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Still stuck here — this story has failed to grab my attention, and I can usually read through anything, even when I dislike it !

Cnel Fitzwilliam’s brother has died only weeks ago, and instead of keeping mourning, he is planning to attend an assembly in Lambton and dancing rhe evening away !

I was already shocked that the Darcys of Pemberley were not going into half mourning for their Uncle’s heir (their blood cousin!). I would have expected Darcy to wear a black armband and Georgiana to darken her gowns…

Halfway into the story and there are two main mysteries remaining >> What horrible thing happened to Elizabeth, or what did she witness 5 years ago at Pemberley? And what happened to Georgiana before Elizabeth’s present visit, to make her health & spirits deteriorate (lack of sleep, nightmares?, depression, refusing to eat)

The time leaps are awkward, 3 months into E’s visit and hardly any progress in the plot

Cnel Fitzwilliam calls 20-year-old Elizabeth “a woman”, Lizzy calls 15-year-old Georgiana “this woman”, the two LADIES (girls) are called “women” by Darcy and his cousin — it sounds crass.

It’s absolutely tone deaf to Austen and to Regency speech/mindset !! Social niceties exist(ed) for a reason…

I often see a misuse of the words “woman” or “female” in JAFF/Austen variations. It’s used carelessly, without furthet meaning, maybe as authors would use them today to describe any woman…

But in Regency England “woman” alone was too generic and even more coarse. Language demanded more specific terms denoting age/class/education/status >> lady (preferable for Gentry), maiden, lass, for ex.

There are two strange points so far >>

1) Elizabeth has some mystery memories from her previous visit to Pemberley, which are painful/traumatic, and her strong emotions + avoidance to name them gives it a sordid, unsavory vibe.

2) Darcy hardly remembers she girl who visited Pemberley one summer, but Elizabeth has a set recollection of a cold, distant, dismissive Darcy, and she has beef against him ! Why ??

Pet peeves = cliché phrases or formulas repeated as fillers and with a bit of a modern ring

- utterly and completely
- “My thoughts exactly”
- “I could not agree more”

Yeah, this Lizzy is a nasty piece of work ! This is Elizabeth addressing the step-mother who raised her and the mother of her younger half-sisters…

“ And from now on, if any of you wishes for something particular from me, you will beg me, with proper gratitude and humbleness! Not asking, not demanding, but begging and showing thankfulness afterwards! “

Here it comes ! The set down moment >> Elizabeth unleashes an “epic” talk to Mrs. Bennet about how entitled she is and how poorly she has treated Elizabeth [ eye roll ]

I strongly dislike these contrived moments of “reckoning” authors inflict on characters they want to demean or punish. It gives “power” to main characters and highlights a childish idea of “justice”.

I find it usually misogynistic.

The “two steps forward, one step back” progress in the relationship between Darcy and Elizabeth is getting boring.

He is courting her within marriage, she remains clueless about his/her feelings, and they are both constantly getting interrupted by servants/family/random trouble whenever they get a private moment and a small understanding between them!

Darcy likes Elizabeth and he has been nothing but honourable and courteous to her. Elizabeth likes Darcy, so every time she gets nervous she “unintentionally” brings up her money, “unintentionally” offending him [ eye roll ]

Also, it’s really awkward to read how much Elizabeth despises her stepmother and how she only deals with her Bennet sisters out of social obligation.

So far Darcy has been nothing but decent, kind and considerate towards Elizabeth. She met him through her uncle Gardiner, who is Darcy’s dear friend and confidante.

So HOW IN THE WORLD does Elizabeth get into her head that Darcy is a snob who dislikes Wickham because he is a servant’s son and lower in social class??? This makes no sense, and it stinks of Lizzy reading P&P beforehand [ eye roll ].

Elizabeth knows her husband (Darcy) despises Georgiana’s husband, she knows he was a former family friend and now her husband disapproves of him. She knows Darcy is pained by him marrying Georgiana.

So when she meets Wickham “by chance” in the rain, she thinks it’s perfectly natural to INVITE HIM INTO THE HOUSE when Darcy is away, and feed him brandy and cake !!!!

Juvenile, comedic, fast-paced style.

Each short chapter offers a different first person point of view with much internal dialogue, harsh judgements, and plenty of illogical-yet-cheeky references to original P&P text [ eye roll ].

The four syllable plot point was forgotten after the first (presentation) chapter — thankfully !

We are told Darcy is struck surprised by seeing Elizabeth “in color” for the first time (at an asembly).

But we were explicitly told that from the first day the Bennet sisters left mourning attire, Darcy and Elizabeth have been together several times, at Pemberley (visiting Georgiana) and once on a day excursion to see Bingley’s new home.

Very ill advised for the author to name Bingley’s newly purchased home Haddon Hall — this is the name of a super important, well known, real-life historic building in Derbyshire. It’s a massive medieval castle, former seat of the Dukes of Rutland, still in the hands of the Manners family (the current Duke’s brother)

Bingley can’t afford this one !

There are several instances of editorial gaffes in which a scene is sort of retold in different/consecutive paragraphs with slight alterations or in a circular pattern that is confusing to read : a farewell that happens with similar words in two or three different places, Mary or Kitty saying the exact same words on different scenes reacting to similar situations.

Probably different drafts copy-pasted together

1) Darcy agrees to have Georgiana invite ALL the Bennet ladies to Pemberley, G goes to write the note asap

2) weeks go by and the Bennet household only see the Darcys at church

3) an eternity afterwards the note is sent to the Bennets with an invitation for Mary ONLY

Strange that…

Mr Darcy addresses Miss Darcy and says “with your mother’s approval” — WHAT IS THIS???

Is this a typo, an editorial misstep, or a new addition to this variation that we have not been told before ??

Funny how a trip from Meryton to Lambton includes commentary on the landscape near London (a usual geographical gaffe).

The story is slow paced and the supposed tension between the characters is not “tensioning” — dragging so far >> I am forcing myself to push through, but the story fails to capture my interest and I find myself avoiding it !

Mrs. Young boldly talking back to Mr. Darcy and preasuring him to change his mind about removing Georgiana from Ramsgate is ridiculous; she was employed as a servant and the master’s orders were not up for debate or negotiation — illogical, crazy, out of character, without any sense of historical coherence too!

Elizabeth is at a certain Lady’s home receiving gentlemen callers. The scene is described in a fragmented way, Elizabeth’s perspective, an interaction with a suitor, then Darcy’s perspective.

In the switch something supernatural happens and the scene magically turns into a ball, in which music & dance become part of the setting. Amazing !

Repetitive Formula = “Not this, but that.” AD NAUSEAUM…

Token example :

“Lady Catherine’s perceived power had not vanished—but it had been contained. Recognition had been extracted, not granted. Courtesy had become a boundary, not a weapon.”

As it has been pointed out by keen readers, some books keep repeating the exact same phrase structure over and over, and once you notice it, it becomes irritating in the extreme !

Every other sentence is structured in a redundant scheme of one positive + one negative >> “not this, but that”, “not in this manner, but like this”, “this, rather than that” [ eye roll ]

EVERY. OTHER. SENTENCE !!!

Over 10% in and this story should be called >> The Sad Tale of Woe and Isolation of Princess Caroline of Brunswich in the Evil Court of the Prince Regent

What’s the point of making it into a P&P variation later ???

While Lavinia/Elizabeth is free to visit Darcy alone at his home in London & at his rental cottage in Hertforshire. AND to travel to London alone with him, with zero questioning or reputational consequence, Lydia is threatened with social disgrace and shunning after the same carriage ride to London (but with Wickham). Hypocrite Lizzy makes Lydia marry the rake (who is also involved in a criminal conspiracy).

Awful !

The plot has some distant resemblance to Heyer’s The Grand Sophie, in the sense that Lavinia/Elizabeth is a rich, entitled, very independent heiress, who is also an insufferable know-it-all

This story has a background murder-mystery (who killed Lavinia’s father who was a spy/ambassador?) which is being pushed & shoved to match the romance part of Darcy falling for Elizabeth

Why this depiction on Lavinia/Elizabeth is super problematic >> because being publicly known as a natural child (a bastard), her witty, outgoing personality (because she really is an orphaned heiress) becomes crass, viulgar, bold, and even sordid

If a newly arrived natural child winks at a gentleman in the assembly, it can be seen as shameless flirting bordering on immorality !

I picked up this book out of curiosity to see how it would deliver on the “E is not a Bennet” trope

Supposedly Lavinia/Elizabeth is a niece in hiding, & for her own security she needs to fake her identity… problem is, to accomplish that, THE WORST possible solition is to pass Lavinia as Mr. Bennet’s ILLEGITIMATE daughter; the scandal would attract attention, it would have social consequences ! Bad call here