I’m here today celebrating a double book release! A Little Bit Foolish is a collection of Pride and Prejudice April Fool’s stories, and Swipe Right for Mr. Darcy is a modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice.

In 2021, I began a new tradition of releasing a new comedy story on April Fool’s Day with my short story Unconventional, an Austentatious Comedy that Defies Expectations!  The following year, I wrote An Unexpected Party.  Last year, my plans for a short story were interrupted by the release of my full-length variation A Favorable Impression, and, thus, I did not complete an April Fool’s story in 2023. Therefore, this year, I decided to release a whole collection, including 3 brand-new stories!

April Fish focuses primarily on Colonel Fitzwilliam, whose visit to Rosings on April 1 is punctuated by a series of fish-related pranks. A Good Joke follows Lydia as she travels to Brighton with Mrs. Forster, and the hijinks they get up to, while Two Fools in April stars Elizabeth and Darcy, who become trapped together in a garden shed thanks to Mrs. Collins’ machinations. 

In the process of writing these short stories, I began a modern-day Pride and Prejudice retelling, titled Swipe Right for Mr. Darcy. It was intended to be a short story that would be included in my collection. However, the story ran away with itself and ended up being so long, I decided to release it as a separate book! Rather than deprive my readers by making them wait longer between releases, I decided to go ahead and release both books on the same day.

The story’s title and inspiration came after one of my fans, Laura, commented on my Facebook post asking readers to write a modern tagline for their favorite Jane Austen novel. I never expected that my little post would result in a novel, however, I couldn’t resist the idea of Mr. Darcy insulting Lizzy by “swiping left” on her Tinder profile!

I challenged myself to write Swipe Right in the first-person present tense. As someone who normally writes in third or first-person past tense, it was harder than I expected! I feel like the present tense fits the modern tone of the story, however, and makes the reader feel more like they are there with Liz as she experiences the ups and downs that accompany it. 

It was fun placing Pride and Prejudice into a modern context. It took some thinking to decide where the story should take place. I considered Texas, my home state, but after some discussions with my good friend Jen W, I settled on Iowa instead. My parents and grandparents are all from Iowa, and I still have relatives there, so since it’s a place I have visited many times, I felt it would be easy enough to write about. My friend agreed that a small town in a Midwestern state would be the sort of place that characters like Caroline Bingley and Lady Catherine might look down on.

Meryton, Iowa, is fictitious, but it could easily be any one of the small towns surrounding Des Moines.

The other aspect I had to settle on was what careers to give to Elizabeth and Darcy. Swipe Right may have some online dating aspects, but I knew I needed more of a foundation than that to throw Elizabeth and Darcy into each other’s company regularly. When I wrote the first chapter, I made Bingley a doctor and Jane a nurse (what could be more natural!). This led to my decision to place Elizabeth and Darcy in the corporate side of the medical industry. Darcy is the president of Pemberley Medical Group, a large corporation that owns hospitals across the nation. Liz, on the other hand, is the vice president of her father’s small company, Longbourn Rehabilitation Services, a physical therapy provider that contracts with hospitals and clinics in the region. By putting them both in the same industry, with Longbourn contracting therapists to Darcy’s hospital in Meryton, Netherfield Regional, I could ensure that Darcy and Elizabeth would meet frequently and also have plenty of interactions with Bingley and Jane.

I hope you’ll enjoy these two books!  

For a limited time, through April 30, 2024 buy them both and save $4 with this special direct-buy offer

A Little Bit Foolish

Get ready to laugh with this collection of April Fool’s themed Pride and Prejudice stories. Each one delivers a comic tale in Amanda Kai’s style of sparkling wit and humor featuring your favorite characters from Pride and Prejudice, including Elizabeth and Darcy, Mr. and Mrs. Collins, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, Colonel Fitzwilliam, Anne de Bourgh, Lydia Bennet, Caroline Bingley, and others. 

Swipe Right for Mr. Darcy

Smart and confident, Elizabeth Bennet thrives in her single life as VP of Longbourn Rehabilitation Services. Busy with work, she’s more concerned with her sister Jane’s romantic pursuits than her own.

When Jane lands a date with an attractive doctor, Liz accompanies her to the club as wingwoman. While there, she overhears Bingley’s friend insult her, calling her “tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt,” prompting him to reluctantly “swipe left” on her Tinder profile.

Liz hopes to avoid encountering the rude guy again, but fate has other plans. To her dismay, he turns out to be none other than Fitzwilliam Darcy, the president of Pemberley Medical Group, the hospital corporation her company is trying to woo.

As their professional and personal worlds collide, Liz is forced to confront her disdain for Darcy, aggravated by his treatment of his childhood friend George Wickham, a handsome physical therapy assistant employed by Longbourn Rehab.

Despite her initial impressions, Liz begins to see a different side of Darcy. But can she overcome her pride and prejudice to embrace the possibility of love?

Set in the fictional town of Meryton, Iowa, this clean modern retelling of Jane Austen’s classic enemies-to-lovers tale will reignite your love for Pride and Prejudice.

BlogContactFAQPrivacy PolicyTerms of ServiceAffiliate Disclosure