We have TWO grand prizes. You as a reader can go to EACH blog and comment with your email address and be entered to win. Yep, you can enter over 200 times!
Now what are those prizes?
- 1st Grand Prize: A $100 Amazon or B&N Gift Card
- 2nd Grand Prize: A Swag Pack that contains paperbacks, ebooks, 50+ bookmarks, cover flats, magnets, pens, coffee cozies, and more!
But wait…there’s more!
Win a $20 Amazon Gift Card and/or a Treasuring Theresa coffee mug!
Susana’s Parlour is celebrating the Lucky in Love Blog Hop with the Treasuring Theresa Lucky In Love Giveaway. To enter the contest, click the graphic at right or the Treasuring Theresa graphic in the side bar.
Before you go, leave a comment on today’s guest post for five contest entries. Be sure to include your email address in your comment so that you are eligible for Carrie Ann’s Grand Prizes!
Lucky Like Lizzie or Lucky Like Jane?
Like just about anything else, finding love is just as much as matter of choice as luck. Let’s take Elizabeth Bennet of Pride and Prejudice. She was fortunate to be born into a genteel family, but since she had no brothers, and her father’s estate was entailed to the nearest male heir, her prospects of making a good marriage were minuscule. There were other problems too, such as her mother’s lack of breeding and connections to the merchant class, but Lizzie, out of all her sisters, was determined to marry someone she could love and respect or else become a maiden aunt to all of her sisters’ children.
Considering her prospects, most would have agreed with her mother that she was fortunate indeed to have won the admiration of Mr. Collins. After all, he would one day own Longbourn and if she were his wife, her mother and sisters would still have a home after her father’s death. It was no more than the truth when Mr. Collins told her that she might never get another proposal of marriage.
But as much as she loved her family, Lizzie was intelligent enough to know that it would be a mistake to marry a man she despised just to secure a home for her family. Had things not worked out with Mr. Darcy, no doubt there were relatives who would have provided for them to prevent them from being cast into the street. But they would have been reduced to living in straitened circumstances, making it even less likely that they would find suitable matches, and they would be beholden to their relatives for the rest of their lives.
So Mr. Darcy’s appearance was a lucky stroke for Lizzie. And yet…if she’d been the sort of woman who was on the lookout for a meal ticket, he wouldn’t have looked twice at her. Because it was her character that attracted him as much as her appearance.
Now Jane Bennet is another story. I get the feeling that Jane would have married Mr. Collins if she’d been given the chance (and it’s not just Lost in Austen that makes me think so). Because of her astonishing good looks, she’d been brought up to believe that she owed it to her family to marry well, no matter what. For her, yes, it was an amazing stroke of luck that she managed to win the affection of the man she loved, and that he was wealthy as well.
I don’t know about you, but I have to respect Lizzie for her strength of character more than Jane for her willingness to sacrifice herself for her family. It might have something to do with the fact that the heroine of my current project, Cherishing Charlotte, faces a similar dilemma. But I can’t help thinking that in general, luck is a fickle friend. What if you marry a Mr. Collins for security and then meet the love of your life? What you considered good luck has now turned into a dreadful mistake. And in the Regency era, marriage was pretty much forever. And in spite of what is implied in so many historical romances (and in Lost in Austen), it wasn’t at all simple to get an annulment or a divorce. For most people it was impossible.
So I guess what I’m trying to say is that the romantic side of me likes leprechauns and pots of gold and love at first sight, but the practical side reminds me that what many consider “luck” is at least partly the result of a sense of self-worth and determination to be true to oneself, no matter what the consequences.
If you were a Bennet daughter, would you be more like Lizzie or Jane in your attitude toward marriage? Why do you think so?
Click here to continue your journey through the Lucky in Love Blog Hop.
Susana's Parlour 
No, I have not been lucky in love.
magic5905 at embarqmail dot com
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Whoa! There is no way I could remotely resemble any Austen heroine, the poor things. I’m actually more like Mr. Darcy, but Austenland is pretty alien to me. We can get married for love and friendship, unlike those Austen chicks. The poor things!
Urb
brendurbanist at gmail dot com
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I’d probably be more like Lizzie if I had to choose.
Thanks for the post.
Carol L
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Lizzie, probably. But I agree with Jane here:
“Oh, Lizzy! do anything rather than marry without affection.”
supersatchmo at myopera dot com
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I’d be more like Lizzy! Happy St. Patrick’s Day! theresa.esterline@gmail.com
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I am not lucky in love.
wendy_pogrant@yahoo.com
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I don’t think that I would resemble them at all. I have not been lucky in love but I hope it happens for me someday. Thanks for the great giveaway!
thompsonem3 at aol dot com
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I would aspire to be like Lizzie but in reality,I guess I am like Jane
Sydney W
Bookaddict100(AT)gmail(DOT)com
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i can’t tell yet ^^
happy St Patrick’s day
isabelle(dot)frisch(at)gmail(dot)com
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Thanks for the chance to win. Happy st paddy’s day.
p.winmill@hotmail.com
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I’m a very lucky girl. I have a wonderful husband that I love and he loves me right back.
MinDaf @aol.com
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Probably like Jane. I wish I could be more like Lizzie, but I’m just too cautios and at times cowardly to actually be as daring as she is. Oh, well…
anasmith1919 at gmail dot com
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I would hope to be more like Lizzie but knowing myself I would actually probably act much more like Jane.
xo_veronica16[at]hotmail[dot]com
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I would definitely be like Lizzie. Although my family is important to me, I am too headstrong to marry for anything but love.
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More like Lizzie because it’s hard for me to do the expected.
bituin76 at hotmail dot com
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Lizzie. Especially if I had a Mr. Darcy.
anasmithblue@gmail.com
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Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
verusbognar (at) gmail (dot) com
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I would love to be like Lizzie, but I have always been like Jane.
Thanks for the chance to win!
liese1235@gmail.com
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I would be like Lizzie.
Thanks for the chance to win!
natasha_donohoo_8 at hotmail dot com
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happy st patrick
I would be Lizzie
horseunicornkey@aol.com
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I definitely see myself in Lizzy!
vitajex(at)aol(dot)com
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Lizzy! 🙂
Happy St Patty’s Day!!
Froggy
froggarita@gmail.com
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If I actually had the choice, I definitely would want to be like Lizzie. It takes a lot, especially during that time, to take that kind of stance. But in all honesty, a lot of women were more like Jane. Sucking it up for the good of the family.
Cool question. Thanks!
rae.gwendy(at)gmail(dot)com
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Totally like Lizzie. Never settle!
Thanks for the amazing giveaway!
elizabeth @ bookattict . com
WordPress: BookAttict
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Lizzie I couldn’t be a Jane, thought my grandparents had wanted me to be a Jane. I married my husband because I love him and not for the security he would provide – money wise he doesn’t have much, but he makes me happy. Being stuck in a loveless marriage sounds like a nightmare
lilypondreads at gmail dot com
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I don’t know that luck has any bearing on having a successful relationship. It’s a whole lot of work. I married my high school sweetheart right out of high school. We have been married for 17 years.
planterofhope at aol dot com
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I’d say more like Lizzie. I’m not the sacrificing type.
spamscape [at] gmail [dot] com
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Yea, I’m definitely more like Lizzie. I love my family and all, but I’m too independent to marry someone I might end up hating. That would only in divorce for me and cause my family more strife. So, I’d have to be 100% sure before I ever considered marriage.
Hope you had a Happy St. Patty’s Day!
mearles1982 (at) hotmail (dot) com.
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I love the cover of the book!
susanmplatt AT hotmail DOT com
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I really have no idea! But I do really want to be married and have a family one day! Thanks for the great giveaway and for joining the hop!!!!
Ashley A
ash_app(at)hotmail(dot)com
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I have no idea as I haven’t read any of those books.. but isn’t Jane more hmmm open minded? I’d probably go that route? 🙂 ❤
Hope you had a great St. Patricks Day! And thank you for participating in this awesome hop! 🙂
swtlilangel4c at yahoo dot com
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I am definitely more like Lizzie! I’ve never been one to follow traditions if they don’t make sense to me. I question everything and I love to read!! Thanks so much for the giveaway!
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Thanks for the chance to win, sounds like a great read and i’m always looking for new historical romance books!
Also, I got lucky in love, i met my husband when i was in high school and we’ve been together for 15 wonderful years!
kacidesigns AT yahoo DOT com
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I am lucky in love mrsbrinius@comcast.net thanks!
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Lizzie. Not lucky yet. Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
bn100candg(at)hotmail(dot)com
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neither my luck is so far negative that bad is an understatment – regnod(at)yahoo(d0t)com
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Nope, not lucky in love at all.
Thanks for the chance to win. Happy Saint Patty’s Day!
Morganlafey86(at)aol(dot)com
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What a great giveaway hop! I have yet to be lucky in love but I’m working on it. My favorite love book is “Outlander” by Diana Gabaldon. Jamie Fraser is amazing and beautiful. I enjoy St. Patty’s Day and this year I’m spending it with my best friend. We’re going to two Irish Pubs and also some dance clubs. I am also wearing green and am not a fan of getting pinched. I’m not Irish either, but many people think I am because my hair is red, my eyes green and my name is Meghan, but I’m not at all. I won’t be telling anybody that, however… let them believe I’m Irish.
Thanks for the giveaway!
mestith at gmail dot com
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