To Have and To Hold

A Pride and Prejudice Variation

De: Roy Neville

Narrado por: Virtual Voice

The dreaded event that the Bennet ladies all feared has unluckily occurred. Mr Bennet suffers from severe heart failure, and his days appear to be numbered.

Facing a bleak future, Elizabeth and Jane take on the responsibility of holding their family together with the support of the Gardiners and the Phillipses. While Jane struggles to manage life at Longbourn, with their mother overwhelmed by grief and anxiety, Elizabeth embarks on a journey to Hunsford to discuss a potential arrangement with Mr Collins in the event of her father’s passing.

However, life has a tremendous surprise for her during her visit to Kent. Mr Darcy, who happens to be visiting his aunt at Rosings Park, unexpectedly proposes to Elizabeth. At that moment, she realises that her romantic dreams are of little significance when compared with the harsh realities of life.

Accepting Mr Darcy’s proposal seems like the only solution amidst the multitude of problems she faces, even though she does not love him.
Is it a forced marriage or an opportunity to discover a side to Mr Darcy she has never imagined?
Once accepted, the gentleman becomes a pillar of support to the Bennets long before his marriage to Elizabeth. He is even decided to challenge the entail placed on Longbourn, determined to oust Mr Collins. Miraculously, the Bennets’ troubles begin to fade away one by one.
But is it truly the end of their dire straits?

This Pride and Prejudice variation adds a new twist to the old tale, filled with anguish, love, and unforeseen developments. But you will have to wait until the end to see what fate has in store for our beloved characters.

The virtual voice wasn’t totally terrible.

The voice was tolerable but it rose in tone and pitch at odd places The story wasn’t bad, but hey, it was free.

I enjoyed this story

I enjoyed the story. And the virtual voice was one of the best. I’ve heard so far. Still not as good enough as a real reader, but not as bad as the other ones.

The strange narration

What I liked:

It was free and relatively short.

What I disliked:

Basically everything after Kent, but most especially the ending.

I just felt frustrated the whole time

I did not love this JAFF. The consistent thread of frustration & the Countess character soured this storyline for me & the epilogue didn’t help. Equating the countess with Elizabeth, if not implying that she is superior to her at the very end irks the Elizabeth fan & the collaboration between the two in the epilogue is a major misstep for a happily ever after.