A Heart's Secret

A Pride and Prejudice Variation (In Want of a Wife)

De: Ali Scott

Narrado por: Naomi Rose-Mock

Mr FD of Derbyshire has been paying a great deal of attention to a certain Miss B. Has one of England’s wealthiest bachelors finally been ensnared?

FITZWILLIAM DARCY HAS A SECRET, one that haunts him at every turn. Against his better judgement, he accepts an invitation to a house party in Hertfordshire where he encounters the beautiful Miss Elizabeth Bennet of Longbourn, whose lively spirits prove a welcome distraction from his sorrowful past. Yet his peace is disturbed by threats to his family and to his good name. Elizabeth is unexpectedly implicated, but should he suspect Elizabeth…or protect her?

AFTER THEIR FIRST MEETING at the assembly in Meryton, Elizabeth Bennet is convinced there can be no ruder man than Mr Darcy. But a series of encounters at Netherfield Park forces her to reconsider her opinion of him, and she soon learns that Mr Darcy is a man with hidden depths.

WHEN THE MYSTERIOUS ANNOUNCEMENT of their engagement is published in a London newspaper, she has no choice but to place her trust in him. They strike a deal, and suddenly Elizabeth is drawn into a web of deceit. Who is behind the malicious gossip column? What pain lies in Mr Darcy’s past? And what secret lies deep within her own heart?

A Heart's Secret is a forced engagement, wounded hero variation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. The content is clean and the angst level is moderate.

©2025 Ali Scott (P)2025 Quills & Quartos Publishing

A gossip-fueled engagement

As with Ali Scott's previous P&P variations, A Heart’s Secret, features sound writing and an intriguing plot. This one begins with a duel and Darcy’s guilt over a young man’s death, then moves to Meryton and the arrival of the Netherfield party. There's also a stranger in the town who turns his eyes upon Elizabeth. When gossip hits the London papers, tying Darcy and Elizabeth with whispers of courtship, it forces them into an engagement to save her reputation, and Darcy is quick to agree, wanting to protect her. They plan to end it eventually, but ongoing events will force them to stay together.

I liked seeing Elizabeth warm to Darcy as he digs into the rumors’ source, even bringing her to London to stay with his troubled cousin, Cecilia; and except for her, I didn't much care for the secondary characters in this story—nasty people. But the written story held me with its craft and pace, and I did enjoy it very much.

This new-to-me narrator is good, but I found some sentences were a bit mumbled and rushed making them unclear at times, and her tone often lacked emotion. If these things were improved upon, I would give her a second chance.