Choice and Consequence: A Pride and Prejudice Variation

What Might Have Been #2

by Christine Combe, Christina Moore (Editor)

Fitzwilliam Darcy has been chasing after the villainous George Wickham for months, to no avail. In need of respite, he and his cousin Colonel Fitzwilliam accompany their friend Charles Bingley to Hertfordshire to assess the estate he has leased there. Darcy expects little pleasure in the small town of Meryton, so finds himself surprised indeed to be instantly captivated by the charming--if a trifle impertinent--Elizabeth Bennet.

Elizabeth Bennet swears she has no interest in matrimony at present, and would be happy to see all her sisters well settled before her. That is, until the enigmatic Mr. Darcy came into the neighborhood and upended all her ideals about herself. Both are candid about the reasons a match between would be undesirable, yet the friendship they agree upon inevitably gives way to deeper feelings.

On the very night Darcy and Elizabeth acknowledge their attachment, Darcy's elusive quarry turns up seeking him. Wickham's claims of innocence and an inheritance take Darcy to London, where an attempted compromise leads to confrontation with his uncle, the Earl of Disley. Then, as Elizabeth has become a player in the family drama, he explains all before he is drawn away again to Surrey by a letter regarding his sister, Georgiana.

Elizabeth is determined not to allow separation from Darcy to dampen her spirits, and their romance blossoms further through correspondence. Bolstering her happiness is the discovery that a relation she never had chance to meet generously left each Bennet daughter a legacy that greatly increases their prospects. In London for the Season with her sisters Jane and Catherine, Elizabeth is relieved to find acceptance from some of Darcy's noble relatives, though their notice inadvertently leads her to the very man whose heinous actions already cost one girl her innocence...and whose attempt at escape might just cost Elizabeth her life.

Genres: Romance, Fan Fiction

499 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 5, 2021

Reviews

[wosedwew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anger is smoke, revenge a consuming fire. ~ James Lendall Basford (1845–1915)

“Choice and Consequences” begins at a familiar place: Netherfield Park is let at last.

Fitzwilliam Darcy and Colonel Fitzwilliam have been searching for George Wickham since Georgiana Darcy was attacked in the previous book in this series, “The Correction of Folly”. That story varied from canon when the girl was rescued by Colonel Brandon and his new wife, the former Elinor Dashwood.

Georgiana is facing serious medical issues and has been sent to live temporarily in Highbury, where she is acquainted with George Knightley.

I took Revenge, for I had suffered long,
And my small Right became enormous Wrong.
~ Arthur Guiterman, "Of Wrath," A Poet's Proverbs, 1924

Seeking revenge for Georgiana, Darcy and Fitzwilliam finally meet with Wickham. But what if George Wickham is not the arch-villain they believe him to be? How can such a thing be proven?

Colonel and Elinor Brandon, Marianne Dashwood, Mrs. Jennings, the Tilney family, as well as the Donwell Abbey residents play parts in the story.

Thou art thy mother's glass, and she in thee
Calls back the lovely April of her prime ...
~ William Shakespeare

Just a word on Motherhood: Mrs. Jennings plays a major role in this tale. I always love that character but as I read this book, the relationship between Mrs. Jennings and Mrs. Bennet brought home a point I had never considered. The only real differences between these two women as Jane Austen created them are simple. Mrs. Jennings has succeeded in getting her daughters married. Mrs. Bennet has not. Mrs. Bennet must also struggle with the entail on Longbourn. Mrs. Jennings lives in a comfortable financial situation.

After the first book in the series, I had expected this would follow the Colonel and Elinor as they resided at Netherfield with the Bingleys. Instead, this story is focused on Darcy and Elizabeth as they struggle with Georgiana’s problems. There are some storylines still unresolved, so I shall look forward to the third book.

I recommend this to anyone who enjoys JAFF.

Take no revenge that you have not pondered beneath a starry sky, or on a canyon overlook, or to the lapping of waves and the mewing of a distant gull. ~ Robert Brault

[Sheila Majczan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although the author gives us a list of all the characters and their relationship (which she draws from all of JA's books) before beginning her story, the fact that there are just so many plus the additional fact that she changed some of the names and/or their relationship, i.e. marriage partners, etc., made it difficult for me to always sort out who-is-who even when they kept coming up over and over again. Matlock became Disley, while it is Theodore not Richard Fitzwilliam which are just a couple of the biggest changes. We also have Elinor, not Marianne, marrying Colonel Brandon who finds out he is inheriting name and fortune from a relation he did not know he had. Another important change is that Wickham is half-brother to Darcy and Georgiana. Mrs. Jennings from S&S turns out to be a sister to Mrs. Bennet - although they have not spoken to each other in years!

I have to tell you that I did not read the first book in this series. And that there is mention of a rape...although it is not described...only that it had happened before this story begins. So does that mean it happened in the first book of this series? If so I will NOT go back and read that tale. I do focus much of my reading on Darcy and Elizabeth which is the reason I skipped to this book.

Wickham is exonerated early in this story but then we are left along with Wickham, Darcy and the Colonel wondering just who it is that resembles Wickham and knows enough of his history to be able to represent himself as that man and commit heinous acts in Wickham's name. The three men show up in Meryton as Bingley leases Netherfield. While Darcy forms a friendship with Elizabeth early after coming there Bingley doesn't seem interested in any one particular woman. Soon we read of Mr. Bennet changing his interest in and management of his daughters. He does so after learning that a dowry has been provided for them and is ashamed that a relative has done what he ought to have been doing for years. Lydia is sent back to the nursery while the other four daughters sooner or later in this tale find attachments...one a surprise.

Jane, Kitty/Cate and Elizabeth go to London and are introduced to many in society and make a splash. Bingley is there but Darcy comes and goes as he makes visits to Georgiana. Theo finds a woman who sparks his interest however her father will have nothing to do with a man who has neither title, estate or fortune so Theo is not allowed to court her.

As we near the end of this story the identity mystery is solved but with great endangerment to our girl

This book does have happy endings for some while others, I am assuming, must wait until the third book to have their romances brought to the fore.

[James S · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lizzy, Darcy and Wickham

Lizzy and Darcy meet and a very enjoyable new what-if leads to an original story. Actually there are many what-ifs so this maybe called off canon but this universe is full of our favorite and unfavorite characters.

Many characters from other Jane Austen books live in this universe also.

I haven’t read book 1 in the series but I had no trouble starting with this book. I shall put it in my read-again list.

[MichelleH H · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely epic.

This volume is in itself an epic, but only best enjoyed by reading volume one first. The stories of Austen merging together was done masterfully. The romance between Darcy and Elizabeth was a unique one from other books I’ve read but not unrecognizable or over the top off canon. The pairing of two beloved characters from P&P was surprisingly yet well thought out and quite believable after a chapter when it was introduced.

Too many loose ends for my taste. I wanted more even with the length of this book.

It’s a good long read and therefore recommended for those in the mood for that kind of story.

I had some quibbles with the editing and wished for some closer reading by another eye to weed out the multiple mistakes in words that came very close but not quite perfect. There are a number of awkward sentences that had me rereading them to understand their meanings. This story deserves this kind of care and attention. I rounded up a 4.5 to a 5* for the story.

I really like this author and recommend her books.

[Lady Jl · Rating 5 out of 5]

a great collaboration

This was my second reading and I have to say this book is awesome. The main topic of the story was sad and the resolution was well written. Elizabeth and Darcy were at the forefront but so many other characters had more input in such a way I didn’t want it to end.

[Joan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Avid Reader

Definitely an original mashup of Jane Austen 's novels. I must admit that that I did get lost with who was related to whom, especially Colonel Brandon becoming a duke and being related to the Fitzwilliam families. Darcy did an excellent job of getting Caroline out of his life,especially after she interfere in a way that caused Elizabeth to get slapped and Edward Ferrars to become compromised. What happened to Georgina was horrible.! Wickham was reformed and earned an inheritance from a man who believed in him. I have never cared for General or Captain Tilney. They were were even worse in this novel! Poor Colonel Fitzwilliam came out the loser thanks to the Tilney family. There were some unusual pairings, but they made sense. For once, Mr. Bennet listened when someone spoke to him about Lydia and made changes. Darcy and Elizabeth had their HEA!

[Gail Frisby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow what a Story

I loved this Lizzy and Darcy. What was wrong with miss Bingley and Ann Devoutly! Lydia was finally given a set down and taken under control! The mixture of Sense and Sensibility and Pride And Prejudice was nearly done. I enjoyed the characters . I loved the love story of Darcy and Lizzy. Wish the story had went a little further into their married life!!

[CEK · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely crossover

Almost all the main characters from P&P, S&S, Emma, and Northanger Abbey wander throughout this story and make new relationships. Sometimes a little confusing to sort out the complicated family connections, the story has lots of drama, romance, wit and mystery. Excellent writing and editing.

[Michelle David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marvelous

I thoroughly enjoyed her first book in this series and this one was just as delightful. I hope she has plans to give Colonel Fits will an a happy ending in her next book.

[Bethanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

A successful merge of several Austen novels

It's a very long, but well written blend of several of Miss Austen's novels: P&P, Sense And Sensibility, North anger Abbey, and Emma. Most of these characters are friends or in some cases distant relatives but I couldn't keep everyone in my mind!
Darcy's in Hertfordshire because he needs a rest from searching for Wickham who has assaulted Georgiana. He's been hunting him for 8 months without success. He meets Elizabeth and while they have a rocky start he apologized and explained to her so she's forgiven him 100%! Caroline is worst than ever, Louisa is friendly to the Bennet women, and Charles doesn't fall in love with Jane! That is possibly the most interesting aspect of this story. He falls in love with a different Bennet woman!! ( not giving that away)
I enjoyed this because its so different even though some of the dialogue is the same, its said by different characters. There's a few surprises : Mrs Bennet has an older sister who she hasn't spoken to in over 20 years and its Mrs Jennings who is a widow whose husband left 10,000£ dowry for each of the Bennet girls. Anne de Bourge is just as obnoxious as her mother and decided to compromise Darcy but in her intoxicated state went to the wrong room and was caught compromising a Vicar ( not telling his name).
While some of the events were humorous, the underlying issue isn't : the attack and rape of a 15 year old girl and the repercussions of this and the search for the rapist take up a great deal of time. During this time we learned that its not Wickham who did this although Georgiana thinks it was. Wickham was in India for the past 8 years and has documented proof. He's involved in the search for the rapist along with Darcy and Colonel.
My only complaint is giving Colonel Fitzwilliam a different first name ( it should always be Richard) and changing the name of the Earl from Matlock to something else. It's downright annoying.

[lori huff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining

After reading the first book in this series, I was almost fearful of what mash-ups this author would include, after she drastically but convincingly altered Sense and Sensibility in the first book, but knowing that this one would likely focus on characters from P&P. It certainly does focus on that Austen tale, while also throwing in encounters with many others as well. The story continues with Georgiana Darcy's troubles, and the search for the villain who injured her, who Darcy believes is George Wickham. While on a break from his intense search for Wickham, Darcy comes to Hertfordshire to stay with Bingley, and meets Elizabeth Bennett.

You really should read the first book before starting this one, otherwise you won't know what's going on here. In other words, this isn't a stand alone story, but strictly a continuation. As in the prior book, the author wants to shuffle the cards and re-deal the deck, playing with different pairings for some of the main characters, and meldIng together many of the Jane Austen works. It's kind of fun, but also a tiny bit disturbing for Austen purists. Although I was ready to be surprised, and to go with the flow, some of the alterations in this installment felt wrong to me. In particular, the change made to the Bingley/Jane relationship absolutely rubbed me the wrong way, and felt alien and contrived. I just couldn't buy it, and it unfortunately colored my opinion of the whole thing. I love JAFF variations, but they have to make sense.

While Christine Combe is a very good writer, this book, like the first one, has a lot of dry narration at times, rather than dialogue between characters. There were many places where it seemed more like an essay, just a narrative description of situations, rather than interactions, and when these pages came up I started to skim. However, the book is well written and well edited. I recommend it with reservations.

[Kristin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I REALLY wanted to like this one but I just can’t. Some of the reasons are- Elizabeth’s voice sounds no different than Elinor’s did in The Correction of Folly. I have read all of Jane Austen’s books, I have a better understanding of Elizabeth than Elinor; and so her voice is very distinct to me. Many variations don’t have her exactly as Miss Austen wrote but I can work with that. What I can’t do, however , is having her sound so very generic and unlike herself.

The second reason would be that I can’t overlook the many violations of social norms/expectations that are committed in this book. Elizabeth would never be so blunt in regard to her censure of her family or her marital expectations, no matter how she might have wished to be, most especially to a stranger. That is a modern thing. Not to mention a chaperone was never another single male or even a married one. It was always a woman. She would never, ever have nursed a unmarried male who was completely unrelated to her. Not would she have invited someone into her bedroom while just in her nightdress and in bed-especially since she expected it to be Bingley- a single eligible male. Darcy would never have sat beside her while she was in bed and undressed unless they were married nor would he have covered her hand with his at dinner. Colonel Fitzwilliam would never have brought up a personal subject to her, even if he was shipping her and his cousin.

Another one is that the dialogue felt stiff this time round and I just couldn’t connect.

I did not finish this book since I just couldn’t ignore all of that anymore. Suspension of belief I can do but complete breeches of propriety and historical cultural norms is apparently where I draw the line.

[Esther · Rating 3 out of 5]

2nd reading DNF

The first time I read this Book, I only gave it 3 stars despite having given Book 1 Five stars. Once I started reading I remembered why. I found Elizabeth off putting. Too flirty to Darcy and gossipy. At one point she was gossiping about Collins and sat on the arm rest of the chair Darcy was sitting in. No way would an unmarried woman who was not yet courting Darcy would behave in such a manner. So much teasing between the men and just so much talking that it slowed the story down.

I found it tedious to read and started swiping past pages. When she denied being in a courtship with Darcy, only saying they were friends I decided to stop reading then. I believe I may have read the whole book before so let the 3 star rating stand even though if I had read this for the first time I would have only given it two stars.

I am not usually so tough on authors but I was really bored with this was one. But it is very possible the fault lay with me as I had read too many P&P vagaries recently and it is now time to get back to my LitRPG’s for some exciting reading.

[Carol Harlow · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was looking forward to reading this book but I'm afraid my reaction is a mix of disappointment and irritation.

I don't know the author's rationale for shoe-horning in more than twenty characters from three other Austen novels but it's very confusing that some have been given different spouses, backgrounds and life situations. Add a plethora of cousins, etc who have appeared from nowhere,
and I frequently had to turn back to the cast of characters to confirm someone's identity. Matters were not improved by the Matlocks becoming the Disleys - why?

There were many other things - anachronisms, irritating speech patterns and unlikely plotlines -
that made this book hard to appreciate.

This was an interesting story, well written, but the author has over-complicated it to the extent that a plain storyline became a chore to go along with.

[Kim Power · Rating 4 out of 5]

A most engaging story

This novel follows the general plot points of canon, but the original roles and personalities may be interchanged. There is a mystery entwined with the romance, as are unexpected redemptions and characters from other Austen novels. The characters are well drawn, and the dialogue is excellent, which is essential when your heroine is a noted wit.

I did deduct a star for some grammatical errors and typos. You do not “wile away” time, you “while” it away. And “might” does not mean the same as “mite”. Such errors flag that even the best spell/grammar checker cannot replace a competent proofreader.

[Lisa E]

Worth a look

There is a large cast of characters and it is still not clear to me how some are related, but that is very realistic, is it not? There was a small amount of language that seemed too modern and the mentioned medical practices sounded at least 50y ahead of their time, after a quick Google search. A reformed Wickham was as hard for me to believe as it was for Darcy. Will he gamble at being an absentee landlord of such a far off property? Will he lose it to the natives and shrug it off now that he is accepted?

[Mari · Rating 4 out of 5]

I kind of feel cheated… after the long, long story and the action in the last part when capturing our villain, the wedding and honeymoon was almost non existent! I really wanted to live that with ODC and it was anticlimactic how short it was! There were characters that I was hoping to read more about, such as Jane Bennet, Marianne Dashwood and Lydia Bennet and of course the Colonel and Wickham! So I hope the story continues
I pity poor Mr. Ferrars, he got the short straw in the plot! One would think the author didn’t like him! Lol

[Toni Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

a very good JAFF

A really interesting blend of several JA novels. I like the pairing of Eleanor and Col Brandon.
However, author needs to check her medical history. Surgery, anaesthesia etc were primitive at that time, there was no understanding of infectious mechanisms and blood transfusions weretoo dangerous to contemplate. Also no one used a hospital unless they were dying as that was always the most likely outcome of admission. Rich people especially did not use them as they were rife with disease and very dirty.

[M]

DNF. Very wordy, I was zoning out in places. I also didn’t feel the author properly understood the etiquette of the time or certain historical details, and as a result the characters felt off.

If there is going to be a mashup of lots of books together, changing many details and backstories is a little over complicating things imo, adding to the distraction of the reader.

[Lindsey Arruda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book!

This book was a great read. It kept me engaged throughout and there was just enough drama. The only part that wasn't my favorite was the ending. I think I would've liked it to be a bit longer and had a little breakdown of kids etc. But all in all a great read. More than likely will read again.

[Madenna U · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story is a mash up of lots of Austen plots, but the main romance is between characters named Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy. Although they are not their usual cannon selves. I did not read the first book in the series, but I didn't feel that I was missing anything (other than some character background).

[Debra McMaster · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Good What Might Have Been

I really enjoyed the interweaving of characters and was delighted to see that Choice and Consequence basically carried on with The Correction of Folly. I wouldn’t mind a What Might Have Been Book 3, hint, hint.

[Emily Garrett · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved it!

The author has captured the characters personalities perfectly! I love these books because of the *complete* plot change unlike other fan fiction. Christine Combe has created an alternate SUPERIOR version of Jane Austen's world. I can't wait for the next installment!

[Judi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly delightful.

Delightful read! I hope Ms. Combe has more stories to tell of Darcy and Lizzy. She weaves in the characters from JA’s other novels with finesse.

[Leslye B Harris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Almost Marvelous

But what happened to Jane, Lydia, and Colonel Fitzwilliam?!? Everything was great, but the wind up to the ending. Felt rushed.

[Julieann Martinez Sandoval · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic

I loved that Mrs. Bennet has another Sister and a surprise concerning Wickham. Three least favorite daughters of Mrs. Bennet are the first to marry.

[Eva Kenieva · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here we have a slightly different take on the immortal romance of Lizzie Bennet and Mr. Darcy. Many of the characters make better choices in this story than they did in Austen's original, and I enjoy seeing that. Also, the author mixes and matches some of the couples, including uniting characters who come from different Austen novels, and the way she sees these alternate romances developing is very interesting to watch. I'm looking forward to seeing who she finds for Georgiana!