P&P LOL

Hi all and welcome back! Today I am glad to present and introduce Kirstin Odegaard and her upcoming book, “P&P Lol” its a modern take on our much beloved book. The plot is seen through text messages, and I found it quite fun to be honest, if a bit out of my comfort zone. Imagine Mr Collins texting Elizabeth Bennet, that broke me down into a fit of giggles. Now help me to welcome Kirstin and her new book.

Welcome Kirstin! Welcome to the mad world of Austen and her readers 😀

BLURB;

  Imagine Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice through the world of a cell phone…

What if the socially awkward Mr. Darcy tried to win Eliza’s heart through texts?

Darcy: You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.
Lizzy: Who is this?

Or what if Mr. Collins’ wooing weapon was his phone?

Collanytime: Hello Jane Bennet. My name is Jonathan Collins. Your mother believed that you and I would be a most compatible match. May we arrange a time to explore this together?
Janie: I’m really flattered, but I’m seeing someone. Hope you find someone special!

Collanytime: Hello Eliza Bennet. My name is Jonathan Collins. Your mother believed that you and I would be a most compatible match. May we arrange a time to explore this together?

And then there’s Mama Bennet…what matchmaking adventures can she get up to when armed with a flip phone and full contact list? Lizzy and Jane, run now, while you still can.

Smart, funny, and unconventional, P & P & LOL! is a texting novella about learning to look past those glossy profile pics to find something a little deeper, a little more real, a little less, uh, shirtless. (Ahem, George Wickham.) Join Eliza and Darcy for a fast and witty adventure that’s full of LOL, smothered with ROFL, and topped with HEA!  

INTRO BY AUTHOR;

Thank you, Sophia, for hosting me today.  I’m excited to talk about my newest release: P & P & LOL: a Novella Retelling of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice…Through Texts!

When I first had the idea for an all-texting book, my husband said, “But you’re not into social media.”

This is true.  I dabble, but I’m not convinced Mark Zuckerberg has my best interests at heart.  I’m a little suspicious of all the tech giants, actually, but maybe that’s not fair.  Maybe multibillionaires are perfectly normal people who just happen to need to own a rocket to feel complete.

But I love texting and how it’s refashioned the world so that I don’t have to actually talk to people, and my favorite part of writing is the dialogue.  A texting, dialogue-only book felt like a match made in heaven.

I thought of the idea as a challenge: Can I really rewrite Pride and Prejudice using only text messages?  My husband told me it sounded difficult, and I pretended to agree, but secretly I thought it’d be a cinch.

It was not a cinch. 

These characters!  Why don’t they ever put down their phones and talk to each other?

And their penchant for texting raised a lot of plot questions.  Like—why is Darcy texting his proposal?  Why is Mr. Collins texting his?  And if Charlie all out ghosts Jane, why in the world would she ever take him back?

I had a lot of fun unravelling these problems.  I hope you enjoy the answers I came up with—and watching Darcy’s awkward wooing through the screen of an iPhone.

The excerpt below is from the beginning of the novella, when Darcy and Charlie have just moved to town.  Enjoy!

EXCERPT;

Friday, August 26

1:24 pm

Lyds:  Anyone seen the new neighbors yet? I heard its five guys and theyre all single and hot.

KittyCat: OHMIGOSH!!! FIVE???

Lizzy: Kitty, if there is ever a punctuation shortage, the world will blame you.

Janie: I met one of them. There are only two. And maybe another woman?

KittyCat: A WOMAN!!! OH THAT IS THE WORST!!! WHAT IF SHE IS A GIRLFRIEND?! WHAT WAS THE GUY YOU MET LIKE???

Janie: He was nice. Really nice.

1:27 pm

Lizzy: Whoa. I’ll need to hear the rest of that story.

Janie: No story. Just, he was nice.

Lizzy: So you said. Hot?

Janie: I thought he was cute.

Lizzy: Rich, too, if that was his Porsche I saw earlier.

Janie: His name’s Charlie Lau. He invited me over to hang out with him and his roommate tonight. And I thought maybe you could come with me.

Lizzy: To his place? So he can hack us both to pieces?

Janie: He didn’t give me the hacks-people-to-pieces-vibe. But I guess we could meet somewhere else?

1:32 pm

Lyds: Are you two having a private conversation without us again? That is SO RUDE.

Janie: Sorry! Just switching a load of laundry.

Lyds: As if anyone believes that.

KittyCat: WAS THAT HIS PORSCHE JANE???

Mary: We must concern ourselves less with the substance of his pocketbook and more with the substance of his soul.

Lyds: UGH, the substance of his soul. Where do you get these things? Do you write them down in some journal so you can tell them to us later? “Judgmental Thoughts for my Sisters” by Mary Bennet.

KittyCat: LOLOLOL!!!!

BUT REALLY JANE WAS THAT HIS PORSCHE???

Saturday, August 27

3:49 pm

MamaB: did you girls go see those new neighbors last night kitty and lydia said you did were they nice did they ask you out are there five of them is the porsche theres

3:50 pm

Lizzy: Do you think if we put Mom and Kitty together, they’d become one fully functioning, texting person?

Janie: You’re going to leave me to answer her again, aren’t you?

3:51 pm

MamaB: why arent you answering i know you have your phones are you texting each other in a private conversation again stop it and talk to your mother right now

*Puts down the book* if I was Jane or Elizabeth, I would be scared of Mama Bennet and her phone! And what mischief the two sisters can accomplish with another two phones between them! I always saw them as immature kids, but with phones, wow that will be dangerous!

AUTHOR BIO;

Kirstin Odegaard likes taking long walks on the beach, relaxing in a warm bath until the skin on her toes wrinkles, and sipping her tea while it’s still hot. But she has three kids, so she never does any of that. In her non-fantasy life, she’s into Lego battles, stuffed animal parties, and kiddie cuddles. When she’s not writing or with her family, she runs her tutoring center, where she advises students on how to solve for X and which date to take to prom.  She fell in love with Pride and Prejudice with that first viewing of a dripping Colin Firth emerging from the lake.  She is also the author of First Impressions: a Modern Retelling of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and Emily: a Modern Retelling of Jane Austen’s Emma.

CONTACT OPTIONS;

Website

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Amazon

NOW, GIVEAWAY TIME! Kirstin is giving away one kindle copy of “P&P Lol” for this blog stop, so leave a comment to get a chance to win a copy! Good luck to you all, dear readers!

!!!!GIVEAWAY;

Leave a comment on today’s blog for your chance to win one Kindle copy of P & P & LOL. 

I’m giving one eBook away at each of my future blog tour stops.  Follow me here on FB to find out where I am next.

Thanks for reading!  If you liked this post and want to see more of what to expect in P & P & LOL, you can click here or here or here to read other texting posts I’ve written.  Or click here to find this book on Amazon.