Misunderstandings & Ardent Love

A Pride and Prejudice Variation

By: Susan Adriani

Narrated by: Genevieve Begley

“I have never been able to forget you...I am yours, in body and soul, for as long as I am able to draw breath.”

After months of brooding despair while Charles Bingley prepares to wed Jane Bennet, Fitzwilliam Darcy realizes he has no choice but to put his heart at risk and try to win the only woman he will ever love.

Elizabeth Bennet would more than welcome his return to Longbourn. Yet despite such mutually ardent feelings, her most beloved sister and Darcy’s own uncle hold quite the opposite points of view.

Torn between personal loyalties and responsibilities, the couple must balance finding a discreet solution for a family scandal in London and dealing with new outrageous actions by Mr. and Mrs. Wickham, all while facing a Jane Bennet who cannot forgive Darcy his interference in her love story.

Can the two overcome misunderstandings and meddling and find their way to one another at last?

©2021 Susan Adriani (P)2021 Quills & Quartos Publishing

Interesting JAFF--clean with unrequited lust

Mostly clean. The Aunts are a hoot. Very little influence by arrogant Caroline. The Earl is pompous, (ineffectually) controlling, and exceeds Lady Catherine in spite. Anne makes an unexpected appearance, Jane is surprisingly unpleasant and oblivious. Jane demonstrates she may be her mother in the making (woe betide for future marital felicity). Darcy is, perhaps, too long suffering. An epilogue would have tied up some of the loose ends and questions. The narrator was, at best, adequate--but did not enhance the story.

Very Slow Start

If you can make your way through several chapters, which I had to skip. The story gets better. I wished there were a last chaper of their life being happy with kids and the earl being totally unhappy as his wife being adore by many men....lol

So-so

This was an ok listen, but it was very slow moving and much of the angst felt contrived.

Angst and a Love Story

This story begins with Darcy believing there is nothing for him in Hertfordshire following his arranging Lydia and Wickham’s marriage, and confessing to Bingley his interference between him and Jane, who are now engaged and soon to be married. Elizabeth, on the other hand, could barely look at him for the time he was there. He can only believe she has no feelings for him.

He closed his eyes, rested his forehead against the window, and welcomed the sharp chill of the glass as it seeped through his skin, into his bones, and wrapped itself around his aching heart.—quote from book

He has now returned to London where his uncle and aunt (Earl and Countess) are pressuring him to marry. Left behind at Longbourn is an Elizabeth full of regret and mortification at the conduct of her family. She cannot imagine him ever offering for her again. However, Darcy eventually returns to Netherfield determined to win Elizabeth’s affection, but along the way, misunderstandings will threaten to impede his efforts.

So begins the start of several chapters weighted with a good measure of angst that settled deep within my gut and chest until it was over. Whew! Admittedly, I am an angst sissy—especially when Darcy’s heart feared his Elizabeth may have given her heart to another. So did mine for a time! Thankfully, the misunderstandings fairly quickly make way for our dear couple to reconnect and rekindle their love for one another, albeit not without attempts to separate them by those not in favour of the match, including Jane of all people!

”In that moment, the expression upon Elizabeth’s face so closely resembled the stuff of Darcy’s dreams that his heart stuttered in his chest. Her gaze was so intense and her expression so tender and full of affection that he felt the effects all the way to the recesses of his soul.”—quote from book

When I first began reading this book, my first impression was it was going to be heavy with narrative, but ultimately and thankfully, I was mistaken. That is not to say the narrative isn’t good or well written. Indeed it is, but there is also some very good dialogue between ODC to be enjoyed, as well as some good “Darcy, large-and-in-charge” set downs to those he has come to realize are not important to his happiness. Elizabeth too is unafraid to make known her sentiments to those who would look down upon her beloved or their relationship. I loved the heart-to-heart talks and revelations between Darcy and Elizabeth that led them to realize the ardent love they have for one another. Their passion is well expressed without being too graphically written. And, before they reach the point of their understanding, you can really feel the torment they feel in each of their troubled hearts. I loved these two sensitive souls.

“I have never been able to forget you. If I am anything, I am loyal. I am constant. You need never question my faithfulness. You need never doubt my devotion. I am yours, in body and soul, for as long as I am able to draw breath.”—Darcy, quote from book

I especially enjoyed Bingley’s “incorrigible” (as described by Elizabeth), brandy-loving Aunt Lawrence, whose friendly machinations assist ODC in arranging some time spent alone. Having had a love match herself, she sees the depth of Darcy’s love for Elizabeth.

”Still waters run deep you know. I have never been to the sea, but I imagine it to be much like your Mr Darcy—calm and even-tempered at the shoreline, but intense and passionate the farther one ventures from the coast. You are a lucky woman to have captured the heart of such a man.”—Aunt Lawrence, quote from book

There are also glimpses of humour.

”I want to marry you in the chapel there and make you mine in body as soon as you say ‘I do’ to the minister.” “I am sure the minister is delightful,” Elizabeth said breathlessly as her fingertips brushed the edge of his cravat, then his collar, “but I would prefer to say ‘I do’ to you.”—quotes from book

Be prepared for some Lydia and Wickham. They may shock a bit, but don’t much influence the story.

I thought the narrator was good, but felt her voice presentation lacked the emotion I felt from Elizabeth and Darcy when I read the book. There was a sameness to them, and Darcy always sounded a bit angry to me even when he wasn’t.

Still good overall though.

Ponderous

Very slow moving, mildly annoying, overly descriptive. It was difficult to follow the advancement of the story with the dearth of dialogue and the over abundance of minute description, almost as padding to add length. I often found myself saying, enough! Move on. The story line, if you could find it amongst the flowery, oftentimes gratuitous petting scenes between Darcy and Elizabeth, was compelling. Unfortunately, the descriptive episodes were so frequent that reading this book became a ponderous exercise rather than a pleasure. Such a good story could have been heightened greatly by the attention of a good editor. Finally, I truly did not like the narrator of this book. Her range of voices was flat and I did not enjoy her voice or her reading. In sum, this was a pretty good story in search of a better telling.