Suddenly Mrs. Darcy: A Pride & Prejudice Variation

By: Jenetta James

Narrated by: Lillian Rachel

Elizabeth Bennett never imagined her own parents would force her to marry a virtual stranger. But when Mrs. Bennett accuses Fitzwilliam Darcy of compromising her daughter, that is exactly the outcome.

Trapped in a seemingly loveless marriage and far from home, she grows suspicious of her new husband's heart and further, suspects he is hiding a great secret. Is there even a chance at love given the happenstance of their hasty marriage?

©2020 Jenetta James (P)2020 Quills & Quartos Publishing

3.75

Genre: (Culty knockoffs of Pride and Prejudice, I’m kidding, sorta); historical-ish
Run Time: 6 hrs and 41 Minutes
Summary:
It’s a re-writing of Pride and Prejudice with the same characters, like in a parallel universe or something. Same characters, same family dynamics, except first ball *BOOM* Mrs. Bennet arranges the coup of all societal coups and arranges for Lizzy and Darcy’s private conversation to be finagled into wedding bells.

Additional Comments:
• 4/5 stars Performance was fine. British accents are okay. Narrator’s voice is nice and fits Elizabeth well.
• 3/5 stars Plot – Okay, this might be a flaw of me expecting more. It doesn’t seem like much is happening. Elizabeth gets married and then spends the other 5 and a half hours learning to navigate the ins and outs of being the good wife of a much larger estate than she grew up on.
• Characters 3.5/5 stars – Everything else panned out much the same. Wickham’s still a charming jerk, Lydia’s still silly idiot, Jane’s still a saint, etc.
• Content warning – It’s a period piece. Keep that in mind or you’ll be too weirded out by the statutory rape (Lydia is 15).
• Random musing – I still don’t know how Pride and Prejudice (a decent story) managed to spawn so many re-writings. I still gravitate to the weird ones (zombies, dragons, etc), but there are ones set before, during, after, in the modern day. Maybe it’s just one of the few people know are in the public domain and therefore fair game for riffs? It’s essentially legal fanfiction.

Conclusion:
Clearly, there is a market for these kinds of books. This is a suitable representative of the subgenre of Pride and Prejudice re-writings.
*I received a free copy of the audiobook. I’ve chosen to review it. All opinions are my own.

Excellent

Lillian Rachel, the narrator, is wonderful. She has a pleasant soothing voice and presented the story in a convincing manner. I barely noticed her because her performance was so good that I was lost in the story. She did not overact and get in the way. Her male voice was just as good as her female voice. I am going to look up other books that she narrated and give them a try.

Now, to the book. This is a great story. It begins with the marriage of Darcy and Elizabeth. Because of her mother's histrionics, Elizabeth is mistakenly thought to be compromised by Mr. Darcy and they marry. Elizabeth makes the best of the situation and tries to be a good wife to Darcy and sister to Georgiana. Elizabeth begins to fall in love with Darcy and feels hurt because she knows that he has secrets he is keeping from her. He is also disdainful of her family and background. A terrible accident brings the two of them together. then there are many things the two of them have to deal with as a couple. This is a really good book that held my interest completely. I rank it near the top of all the P&P variation I have listened to, and I have listened to MANY. By the way, my very favorite is A Willful Misunderstanding.

Unexpectedly Sorrowful and Sweet

This is a wonderful variation which changes at the Bingley’s ball. The performance is a reader that draws you in and keeps you listening.
I was prepared to not like the story, and was I thankful to be wrong. I purchased it a few years ago and listen to it at least every year. It’s characters remain almost true to who they are. The married Elizabeth seems to weaken but I soon realize she is not weak, but made fragile due to the transformation of her feelings for Darcy. I feel this story shows in conversations and plot the transformation of both Elizabeth and Darcy. I appreciate the dialogue.
Sexual situations are not explicit and are written in to show progression of the story/characters transformation.
Incase you can not ;-) tell I highly recommend this story.

Worth the credit!

This was an amusing story and short enough to listen to in a couple of days. The beginning was a bit boring, but I couldn’t put it down after a few chapters in.

What I liked:

Darcy is not cruel, just aloof, and very reserved (outside of the bedroom). Their characterizations (considering their forced marriage) felt accurate. I enjoyed the mystery behind Darcy and the suspense built around the secret townhouse in London. There was a sad air to this variation, mostly because Elizabeth is forced to play the role of the submissive Regency wife, so we get a tamer Elizabeth. I can believe that Darcy changed after the traumatic event experienced by the couple. I loved his transformation and confessions of how his began as early as Netherfield. Overall, it was a well-written story that follows the compromised marriage trope. I will listen to this one again.

Absolutely adored this story

My first story by Jenetta James. A forced marriage scenario. Witty and well written. The narrator is great as well. I highly recommend this book to a Jane Austen fan fiction lover.

Very entertaining!

It is a truth universally acknowledged that not all P&P variations are written well, but that is not the case with this one. The story immediately sucks you right into the Regency era and smack dab in the middle of Lizzy's life. Give it a listen!

Wonderful

The story is presented strictly from Lizzy’s POV so you see none of Darcy’s emotions or motivations until she truly gets to know him. Those of us that know Darcy are able to give him much more a benefit of the doubt than she is as a result. Still, we are able to see Lizzy change her mind and fall for her husband, then wonder if that was a mistake.

*Slight Spoiler*.
After being “forced” to marry they must spend their first night in an Inn that only had one room left. This puts them in the same bed and their marriage is consumed. It is not detailed, well not very. It is a rather perfunctory consummation, which seems rather odd for the Darcy we know. *End of spoiler*

Highly recommend

One of my favorites

During their dance at the Netherfield ball, Darcy takes Lizzy aside to warn her about Wickham. They're alone in a room when they're caught by Mrs. Bennet who insists that Lizzy has been compromised. Lizzy is forced to immediately marry a virtual stranger. At Pemberley and Darcy's London home, Lizzy begins to uncover secrets about Darcy that lead her to mistrust him even more.

This Pride and Prejudice variation has always been one of my favorites, I've read it countless times as an ebook. When I heard it was going to be released in audio, I bought it on release day and immediately listened to it again. There is something so wonderful about this story. Forced marriage scenarios between Lizzy and Darcy have always been my favorite. In this book, Darcy and Lizzy marry before Darcy leaves Hertfordshire for the first time. Before he learns his true feelings for Lizzy, before he truly learns her character and to trust her with his secrets, before he humbles himself before her. This leads to some of the best and most heartbreaking scenes I've read.

The narration was well done, and fit the book very well. It was a really enjoyable listen and I would definitely recommend this one.

Great Story From Elizabeth's Point of View

Love this story even more on Audible. This is a story I have enjoyed rereading many times! A quick wedding is a nightmare for Elizabeth at first before she starts to gain understanding of her husband, then a terrible accident reveals much more. Highly recommend!

Not impressed

I had hopes for this book. Even though it struck me as a sort of fan fiction rather than a new book I still wanted to love it. I’ve found it almost unlistenable. I haven’t been able to finish it despite my desire. The narrator is really dreadful. I listened to the sample and didn’t think it was to bad but getting into it she’s just so lackluster. It’s possible that her narration makes the writing seem worse than it is. It’s also possible that the writing is just bad. I’m trying to emulate Jane Austin’s style the author has created a really clunky piece of writing. Everything feels forced and not just because of the awkward relationship. It’s just stilted. I strong recommend not getting this book.