I chose the author name Astonishment because Jane Austen used it multiple times in her stories (as in "I am all astonishment!") I wanted something, not so obvious, that reminded me of her.

I'm obsessed with Pride and Prejudice, the book and the 2005 movie. I started out just reading the stories submitted to fanfiction.net and was inspired by the lovely and sometimes crazy stories I found. I've written a few stories, have a few more in progress and have plans for several more. I'm also writing original Regency romance that can't be shared on this site.

My stories lean more to the romantic and/or humorous side, but I also have some serious themes, inspired by the authors and stories in my favorites.

If you are interested in reading regency era romances, please look into Georgette Heyer's books (1902 - 1974). Her writing is exquisite! I have read all of her regency romance books and have so many favorites it would be impossible to name just one. The Black Sheep, The Nonesuch, Cotillion, Arabella, Venetia, Frederica, and Faro's Daughter are just a few of her books that I have read multiple times.

Thank you all for reading and reviewing my stories. Your encouragement and comments are always appreciated.

You can also find my posts at DarcyandLizzy dot com (Note: Unlike FFN, login is required to access stories on that site.)

My blog: cassandrableigh dot wordpress dot com

My Published Stories:

Note: All of my e-books are available on Amazon, published under my pen-name, Cassandra B. Leigh.

June 1, 2019: Twice Betrothed. Proud Beaux Series: Book 4. Peter Montgomery's story, with a nod to Georgette Heyer for her bird-witted girl inspiration.

May 5, 2019: Every Wish of Her Heart. Proud Beaux Series: Book 3. Bartholomew Hawthorne's story.

June 1, 2018: Against Her Will is now published. A few days after Darcy was rejected by Elizabeth, he abducts her. Unfortunately for him, his family comes to Elizabeth's aid.

May 20, 2018: Three of my short stories are bundled under the title Inspired Reflections. (1) Inspired Reflections, (2) Hunsford Redux, and (3) Immovable Dislike.

September 10, 2017: Matchmaking Grandmothers. Darcy's and Elizabeth's grandmothers want nothing more than to be sisters by marriage. Their plan to match their children together goes awry but they refuse to give up their dream.

March 7, 2017: Affectionate Hearts. Fitzwilliam Darcy flies to the border to prevent George Wickham from eloping with young Georgiana. Elizabeth just happens to be in the Lake District at the same time!

January 22, 2017: Darcy's Big Wish. Darcy makes a wish but doesn't get exactly what he wished for.

December 3, 2016: My Colonel Fitzwilliam story is now entitled Worthy of Being Pleased. Proud Beaux Series: Book 2. The Colonel deserves a happy ending, too!

July 18, 2016: Three of my short stories are bundled under the title It Happened at Netherfield Park -- Never So Bewitched (Previously posted as This Never Happened Before) Rondeau and Error in Judgment

January 3, 2016: Four of my short stories are bundled together under the title Meryton Medley -- "Her Derbyshire Friend", "Hunsford Day", "Secret Valentine" and "Frog Pride".

November 14, 2015: Tempt You to Accept Me. Proud Beaux Series: Book 1. Fitzwilliam Darcy's story.

August 21, 2015: Three of my short stories are bundled together under the title "Pride in Meryton" -- "Pride and Tolerance", "Meryton Revisited" and "Hedgerows".

February 14, 2015: To Make You Love Me. Thank you once again for your support and encouragement!!

January 30, 2015: Endeavor at Civility.

January 10, 2015: Thanks to the encouragement of the readers on this site, I have published my most popular story, Steady to His Purpose.

My Work-In-Progress Stories:

June 2, 2019: Pride and Truth: I am posting a new Darcy and Elizabeth story on DarcyandLizzy dot com.

November 24, 2018: Pride and Pudding is a short one-shot in honor of Stir-Up Sunday, which is the day the Christmas pudding would be prepared.

May 20, 2018: My story Against Her Will has been changed to a preview only and will be published in June 2018.

May 3, 2018: You can read my latest original story Proud Beau on DarcyandLizzy dot com. Bartholomew Hawthorne, from Worthy of Being Pleased, is the leading man. The characters are all original so this is not a fan-fiction story.

March 25, 2018: My three short stories, Hunsford Redux, Inspired Reflections and Immovable Dislike have all been removed from this site, except for short previews. They will be published together as a collection on Amazon, in the near future.

December 23, 2017: To read about my inspiration for 'Deck the Halls with Melancholy', go to my blog . cassandrableigh dot wordpress dot com

December 10, 2017: I have finally finished Against Her Will which will go to the editor for her critical eye. Thank you to everyone who stuck with the story, despite the abduction theme. That JAFF will be part of a collection of short stories to be published in 2018. I will give notice when those three stories will be pulled from this site. I will now exclusively devote my time to finishing my Bartholomew Hawthorne story which I hope to have ready in the Spring.

September 25, 2017: I’m completely overwhelmed by the comments on “Against Her Will”. The positive and negative comments are all very helpful in deciding which direction to take. Initially I planned to have D&E show up at Longbourn already married, but now Darcy will have to jump through some hoops to make that happen.

In the original, he was rude, haughty, above company and Elizabeth hated him. Then he went away and underwent his transformation. How did he go from being totally despicable to a romantic hero for the ages? I still believe I can redeem Darcy from this scenario. I’m sure you will let me know if you disagree.

Not everyone will love this story because of the abuse element. It is not my intention to offend any modern-day sensibilities, nor laugh in the face of readers who have been abused. This historical fiction takes place in 1812 when women were considered property and wealthy men did whatever they wanted.

I am a writer. Stories come to me and I write them down. You may like them, you may not. I’ve written plenty of fluff in the past, this is not one of those stories. If you hate this fic, maybe you will like the next one. I’m planning a fic where Mary blossoms and finds love in Meryton. In a future fic, Jane will find love in London and it won’t be with spineless Charles Bingley.

August 5, 2017: I am supposed to be writing my next novel but a plot bunny invaded and so we have Hunsford Redux. This short story was inspired by Elizabeth Bennet's Wager by WadeH. That story places everything from canon as the subject of a wager by the female characters. Also included is the proposal do-over idea, which is the basis for my new story.

June 25, 2017: Once I finish Inspired Reflections, I will take a brief hiatus from fan fiction to write an original Regency romance. This will be the follow-up to Worthy of Being Pleased with Bartholomew Hawthorne as the leading man. If you remember, he is Augusta Hawthorne's older brother. Geneva and Wentworth's story will also continue. I have many more P&P story ideas to write and I will return with a Mary Bennet fanfic when my original is complete.

May 21, 2017: Matchmaking Grandmothers is finally done. This story made me think of my own grandmother and I hope it has inspired fond memories of those that have gone before you. I will leave the full story on this site until May 28 and then I will remove all but a few preview chapters. It will go to my editor and be ready for publishing hopefully in September. I have another short P&P story that I will begin posting right away until I'm ready to begin my Bartholomew Hawthorne story, a continuation of Worthy of Being Pleased. Geneva and Wentworth will also continue in that story. Thank you for your lovely reviews and encouragement!

May 5, 2017: Matchmaking Grandmothers is nearly finished. I have one more chapter to go, then I will only leave it on this site for a week or so before I take it down. A few chapters will remain as a preview and proof of my ownership. I will update this page when it is ready for publication. In the meantime, I already have a few chapters done for my next story and will post them right after MG is done. After that one I plan to begin a new Regency romance with all my own characters. Since it is not fanfiction, I will be taking a brief hiatus but I have lots of P&P stories planned for the future, so I will be back! Thanks again for your support and encouragement!

March 7, 2017: I plan to pick up where I left off with Matchmaking Grandmothers.

November 8, 2016: Story Updates: I am finalizing the edits on my Colonel story and hope to have it ready to publish in December. Darcy's Big Wish goes to the editor next week and I hope to have that one ready in January 2017. Affectionate Hearts is scheduled to go to the editor in January and will be published in February or March 2017. As with all my other completed stories, I have removed AH from this site, except for a brief preview. I apologize if anyone is disappointed by that but I am uncomfortable leaving complete stories here. There has recently been an instance of piracy of another JAFF from this site so I am protecting my property.

July 23, 2016: I have been planning Affectionate Hearts for over a year and I'm very happy to post the first chapter. This will be another novella length story about Georgiana and Wickham's elopement scheme, with a twist -- George is able to get her out of Ramsgate and travel north with his accomplice Mrs. Young. Both ne'er-do-wells have back stories and they are a bit smarmier than the original. Elizabeth meets Darcy under different circumstances and I hope you will love the story!

June 26, 2016: With the encouragement of several followers, I have decided to publish another collection of short stories including This Never Happened Before, Error in Judgement and Rondeau. They all need tons of work to make them presentable but I hope to have them ready to post to amazon in July 2016. Thank you to everyone who private messaged me about my older stories.

June 19, 2016: My novella, Darcy's Big Wish, is now finished. It began as a fun idea, meant mostly for laughs, and turned into an alternate Hunsford-style moment for Darcy, where Elizabeth also learns of her flaws. Thank you to everyone who read and reviewed this story. I will be sending the draft to the editor for her expert services and publishing as soon as I finish polishing it up. My next story is already in the works, another novella about an infant engagement.

May 22, 2016: As previously announced, I have removed the full Colonel Fitzwilliam story from this site, leaving only a preview. The manuscript is being professionally edited and will be published as an e-book in autumn 2016, under a new title. Please Note: It is not my intention to disappoint or offend anyone. As a writer, I must protect my intellectual property. As soon as the book is available, I will update this page. Thank you for your tremendous and unfailing support of my stories! In the meantime, Darcy's Big Wish is my current project.

April 16: 2016: I am planning a third book in the same series with Tempt You to Accept Me and Colonel Fitzwilliam. #3 will be the continuation of Geneva Hawthorne and Wentworth Locke's romance, plus Bartholomew Hawthorne will have a love interest. It will have all my own characters so it will not be a Pride and Prejudice variation. I will try to set up a blog page to keep you informed of the progress. Until then, I have a few more Darcy-Elizabeth stories in the works.

January 17, 2016: It helps me to write a character, if I can visualize what they look like. Imagine, if you will, that my Colonel Fitzwilliam story is scooped up by a Hollywood producer and made into a movie. (Hey, I can dream, can't I?) Here is the cast of my imaginary movie -- just for fun!

Emily Blunt (age 29) as Augusta Hawthorne. (She starts out dowdy with her modest style and mob-caps but then transforms to her gorgeous self.)

1. For an image of Augusta’s gown on Twelfth Night, please search Pinterest for this picture: Bandeau de Ruban d'Or, Corbeille des Fleurs
2. For an image of Augusta’s hair on Twelfth Night, please search Pinterest for this picture: Emily Blunt braided bun
3. I imagine Richard's attire on Twelfth Night as pictured on Candace Hern's Regency World. Search for Evening Full Dress February 1807. His mother would wear the pictured ruby gown with a fillet turban of the same color.

Nathan Fillion (age 30) as Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam. (Yes, I know he is American and older now, but this is my movie, so... I've always imagined the Colonel as a cheeky character, similar to Richard Castle.)

Madison Davenport (age 18) as Geneva Hawthorne. (Gorgeous! Incomparable!)

Joseph Fiennes (age 36) as Bartholomew Hawthorne. (Yes, everyone in this movie is gorgeous!)

Emma Thompson as Lady Matlock. (Imagine the final scene of Nanny McPhee when she is beautiful!)

Robert Daws as Lord Matlock.

Tom Hiddleston as Piers Drummond. (Handsome, wealthy and hopelessly dull)

Max Irons as Jerome Boynton. (age 23, the fortune hunter)

Tom Felton as Roland Fenton. (age 20, the infatuated puppy)

Nicholas Hoult as Wentworth Locke. (age 20, the young swain who fancies himself as Geneva's champion)

Matthew Lewis as Marcus Grantley (age 21, the family friend)

Eric Dane as Peter Montgomery. (Another gorgeous American)

Keri Russell as Esther Montgomery. (Ditto)

Betty White (age 56) as Mrs. Simsbury, Esther's mother. (How fun would that be?)

Glenn Close as Mrs. Ashford. (Lady Matlock's dear friend)

Anna Chancellor as Mrs. Trout.

For Private Jonathan Jenkins, do a search on "Beaux, Ballrooms and Battles". The guy on the cover of that book is my Jenkins.

Can you imagine them in this story?

March 13, 2016: For more historical fiction on the Siege of Badajoz 1812, please consider "The Spanish Bride" by Georgette Heyer and "Sharpe’s Company" by Bernard Cornwell.

Piracy Warning:

July 25, 2015: Two writers on this site (PemberlyFan and Nem Tudom) have had their works-in-progress stolen from FFN and published under two different pen-names. Amazon was alerted and the two books have been removed. Please avoid any P&P variations written by "Emma Lee" or "Amanda Foley."

A word about Copyrights: An author's work is protected from copyright infringement until 70 years after their death. Since Miss Austen died 200 years ago, her work is in the public domain and is not subject to copyright laws. Source: Copyright Basics on copyrightkids dot org.

Regency Resources:

The Regency Encyclopedia: (reg-ency . com) Name: MDHistorian Password: Historian

Jane Austen FanFiction Index: A repository of all JA fan fiction stories from various sites. (jaffindex . com) Name: FFNReader Password: Imagination

Regency Character Name Generator: (wineandsavages . blogspot . com/2012/11/stolen-regency-name-generator) A fun site that generates names for regency era characters.

Social Customs and the Regency World: (janeaustensworld . wordpress . com) Tons of information. Not all the links work but still, TONS of info!

Candice Hern Regency World: Loads of regency era fashions and info. (candicehern . com regency world)

List of Regency Cant Expressions: (georgette-heyer . com/slang)