But I Smile Anyway…

Loving this series!

Today, I am thrilled to welcome Linda Corbett, a fantastic author, and writer friend of mine, to chat about her latest release, What Would Jane Austen do?

Today, I am thrilled to welcome a dear friend and relatively new to publishing author, Linda Corbett on my blog for a cuppa and a bit of a chat about all things bookish, but especially her latest release, What Would Jane Austen Do?

Hello, and welcome to But I Smile Anyway, Linda!! Let’s get you set with a drink, first. Tea, coffee, hot chocolate, or maybe a masala chai. I know our hero loved a coffee. I do have a Tassimo if you prefer a fancy coffee?

Thank you, Ritu, for inviting me to your blog! I’m one of those odd people that don’t do hot drinks even though I invented a coffee-drinking hero, so if you’ve got anything in the cold drinks line, that would be fabulous. Or is it too early for a celebratory glass of Prosecco as we both have books coming out in the same month?

I think that Prosecco may be in order in that case!

We can do some lovely homemade biscuits, or my daughter, Lil Princess made fairy cakes! If you’re feeling adventurous, I can get out the chevda, too. It’s a type or Bombay mix!

Homemade fairy cakes sound delicious, thank you!

Now, I know that your latest release brings you up to a tally of two (very good!) published books. Tell us more about your journey to become a published author.

It’s been rather a rollercoaster of a journey over the last ten years. I wrote my first (not very good) attempt at a novel back in 2012, and that’s definitely staying in the drawer! Two years later, I wrote another book that got one full request from an agent. Then another two books followed that got a couple of full requests in between all the rejections. The problem with getting lots of boilerplate rejections is that you have no idea where you’re going wrong: you don’t know what you don’t know. At one point, I paid for a manuscript appraisal – very informative but obviously a significant cost. I missed out on joining the RNA’s New Writers’ Scheme in 2017 but joined in 2018, and getting detailed critiques as part of the membership fee was enormously helpful. Then in 2020, I was awarded the Katie Fforde Bursary, which gave me a massive boost of confidence and the impetus to write what became book five. However, it was on the sixth attempt, after 221 rejections, I got that magic yes!

What a journey! That YES was absolutely magic!

Do you have a favourite out of the two that have been published? I know that with your love of guinea pigs, your first book, Love You From A to Z, must be extra special!

Ooh, that’s a tough question! As you know, I’m ever so slightly obsessed with guinea pigs and anything piggy-related, so of course, Love You From A-Z holds a special place in my heart, and it was also my debut novel. However, over the course of writing What Would Jane Austen Do? I’ve become very attached to those characters too, so I don’t think I could possibly choose. Do you have a favourite?

I think I’m a bit like you. It’s hard to choose one, isn’t it? I suppose, with my two so far being linked, I have lived with these characters for a long time, and writing book three too, means that they are all forever in my mind! But Marriage Unarranged is definitely special because that’s where it started!

I always like to ask about your writing space, if you have one. Is it somewhere peaceful, or are you overrun with your fur babies?

I’d love to tell you I had a cosy writing nook or a desk with a fabulous view of the countryside, but that would be a total fib! Being very short means that conventional desks are the wrong height, so I write on my laptop – usually on the sofa, occasionally in the garden. The guinea pigs are in another room, although I can still hear them squeaking when they think they need more treats or attention. Or every time the fridge door opens!

And, has romance always been your favourite genre to read, and write?

I like to read a variety of books – something that makes me laugh out loud is always a tonic, and I enjoy a good mystery or cosy crime, but I always come back to romance. In today’s world where the news is often full of unrest and bad news, you can’t beat a happy ever after, can you? As far as writing is concerned, other than a few short stories, my previous novel attempts are firmly in the romance genre. However, I’d love to have a go at writing a cosy crime one day. Possibly with guinea pigs in…

Now, that I would pay to read!!

Before I go off on more of a tangent, let’s have a catch-up about your latest release, What Would Jane Austen do? I was lucky enough to get an ARC and I loved it! Thank you! (Review below!) What made you want to write a book that ties with the legendary Jane Austen? I can see that Maddy, your main character, takes much solace from her words.

I am a Jane Austen fan, but I can’t claim any credit for the title – that was the brainchild of my lovely editor. She suggested it and asked what I thought. Around the same time, my friend was telling me about her visit to West Horsley Place where they filmed the BBC series Ghosts. Have you been there? It’s a fabulous place! Anyway, the house had been inherited by Bamber Gascoigne from his great-aunt, the Duchess of Roxburghe. It clearly sparked my imagination and these two strands combined. So… Maddy is a massive Jane Austen fan and out-of-the-blue, she inherits a house in the country. Even after she’s lost her job, she takes comfort from Jane Austen’s advice and is very protective of Ms Austen’s reputation. I had great fun dropping in little hints, references and quotes from the Austen canon, but have been assured by readers that you don’t need detailed knowledge of Ms Austen’s works in order to enjoy the book.

Do you think it would be easy living with a writer as moody as our fictional Crime fiction author Cameron Massey (or Luke to those who know him well!)? I loved the irony of his pen first name being an anagram for Romance, though he seems to detest the genre!

I think you’d have to be a strong character to live with Cameron Massey! He enjoys a bit of verbal sparring and detests lukewarm opinions, but luckily my heroine, Maddy, has strong opinions of her own, even though in the early part of the story, the two of them don’t always agree! And of course, she gets to know the real man behind the snarky author image.

And, what would you do if you were to inherit a sprawling mansion, as Maddy does? Would you happily move there for a year, or say no thank you?

As long as it wasn’t completely falling apart, I’d jump at the chance! I’m married to an IT and DIY Expert so he’d have the house sorted in no time. However, had I been living there by myself as Maddy is, I’m not sure I’d have been quite so keen. Luckily for Maddy, she makes lots of new friends so she’s not lonely for too long.

And I’m sure my readers would love to know… what do you have in the pipeline? Is there anything up your sleeves, already?

I am currently tinkering with the book I wrote before Love You From A-Z, but at the same time I’m finding it hard to leave behind the villagers of Cotlington. They’ve been in my head for so long now that they feel like real people! Do you find that as a writer? I’m also tempted to start something new as I’d really like to write another book with guinea pigs in. Decisions, decisions…

I can absolutely relate to that! When I finished Marriage Uarranged, the characters wouldn’t leave me alone. The next two books were never planned, but there you go! And, I do have a few other ideas, including another partly written story that I’d love to complete!

Now, I hope the Prosecco was chilled enough, Linda! I can’t believe we’ve finished a bottle!

Thank you for inviting me, Ritu.

My pleasure 😊

Peeps, I can’t wait to read whatever Linda brings out, next, and the idea of popping back to Cotlington is tempting!

Purchase links follow.

The Blurb

It’s a truth often acknowledged that when a journalist and Jane Austen fan girl ends up living next door to a cynical but handsome crime writer, romantic sparks will fly! When Maddy Shaw is told her Dear Jane column has been cancelled she has no choice but to look outside of London’s rental market. That is until she’s left an idyllic country home by the black sheep of the family, long-not-so-lost Cousin Nigel. But of course there’s a stipulation… and not only is Maddy made chair of the committee for the annual village literary festival, she also has to put up with bestselling crime author –and romance sceptic – Cameron Massey as her new neighbour. When Maddy challenges Cameron to write romantic fiction, which he claims is so easy to do, sparks fly both on and off the page…

Available in ebook & paperback

mybook.to/WhatWouldJaneAustenDo

My Review

What Would Jane Austen Do? by Linda Corbett
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

You know when you read a book and want to start it all over to feel all the feels?
Well, that was my reaction to What Would Jane Austen Do?
I loved Linda Corbett’s debut and was excited to get my teeth into this second novel, and I was not disappointed.
Maddy Shaw is reeling after losing her agony aunt column, Dear Jane, in a national magazine. She attends one last interview commitment, meeting an extremely moody crime writer with an extremely simple view of romance. (Topical since so many out there have been trying to rubbish our beloved romance genre!)
Life is not going her way, considering she may have to move out of her flatshare with her best friend in London since she has no income until an unexpected bequest in the will of a deceased relative leaves her with rather a lot more than she could ever have expected, considering she never met the infamous Cousin Nigel.
Armed with her meagre belongings, Maddy moves into Meadowhall, a large house, for the requisite twelve months, fully intending to sell up and leave when the year ends, but you know what? You never know what the future will hold…
I loved everything about this book, from the fantastically appropriate Jane Austen quotes that started each chapter to learning more about the lodger she ends up taking in to keep herself financially afloat. Luke has a lot more about him that I won’t mention. You need to read about that yourself!
As the story unfolds, Cousin Nigel is also a dark horse, revealing secret after secret posthumously.
There is the literary festival, which I loved, ghost hunting, and a gorgeous canine hero who will steal your heart!
Many thanks to NetGalley, and Harper Collins, One More Chapter for an ARC.

Author Bio

Linda Corbett lives in Surrey with her husband Andrew and three permanently hungry guinea pigs. As well as being an author, Linda is a member and former Treasurer of Shine Surrey – a volunteer-led charity that supports individuals and families living with spina bifida and hydrocephalus. For many years she also wrote a regular column for Link, a disability magazine, illustrating the humorous aspects of life with a complex disability, and she is a passionate advocate of disability representation in fiction. When not writing, Linda can be found papercrafting, gardening, or cuddling guinea pigs. What Would Jane Austen Do is her second published novel.

Find Linda by clicking the following links!

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