UNDRESSING MR. DARCY BY KAREN DOORNEBOS – BLOG TOUR & GIVEAWAY

Hello from atop the London Eye!

As an ice-breaker to each leg of my Blog Tour for UNDRESSING MR. DARCY, I’m taking you along for a ride to England, where I traveled during the summer of 2012 to do some research for the book. 

Where am I on this stop? In London, looking out over the city from the Eye. A key scene takes place in the London Eye in my new book UNDRESSING MR. DARCY. Oh my gosh, I had soooo much fun with that scene. You’ll have to read it for yourself to see why! ;) I’ve included some other fun shots from London here for you too, including the famous Mind the Gap warnings painted onto the Tube station platforms and, a reprise of me with the waxen Colin Firth in Madame Tussauds, because I figured Tracie’s readers would like that shot. As you can tell, doing all the research for my book was hard work, ha ha ha! 

Thank you, Tracie, for hosting me here on Books by Banister…it’s great to be here with you! I’m so glad the title UNDRESSING MR. DARCY caught your attention!

So, what’s the deal with this UNDRESSING thing?

Imagine a history lesson where you watch a very handsome Regency gentleman lecture about his clothing as he proceeds to take it off—down to his drawers. This is the premise of UNDRESSING MR. DARCY!

As I was researching male clothing for my first novel, DEFINITELY NOT MR. DARCY, I stumbled across an English website called The History Wardrobe and they had a show called Undressing Mr. Darcy in which a man disrobed while a woman lectured about his clothing. The show is no longer staged, unfortunately, but I have learned that there is a Dressing Mr. Darcy show in Louisville at the Jane Austen Society of North America’s Jane Austen Festival in the summer.

It wasn’t long after learning about the show Undressing Mr. Darcy that I came up with:

He’s an old-fashioned, hardcover book reader who writes in quill pen and hails from England. She’s an American social media addict. Can he find his way to her heart without so much as a GPS? 

Just to give you a taste, here’s the very end of the first chapter. My heroine, Vanessa Roberts, is standing at the airport, waiting for “Mr. Darcy” aka Julian Chancellor, in the crowd with her aunt and another young woman she’d just met:

Excerpt:

Vanessa turned her attention back to her aunt. But the young woman and Aunt Ella weren’t looking at her. They were beaming at a tall, dangerously good-looking man on the other side of the rope wearing a formfitting Regency tailcoat, cravat, buff breeches, and black riding boots. He had an antique, leather-bound book tucked under his arm and didn’t carry suitcases but toted old leather trunks—leather trunks on a wheeled cart? A tumble of black hair spilled onto his forehead. 

How could he look so much better in person than in his author photo? She made a mental note to update that shot—it would increase their crowds. Pleased with his looks (for marketing purposes, of course), Vanessa cleared her throat, as if to clear her mind.

He wore his Mr. Darcy garb on the plane? Then she found herself trying not to notice the slight tug of his breeches, the snug way they fit him—

Huh? He was a client, after all, regardless of whether he was paying her or not.

Even if he had been a prospect, she preferred a man in a well-tailored Italian suit or blue jeans and a button-down shirt, didn’t she? What woman, at thirty-five years old, with a condo, her own business, family ties, and a thing for modern American amenities, would consider a man from another continent—not to mention the nineteenth century? She didn’t understand it.

And, let’s face it, Mr. Darcy’s skill set—chiefly, diving into a pond in his shirtsleeves—would get him nowhere in today’s job market.

“Miss Ella Morgan and Miss Vanessa Roberts, I presume?” he asked in a bass-range voice that needed no emoticons to get attention. Then he bowed. 

He was none other than a very official-looking Mr. Darcy. On the big-screen TV above him, a bomb exploded on the news, and when Vanessa tucked her long brown hair behind her ear, her earbud popped right out.

End of Excerpt

Well, Books by Banister readers, what do you think? By the way, since I’m a huge Benedict Cumberbatch fan, I thought you might want to know that while in London I strayed off the Jane Austen trail to visit the Sherlock Holmes Museum! It was fabulous & a must-see if you’re a Sherlock fan. Sherlock’s home has actually been recreated with all details intact, as if he and Watson just stepped out on a case. The Sherlock Museum is where this pic of me with a “constable” was taken! Lots of photo ops in London!

Thanks for having me here, Tracie!

Buy now at Berkley Penguin – Indiebound - Amazon – B&N – Kobo – BAM - iTunes

WIN!

Comment below for your chance to win a copy of UNDRESSING MR. DARCY! Have you ever been to London? Whether you have or not, where would you most want to visit? To increase your chances of winning you can share this post on your Facebook page or Twitter—let us know you’ve done that! You can also increase your odds by following me on Twitter or Facebook, or, if you’re not already, following Tracie on her social media—don’t forget to let us know about it in your comment, thanks! Contest limited to US entrants only.

Karen is generously giving away TWO paperback copies of UNDRESSING MR. DARCY! Entries can be submitted until midnight on Thursday, December 19th. Please leave your name and e-mail address in the comments so that we have a way to contact you should you win!

Mr. Darcy’s Stripping Off…

…his signet ring. At each blog stop Mr. Darcy will strip off another item. Keep track of each item in chronological order and at then end of the tour you can enter to win a GRAND PRIZE of the book, “DO NOT DISTURB I’m Undressing Mr. Darcy” door hangers for you and your friends, tea, and a bottle of wine (assuming I can legally ship it to your state). US entries only, please. 

Karen Doornebos is the author of UNDRESSING MR. DARCY published by Berkley, Penguin and available here or at your favorite bookstore. Her first novel, DEFINITELY NOT MR. DARCY, has been published in three countries and was granted a starred review by Publisher’s Weekly. Karen lived and worked in London for a short time, but is now happy just being a lifelong member of the Jane Austen Society of North America and living in the Chicagoland area with her husband, two teenagers and various pets—including a bird. Speaking of birds, follow her on Twitter and Facebook! She hopes to see you there, on her website www.karendoornebos.com and her group blog Austen Authors.

JOIN THE BLOG TOUR:

12/2: The Penguin Blog

12/3: Austenprose

12/4 Laura’s Review Bookshelf & JaneBlog

12/5 Chick Lit Plus - Review

12/6 Austen Authors

12/9 Fresh Fiction

12/10 Writings & Ramblings

12/11 Brant Flakes & Skipping Midnight

12/12 Risky Regencies Q&A

12/13 Books by Banister

12/16 Jane Austen in Vermont & Author Exposure Q&A

12/17 Literally Jen

12/18 Savvy Verse & Wit - Review

12/19 Kritters Ramblings

12/20 Booking with Manic- Review

12/23 BookNAround

12/26 My 5 Monkeys - Review

12/27 All Grown Up - Review

12/30 Silver’s Reviews

1/2 Dew on the Kudzu