The Wager

Never expecting to lose the race to his cousin, Viscount Ashton, Darcy must now accept the terms of their wager.

“Can we negotiate terms?”

"You agreed to dance, at minimum, three sets per evening. You are not required to dance the opening or final sets, but you must dance the supper set and escort your partner into dinner.”

With the end in sight, only three more balls to attend, he travels with his good friend Bingley to Hertfordshire where he meets again Lady Elizabeth Hamilton Bennet, a woman he egregiously insulted six months prior.

“She is tolerable I suppose, if one prefers ordinary garden flowers. However, she is not handsome enough to warrant an introduction.”

Fate truly has not smiled at him lately.

©2024 Sue Barr (P)2024 Sue Barr

Better with repeated listening

After my first listen I rated the story and narration as solid fours, but upon more than one relisten I have decided to give a full review and change the fours to fives. The story is relatively light and enjoyable, and I have found the narration improves if I change the speed to 1.15 or 1.2.

Great story, okay narration

First and foremost, the narrator is nasally; this unfortunately, means that several characters sound pompous and grating when they, in fact, are not.
However the writing is good and I thoroughly enjoyed the plot. I especially enjoyed the fact that Ashton continued to slowly drop in precedence by Darcy as a favored cousin. hah! I would listen to it again.

Fantastical approach to P &P

The narrator was pretty good, but like many others I wasnt as impressed with the male voices as the ladies.

I adored this version of Jane. By far it is one of the best I've seen in the 30 or so P&P variations I've read. I hate the "Jane is SUPER naive" with her head in the clouds - depictions where she isn't even aware that bad things happen to people... BUT this Jane is most certainly superior to that trope. Jane is still polite and kind, but here she has a backbone with an interesting & mature personality.

This story is a definite departure from P & P. Overall it is a good tale with clever dialog. But I didn't really feel like I was listening to a variation of P & P... more like it was a generic Regency "Duke" romance with some familiar names and places.

I don't mind P & P variations that completely diverge from the original by changing circumstances or settings... or even versions where some aspects of a character's personality are altered. But this one... well without giving spoilers just seemed to be more about benevolent aristocrats and landowners marrying within their class. Which let's face it, is certainly not what Jane Austen was attempting to do in any of her books.

Fun story to see Darcy lose a bet

The wager is a horse race between Darcy and his cousin. Darcy being the loser has to dance at 20 balls before the end of the year. No spoilers as you find this out immediately. This is a story of Elizabeth is not being a Bennet and has higher rank and wealth than canon. Mr. Bennet loves Mrs. Bennet, but missed out on marrying her first. She was blissfully married to a young rector and they had three children Jane, Elizabeth and her twin brother. Her husband and his brother died in an accident and Mr Bennet came to support and love her and her children after her mourning was completed. I really did enjoy Mr. Bennet’s love and care for his wife, especially after she had suffered a head injury and she struggled with memory and nerve issues. From their father’s side of the family the children had rank and wealth but it was a secret the community kept. Darcy meets Elizabeth at a ball in London and insults her but she along with her aunt and uncle took him to task. Darcy and his cousin travel with Bingley to Netherfield and keep the secret of the ladies family. Oh the Bingley family continues to stick their feet (not just foot) in their mouth repeatedly except for Mr. Hurst, who knows the truth and is laughing his butt off behind the scenes. Darcy is good at eating, humble pie and making himself agreeable to Elizabeth. Darcy and his cousin make good with Jane and Elizabeth and we get a beautiful happy ending.

Beautiful

This was a whimsical version of Ms. Austen's novel. Loved including Marianne and Miss Dashwood from Sense and Sensibility in this version of Pride and Prejudice.