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The Maleficence of Jessabelle

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From the author: "To me, one of the great plot bunnies of P&P lies in the motivation of Mrs. Younge. I know many have said she herself must have been in love with George Wickham, or that she was getting a cut of Georgiana's dowry but I thought I'd lay down a different interpretation instead."

It is somewhat based on the character of Jezebel from the Old Testament.

Link AHA: http://meryton.com/aha/index.php?show...

Unknown Binding

Published June 1, 2014

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Alex9903

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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
Profile Image for J. W. Garrett.
1,736 reviews132 followers
February 16, 2018
http://meryton.com/aha/index.php?show...

“No matter what you write, you actually can’t help retelling a fairy tale somewhere along the way.” –Catherynne M. Valente

This fairy-tale mash-up had several elements to it. There was a bitter villainess, a curse that froze the Pemberley Estate in time, and a distraught hero waiting for his true love to come along and break the curse. It was cute, different and I enjoyed that bit of paranormal element to it.

“Beware a kiss, he told her. Kisses are powerful things. You expose part of your soul.” –Ruth Frances Long, The Treachery of Beautiful Things

We had that page-time that we all long for with ODC. Darcy had been entrapped in a painting and Elizabeth fell into the painting with him. Never underestimate the power of EB or of true love. Yeah… it was cute. It was completely OOC and far out there… but cute.

The family history was hard to read… I don’t like reading where children are blamed for the sins of the parents. I know, in that time period, it was rampant. Even today… we have children who have been scarred by neglect. Thank goodness they don’t have supernatural powers when they grow up or practice the arts.
Profile Image for Debbie.
1,679 reviews77 followers
May 31, 2018
http://meryton.com/aha/index.php?show...

LOVE this! Maleficent, as you may know, is the name of the witch who put the magic spell on Sleeping Beauty and her castle in the Disney movie. Here, we are treated to Pride and Prejudice characters playing roles in the beloved fairytale.

In the Prologue, Elizabeth and the Gardiners are preparing to visit Pemberley. It was formerly a grand estate, now fallen into disrepair, and they debate whether it's even worth seeing.

As Chapter 1 begins, we are brought back to 1780. Mr. Darcy's mistress informs him that she is with child. As she grows up, the child, Jessabelle, is given good reason to hate the Darcy family. Unfortunately for Fitzwilliam Darcy, she finally seeks her revenge just as he comes into his inheritance, and she casts a powerful spell on him and on all of Pemberley.

Five years later, Elizabeth comes to view the estate with her aunt and uncle. She finds herself stuck in the curse with this haughty, annoying (but handsome) gentleman. How will they get unstuck? True love, of course! But when Mr. Wickham learns from Lydia that her sister is touring estates in Derbyshire, including Pemberley, he finds Jessabelle and they come up with a plan to strengthen the spell.

Such creativity! And this is written beautifully, as is all this author's works. Great short story!
Profile Image for Les.
2,911 reviews1 follower
July 25, 2017
I am celebrated for my frankness and I have previously stated I am not a fan of P&P fairy tale mashups and P&P Fantasy mashups so no one other than dear, clever, Amy D'Orazio could bring over to liking a book that is both.

This is a short tale that covers a lot of time and uses same names to represent different people so you need to pay attention. There is George Darcy, in his twenties, his mistress, and his potential fiance Elizabeth along with Viscount Saye (who will be Col Fitzwilliam's father, Fitzwilliam Darcy's uncle & the Earl), along with Mr. Wickham - the steward. Then in modern day we have Fitzwilliam Darcy, Elizabeth Bennet and Lt. Wickham.

In this scenario Darcy never comes to Meryton, in fact he has been absent for 5 years, and Pemberley has fallen to ruin. When Lizzy & the Gardiner visit Lambton and they learn of the decline they are still anxious to see it and discover what happened.

As to what happened, Mr. George Darcy's mistress was married off to Wickham and her daughter Jessabelle was eventually banned from Pemberley by Lady Anne Darcy. She is sent away and spends the ensuing years plotting her revenge. When Darcy senior dies she arrives at Pemberley with a practitioner of the 'cunning arts' (Which is nothing like cunning runts) and puts a spell upon Pemberley and Darcy.

Thus when Lizzy & The Gardiners [awesome band name] arrive it is a dilapidated ruin. But Lizzy decides she must explore and she does, eventually ending up in the gallery when she discovers a strange painting of Pemberley with a moving person. she uses a glass to see closer and finds herself inside the painting with an imprisoned Mr. Darcy. They quickly fall in love and discover that the more they love the more they become real, rather than canvas and paint.

When Wickham realizes that Lizzy is clever enough to break the spell he hies off for Derbyshire, leaving Lydia and the regiment in his rear view mirror. He and Jessabelle arrive at Pemberley and discover her spell is reversing itself and they plot to separate Lizzy & Darcy.

This is a fast, fun, fantastic, flirty P&P what if, and I loved it!
Profile Image for wosedwew.
1,334 reviews125 followers
July 27, 2017
Life is not a fairy tale. If you lose your shoe at midnight, chances are you will be walking home barefoot. ~Author unknown

I'm kinda a "fairy tale schmary tale" sort of reader ... but I loved this one!

Life isn't a fairy tale. If you lose your shoe at midnight, you're probably just drunk. ~Author unknown
Profile Image for Julianne Bellardo.
103 reviews23 followers
July 4, 2018
A fairy-tale like, very enjoyable story.

I loved the "Beauty and the Beast" atmosphere and the reasons behind the curse being broken (not gonna give any spoilers). It simply made sense to me, even giving me another perspective about Bella's and the Prince relationship.

The only think that irked me a bit was the almost insta-love relationship that developed in days (at most) between Darcy and Lizzy. It was a degree of devotion that made my eyebrows shot up, but then again, this WAS a short story - there wasn't much space to make it a slow burn relationship. So, not exactly a problem kkk
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews

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