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There are rules governing Peerage & Courtesy Titles in Regency Great Britain; it takes some education to get them just right, and it gets some subtle nuance to insert them successfully into a story with heavy class interactions… Let’s say, this one is not it !

I have been reading fanfics by this author and enjoyed her writing style & rythm.

This work rings a but different from others; a tad bit less polished, and this particular Lizzy is insufferable !

I find it ridiculous when authors get into Wickham’s villanous mind as he has a creepy internal dialogue where he delves into every perverse detail about his plans for REVENGE

It’s a long-ish format, over 1/3 in, and the constant repetition of Lizzie’s regrets, her circular struggles with her conscience, get boring fast! Very frustrating; we were told once, twice… it gets old by the 10th or 11th time [ eye roll ]

Years and years of a cold, emotionally dead Darcy, putting “duty” first and painfully neglecting and hurting Georgiana year after year, chapter aftet chapter. He is not a good brother, not even a good master (as Mrs Reynolds said in P&P), he is a self-indulgent stoic (a very real oxymoron there).

10% in and we are treated to an excrutiating tale about how Darcy neglects and emotionally abuses Georgiana out of “duty” and misplaced trauma — What in the world ?!???!

What’s the point of trying to write a variation, when the author keeps bringing up the original ploinr again and again, dragging it back kicking and screaming, to fit a performative list of landmarks, which are dettached from the proposed variation story !

Disappointing.

This book is astonishingly slow and dragging. Pages and pages of boring fillers that serve no purpose, that are not descriptive or poetic, just hollow fillers! I have no words… this is my third attempt to pick it up and see if I make a dent ln it…

No rythm, too rushed, whole chunks of the story are skipped over and summarised, so we only get disconnected snippets spanning those 16 days mentioned in the title.

We don’t even get one full day, and every character but the main couple, conveniently fades away (except maybe Mrs Gaediner & Georgiana who get a tad more artention).

Why is this book so sloppy and amateurish, you might ask yourself?? Well, maybe because characters do stuff that all the other characters around them are deaf and blind to (defying all logic or semblance of realism), just for the sake of extending angst and stretching a silly plot point,

For ex = after a crisis Bibgley & Darcy DO VISIT Longbourn, but the Bennets are not informed at all of a late night visit

Malicious gossip has painted Lizzy as the town’s whore, so how’s that for a fun read?????? [ barf ]

Unnecessary angst, contrived obstacles, silly misunderstandings, extending characters’ uncertainty, inserting ridiculous problems, and falling victim to the trend of forcing character torture for the sake of strengthening a weak plot.

Kitty and Lydia are 10x more ill mannered than in canon, and they pull each other’s hair in public, slap each other, and loudly crash into furniture breaking vases and such… [ eye roll ]

Haven’t I read before the same back story about Bingley being a young “mathematical genius”, tortured by young bucks at University, and Darcy rescuing him by finding him a valet to make him look the part of a gentleman???

This story reads too much like recycling >> it’s is a new edit of an old fanfic, but further than that, it reads like +15 yr old JAFF

The main plot is a cute spin, but the execution is a tad performative. Characters are two-dimensional and going through the motions. At the point when Wickham shows up his insertion into the story makes no sense, his purpose is contrived.

What’s the point in reading in excrutiating detail every moment of Lady Anne’s FOUR child loses??? (Still births, difficult labour, and weak newborns)

On the side, Rachel’s story is cruelly heartbreaking, and to what end ?????

I appreciate this author’s writing, she is very talented in writing for readers’ ease, her stories are logical, emotional and entertaining; but this one is surprisingly angsty !! So far there is heartbreak, treason, disloyalty, loss, bereavement…

Some subplots ring more sensitive than others, but I would note this one is full of Trigget Warnings!

In which Darcy manages to make out with Elizabeth in a dark closet, hot and heavy, and later the same day finds out she is engaged to her fop of a neighbor — Darcy sinks into angst and decides to let her go instead of clearing up the evident “mistake” going on.

The “comedy of errors” is boring and off putting, I am not enjoying the “comedy” part at all.

In which Miss Elizabeth Bennet curses like a sailor, and Mr Darcy accuses her of being the neighbor’s kept mistress — a round of applause for this travesty !

The storytelling is surprisingly good ! The story is quite simple in essentials, yet well planned, rounded, and convincingly written. There is some angst and slow burn going on, but it fits the ethereal vibe of the backdrop and the deeply sentimental makeup of the characters’ interactions.

It doesn’t drag and the fantasy element is not ridiculous at all.

This one is VERY promising so far ! There is a magical blight all through the kingdom, and Pemberley has turned into a mysterious, spooky house.

The story is stuck on a loop retelling over and over the same scene about Wickham poisoning Jane’s mind, and Jane struggling to believe in Lizzy ans be happy for her. Seriously, how can this scene replay over and over with no resolution at the end of it ???

The story is dragging horribly and we are not even halfway there [ eye roll ]

Each and every time Elizabeth speaks with Darcy her eyes sparkle and her head tilts — it’s beyond ridiculous !

This Darcy seems to have emotional incontinence, because he just magically speaks everything in his heart and soul to Elizabeth while at Netherfield (Jane’s illness). There is no need for story development or any unsolved plot-point here…

This story kickstarts with a puzzling, candid conversation, where Darcy gets everything in the opem with Elizabeth in every intimate, indiscrete detail about his feelings, and social expectations, to the extent of negotiating with Lizzy if and how to court her !

What more is there to it after that ???

Over 1/3 of the story in, and the main couple have not met (again) yet !

Darcy has been looking for Elizabeth for +2 years, and as he surprisingly finds out she is having tea with his aunt, just one door away from him, he allows his aunt to scold him like a child, and prevent him from seeing or speakinh with Elizabeth for some fake reason about “propriety” — unbelievable !

More than halfway in and there is no chemistry between Darcy and Elizabeth. Lizzy and Caroline, on the other hand, are bosom buddies and close to becoming bbfs !

I’m aghast that this “vagary” was “written” in the first place…

The execution of every scene and plot twist is lacking and illogical.

Darcy has just arrived at Pemberley one day ago, and suddenly with no warning at all, Bingley opens a door into Darcy’s study with no warning, no letter or message, no announcement, and his excuse? Bingley arrives with Mr Bennet’s permission to marry Elizabeth (totally out of the blue!) — beyond PARODY.

The lack of logic here is so astounding that there seem to be two (or more) parallel timelines here, where characters are & aren’t, know & don’t know stuff at the same time [that’s insane, I know!]

For ex. Darcy was the son of a 2nd born, the eldest grandchild, but still his Darcy grandparents ignored him for 8 yrs & decided to leave Pemberley to a baby girl from the eldest son, and more…

Since Elizabeth is already told of a BIG SECRET, and warned about a serious, credible life threat to her, OF COURSE her next step would be to confess this big secret to Wickham and jump on a hired coach on a 3-day journey, accompanied by one Mrs Young, with the nonsensical intent of asking protection from Wickham’s mother at Pemberley [applause! ]