Happy Birthday, NIGHT JASMINE!
Hi, all!
Thanks so much for all your lovely comments over the past few days. Due to a weird technical glitch, I’ve been having trouble getting in to comment back, so I just want to say a big, universal THANK YOU (and here’s hoping the server has now decided to behave itself and won’t try to lock me out again).
In the meantime, in honor of Night Jasmine’s official birthday, I’m posting one of my favorite outtakes from the book. I have a pile of lovely bookplates to give away (thanks for the suggestion, Georgia!), so the first five posters will receive signed bookplates as a Night Jasmine birthday present.
This outtake was originally the second half of a scene between Henrietta and Charlotte in a little alcove on Epiphany Eve. It was beginning to drag a bit (I had to nip back to Robert and the reprobates outside), so I snipped off this end piece, but I did rather regret having to do away with Charlotte’s musings on True Love– and Henrietta’s very characteristic reaction to them.
“You mean kiss him myself?” demanded Charlotte, laughing at the sheer absurdity of the notion.
Henrietta wasn’t laughing. “That is one idea.”
“You sound like Pen!”
“Not all of Pen’s ideas are bad.”
“No,” protested Charlotte, before Henrietta could come up with any other absurd ideas. “I wouldn’t want a stolen kiss in a corridor—especially not if I were the one stealing it. I want….”
And there she faltered. She knew precisely what she wanted, but it was almost impossible to reduce it to words. She wanted him to steal the kiss, but it was more than that. She wanted the sort of single-minded devotion of Tristan for Isolde or Leander for Hero, the sort of devotion that overleaped oceans and toppled empires. Admittedly, there wasn’t much in the way of ocean or empire available at Girdings, but it wasn’t the specifics that mattered. Her parents proved that. They had conducted their grand love affair against the domestic backdrop of an ivy hung brick house outside a small market town, expressing their devotion in smiles passed across the breakfast table along with the sugar bowl and the Morning Post. There hadn’t been any ships launched or any cities gone up in flame, but it was quite recognizably the same emotion. That was what Charlotte wanted. She wanted Robert to look at her as if she were the only thing that mattered in the whole wide world.
As always, Henrietta already knew exactly what she meant.
“True love,” Henrietta finished for her.
Charlotte looked down at her gloved hands. “Well… yes.”
It sounded rather silly dragged out into simple prose. Charlotte hunched her shoulders, which suddenly felt much barer than they had before.
“True love takes different forms,” said Henrietta gently.
Shaking her hair back out of her face, Charlotte looked earnestly across at her. “In some ways, yes,’ she agreed, thinking of her parents, of Beatrice and Benedick, of Guinivere and Lancelot, of all the loves, loves triumphant, loves doomed, loves trumpeted across the ages, loves unsung. But all had one thing in common. “To be true, it has to be reciprocal. A one-way love doesn’t count. That’s just infatuation.”
Henrietta squeezed her in a quick hug. “I love you, but sometimes you think too much.”
This is beautiful. I can’t wait to read the entire book.
Thank you for writing. I can always just pictures the people, the room, the environment by your writing.
Oh, I am so grateful to you Lauren for writing these books! And I love that Henrietta gets to come back into the story! I got my copy in the mail yesterday from Amazon – hooray! Congrats Lauren, on the birth of another great book!
I’m just about to head out to buy my copy! Can’t wait to read!
I can not even tell you how jazzed I am to read your new book! Lauren you are wonderful.
Brilliant. If I didn’t have classes tomorrow I would spend the entire night reading. As it is I’m making myself wait until later this evening to go out for a copy so I don’t cheat on my other required/boring/time-consuming reading…
Cheers!
I love it! I am so excited to read Night Jasmine. I am going out today to get it.
I’ m very excited about the book! I can’t wait to get to the bookstore to get it, devower it and then quite likely reread the whole series, as they are some of my favorite books. Thank you so much for introducing them all to us!
Yay, super speedy first five commenters! Thank you so much for everything– I really hope you like “Night Jasmine”. If you email me at willig@post.harvard.edu with the practical details, I’ll send you a bookplate to put in it!
Getting my copy today!!! So excited!!!
I would just like to say you are an awesome writer and I love your work tremendously!!!
So excited to get this book after class today. If my B&N doesn’t have it i am going to throw a hissy fit (which is totally unbecoming of a 25 year old).
Totally frustrating! Neither of my B&N or Borders have the book in stock as of this morning (CA time). Luckily I called first or else I would have thrown a hissy fit in the store (which is also unbecoming in a 31 year old with 2 children). I’ll try the stores again later.
Oh, I hate it when that happens! That happened to me recently– I have two B&N’s, a Borders, and two independent bookstores walkable from me and NONE of them had the book I was looking to buy as a present for my best friend. Of course, it was also snowing. It always is. Or raining. Or something. If it had been a sunny day, the book would have been there.
Anyway, I hope your local stores get “Night Jasmine” in soon!
Congrats Lauren! I can’t wait for Amazon to send my copy. More importantly, I am ecstatic you liked my bookplate idea. I am just a little sad that I got working on a proposal and missed being one of the first five posters… Well, next time.
I am heading out to buy my copy in just a bit. And they had better have it in stock!
I have been anxiously awaiting this book for so very, very long. The “Night Jasmine” was definintely worth the wait and the cover to cover reading until 12:30 this morning (even though “Crimson Rose” is still my favorite). I thoroughly enjoyed the characters, thickening plot(s) and the overall writing excellence. I, and all those I have now gotten hooked on this wonderful series, thank you.
I’m so excited for you, Lauren!
I pre-ordered mine a while ago, but I live in Scotland so had to get it from America. Should be here by the end of the month. Hopefully, anyway.
I really can’t wait. 😀
So excited to read it tonight. The second Borders I checked had it. Yeah!
I’ve ordered it from Amazon, but I live in Australia, so it’s not going to get here until February 🙁 But I’m really looking forward to reading it and have been re-reading the other 4 while I wait 🙂
Happy Happy! I’ve read the book already and loved it! Congrats! 😀
I hope my library calls me soon to pick my copy up; I’m first on the list! ^.^
I got it, I got it!!! And then Sat Right Down and Read the Whole Thing.
It’s marvelous! Lauren, congratulations on another wonderful, amazing, captivating, unbelievable read. (Was that enough adjectives for Charlotte?)
Tried to find the book in my location and all the stores said that “per the publisher” the book wasn’t being released until mid-February. Ugh. I promptly ordered a copy from Amazon. So I still have to wait a few more days.
YAY!!! I am super psyched about reading Night Jasmine only I need to finish Crimson Rose first, i went back through and listened to all of the books again! Each time I listen I try to figure out who my favorite characters are, all of them are so much fun that I cannot decide who is my favorite and change my mind with each book. However, after ordering my audio cd of Night Jasmine i found out it is not read by Kate Reading, do you know why? She was awesome! Anyway no matter what I will be ferociously checking my email for my audio book status until the book is delivered to my door! 🙂 Congrats on the new book!!
Hi, Nicole! Sadly, Kate Reading had a last minute scheduling issue, so she wasn’t able to read this one. I was very sad that she wasn’t able to do it. I did hear that the new reader is very good, too, so I’ll be curious to hear what you think….
How frustrating, Angel! It’s so bizarre that your local stores were holding off until February…. Grrrr.
I hope Amazon delivers speedily for you!!
I am so excited to read it! Normally I place a hold on my library’s copies and then buy the paperback, but this time I couldn’t wait. After calling three stores, I finally found a copy at Borders- if I hadn’t I would have thrown a fit, which would be extremely unbecoming for an 18 year old.
Thank you Lauren so much for giving us the novella- it was much easier getting through the two month waiting period and for writing these FANTASTIC novels!
dear lauren,
loved Night Jasmine, it was very very good…just like all the others. i do wish it contained a little more detail concerning the what happens after they get married. can’t wait for the next one…any ideas when it will be?
I just finished the Night Jasmine, and had to post this thought: a French spy with a dimple? In my far-too-many-historical-novels reading mind, he seems like a great guy for Jane, if she isn’t already intended for Augustus Whittlesby. Pleeease tell me Jane gets book 6!
First – I loved the book!!!! I listen to audiobooks, since I have very little sitting-down time in my life. I pre-ordered the Night Jasmine with a birthday gift-card … in mid-November. And I waited by the mailbox (i.e. – I checked my e-mail often for the message from UPS telling when it would arrive).
But I have one question. What happened to Kate Reading??? Why did they change from the reader that made the first 4 books even more fun than they already were? They replaced her with someone who, while competent, did not seem to understand that these books are witty & fun romances. (I can’t even remember her name.) She made Hen seem like a shallow society snob. Why (to coin a phrase) did they change readers in mid-stream?
Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the book, but I can’t help thinking that it would have been MUCH more fun with Kate Reading.
Hi, Yvette! From what I understand from my publishers, Kate Reading was originally supposed to read “Night Jasmine”, but there was a last minute scheduling conflict. Fortunately, Justine Eyre was able to step in at the last moment so that the book was able to come out in audio on schedule. I’ve heard that a lot of people really missed Kate Reading on this one….