When do you let your heart rule your head?

When it comes to love, Anna Elliot is stuck in the past. No one can compare to Rick Wentworth, the man she gave up ten years ago at the insistence of her disapproving family. What if she’s missed her only chance for real happiness?

Since Anna broke his heart, Rick has moved on – or so he thinks. Out in Australia, he’s worked hard to build a successful career – and a solid wall around his feelings.

The words ‘forgive and forget’ aren’t in Rick's vocabulary. The word ‘regret’ is definitely in Anna’s. So, when they meet again on his book tour of England, it’s an opportunity for closure.

But memories intrude – the pure sensuality of what they once shared, the pain of parting … And she has to deal with another man from her past, while his celebrity status makes him the focus of unwanted attention.

With Anna’s image-obsessed family still ready to interfere and Rick poised to return to Australia, can she persuade him to risk his heart again?

This contemporary retelling of Jane Austen’s last completed novel is the second book in Juliet Archer’s Darcy & Friends series, offering fresh insights into the hearts and minds of Austen’s irresistible heroes. 

JULIET ARCHER is from Newcastle upon Tyne in England. She studied languages at the University of Nottingham. She describes herself as a 19th-century mind living in a 21st-century body. Actually, some days it’s the other way round. By day, she masquerades as wife, mother and businesswoman. By night, with a glass of wine and a box of chocolates in hand, she becomes an author. Juliet’s Darcy & Friends series are modern day versions of Jane Austen. Her debut novel, The Importance of Being Emma won the 2011 Big Red Reads Fiction Award and was short-listed for the 2009 Melissa Nathan Award for Comedy Romance. It was warmly praised by international bestselling author, Joanna Trollope. Her second novel, Persuade Me was short-listed for the 2011 Festival of Romance Best Romantic Read Award.

Persuade Me by Juliet Archer is the second book in the author's series about Darcy and Friends. In my opinion, this second is very much better. I like the way the author develops characters and weaves the story, set in England and with an Australian lead character around whom the story is built. The book is an easy read and will hold your interest (especially romance lovers) from the first and carry you through to the last page as the doomed love affair struggles along. A perfect lazy day read!   -- Bonnie Neely, Amazon Top Reviewer, August 2012

"Once I started Persuade Me, I had a hard time putting it down. I loved Archer’s easy writing style and her appreciation of Austen’s humor when it comes to exaggerated secondary characters, especially in transforming Anne Elliot’s hypochondriac sister, Mary Musgrove, into Anna’s alcoholic sister, Mona, and Mrs. Clay into Cleopatra, a masseuse with a phony French accent. I also enjoyed how she lets readers into the heads of both Anna and Rick, though knowing the innermost thoughts of both lessened the excitement a little bit. . . Archer does a wonderful job adapting Persuasion for a contemporary audience while staying true to Austen’s story of second chances. Her ability to add a modern flair to every event that transpires in Persuasion exemplifies the timelessness of Austen’s novels."   -- Anna Horner, Austenblog, April 2012

I recommend Persuade Me and The Importance of Being Emma to anyone who enjoys contemporary Austen-Inspired literature! I greatly admire Ms. Archer's work and cannot wait for her next installment in this series! I wonder who the hero will be: Mr. Ferrars, Mr. Bertram, Mr. Tilney, or Mr. Darcy?   -- Austenesque Review

It was intriguing to see how Juliet Archer made those familiar events take place in such a different context, for example. She often surprised me and her smooth, involving narration kept me interested all the time.   -- My Jane Austen Book Club

Short-listed for the 2011 Festival of Romance Best Romantic Read Award