When Kay Ashton receives a handsome inheritance from an elderly friend, she decides to throw caution to the wind and move to Lyme Regis, the place which inspired Jane Austen's novel, Persuasion. Kay has always lived her life as though in a Jane Austen novel, especially when it comes to men. After many disastrous relationships, Jane decides that no man will ever compare to Mr. Darcy. Instead, Kay devotes her time to creating of illustrations of Jane Austen's characters, especially Mr. Darcy, but all of that changes when she moves to Lyme Regis.
When Kay arrives in Lyme Regis she shocks herself by buying a pricey Victorian bed and breakfast aptly named Wentworth House. Before Kay has a chance to spruce up the place, Wentworth House is taken over by the cast of a new Persuasion movie being filmed in the infamous town. As the famous actors begin to arrive at Wentworth House, Kay feels she is on cloud nine. Not only is she living in the same town which made such an impression on her favorite author, but Persuasion is being filmed just outside her B&B. When Kay spots the lead actor playing Captain Wentworth, she becomes a victim of love at first sight. Kay is warned about Oli Wade Owen's flirtatious ways, but Kay's star struck crush becomes a fairytale come true when Oli begins to show interest in her.
While Kay is falling in love with the notoriously flirty lead actor, Adam Craig, the screen writer/producer of the film begins to feel protective of Kay. But Adam's heart has been broken too many times to admit that his feelings for Kay go beyond protecting her from Oli. Besides, Adam wonders how he can compete with the popular heartthrob when he is too shy to even ask a woman out. As Kay and Oli grow closer, Adam begins to realize that he can no longer deny his love for Kay. But just when Adam prepares for a romantic declaration of love worthy of Elizabeth Bennet, Kay tells Adam that she has fallen for Oli. As if things couldn't get any worse for Adam, Kay is convinced that Adam and Gemma, the lead actress playing Anne Elliot, would make the perfect couple. While Kay tries her hand match-making, Adam struggles to find a way to make Kay realize that he is the Mr. Darcy she has always dreamed of.
The author of A Weekend With Mr. Darcy has penned another dreamy novel for Janeites to swoon over. Victoria Connell creates a genuine love triangle between Kay, Oli, and Adam which will leave readers guessing until the end. If you ever wished Jane Austen wrote a novel with both Mr. Darcy and Captain Wentworth, your wish has been granted! DREAMING OF MR. DARCY is an unexpected and delightful treat for anyone who has ever read and fallen in love with a Jane Austen novel.
Fledgling illustrator and Darcy fanatic, Kay Ashton, buys a B&B in the seaside town of Lyme so she’ll have a quiet place to finish her book, The Illustrated Mr. Darcy, and she’s delighted to discover that a film company is in town making a new big-screen adaptation of Persuasion. Kay has a history of falling for the bad boy so it’s no surprise that she’s soon under the spell of handsome actor Oli Wade Owen, who is playing Captain Wentworth. But what exactly is it that Oli is hiding from Kay? His apparent dissembling is making her nervous, so she confides her misgivings to quiet, handsome Adam Craig, who always seems to be there when she needs a sounding board. Screenwriter and producer Adam Craig hasn’t been in a relationship since he had his heart broken years ago. Throwing himself into his work, the last thing he expects is to fall in love again but that’s exactly what happens when he meets Kay. But she seems smitten with that cad Oli Owen, who he knows isn’t right for her. Can Adam overcome his crippling shyness and insecurity in order to find a happy ending of his own? It will take more than good intentions for Adam to convince Kay that her real happy ending is with him…
EXCERPT
Adam Craig had lived in Lyme Regis all his life or, to be more precise, a tiny village called Marlbury in the Marshwood Vale just a few miles north of the seaside town. He’d studied English at Cambridge and had worked briefly in London but he would never want to live anywhere else.
From the winding country lanes to the tiny stone cottages and the ever-present caress of a breeze laden with the salty scent of the sea, he couldn’t imagine anywhere else coming close. He loved the rolling fields filled with lambs in the spring, the hedgerows stuffed with summer flowers, the tapestry-colours of the trees in autumn and the slate-grey sea in winter. Every season had its joy and he welcomed each one.
His parents had moved to California twelve years ago. His father had taken early retirement from his antiques business in Honiton and he’d been determined to give the wine business a go, buying an established vineyard in the Nappa Valley. Adam had been invited to join them but had declined. The Dorset coast and countryside were in his blood and he could no more leave it than he could his old nan.
Nana Craig was eighty-four years old and lived in a tiny thatched cottage in a hamlet not far away from Adam’s own. Of all his family members, it was Nana Craig who was his closest. Whilst his parents had been building their business, Nana Craig was the one who’d cleaned his scraped knees as a toddler, bought his first pair of football boots as a youngster and had read each and every one of his screenplays since he’d scribbled his first attempt as a teenager – a rather embarrassing romance called The Princess and the Pirate.
He’d been a screenwriter and film producer for over ten years now and his newest project was the one he’d been planning in his head for that entire length of time, for what screenwriter who lived near Lyme Regis wouldn’t – at some point in their career – turn their attention to Jane Austen’s novel Persuasion?
He had to admit that he hadn’t been a fan of Austen growing up but what young lad was? Austen was for girls, wasn’t she? All those endless assemblies and discussions about men’s fortunes that went on for entire chapters weren’t the stuff to stir the imagination of a young boy. But, as an adult – as a writer – her books, particularly Persuasion – had begun to make their mark and, three years ago, he’d started putting things into motion. And it was all coming together wonderfully. Very early on, he’d managed to get highly-respected director, Teresa Hudson, on board. She had a string of period dramas under her belt and had won a BAFTA for her recent adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s Two on a Tower. It was whilst she was filming that in Dorset that they’d got together and started discussing Persuasion.
Now, all the crew and actors were on board and filming had begun. They were due to descend on the unsuspecting town of Lyme Regis soon and Adam was looking forward to that. He’d long been envisaging the scenes he’d written around the Cobb, imagining the fateful leap of Louisa Musgrove and the cautious exchanges between Anne Elliot and Captain Wentworth.
He was envisaging them now as he walked into town, walking down Broad Street with great strides, shielding his eyes from the sun so that he could catch that wonderful glimpse of sea.
He was heading to the bookshop when he saw her. Tall and slim with a tumble of toffee-coloured hair, she was gazing in the window of an estate agents and was frowning. She was wearing a floral dress that was far more summery than the weather and her hands were busy doing up the buttons of her denim jacket in an attempt to keep the nippy little breeze at bay. She had a rosy face and intensely bright eyes which Adam wished would swivel round in his direction. But what would he do then? What exactly would he do if she swivelled? It would take a small miracle for a girl like her to notice him…
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