Duty and Desire

Duty and Desire (Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman #2) by Pamela Aiden

I read the first book in this write, An Assembly Such as This, about ten years ago and postponed continuing the series. I always meant to finish it, but I never got around to it, there are just so many books to read.

However, this year I am really trying to complete series, and have finally decided it was time to read book two.

The previous book, An Assembly Such As This, retold the story of Pride and Prejudice, but from Darcy’s point of view. We see life before going to Longbourn all the way to their abrupt departure after the Netherfield Ball. The author did a great job of showing how his feelings evolve from when Darcy snubs Elizabeth to where he is giving her second thoughts and falling for her.

Book two, Duty and Desire, picks up where book one left off and takes place in December making this a Jane Austen holiday book. Just wanted to let you know if you are looking for more to read in December that Yuletide and Holiday Mix Tape.

While the first book was a wonderful read, I was really interested in where Pamela Aiden would go with this second one as this is the time we have no knowledge of what Darcy is up to as Elizabeth is far from him. It could go very well, or it could go very wrong…

Darcy is back in London and is dealing with the philosophical dilemma of wanting to be a good Christian man and practice forgiveness with his desire for revenge and justice against Wickham, something even more deeply on his mind with it being Christmastime.

He spends Christmas with his family, telling Colonel Fitzwilliam what happened in the fall, back in Longbourn, discussing Georgiana, and other cousinly subjects. I really enjoy this time spent with Darcy and his cousin and seeing how close they are. I thought that was a very good addition to the story.

Darcy also spends time with Bingley and we see more of their relationship and that Darcy honestly thought Bingley wasn’t as serious about Jane, nor her about him. I like seeing them as buddies.

Darcy also can’t stop thinking about Elizabeth, having the desire to propose, but the duty he has to his family keeping him from pusuring her (hence the title).

I also love that this book continued to show the relationship between him and his sister and highlighted how much he cares for her. In this story Georgiana is given a minister’s widow as a companion; this friendship and faith in God helping to heal her from the trauma of Wickham.

After much thought and deliberation, Darcy decides he needs to be serious about his life and start looking for a suitable bride. Taking up this mission will also help him out Elizabeth forever out of his mind and give Georgina another new friend to confide in.

Although, suitability does not always promise the marriage will be a good one, as his cousin’s (Colonel Fitzwilliam’s older brother) fiancé is from a good family; but is very desirous of male attention and while she has promised her hand to the Viscount; she has no problem lending out other parts of her body.

With thoughts of Elizabeth always at the forefront of his mind, Darcy decides to risk it and move forward with his plan, accepting an invitation to Norwycke Castle. There will be several ladies of the ton in attendance and he can spend time with them to see if they will be the next Mrs. Darcy or if he should cross them off his list. One of them is Lady Felicia, his cousin’s fiancé, who is trying to throw a wrench in Darcy plan as she is hoping to add Darcy to her list of accomplishments.

So while I had been enjoying this book, once we went to the castle I found it extremely difficult to put down. As soon as we entered the castle gates the book switched from historical fiction to a gothic tale. And you know how much I love Gothic fiction.

At Norwycke Castle there is quite the party collected but the most important members are the Sayre family, who own the Castle. Sayre is the head of the family and a degenerate gambler who’s lifestyle is bankrupting the family. His younger brother, Beverly, is angry at the circumstances, knowing he would have been better at maintaining the facility if only he had been born the elder son. Lady Sayre, his wife has a secret desire that she will do anything to have come to fruition.

If that wasn’t enough elements, it also turns out that Sayre has a half sister Darcy had never met before. After his mother died, Sayre’s father remarried an Irish woman and had a daughter. Like Mrs. Dashwood and John Dashwood in Sense and Sensibility, Sayre is not close to his stepmother or half sister. After his father died he evicted them from the family home and sent them back to Ireland. He would never have let his sister, Lady Slyvanie, return…except her mother died and left Sayre property in Ireland, with the caveat that he will only inherit IF he brokers a marriage for Slyvanie. He needs the property to pay his debts, and he needs to marry his sister off. Cue the invitation to Darcy.

Darcy finds himself tangled in multiple webs at this fête as one person tries to gamble him out of his inheritance, one attempts to trap him in a tryst, the marriage minded mamas are constantly plotting, one young lady is constantly trying to maneuver him into a forced marriage, and of that wasn’t enough he suddenly is thrown into a gothic mystery.

Sigh!

One night, Sayre’s brother Beverly, tells a ghost story about a henge on the property called the whispering knights. Legend says a son tried to kill his father and steal his inheritance, but the son was outwitted. The son and those he had turned over to his side were cursed and transformed to stone, forever returning to warn any future heir that threatens the legacy of their father.

From there on Darcy spots a mysterious figure with a candle walking at night, and is privy to discovering a dead child who turns out to be a swaddled piglet. What is the purpose of this, to scare? Threaten? Murder?

Hmm…

And who is behind it? One of the party? A member of the dysfunctional Sayre family? Lady Slyvanie’s creepy maid?

Mystery, you say?

Darcy and his valet start investigating and discover witchcraft, betrayal, a goosebump inducing maid that would be best friend with Mrs. Danvers, and more.

Creepy…

After all this time with the ton, Darcy has become disgusted with the way the people act. He longs for people who are not committing constant manipulation, who are not completely obsessed with themselves, and who actually understand loyalty, fidelity, and honesty. Even while Bride hunting he still hasn’t been able to get Elizabeth out of his mind, and after this fiasco he longs for a women who speaks her mind and is who she says she is; no pretensions.

This was fantastic! I enjoyed every page of it and could not stop reading.

I think it did a great job of showing Mr. Darcy’s thought process, especially that switch from being all about “duty” and family honor to go after his “desire”. Some people have criticized Austen’s work saying that they felt the turncoat of Darcy’s affections were out of left field; (I have never felt that way), but if you did feel that sentiment, Aiden makes it clear that the feelings were always smoldering.

The whole mystery, gothic tone, and witchcraft was completely unexpected although after spending a minute with those people I too would hightail it back to the picturesque village of Longbourn.

The ton, especially the Sayres

It was a fantastic book and I am even more eager to read book three.

Although I probably won’t get to it until late May or June.

For more books by Pamela Aiden, go to An Assembly Such as This

For more on Pride and Prejudice, go to Undeceived: Pride & Prejudice in the Spy Game

For more mysteries, go to Spill the Tea: Lyon’s Tea + Non-Austen Reads for Austen Readers: The Secret Adversary

For more Gothic fiction, go to Catherine Morland’s Reading List: Dangerous to Know (Lady Emily Ashton Mystery #5)

For more books based on Jane Austen’s works, go Sense and Second-Degree Murder

Sense and Second-Degree Murder

Sense and Second-Degree Murder (Jane Austen Murder Mystery #2) by Tizrah Price

As you may remember I did not enjoy the first book in this series.

But I have said I’m going to review every Jane Austen adaption, and retelling/variation so I am going to read this one as well. I also try not to let my views of the previous book color my view of this one. Perhaps this one will be better.

Sense and Second-Degree Murder starts off with the Dashwood sisters losing every thing when their father dies. Presumed by everyone that his death was from a heart attack, the Dashwood daughter’s aren’t so sure…they suspect murder.

Elinor Dashwood, the eldest, loves chemistry and wishes to one day study professionally and have a real lab to experiment. She tests the tea cup her father drank from and discovers a substance not tea or sugar, but unfortunately her self-schooling has only gone so far and she is unsure how to move forward. It is clear that someone did something to his cup, but was it poison?

Hmm…

Marianne Dashwood is the middle daughter and was following in her father’s footsteps training to be a private detective like him. She is the first to suspect foul play and tries to discover who and what her father was last investigating; his journal where he kept his detective notes having mysteriously disappeared.

Hmm…

Margaret Dashwood is the youngest daughter and wishes to be a writer. As she is young she isn’t really in a place to do the investigating but is very observant and wants to help with all she can.

Hmm…

The Dashwood family are pushed out from their house when everything, including the family private detecting business is willed to their brother John, a brother they are not close with at all. John’s wife, Fanny, is unbearably rude and dislikes the Dashwood women; making living in the home dreadful. Thankfully Mrs. Dashwood’s cousin, Sir John Middleton, lets them rent a very small flat he owns so they are close to home, although not in the nicest neighborhood.

It sucks!

Mrs. Dashwood is so grief stricken she turns to opium and bows out of all responsibilities, consumed by her grief. Elinor takes the helm, trying to find ways to make money. Sir John is very nice giving them this flat for a very, very low price; but with only a small stipend coming from their father’s estate they need very extra amount of money they can get. At first she tried to experiment in creating perfumes, something she does not have any skill in; discarding that to team up with Marianne to to close their father’s last accounts and the two find themselves involved in five mystery plots.

1) Who Murdered Mr. Dashwood?: Who murdered their father and what was he poisoned by? Could someone have murdered him to inherit, such as Fanny or John Dashwood? Or was his investigation closing in on someone?

2) The death of Eliza Williams: Eliza was a scientist and researching a new pain reducing method. She died from an “accident in the lab” but her good friend Mr. Brandon thinks it was murder, especially as all her work has also mysteriously vanished. Their father had closed the case ruling it an accident…but was it also murder?

3) Finding a husband for Lucy Steele: Lucy Steele hears of the Dashwood P.I.s and asks them to do background checks on some eligible men. But something about her seems off to Elinor and she somehow keeps popping up in their investigations.

4) The mysterious Mr. Willoughby: Mr. Willoughby saves Marianne when she is almost run down by a carriage. He seems a perfect gentleman but they don’t know anything about him. And then he helps Marianne break into Brandon’s lab so easily…could there more than meets the eye?

5) Can Edward Ferrars be trusted? Edward seems to be a nice guy even though he is Fanny’s brother. He is an accountant, but it appears that he has been lying to the Dashwoods, no longer working at his place of employment. Is he involved in something sinister, perhaps he teamed up with his sister to secure the Dashwood inheritance?

Hmmm…

The Dashwoods face positioning, betrayal, opium/morphine addictions, search for a lost son, and more.

My thoughts after reading…

I did enjoy this book more than Pride and Premeditation. I do think Sense and Sensibility was a better choice for Price’s ideas as Marianne has always been a bit more improper in her behavior and as the ladies lose their financial and societal spots; turning to something else works as a stronger narrative than the previous Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth plot line. Giving employment to Colonel Brandon and Edward Ferrars also works better in this book, as both men had professions in the Austen novel.

I enjoyed the mystery; although if you have read Sense and Sensibility it’s not hard to figure out who the villains are. Mostly I’m grateful they didn’t take believe characters and make them bad for a twist. I was worried Price might do that to Mrs. Jennings. She’s one of my favorite characters.

I also really enjoyed the the idea of the Dashwood sisters being private investigators; and thought Elinor was a wonderful detective with her cool demeanors and logical reasoning.

Now for what I didn’t like….

First, I have issue with the title. Do they even use the term “degree murder” in England? I thought that was an American justice system thing? Secondly, Second degree murder is not premeditated but typically reactionary “You know your actions may result in the death of another” but to poison someone, especially in this case, it was planned. I know it’s not as catchy, but shouldn’t this be first degree murder? I mean the villain says they didn’t know that Mr. Dashwood would die but they are a liar and they do the exact same thing to another character in an attempt to kill her.

I really enjoyed the idea of Marianne being a private eye, but I felt Price ruined it by making her so oblivious and to have no deductive reasoning at all. For someone who was training with her father for a while I expected her to take a breath and think it over. The way she trusts Willoughby and then to have her go out at night alone with him? Like her reputation would be completely shot! Why would she do that? She started off strong with the Palmers but then had a complete blind spot with Brandon and Willoughby. Now I now Price was trying to callback to the original novel but I felt the way she did this was poorly done. In the original novel she does trust Willoughby more than she should, but their cousin Sir John knew Willoughby so he wasn’t a total stranger. She also disliked Brandon because of Mrs. Jennings’ meddling. Here there was no reason to dislike and distrust him. They way she treated both in this made me feel like she had no common sense; it would have been better to have Mr. Jennings know of Willoughby so Marianne thought he was trustworthy and to try and give us a reason for Marianne to dislike Brandon. It doesn’t have to be a reason that turns out to be true, but there should have been something.

I also don’t like that all the characters have been aged down so low, Brandon is only 20-does he even have his degree? She didn’t have to place him in his 30s, but why so young? Is it just because she wants to be in the YA demographic?

Hmm…?

I also didn’t like that Price set this in the Regency era but ignored the Regency etiquette and society rules. If you weren’t going to follow them, then pick another time period. For instance Mr. Dashwood died three weeks ago and his som and daughter are already having a ball, it typically was six months in mourning for a parent. I know Price wants her case to go quickly but it’s annoying that Price ignores things like this that take two minutes to google; and something that could easily be remedied by having a chapter say six months later, etc. That and a lot of other societal cues are completely ignored.

I couldn’t help but compare this to other books I’ve read, such as The Friday Society, that had strong, powerful women pursuing livelihoods that were normally populated by men; but at the same time they would follow the rules of society to keep their reputations in tact.

After reading both book one and two I think Price should set her works in a later time period, such as the Victorian Era would be a better choice. In the Victorian Era you had more working gentlemen, something that happened after the industrial revolution. Also this book revolves around opium, which while it was around during the Regnecy period, it didn’t really become a serious epidemic until the the Victorian era.

Hmmm…

The other problem I had with this book was that it moved too fast. Brandon hardly spends any time with Marianne, why should he even like her? It’s like literally one meeting while he and Elinor have more interactions and a lot more in common. Then we have Elinor falling for Edward but she too meets him once before they move out and she fallen for him. Like why? What do they like about them? If she doesn’t want to spend a lot of time writing another their interactions all she needed to add was three weeks later at the beginning of a chapter.

I don’t think it was terrible but I also don’t plan to add it to my shelf. What do you think? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

For more books by Tizrah Price, go to Pride and Premeditation Audiobook Narrated By Morag Sims

For more on Sense and Sensibility, go to Sense and Sensibility Audiobook Narrated by Wanda McCaddon

For more mysteries, go to The Intrigue at Highbury (Or, Emma’s Match)

For more books based on Jane Austen’s works, go to Undeceived: Pride & Prejudice in the Spy Game

Jane Austen Word Search (Brain Games)

I was gifted this word search years ago as a Christmas gift, I always meant to use it but had misplaced it in my last move. I found it and decided to crack it open and try it out.

The book is a collection of word searches, but not just word searches, with some pages having passages from Jane Austen texts, to having you solve anagrams to find the words to search for, answer trivia questions, fill in quotes, etc.

The word searches run from easy passages with an average collection of words to very difficult ones with large passages from Austen’s novels and with tiny printed word searches.

You might need one of these.

It is a fun diversion, and there are only two things I didn’t like. The last word search in the book was on Austen adaptions and has questions about actors, screenwriters, and directors. My complaint is that they got one of the names wrong, listing Jeremy Northam as Jeremy Thompson.

What??

Probably a printer’s error.

The other thing I disliked is that it is spiral bound and my kittens keep trying to bite the metal. I have to shelve it pages out to keep them from it.

But I otherwise found it a fun and diverting thing to do, especially with these past rainy days.

To purchase your own copy, click here!

For more word searches, go to Ireland Cruise: My Jane Austen Travel Must Haves

For more Jane Austen stuff, go to Clueless Party Game: Ugh As If! Edition

Am I the Only One Who Didn’t Enjoy the Book the Jane Austen Society?: Book and Audiobook Read by Richard Armitage Review

The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner

I have a google alert for Jane Austen so I always get any Jane Austen related news. I might not post on it right away-but I always get read press right away.

I read press surrounding this book when it was first published as you know I am interested in anything Jane Austen related.

When this book was added to my libraries collection, I was the first to check it out, but didn’t get a chance to read it in the time allotted. It happened several times with me checking the book out and returning it, while I saw people post about how much they enjoyed it on instagram.

I saw the audiobook on libby and decided to borrow it especially as I saw that Richard Armitage was narrating it.

I started listening to it and quickly became confused. There seemed to be a lot of time jumps and then some of the characters they introduce they don’t give a name to immediately? And time seemed to go so fast! The war just started and then it was ended? Was it because it I was listening to it?

Where is everyone?

I then checked out a physical copy but continued to dislike the book. I’m not sure why so many people enjoyed this book and promoted it.

On the dust jacket it describes the book as:

With the winds of change blowing through the country in the postwar days and the cottage’s future now in the hands of fate, a group of disparate individuals fight to preserve both Austen’s home and her legacy for the world. These people- a farmer, a young war widow, the village doctor, an employee of Sotheby’s, a Hollywood star, a local solicitor, the anticipated heiress to the estate, and a precocious house-girl could not be more different, and yet they are united in their love for the works and words of Austen. As each of them endures their own quiet struggle with the loss and trauma of war and other tragedies, they find solace, connection, and hope in rallying together to create the Jane Austen Society.

I thought this book was going to be about them becoming the society, but they don’t even begin the start of it, or even “thinking about it”, until 200 pages in, that’s 2/3 of the book! In fact for a book called The Jane Austen Society, there is very little Society and as a Society they do very little at all; meeting like only three times, publishing an ad in the paper, and buying books from the estate. I expected a lot more from this book.

The story is also a bit of a mess as it is a bunch of tangled tales of different people living in a postwar England (with one American) that the author seems to tentatively tie together within the last very few pages.

Hmm…

The Jane Austen Society plot which doesn’t enter the chat until page 200 is that Chawton House is supposed to stay in the Knight family but the father is a terrible jerk and misogynist who has written his only child out of his will as she is a girl and he decides to give everything to his next male relative, with Fanny, his daughter, having the cottage until she dies unless the whole estate is sold. While this is happening the society has just formed and was hoping to purchase the cottage for a new museum. The new heir is a wastrel that wants money for gambling and prepares to sell the whole estate to a hotel/golf chain, but unbeknownst to everyone one of the Society members is actually the real heir to the estate. Should he take his inheritance and save Jane Austen’s home; or just purchase the books and risk the loss of this famous estate being destroyed?

I’m going to go through the character threads one by one, working through them as they are introduced on the dust jacket.

Farmer

So each character kind of “follows” an Austen plot. Adam is a local farmer and groundskeeper of Chawton who has never been interested in Jane Austen until he helps an American find the path to Jane Austen’s house. The American later turns out to be a famous actress, but at the time she was just a symbol to Adam of hope beyond the war with her sweetness. After she encourages him to read Jane Austen, Adam does so and becomes a giant fan, with Pride and Prejudice being his favorite.

We don’t get a lot of development with him other than his thoughts about Jane Austen and being thankful for Mimi, the actress, bringing Jane Austen to his notice. I thought he was going to turn out to be Elinor in Sense and Sensibility with the engaged Mimi being his Edward Ferrars. However, the author decides to throw in the last minute that he is actually the real heir to Chawton as his mother and James Knight, Fanny’s father, had an affair. Instead of claiming his inheritance and saving tbe house and cottage, making it a museum as he wanted; as he was the one who initially came up with the idea of the society. He decides to put the idea of claiming his inheritance to the society for a vote and for some convoluted reasoning they decide that it is better for him not to claim his inheritance as the the gossip will be too much for such a “shy” person and he will regret the story of his birth???

What? Yeah some people might talk, but a lot of a people would also kiss up to him being the new heir, new community leader, and not to mention he will be able to achieve his dream of the Jane Austen museum, and get to save the house from being knocked down to make a hotel and golf course. Like doesn’t that solve all their problems?

But no, he decides to do nothing and instead this “so shy guy” who can’t be the “center of attention” and doesn’t want to make a choice that will cause the “whole village to talk about him”; decides to instead be openly gay and buy a farm and live with a man. For someone who doesn’t want to be the talk of the village; how does choosing to be openly gay in a time when it was against the law, a less talked about option than claiming your Knight and Austen inheritance?

None of that makes any sense to me. I also thought Adam’s relationship with Mr. Yardley was kind of out of left field for me as he wasn’t with or seems interested in anyone; except he did think about Mimi and there were several references and callbacks to the scene that Adam helped Mimi. But that turned out to be a red herring. Instead he ended up being Julia Bertram, with Mr. Yardley his Mr. Yates; a union that you didn’t see coming.

War Widow & Village Doctor

The young war widow, Adeline, is tied up in the same storyline as the Chawton village doctor, Dr. Gray; our Emma and Mr. Knightley. Dr. Gray’s wife passed away years earlier when she fell down the stairs. The doctor has never remarried but has feelings for Adeline that are obvious to everyone but him and Adeline. Adeline was the local teacher, often butting heads with Dr. Gray who is on the school board, leaving her job when she married a local boy before he went off to war. Her husband passes away and she also ends up losing her baby; but we later find out she never really loved her husband that way, instead marrying him under the pressure of war and because he loved her.

She and Dr. Gray discuss books and are obviously in love; but have a weird fight where she gets angry and yells at him for no reason. I reread the chapter and listened to the audiobook and was like did I miss pages, did it accidentally skip? I have no clue why she is so upset and after I reread it, it still didn’t make any sense.

Where is everyone?

First Adeline is angry that he assumes she quit him as a doctor because “he lost her baby”; but what is he supposed to think when she suddenly drops him as a doctor after losing her baby? She doesn’t even give him a reason just says she prefers a new doctor over an hour away (it is really is because she has feelings for him). Then when he tries to admit his feelings for her she gets angry and accuses him of just trying to be with the first woman that is available. Like what? He’s been single for many years and serval women are after him, but if he was looking fnor the first available woman he wouldn’t pick you, there are plenty other he could get his kicks with. I don’t know what the author was doing here, nor did I enjoy it. It felt like contrived drama although they end up together, obviously.

I call them the Emma and Knightley as the doctor is older than Adeline and has known Adeline since she was young, he also took on that role of trying to help navigate her when he was on the school board. Unlike Emma, Adeline and been in love with the doctor for a long, long time.

An Employee of Sotheby’s

Mr. Yardley works at Sotheby’s and is the least developed character in the whole book. We know he loved Jane Austen, works at an auction house, is gay, and has a dream of being a “farmer”, i.e living on a farm while someone else takes care of the actual farming. That’s it that’s all we know of him, not what brought him to Austen, what he thinks of her works, how the war affected him, why does he dream of being a farmer, what about his family, etc. He and Mimi discuss his love life and how it’s hard for him to date as he could end up in jail so I had a momentary feeling they would pair him up with another guy in the society, but as both Forrestor and Gray were spoken for, that only left Adam who I thought was going to get with Mimi. I wish they had done more with Yardley; but instead he was just a piece of the scenery. Like I said before, the two make me think of Julia Bertram and Mr. Yates.

A Hollywood Star

Mimi Harris is an American actress and the daughter of a judge. Her father was the one to introduce her to Jane Austen and the two loved to read through all the books. She ends up going to Chawton running into Adam and encouraging him to read Jane Austen, opening up a love of the author. Later she becomes a stage actress, eventually moving to Hollywood. In Hollywood, Mimi meets Jack, an American businessman and producer (who feels like the author copied Markam V. Reynolds from The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society). Jack is a narcissist who wants Mimi as she is not initially into him, and won’t sleep with him right away. He buys her all kinds of Jane Austen things and agrees to make a Sense and Sensibility film starring Mimi as Elinor. Jack is a terrible person who always puts himself and needs/desires first; a Willoughby through and through-always going to sacrifice anything for his bottom dollar. Mimi is assaulted by a studio head and Jack beats the guy up getting her out of her contract; but is later willing to sacrifice her dignity by using said studio head to finance the Sense and Sensibility movie; dumping Mimi as the lead actress because the studio head who assaulted Mimi won’t give him money for the film unless Mimi is out.

Clearly Wontagby

He also has the Wickham’s mercenary heart as he is a part of the group planning on taking down the Chawton home to create a hotel/golf course. With a few pages to spare Mimi finally realizes the terrible guy he is and dumps him, turning him into the feds.

Mimi’s feelings

I thought it was odd that the studio head would attack Mimi with her father being a judge, but then they drop that he committed suicide near the end of the book. And that was another issue I had with the novel, the author liked to do these bombshells of character history/development but moved so fast that as you try to wrap your mind around it, she’s already moved on. It’s like emotional whiplash.

Local Solicitor and the Anticipated Heiress to the Estate

Fanny Knight is our Eleanor Tilney/Anne Elliot. She has an abusive controlling father, has become gray from living under his thumb, loses everything with grace (not even trying to fight for her inheritance) and ends up with the man she her once loved and was secretly engaged to; solicitor Andrew Forrestor.

Andrew Forrestor has loved Fanny for a long, long time; but was unable to stand up to her father. He then turned himself to work and built up his practice, staying the solicitor to the Knight family so that he can still be connected to Fanny. When Mimi calls off her wedding, he proposes to Fanny and they walk down the aside getting their happily ever after.

precocious House-Girl

Evie is a village girl who’s dreams of more ended when her father was injured in a farm accident and she was sent into service to the Knight Family. She reads every night and begins cataloging the Chawton library. She is observant but has an overactive imagination, the “Catherine Morland” of the book. I wish we had more of her character but that’s mostly it.

That’s my biggest problem with the book, only half the characters are actually developed. It feels like these are just outlines instead of fully developed people/figures. It’s not a length issue as the book is 300 pages long, and I have read books of the same and shorter that had more development. I think Jenner had an idea, but just wasn’t able to fully complete it, maybe she should have just focused on one character or two instead?

Richard Armitage reads it well, but even he couldn’t save the book for me. I did not enjoy it but would be interested in why others liked it or disliked it. Please comment below and let me know your thoughts.

For more fictional books based on Jane Austen, go to Just Jane

For more audiobooks, go to Jane Austen, the Secret Radical Audiobook Narrated by Emma Bering

Revenge of the Retellings: 30 More Variations of Pride and Prejudice

You might be thinking another post on the many retellings of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice? Don’t we already have a few posts on that?

Yes, but the problem is that there are just sooooooooo many books and films based on Pride and Prejudice…

Or read it, or watch it.

I decided that instead of doing an endless list, I would do a post of thirty, then make another post with thirty. To see the first installment of Pride and Prejudice works I have reviewed, click here: Happy Birthday Pride and Prejudice.

The second post is The Retellings Strike Back, and has the next thirty posts.

The third post with the next 30 items I reviewed was Return of the Retellings.

But now to the next thirty (subject to change depending on what items I come across)…

Books:

Duty & Desire (Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman #2) by Pamela Aiden

Georgiana and the Wolf: Pride and Prejudice Continued by Marsha Altman

The Road to Pemberley: An Anthology of New Pride and Prejudice Stories edited by Marsha Altman

The Intrigue at Highbury (Or, Emma’s Match) [Mr. & Mrs. Darcy Mystery #5) by Carrie Bebris

Mrs. Darcy’s Dilemma: A Sequel to Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice by Diana Birchall

A Lady in Defiance (Romance in the Rockies #1) by Heather Blanton

Darcy and Anne: It is a Truth Universally Acknowledged that Lady Catherine Will Never Find a Husband for Anne… Book by Judith Brocklehurst

Undeceived: Pride and Prejudice in the Spy Game by Karen M. Cox

Mr. Darcy’s Daughters by Elizabeth Edmondson

Mr. Darcy’s Promise by Jeanna Ellsworth

Disappointed Hopes (A Fair Prospect #1) by Cassandra Grafton

Dear Mr. Darcy: A Retelling of Pride and Prejudice by Amanda Grange

Mr. Darcy, Vampyre by Amanda Grange

Mr. Wickham’s Diary by Amanda Grange

Pride and Pyramids: Mr. Darcy in Egypt by Amanda Grange and Jacqueline Webb

The Other Bennet Sister Audiobook by Janice Hadlow and Narrated by Carla Mendonça

Suddenly Mrs. Darcy by Jenetta James

Pride and Popularity (The Jane Austen Diaries) by Jenni James

A Darcy Christmas by Sharon Lathan

The Gentlemen are Detained by Heather Moll

Darcys of Derbyshire by Abigail Reynolds

Fitzwilliam Darcy, Rock Star by Heather Lynn Rigaud

Loves, Lies, & Lizzie by Rosie Rushton

Mr. Darcy’s Decision: A Sequel to Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice by Juliette Shapiro

Darcy on the Hudson: A Pride and Prejudice Re-imagining by Mary Lydon Simonsen

Pride: A Pride and Prejudice Remix by Ibi Zoboi

Film:

Bridget Jones 2: The Edge of Reason (2004)

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2016)

Other:

First Impressions (1959)

X-Mas Greetings!: A Fan Fiction Lizzie Bennet Diaries Christmas Story by Whosepride