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Chautona Havig

Chautona Havig

Using story to connect YOU to the Master Storyteller

5 Delightful Reasons You’ll Love These Books

by Chautona Havig · 1 Comment

This chat with Laura Hile combines education, humor, story, and of course, Jane Austen and her fabulous inspiration for Laura's books! via @chautonahavig

“Read Laura Hile’s ‘mercy books,’” she said.  “You’ll love them,” she said.

“She was right,” I say.

That was about ten years ago and my introduction to today’s guest!

What a delightful writer!  What hilarious books! Add to those more about those characters we love so well, and what isn’t there to love?

I read those “mercy books,” and then read everything Laura Hile writes when she writes it!

In this episode, we talk about Laura’s books, the Mercy’s Embrace series (about the unlikeable Elizabeth Elliot), Darcy by Any Other Name (a Darcy/Collins Freaky Friday-ish mashup), So This Is Love (Charlotte Lucas’ story), and As Only Mr. Darcy Can (unpublished romp about Darcy, Elizabeth, and the rogue Wickham!). There’s also a nod to the “A Very Austen” anthologies but that’s an episode for another week.

5 Delightful Reasons You'll Love These Books Laura Hile

Note: links are likely affiliate links that provide me with a small commission at no extra expense to you.

5 Delightful Reasons You’ll Love These Books by Laura Hile

1. Redeeming characters:

The “Mercy Books”

The Mercy’s Embrace series comprises three books about the eldest Elliot daughter, Elizabeth, from Jane Austen’s Persuasion.  What I loved most about these books was how Laura Hile kept Elizabeth herself while still giving her an excellent character arc with growth and redemption.

We talk about why it is reasonable for Elizabeth to have that kind of redemption in her life (excellent training from her mother, spinsterhood on the horizon, and then a plot thing that puts things in perspective for her).

I also learned that the character of Admiral McGilvary was actually a fellow author’s creation first and she took him on an gave him a story. I never knew that!

2. Laura Hile ‘s Quirky humor

While you find it in all of Hile’s books, her quirky humor really shines in her Regency “body-swap” novel, Darcy by Any Other Name (my review). Laura’s imagination never ceases to amaze me.  Who but she would ever say, “Oh, I know. Let’s make Darcy and Mr. Collins swap bodies and see what happens”?

Seriously, Laura Hile knows how people tick, and she’s not afraid to expose them.  However, she also writes with compassion, even for unreal characters, and we talk about when authors take some of these things a bit too far.

In Darcy by Any Other Name, she also discusses the changes her Darcy character goes through as a result of not being trapped in a body that people fawn over (for reasons more than just physical.  This isn’t the A&E movie. He did not just climb out of the pond.  Minds out of the pond scum, if you please…)  ?

3. Flipped tropes

One of my favorite things is when someone takes a trope (romance in general in this case) and flips it on its head.  In So This Is Love, Laura Hile takes two people who aren’t interested in becoming attached to anyone and sets them in a place where it’s safe to get to know someone.  Both have baggage and dashed hopes.  Both are confident and content in their own skins—and not.  #becausehumans

One of my favorite parts of this book is how she used a smidge of inspiration from The Ghost and Mrs. Muir.  I like the idea, and while I haven’t read it yet, I bought it the moment I could, because Laura Hile is definitely an “insta-buy.”

4. Comeuppance

In As Only Mr. Darcy Can, Laura Hile shows what happens when the anonymity of a “secret admirer” prompts actions that may or may not be wise as well as giving jerks their just deserts.  Wickham is at his old tricks, and Darcy’s determined to save Lizzy from him… but um… is she the one in peril?  I can’t wait for its release so we can see!

This book is slated for a late fall or winter release.  Squeee!

a very austen anthologies laura hile5. A grasp of human nature

From Darcy to Collins, Lady Catherine to Sir Walter Elliot, Laura Hile’s retellings of characters we all love (and love to hate) shows a keen insight not only into how Austen’s mind worked but into human nature as well. (I’d argue it shows a rather clever brain in Ms. Hile, too!).  You see this not only in the full-length novels shown above, but even in the novellas she has in the A Very Austen anthologies.

  • A Very Austen Christmas
  • A Very Austen Valentine
  • A Very Austen Romance

I’ve not reviewed the last one because, well… I have a novella in it about Margaret Dashwood from Sense and Sensibility, and reviewing it felt awkward. I’ll get over it.  Probably sooner than I should.

Sponsor:

I’m sponsoring Laura Hile ’s books because I think they’re awesome. So, if you’d like to win a copy, tell me who your favorite Austen character is and why.  Just leave a comment in the show notes (Chautona.com/because-fiction-26) and I’ll draw a winner for an eBook copy of any of her books (including the anthologies).

Stay tuned for more from Laura when we talk about the A Very Austen anthologies in an upcoming episode!

You can find Laura at:

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Comments

  1. Rachael de Klerk says

    September 1, 2020 at 7:34 am

    Mr Darcy! I love him because he’s such an intricate, complex character. He seems to be a simple, one-dimensional character who is almost stereotypical at first, but as the story progresses and his character is slowly revealed, we see that there is so much more to him.

    Reply

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The Because Fiction Podcast

The Because Fiction Podcast
The Because Fiction Podcast

Taking the pulse of Christian fiction

Episode 482: A Chat with Lara d’Entremont
byChautona Havig

When Lara d’Entremont began describing her YA portal fantasy, The Painted Fairytale, I knew this would be right up my alley. Listen in and see how art becomes the portal to other worlds!

note: links may be affiliate links that provide me with a small commission at no extra expense to you.

Portal fantasy is my favorite, so I was crazy excited to learn about this one–especially the art tie-in. I can’t wait to dive in myself.

We chatted about her characters, the world, and the faith that connects them.

The Painted Fairytale by Lara d’Entremont

Seventeen-year-old Wren Devine refuses to share her art with anyone-other than her parents and her sister (who died three years prior). But when her mother submits her artwork to a mentorship program, and she gets accepted, Wren is forced to display her artwork for the eccentric Professor Hayes. Despite her fears, Wren hopes this mentorship will finally make her as worthy as her sister.

But this mentorship is about more than painting.

Wren soon learns that she has a magical ability to turn her paintings into portals to travel not only to other places but also to another world entirely. An eerie children’s book in the professor’s classroom reveals a wicked pirate with a vengeance who has her eye on Stefan Branson, a former student of Professor Hayes.

As all four of these lives intersect, it becomes apparent that everyone has a secret–some more deadly than others. The longer these secrets brew, the more deadly and heavy they become, and possibly lead to never seeing her former, earthly realm again. Wren must not only learn to release the shadow of her beloved sister but step boldly into her own world.

Learn more about Lara on her WEBSITE and follow her on GoodReads.or on Subtack.

Like to listen on the go? You can find Because Fiction Podcast at:

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