What If A Confused Elizabeth Mistakenly Believed She Was Engaged to Mr. Darcy?

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Source: Gift from Publisher

TYPE OF NOVEL: Pride and Prejudice Variation

THE PREMISE: The day after Mr. Darcy’s proposal Elizabeth gives everyone a fright as she goes missing and is later found unconscious from a snake bite. While her body is able to recover from this experience,  her mind is not – it seems like Elizabeth has lost all her memories from the last ten months… Which means she has no memory of Mr. Darcy or his proposal. Mr. Darcy’s actions and interests are slightly misconstrued, and now he is forced to conceal the truth of what took place between them…

WHAT I LOVED:

• An Atypical Accident: Snake bites plus amnesia – a new twist indeed. And at such a time! Adding even more turbulence to the tumultuous emotions and events that have just taken place. I loved the idea of Elizabeth losing all the memories of her encounters with Mr. Darcy and essentially beginning their acquaintance again in very different circumstances. I loved seeing Mr. Darcy so openly caring and protective (especially his actions with the doctor) and Elizabeth so vulnerable and shy.

• An Abhorrent Concealment: Against his will, against his reason, and even against his character, Mr. Darcy is forced into deceiving Elizabeth, and he does indeed find the disguise abhorrent. It was interesting to see Mr. Darcy placed into this situation – for him to understand its necessity, but at the same time be very aware that it may come with some ruinous consequences. A very unique internal battle to see explored.

• Learning to Love: I loved witnessing Elizabeth’s mixture of feelings regarding Mr. Darcy – imagine being engaged to someone who is a total stranger to you! She is learning all about him and his character anew. It was lovely to see what attributes she discovered and how her admiration and regard blossomed right before our eyes. Her evolution of feelings were depicted beautifully. I especially loved the moments where Elizabeth’s own affections and wishes were so strong and she was impatient and infuriated with Mr. Darcy for not acting on his.

• A Question of Trust: Vulnerability combined with broken trust creates a potent duo. I appreciated the portrayal of Elizabeth’s feelings throughout these events – the confusion, the insecurities, the fear – it all felt very natural. I also thought the depiction of how difficult it is for trust to be repaired to be very real to life.

• Saye, Saye, Saye: This guy…this guy is out of control. He steals every single scene he appears in. I cannot read one page about him without grinning and laughing to myself. I absolutely adore this character’s mixture of hilarious irreverence, exasperating inappropriateness, and intuitive perception. I love everything the man says and does, but in this book, my favorite would be his first encounter with Elizabeth – hysterical and devious.

WHAT COULD’VE BEEN BETTER:

• If I were to say anything, it might be the secondary character storylines (Mr. Bingley, Anne) – maybe there wasn’t enough set-up/development for them, but at the same time I wouldn’t want any more page time taken from D’s&E’s storyline.

FINAL THOUGHTS: 

📖  Mr. Darcy, Saye, and Amy D’Orazio ALL do their best in this enthralling and entertaining Pride and Prejudice variation.

🎩  Disguise + Deception = Disaster for Mr. Darcy!

💔  Concealment, mistrust, vulnerability, and regret – Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth face a unique combination of conflicts in this tale.

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