaway prizes as soon as I can. I will announce the winner for this one early so that you can get your book before the official release.

To enter, just leave me a comment on this blog post. You can tell me what you think of the excerpt above, or you can answer today’s question: What do you think about timeloop stories? (Like the movie Groundhog Day.) Love ’em? Hate ’em? What do you like or dislike seeing in such stories? My next story for the Enchanting Tales series is going to be a timeloop story with a bit of a twist, and I’d love to know what you would want to see in such a book.

All comments will get you entered into this week’s contest. I will choose this week’s winner from the comments on Sunday, May 7! I’ll post here, my Facebook page, and email the winner (so make sure to give your correct email address!). If you want to comment but don’t want to be entered because you already purchased the book, just let me know in the comment!

Preorder now!