Sacrifice, Support, and Slow Healing
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Source: Review Copy from Author
TYPE OF NOVEL: Pride and Prejudice Variation
THE PREMISE: Desperate to save her family, Elizabeth sacrifices herself in a marriage of convenience to a virtual stranger, the Earl of Barrington. But her marriage ends up being more horrific than she could have ever imagined. And now she once again encounters and enlists the support of the man whose proposal she rejected just a few months before…
MY THOUGHTS: I am intrigued by this darker premise and all the new characters and circumstances it introduces.These new adversaries โ who are extremely cruel, abusive, and manipulative โ present some interesting new obstacles for Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy. And I was curious to see what their path to each other would like now that Elizabeth has experienced an excruciating first marriage.
The first half of this story is full of excellent drama and tension as Lory Lillian oscillates between the shocking present-day life-altering events that Elizabeth is slowly coming to terms with and flashbacks to scenes of her traumatic marriage (NOTE: a few incidents of physical abuse take place and are later mentioned again). Such a premise had me riveted. I couldn’t wait to see her escape this nightmare situation and heal from all she experienced.
And that is what the second half of the story illustrates โ Elizabeth’s journey to healing and happiness. In this part of the story readers witness Elizabeth’s impressive strength, resilience, and extremely selfless heart. There are many wrongs she makes right, she provides new opportunity and grace to burdened victims, and she uses her newfound wealth and power to help any who might need it. Her actions and efforts are indelibly admirable and it was wonderfully inspiring to see how someone who experienced such trauma can then make such a positive impact on the world around them.
Elizabeth has a strong team of supporters that assist her with her management of her numerous new responsibilities โ the Bingleys, her aunt and uncle, estate trustees, solicitors, and most importantly โ Mr. Darcy. It was gratifying to see Elizabeth work alongside such respected allies, and I loved all the good they accomplished and small battles they won, but part of me wished for something more still. There was so much to do with inheritances, estate/charity management, supervising responsibilities โ it was front-and-center the primary focus of this tale. And Elizabeth’s relationship with Mr. Darcy was very much secondary. So much so, that any overt relationship development between them only began within the last forty pages of the book. I wouldn’t have minded more balance between the two โ fewer repetitive scenes about estate/charity management and more expressive scenes of emotional development and depth between Darcy and Elizabeth. Given that this is a Lory Lillian story, I may have gone in with expectations of seeing some โhot mush.โ 😘
In addition, my other quibble for this tale is that so much is told to the reader rather than shown. With so many characters experiencing such intense emotions and compelling obstacles, I would have loved to have felt connected to them and experienced their emotions and thoughts firsthand.ย And to spend more time in their heads as they dealt with these different and more harrowing hardships.
Poignant and empowering โ The Mistress of All is a gripping and inventive tale that beautifully illustrates Elizabeth rising from burnt ashes like a glorious phoenix. I loved seeing Elizabeth Bennet traverse such a different and brave path! I cannot wait to see what Lory Lilian writes next!
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I read and enjoyed this story. Great review, Meredith.
Sheila, thank you for your comment and thank you so, so much for all your detailed, insightful and so interesting reviews on most of my books. Much appreciated it! “heart.”
I read this and enjoyed it! Thank you for reviewing.
Whew! Your review was spot on. I shivered and shook as I read this story. Goodness. Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us. Blessings.
wow, sounds intense.
I enjoyed this story very much. Really good review, Meredith. I hope this will bring more people to read it. I understand it has been revised but have not reread it since.
This was a different story, different because it wasn’t a retelling but a variation. For me the ‘show vs tell’ writing style is good guidance but for the really grim stuff (and this story had plenty of that without showing everything,) is sometimes easier to take when told. It’s weird, I crave the unique plots, but get nervous when I read about a book with really dark angst and put off reading it. I liked the business part of Elizabeth taking hold of her inheritance, with help, and using it for good.
Michelle – thank you for your lovely comment. And you guessed my mind – I was very reluctant to “show” in this story, so I used “tell” and mostly like flash backs, because even I could not visualize what was happening in that house and how cruel the Earl and his mother were :-). This is precisely why I did not introduced more “hot mush” in it – I simply could not find “the room” for it ๐ Anyway, I will never write another such story again LOL I am a major angst wimp, I have no idea what was in my mind when I started it ๐ ๐ As for Revision – TORN had suffered a major make-over, not The Mistress.. Hugs.
Meredith, thank you for your lovely review. Always a pleasure to read your thoughts. It was a story very difficult to write (never again LOL!) and I used more “tell than show” because describing more of the violence and suffering caused by it was too much for me (major angst wimp here LOL) One thing of which I was very fond and proud of myself in this story was my original character Cece, I loved sketching and writing it and I was so happy that most of the readers loved her too ๐