What If Darcy and Elizabeth Received the Gift to Turn Back Time?
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Source: Review Copy from Author
TYPE OF NOVEL: Time Travel, Pride and Prejudice Variation
THE PREMISE: Mr. Connors is skilled and talented apothecary that experiments with inventing his own remedies. One of his best creations is a potion that allows the user to travel back in time by one hour. Mr. Connors encounters Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy on two separate occasions and they both render him a very valuable service. To show his appreciation and gratitude, he gifts them each a flask of his Temporal Shift potion. Unbeknownst to their family, friends, and each other, both Darcy and Elizabeth find many uses for this very special tonic…
MY THOUGHTS:
Will this potion be the antidote to Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth misunderstanding each other? Knowing what we know about Darcy and Elizabeth, readers can anticipate all the times having such a power could come in handy. And it does. Especially for Mr. Darcy, who has penchant for putting his foot in his mouth. However, it comes in handy in some other unexpected and beneficial ways as well.
I thought this was such a fun and inventive premise! I love that Mr. Bigler made a point to include some limits and logic to this time travel phenomena. There are rules and consequences, and it all feels as believable as possible for a world where time travel is possible. I especially loved the new original characters – Mr. Connors and his wife. They were endearing and well-drawn, and I immediately felt invested in all their concerns.
The potion is used quite frequently in this novel. Mr. Darcy, Elizabeth, and another character make use of their flasks severals times each. In some instances the use of this potion was a little underwhelming since the end result didn’t really change events to be any different from what already happens in canon. But then there were other times where the use of the potion was more exciting – it either created a change, induced a new revelation, or saved a life. With a lot of the story covering very familiar ground (several scenes follow the same exact dialogue from canon) and a lot of passages repeating themselves (due to going back in time one hour), I found myself much more engaged by all the elements of the story that were new and different.
While the story definitely had some exciting moments, I sadly didn’t feel like I was always very connected to it for some reason. It might be because the writing style was very report-like – lots of statements and summarization. Maybe including more description of emotions and feelings might help the reader experience the story alongside the characters and feel that deeper connection to the events taking place. I also had a little quibble about the delay with Darcy and Elizabeth finally declaring their feelings – why let Elizabeth leave and why wait?
FINAL THOUGHTS:
⏪. How I wish a potion like this really did exist! How wonderful it would be to go back and hit REWIND!
🕚 This story illustrates what happens when Darcy and Elizabeth have the power to take back their words…
📖 Diverting, light, and imaginative – congrats on your debut release, Jeff Bigler!
I read this some time ago. The premise was intriguing but didn’t totally deliver. I would have enjoyed it more if every rewind resulted in something at least a bit different instead of some making no difference at all. I did enjoy the read but it didn’t end up on my shelf of favorites.
Thanks for the review. I will take a look as the premise sounds interesting.