What If a Head Injury Left Jane Ignoring Mr. Bingley and In Love with Mr. Darcy?

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Source: Gift from Publisher

TYPE OF NOVEL: Pride and Prejudice Variation

THE PREMISE: Due to a run-in with a dog, a footbridge, and an errant hat, Mr. Darcy becomes the savior of two additional Bennet sisters… But he is still disheartened because he is lacking encouragement from the one sister whose heart he is desperate to win… And now he has accidentally earned the regard of the sister his best friend is on the brink of proposing to… What can be done to set this all right?

MY THOUGHTS: Poor Jane! Poor Mr. Darcy! And poor Mr. Bingley! But what a diverting premise! It is always so much when things get a little mixed up. And with Jane enamored with Mr. Darcy, Elizabeth conspiring with Mr. Darcy, and Mr. Bingley envious of Mr. Darcy things are royally mixed up in this variation!

As with other stories by Jan Ashton, one of the elements I most enjoyed was this story’s humor and farcical nature. Not only is Jane experiencing some memory loss, she seems to be expressing her thoughts through poems and nursery rhymes. And then you have Mrs. Bennet who is in a tizzy because she thinks Jane has two suitors and she constantly vacillates between which one she should strive to make her son-in-law. And lastly you have Mr. Darcy gently and politely pretending to be a dull and undesirable suitor to help Jane fall out-of-love with him. I enjoyed seeing these different and unique behaviors for these characters. It was interesting to see Jane act in an unpredictable, guileless, and oblivious way. And I especially enjoyed seeing Darcy and Elizabeth work together and all their moments alone together. Their morning meetings with sweet ardent declarations and amorous kisses were a perfect balance for the madness going on at Longbourn.

While I initially loved the idea for this premise and thought the twists employed would be unique and fun to explore, I did end up wishing for  a little bit more activity and direction with this story. I’m not sure if it was perhaps a touch longer than it needed to be or if the pacing was just a little slow, but it did feel like this story maybe lacked some development for its length. In addition, some of the scenes and characters felt a little redundant and one-note. There was not much variance or new developments once the main conflicts/challenges were realized. And I’ll admit, some of that repetitious behavior got a little bit monotonous – such as Mr. Bennet always being so callous and unsympathetic and Mr. Bingley continuing to remain impatient and anxious.

Full of schemes and mishaps A Famous Good Marrying Scheme is an excellent diversion for readers that delight in lighthearted romps, matchmaking (and reverse matchmaking) schemes, and Mr. Darcy saving the day. You can always count on Jan Ashton to come up with something playful, original, and entertaining!

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