Before I launch into Downton Abbey, I have more exciting news to share. I made a bestselling list! Okay, it’s not the New York Times, USA Today or even Bookscan but it’s a list and I’ve never made a list, so I will take this with both hands out quite happily. I’ve posted the verbiage and link below!

Nine days after the release of her second novel, Beverley Kendall has made it onto BooksOnBoard’s Top Five Romance Authors list; A Taste of Desire debuted at number seven on last week’s Bestselling Romance eBooks list, and this week has attained the number one slot. “Kendall’s debut novel, Sinful Surrender, also did well when it hit the virtual shelves on January 1, 2010—but A Taste of Desire has blown Sinful Surrender out of the water,” said Project Manager Mindy Erickson. “There are going to be a lot of impatient fans out there if Kendall takes another full year to release her next novel.”

http://www.webwire.com/ViewPressRel.asp?aId=129847

Needless to say, I got nothing done on Saturday, save doing very necessary food shopping after been holed up in the house all week with my son. 🙂 The joys of snow and ice in Georgia.Good news always means I need to give something away. Since I’ll be chatting about the new Masterpiece Classic series Downton Abbey, one prize will be the DVD.  And since it was BooksOnBoard that made my Saturday, the other prize will be a $15 Gift Certificate for BooksOnBoard.  Two winners, two great prizes, just comment to enter to win!

Now speaking of Downton Abbey, talk about love at first sight! It’s now my new obsession–and I can’t tell you how much I absolutely love it! You can stream the first episode on PBS.org Masterpiece. I’ve embedded it below if you’re interested in taking a sneak peek.

Watch the full episode. See more Masterpiece.

Here’s the summary I’ve taken right off the website. 🙂

The Downton Abbey estate stands a splendid example of confidence and mettle, its family enduring for generations and its staff a well-oiled machine of propriety. But change is afoot at Downton — change far surpassing the new electric lights and telephone. A crisis of inheritance threatens to displace the resident Crawley family, in spite of the best efforts of the noble and compassionate Earl, Robert Crawley (Hugh Bonneville, Miss Austen Regrets); his American heiress wife, Cora (Elizabeth McGovern); his comically implacable, opinionated mother, Violet (Maggie Smith, David Copperfield); and his beautiful, eldest daughter, Mary, intent on charting her own course. Reluctantly, the family is forced to welcome its heir apparent, the self-made and proudly modern Matthew Crawley (Dan Stevens), himself none too happy about the new arrangements. As Matthew’s bristly relationship with Mary begins to crackle with electricity, hope for the future of Downton’s dynasty takes shape. But when petty jealousies and ambitions grow among the family and the staff, scheming and secrets — both delicious and dangerous — threaten to derail the scramble to preserve Downton Abbey. Created and written by Oscar-winner Julian Fellowes (Gosford Park), Downton Abbey offers a spot-on portrait of a vanishing way of life.

historicalssurprise giveaway
By Contests, Giveaways57 Comments on Are You Watching Downton Abbey?

57 Replies to “Are You Watching Downton Abbey?”

  1. Congratulations on your BooksonBoard success! It’s always a great feeling to be recognized for your hard work. I’d love to win the Downton Abbey DVD. I missed the first episode, darn it, and now don’t know what to do. If I won the DVD my problem would be solved. Best wishes for continued success with your writing!

  2. Oooh Downtown Abbey…!! I want to watch that now… Never seen it. And I’m sorry you never got anything done yesterday Bev. But we know you’ll try your best eventually! Btw this movie looks very interestinggg! I’m thinking about renting it out to watch or downloading it on my computer 😀 Mwuahahaha!!

  4. Congrats again, Bev! So excited for you!

    I just finished watching all of DA this weekend. Bought it from Amazon. Love. Even my husband liked it. We were big Upstairs Downstairs fans back in the day, and I’m anxious to find out what happens in Season 2. So many loose ends, but I won’t spoil it for those of you just getting sucked into it, LOL.

  5. My Interest was semi-piqued when I first saw the promos online and on tv. Then You (Bev) and everyone in twitter world gushed and I knew I had to watch the first episode. I was hooked ! I am counting down the seconds to episode number 2 and would SWOON for that DVD!!!!

    And Mucho Congrats on your success on BooksOnBoard!!! Super Squeel! You’ll get to NYT and NYP soon enough! And paraphrasing what somewhat-smarmy project manager lady said: “Please give us more soon!”

  7. Congrats, Bev. Yes, I’m watching it. Can’t wait for the new episode tonight. I heard series 2 will begin shooting soon.

  11. Congrats on making the list. That should make you very happy. I love PBS but have never watched this one. I will be looking for it.

  14. Wow Bev,
    How wonderful. Congrats. I can’t wait to get my copy which should be on it’s way. Downtown Abbey, this is the first I’ve heard of it because I stopped watching TV with the exception of one or two shows. My books take center stsgee now lol
    But my daughter just mentioned it and likes it a lot so I’ll be watching. Again Beverley, Congratulations.
    Carol L
    Lucky4750@aol.com

  15. Hey Bev! Congrats on the review! That is sooo awesome! As soon as I get over this cold/flu thing I need to go get your book. I’ve fallen behind the last two weeks because of this darned bug, but I SO enjoyed your first book and have been looking forward to your new one.

    I loved the first episode of Downton Abbey and I’ve got the DVR all set for tonight, even though I’ll be watching it at the same time.

    I’m sure the great reviews for A Taste of Desire will keep coming! Congrats again!

  16. Congrats Beverley. So happy for you. I can’t wait to watch Downtown Abbey. I have it on my dvr and I am just waiting to get a couple more episodes so I can have a marathon. I can’t wait though. I love Masterpiece on PBS and I keep hearing such great things about it.

  17. Loving DA!!! Have been debating buying the DVD, glad to hear commentors saying their husbands are enjoying. May have mine try it as well.

  18. I am so far, thoroughly enjoying Downton Abbey, but really, I enjoy all of the Masterpiece Classics offered to the viewers. Good luck in your endeavors.

  19. HUGE congratulations, Bev !!! Richly deserved accolades. Both of your books are fabulous reads !!

    As I live in the middle of NOWHERE and don’t have cable, satellite OR even an outside antenna I can’t see Downton Abbey !! WAAAAAA !!! I have heard great things about it !! My only television viewing is done via DVD so I will get to see it eventually. I love Maggie Smith in anything and I really like the premise and sound of this show !!

    Stay warm over there in Georgia! No snow here in Bama but COLD !!!!!!!

  20. That is so neat! Big Congratulations for making the Books on Board list. And thanks for mentioning Downtown Abbey, I had not heard of it and it sounds great.

  23. Congratulations, you must be proud of your hard-earned achievement!

    I am loving Downton Abbey as well. Reminds me very much of the ‘Upstairs/Downstairs’ from years ago in that we get the story from both sides of the class system. And the scenery is absolutely gorgeous! Many different personalities make it for interesting watching.

  24. Congrats on making the best-selling list! Making it on any list really is quite an accomplishment! I’ve been reading a lot of raves about Downton Abbey. I wish I had known about it before the first episode aired, so I could follow from the beginning. Now I’m trying to decide if I should watch the first episode online, so I can watch the second episode tonight, or get the DVDs so I can see everything on the bigger screen. Decisions, decisions.

  25. Thanks, everyone!! It totally made my Saturday–well the weekend. 😀

    Louisa, my dear, I do so sympathize. This is so a series not to be missed. I recently watched North and South for the first time and I literally stayed up until like 3 AM to finish watching it. That’s how I feel about this series. I wanted the next episode like NOW!!!

  26. Congrats on making the bestseller list 🙂

    I love Downton Abbey–it’s the first show that I’ve really enjoyed in a while, since last fall’s Sherlock episodes on PBS.

  27. Congrats!! And the show looks really interesting. I’m definitely going to have to check it out!

  28. Bev, congratulations on making the list! How exciting 🙂

    And I’m loving Downton Abbey! I absolutely adore Bates (Brandan Coyle’s) character and can’t wait to see how this all works out.

  29. Congratulations Bev! How wonderful for you! 🙂
    I never saw DOWNTOWN ABBEY but I really love all things British so I will have to check it out!

  30. Congrats on making a list, and hopefully it’s the first of many! I’ve been hearing of Downton Abby, but haven’t watched it yet. I guess I’ll have to check it out, after hearing that you like it so much.

  33. How nice!

    I’m not watching — no t.v. reception — but have started hearing about it everywhere, so will check Netflix for availability.

  34. Congratulations on making a best seller list, Bev! That’s fantastic 😀 Books on Board is a very popular ebook site! As for Downtown Abbey – I wanted to watch it. Only caught part of last week’s episode, but have been hearing wonderful things about it 🙂

  36. Congrats, I have not heard of it, then again I rarely watch TV anymore. Not worth my time but I will check out the show too see if I will like it or not.

  37. I absolutely LOVE Masterpiece theatre. Its the period pieces. The clothes, the settings, the lifestyles of those who lived back then. Everybody is more articulate, and had better morals. I’m fascinated with Downton Abbey because when I lived in London I visited Highclere. Nothing thrills me more than to watch a production in which I recognize the setting. I can’t wait for this to come out on DVD so I can purchase the complete set

  38. YES! And I love it. These shows are exactly the kind that I enjoy. I don’t watch much TV, but PBS is the station that I watch most often when they air Masterpiece Theater.

  39. Congratulations, Beverly. I am so happy that the release of A TASTE OF DESIRE has done so very well. You will have even more people waiting for Book 3. Enjoy the success.

    As to Downton Abbey, unfortunately we missed part one. We did watch part 2 tonight and it was wonderful. I will have to wait until the rerun it or hope someone gets in the DVD so I can borrow it. The best thing would be to win it, then I wouldn’t have to worry about missing any more and could enjoy it many more times. Period dramas like this have so many layers, one always finds something they missed the first time around.

  40. this is awesome news Bev! I LOVE “A Taste of Desire” and I knew that it would do well – better than Sinful Surrender!

    Congratulations!

  41. Congrats, Beverley, on making the list! It is customary to host a luau for special feats such as this … so when’s the party?!?!

    And Downton Abbey is fabulous! Even my 14 year old and 10 year old boy watched with me tonight!

    Then we switched over to the last 1/2 hour of the Golden Globes to see Colin Firth win for THE KING’S SPEECH. He recoginzed his cast members and his beautiful wife!

  43. Bev that is fantastic! What an awesome acheivement and so well-deserved 🙂

    You remain an inspiration especially for those of us struggling to finish our WIPs, work fulltime and raise our families – so thank you!!!!!!!!

    Go girl & congratulations- celebrate & enjoy!

  44. Congratulations on your BooksonBoard success! You must be really excited.

    This show is right up my alley. I don’t know how I haven’t heard about it but I know now. I can’t wait to watch it!

  45. Congratulations on making the BooksonBoard list! Very exciting news. I didn’t know about Downton Abbey but it looks interesting and I’ll be using your link to see it. Thanks!

  47. Hi Bev,

    Congratulations on making the BooksonBoard list! That is definately something to be proud of!

    And thanks for turning me on to ‘Downton Abbey’. After watching the clip, I know it is a program I will enjoy. Another BBC program from 1976 that a lot of people might like is ‘The Duchess of Duke Street”. I discovered this series when Netflix recommended it to me a couple of years ago. A great program set in London in the early 20th century about a young woman raising herself up from scullery maid to renowned chef. I highly recommend it to everyone enjoying historical themed productions.

  48. We were on a cruise and missed part one, so we skipped part two last night and thought we’d look for a rebroadcast or buy the DVD. I’d love to win it. It’s the sort of program I like with some favorite actors (Maggie Smith for one) in it. Masterpiece is our favorite show of the week. Let’s hear it for PBS. Yea!!!

  49. Congratulations, you deserve it your books are a delicious treat. Now don’t make us wait a year!!

  50. How do I get into the contest. I really want a copy of Downton Abbey. I really enjoy the mini-series on the PBS. I love Dan Stevens. I love it.

  52. OMG! I’ve only heard good things about this…and am totally bummed I am not in the States right now so can’t watch it. Gah!

  53. Oh I love Downton Abbey!!! I am a huge fan if Masterpiece Classic! They do a great job really putting a great show together.

    Congrats on making the list Bev!

  57. ..ITV has released some information about its new period drama Downton Abbey. This is the moment when we enter the world of Downton Abbey the great house of a great family where the Granthams and their daughters preside over a household in the charge of Carson the butler and Mrs Hughes the housekeeper.

Comments are closed.