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.

great story building

I really enjoyed this story, ODC connect right in the beginning, but then go thru their trials and tribulations. the author did a very detailed job of sharing their feelings and experiences with the listener, I think the relationship building was very well done. alI don't feel like there's much to note about the storyline, it is different from canon, but stays true to what you might expect. Lizzy and Darcy do a lot of emotional growth in this story! it's well done. the narration is good, she interprets the characters well.

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.

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.