Happier Than We Deserve

By: Melissa Halcomb

Narrated by: Danielle Cohen

That terrible event Elizabeth and her family has ever dreaded has come to pass and brought with it changes which none of them could have anticipated. Faced with navigating a whole new world with whole new advantages, are they up to the task? Collecting marriage proposals like handkerchiefs, Elizabeth wonders if she might have spurned her one chance at lasting happiness when she learns that Mr Darcy is not at all who she believed him to be.

Darcy is tired of fighting his feelings. His heart knows what it wants, and that is Elizabeth Bennet. When he learns that Mr. Bennet has passed away, he imagines riding in as the white knight, a savior come to rescue his beloved from a life of poverty. But when he reaches Hertfordshire, something is amiss and he finds that Elizabeth needs no rescuing, thank you very much.

©2022 Melissa Halcomb (P)2024 Tantor

Wanted to like it

While there were some details I enjoyed, I had a hard time with both the narration and the pacing of the story. Wasted a credit.

Pretty good

I enjoyed the story. The "rags to riches" trope is written well, just the way I believe Mr. Benet would have gone about it. While some of the story is understandably predictable and a tad corny, my only real issue with this was the fact that Darcy sounded like an absolute oaf. I'm uncertain why this specific voice was used for Darcy, but otherwise the narrator was quite decent. I felt the Lady Catherine part was incredibly rushed and a bit of a throwaway.

Please Replace Vaudevillian Voice Actor

Over emphasized ‘emoting’ is immediately off-putting: consistently over dramatic, almost comically overdone. The irritating performance detracts attention from the story. Strongest impression that the listener takes away is that the gratingly obnoxious voice performance overwhelmingly spoils the experience.

Over-dramatic narration

I’ve read this book before and have enjoyed the story. However, the narrator reads it in an extreme matter that is very off putting.

Entertaining Story, contrived narration

Narration was bombastic, forced and exaggerated.
Story was a bit labored as a result. Ok character development