My guest today is Jessie Lewis, who is here to share an excerpt from her latest release, Speechless. The cover alone makes me want to read the book, but if you need a little more convincing, please keep reading — you don’t want to miss this one. And please give Jessie a warm welcome!
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Thank you, Anna, for letting me stop by at your blog to tell my readers about my new novel, Speechless. I’d like to share an excerpt from early on in the story. Darcy has been injured but is not yet sure how. Elizabeth Bennet is tending to him, but he’s not yet sure why—and she is not particularly happy about it, though he is too ill to fully comprehend that either. Fortunately for him, this is Elizabeth Bennet, and she is not the sort to let enmity interfere with compassion.
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Worse than the unrelenting sense of suffocation, worse even than the agony of whatever affliction gripped his throat, was the terrible thirst to which Darcy awoke. His tongue cleaved to his palette, his head pounded, and exhaustion pinned his arms to his sides. When he begged for water, his lips cracked and his tongue spasmed, but his plea remained unspoken, for no sound came from the parched wasteland of his mouth. He could hear the hoarse scrape of what he presumed was his breathing, a crackling that he supposed was a fire, the faint whistle of wind trespassing around an ill-fitted windowpane—but of his own voice he heard not a croak.
Fear added its bite to the gnaw of thirst. What in God’s name had happened to him? Fighting an upwelling of alarm, he forced his eyes open. He was in a chamber, the ceiling of which was yellowing and peppered with mildew. He could see the uppermost corner of a window from where he lay; it was glazed with diamonds of thick, distorted glass. The walls were painted a utilitarian shade of taupe. He did not know the place or why he was in it. The time of day eluded him, for the light was all wrong—grey and bright at the same time. He knew neither how he came to be there, nor how long he ago he had arrived. All that was certain was that he hurt atrociously, though the reason for that was as shrouded in mystery as everything else, and the confusion of his mind terrified him almost as much as his physical suffering.
Thirst overshadowed everything, compelling him to lift his head in search of water. Excruciating pain drove him instantly back down, his eyes and jaw clenched shut and his mind awhirl, grasping futilely at wisps of memories that might—but did not—explain the feeling of being utterly spent, utterly broken. His neck was ablaze and there was something horribly unfamiliar about the way his head and shoulders were aligned—an unnatural rigidity betwixt the two that when he reached up to touch it, felt numb, despite the monstrous pain. He dug his fingers into it, attempted to scratch away whatever was hurting him, but everything he did and everywhere he touched exacerbated the torture.
Something took hold of his hands. He recoiled from the contact, ripping free of its grip and shoving it away, fearful of anything touching him. The movement tightened the constriction about his throat. He tugged frantically at the collar of his shirt to relieve it, but again his hands were seized and drawn aside, this time more firmly. Somebody spoke, the words nebulous but the tone fretful. He was not alone! There was comfort in that—or at least, there would be, if only whoever it was would do something to relieve his torment.
He or she—she—said something else. He knew not what; he could not concentrate on anything beyond the all-consuming need for liquid. He begged for water and shuddered when his throat gave forth nothing but an arid wheeze and a flood of pain. He forced one eye open and mouthed his plea again at the silhouette bent over him.
For the briefest moment, Darcy forgot his thirst entirely as the achingly familiar apparition slid her hand beneath his head and lifted it slightly to meet the cup she held to his mouth.
“Sip it slowly, Mr Darcy. Your throat is wounded. You would not like to choke.”
Then water trickled between his lips and all else became immaterial. He meant to sip but need bade him gulp. His throat contracted, he bucked in agony, spluttered out most of the water and sucked the rest into his lungs.
“Calm yourself, sir. Breathe. ’Tis well. ’Tis well.”
The composure of the voice was vastly at odds with the desperate situation. It steadied him until he ceased coughing. As did the hand that remained at the base of his neck. Somebody—the same woman, presumably—dabbed the water from his face. He strained to focus his gaze on her countenance, his eyes found hers, and his breath hitched, though nobody would have noticed amongst the already erratic clamour.
“Now sip,” said Elizabeth Bennet—to all appearances the real one, not an apparition or a delusion or a dream.
“What in blazes?” Darcy wondered in bewilderment, for in his present condition, with his mind as empty as his lungs, he could think of no goodly explanation for her being there. He had not the strength to reflect upon it for long. Distracted by the cup that was back at his lips, he attended instead to assuaging his thirst, though the pain of swallowing and the effort not to gag made it impossible to take more than half a dozen sips. By the time Elizabeth laid his head gently back on the pillow and removed her hand, exhaustion had crept into Darcy’s mind and settled heavily upon his limbs. His eyes were already closed.
He heard, and envied, the deep breath Elizabeth took. He heard her, also, as she let it out, slowly and a little shakily—and he heard her speak.
“Good. The only thing that could possibly make this situation worse would be if you were actually to die.”
Sleep was upon him before her meaning could even begin to matter.
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About Speechless
Could anything be worse than to be trapped in a confined space with the woman you love?
Fitzwilliam Darcy knows his duty, and it does not involve succumbing to his fascination for a dark-eyed beauty from an unheard of family in Hertfordshire. He has run away from her once already. Yet fate has a wicked sense of humour and deals him a blow that not only throws him back into her path but quite literally puts him at Elizabeth Bennet’s mercy. Stranded with her at a remote inn and seriously hampered by injury, Darcy very quickly loses the battle to conquer his feelings, but can he win the war to make himself better understood without the ability to speak?
Thus begins an intense journey to love and understanding that is at times harrowing, sometimes hilarious and at all times heartwarming.
Buy on Amazon
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About the Author
Jessie Lewis, author of Mistaken and The Edification of Lady Susan, enjoys words far too much for her own good and was forced to take up writing them down in order to save her family and friends from having to listen to her saying so many of them. She dabbled in poetry during her teenage years, though it was her studies in Literature and Philosophy at university that firmly established her admiration for the potency of the English language. She has always been particularly in awe of Jane Austen’s literary cunning and has delighted in exploring Austen’s regency world in her own historical fiction writing. It is of no relevance whatsoever to her ability to string words together coherently that she lives in Hertfordshire with two tame cats, two feral children and a pet husband. She is also quite tall, in case you were wondering.
You can check out her musings on the absurdities of language and life on her blog, LifeinWords.blog, or see what she’s reading over at Goodreads. Or you can drop her a line on Twitter, @JessieWriter or on her Facebook page, JessieLewisAuthor.
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Giveaway
Quills & Quartos Publishing is giving away one ebook of Speechless per blog tour stop. All you need to do to enter the giveaway is comment on this blog post, and Quills & Quartos will randomly choose winners for the entire blog tour on December 19. So, make sure you join in the conversation! Good luck!
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Thank you for being my guest today, Jessie, and congratulations on your new release!
Thanks for the intriguing excerpt I can’t wait to read it!
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Intriguing for us … utterly bewildering for poor Darcy! Thanks Theresa, I hope you enjoy finding out the answers along with our dear boy! 🙂
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Poor Darcy! I loved the vivid description of his thirst! I’d live to read this book.
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Darcy certainly begins this story in a sorry state. But don’t worry, he ends it in a much better one 🙂
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I can sense Darcy’s confusion and can imagine how Elizabeth’s voice soothes him. What have these two gotten themselves into? Thank you for the excerpt and giveaway. I have enjoyed your books.
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Thank you, Eva, that’s lovely to hear. And you are imagining the same as me…Darcy doesn’t know why Elizabeth is there, but he’s far enough gone in love that just her being there is comfort. Awwwwwww! Good luck in the draw 🙂
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When I read the book the opening chapter made me cry! I felt all the anguish that Darcy was going through and lived the nightmare with him! What a relief to realise that Elizabeth was there taking care of him.
I loved how the story progressed and how Darcy and Elizabeth managed to communicate. The ending was wonderful and I will definitely be reading this again.
For anyone who hasn’t read it I would definitely recommend it.
Just realised there is a giveaway so please don’t enter me (I couldn’t wait so pre ordered it 😊)
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Thank you Glynis! It’s always heartening to know that the emotion one puts into one’s writing is felt in the way it was intended. (Not that I wanted to make you cry, of course!) But I’m glad you enjoyed the culmination of ODC’s struggles and journey in this variation 🙂
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Sounds like he has a head injury if he can’t remember
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Poor old Darcy has had a bit of a time of it. Thank goodness he has Elizabeth there to nurse him better 🙂
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Oh boy, can’t wait to read and find out how Darcy injured himself and how they got to that predicament! Congrats on your newest release!
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Thanks so much! 🙂
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Very exciting excerpt! Congratulations on the new publication and I look forward to reading this book. ♫
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Thank you, Jennifer, I hope you enjoy it!
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I read and loved this book. It is one I want to read again. Excellent variation. Love how they learned to communicate in their own fashion…besides writing it all out which was laborious, and even what they learned about each other in Darcy not being able to talk.
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Aw, thanks so much, Shiela, I’m so glad you enjoyed it and delighted that you want to read it again! I hope it gives you lots of warm and fuzzies 🙂
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So visceral! I love it!!!!
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Thank you, Heather 🙂
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This is a fantastic excerpt! Thank you, Anna, for sharing it. I am looking forward to reading this one over the break.
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I hope you enjoy it Christina. Thank you for organising such a great blog tour, and thank you, Anna, for hosting today’s stop!!
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You’re very welcome!
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A Darcy unable to share his thoughts aloud! This is the perfect Darcy, lol.
Congratulations, Jessie!
Thank you Anna, for sharing this fantastic excerpt that leaves us craving MORE!
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Ha ha, yes, Darcy is surely improved with the lack of foot-in-mouth syndrome! (You’d think, huh?) Thanks Julie! And I echo your thanks to Anna!
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You’re very welcome!
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That is quite a riveting excerpt! Poor Darcy!
Thank you for co-hosting this giveaway. I will add it to my blog’s sidebar.
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Thanks, Suko! Darcy is very disorientated in this excerpt, but he does gain clarity in the story … in more ways than one!
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Oooh, I do enjoy those trapped together romance situations. 🙂
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It does add a certain intensity to proceedings! Thanks for commenting Sophia 🙂
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very intense!!!
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Poor Darcy–the things we put that boy through, eh? Tee hee!
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Congrats on the release! It sounds wonderful!
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Thank you! ☺️
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Had me smiling as I read. I could totally picture this.
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That makes it all very worth while! Thanks Mary! 🙂
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Poor and good for Mr. Darcy. Poor due ti his malady and good cause he has agood nurse to care for him. Thank you for the excerpt
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Yes, Elizabeth definitely eases his suffering! Thanks!
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Great excerpt. Looking forward to reading. This should be interesting!!! Congratulations
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I hope so Becky – here’s hoping you get the chance to read 🙂
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I enjoyed Jessie’s story in Rational Creatures and look forward to reading this new release. Thanks for sharing the excerpt, Anna.
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It’s so lovely to hear you enjoyed my Lady Susan story. She was such fun to write! I hope you enjoy Speechless as well, thank you for commenting 🙂
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I read and enjoyed this book. It is one I want to reread.
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Thank you Shelia! It’s a joy to know it’s brought you a bit of sunshine ☺️
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Excellent description of what Darcy was experiencing. Very intriguing excerpt and I look forward to reading the book!
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Thank you, Lily, I hope you enjoy the rest just as much 🙂
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Poor Darcy. The description of his sufffering is palpable. Now how did this happen to him? And how is Elizabeth there too?
Adding to the TBR pile. Congratulations.
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Darcy would like to know all those things too! Ha ha! I hope you enjoy finding out when this gets to the top of your TBR pile 🙂
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