Hi friends! Happy Friday! 🎉

I’m so thrilled to welcome back author Mary Smythe to Austenesque Reviews today! 🙌🏼

Mary is here to celebrate her newest book – which is coming out this Monday – On His Judgment Alone! 🤩

And if I counted correctly, this is Mary’s 12th release!! 😮

Congrats to Mary on her beautiful bouquet of books! 📚

Mary is here to share an excerpt of On His Judgment Alone! We hope you enjoy! 🤗

 

~ Book Description ~

I do not see what right Mr Darcy had to decide on the propriety of his friend’s inclination, or why, upon his own judgement alone, he was to determine and direct in what manner that friend was to be happy

When Fitzwilliam Darcy hides Jane Bennet’s presence in London from his friend Bingley, he assures himself it was done for the best. That he was forced to collude with the scheming Miss Bingley and betray his own principles to do it is immaterial—Bingley cannot be trusted to behave rationally where Miss Bennet is concerned.

But guilt proves a persistent companion, especially when Darcy cannot forget Jane’s spirited sister Elizabeth, whose fine eyes and clever wit haunt him still. A chance encounter at the theatre forces him to confront the hypocrisy of his interference and consider making amends—but will Elizabeth ever forgive him for the pain he’s caused her beloved sister?

As the consequences of his meddling unfold, Darcy must face an uncomfortable truth: he had no right to decide the propriety of his friend’s inclination or determine how Bingley should find happiness. And as his own feelings for Elizabeth grow impossible to deny, he begins to question everything—his judgment, his pride, and the very foundations upon which he’s built his understanding of love, duty, and honor.

Can a man who orchestrated another’s heartbreak find redemption? Or will Darcy’s arrogance cost him the only woman who could truly make him happy?

~ Excerpt from On His Judgment Alone ~

“And where is that tradesman friend of yours tonight? Do you not generally drag him to these things?”

Darcy did not deign to look back at his cousin Viscount Marbury and continued on through the curtain that separated him from the interior of his theatre box. “I suppose you mean Bingley. He is indisposed tonight.”

Colonel Fitzwilliam, who did indeed turn back to share a smirk with him, answered, “Is he lovesick again, then? Who is the lucky lady this time?”

Darcy sighed, settling himself into his preferred seat. It had been more than two months since Bingley had last seen Jane Bennet and at least that long since anyone had seen him smile properly. From November to February, he had stewed in the doldrums, and Darcy was at a loss as to how to bring him out of it. Bingley had never nursed a failed tendre for more than a week ere to his flirtation with Miss Bennet, but her ethereal beauty and sweet disposition had apparently infected him with a passion that was not easily cured. Witnessing his friend’s acute misery week after week bolstered Darcy’s decision to keep them apart whilst the calculating country miss remained in town; clearly, Bingley was so weakened by his own besottedness that he might do something rash were they to meet again before his feverish infatuation abated.

“You would not know her. They met in Hertfordshire.”

“Hertfordshire! What the devil was he doing there?” grumbled Marbury as he took his seat. He placed himself in one of the prime spots to see and be seen and seemed to lose interest in his own query as he cast his gaze about the space. “I say, is that not Harriette Wilson? They say she has turned Prinny’s head.”

Darcy sniffed even as Fitzwilliam chuckled. He did not make a point of familiarising himself with courtesans, even if they hobnobbed with royalty. “I am sure I do not know. As for Bingley, recall that I mentioned he took a house there in the autumn.”

While Marbury observed the lady in question with his opera glass, Fitzwilliam replied, “Nether-something, yes?”

“Netherfield. It is an easy distance from town, and I felt it a good property for him to begin with. He aims to purchase in a few years, and it would benefit him to see what estate management is about before making a permanent choice.”

“Purchasing an estate will not wash the stink of trade from his hands,” scoffed Marbury, still squinting through the glass.

Darcy bristled. “Bingley is as much a gentleman as any other I know.” And far more the gentleman than some.

“You say he met a lady there?” Fitzwilliam interjected just as Marbury opened his mouth to reply. The viscount ceded the conversation to his younger brother with an ill-natured grunt. For a soldier, the colonel was remarkably talented at keeping the peace.

“Indeed. She is much like you are imagining—blonde, blue eyes, statuesque—and he became quite smitten with her. We were forced to leave the neighbourhood rather precipitously lest he find himself beholden to making her an offer.”

“It is just like Bingley to get himself in that sort of scrape,” Fitzwilliam said with a chuckle. “I take it she was not suitable if you felt the need to rescue him from fair damsel?”

“I should say not,” Darcy scoffed. “The lady herself was genteel, but her family was atrocious. Five sisters, all out, and the parents do nothing to curb their behaviour. Wild, ungoverned, vulgar…Bingley is fortunate to have made his escape when he did, else he would become the laughingstock of society.”

“A shame that a singular rose should grow amidst a tangle of thorns.” Fitzwilliam shook his head.

As if pricked by one of those thorns, Darcy felt a pang of guilt. “They were not all as bad as that. One of her sisters was…” How even to describe Elizabeth without giving away his own tendre? “Witty. Charming. Clever. Quite as lovely as her elder sister, in her own way.”

Fitzwilliam smirked at him, his left eyebrow rising knowingly. “Oh ho, do I detect a hint of fascination for this mysterious younger sister?”

The tips of Darcy’s ears began to burn as he quickly denied, “Of course not! It is merely unfair to paint her with the same brush as her sisters. She was always ladylike in my presence.” If somewhat impish, he might have added, but dared not lest he incur greater teasing from his cousin.

“Methinks you doth protest too much, but I digress for now,” Fitzwilliam said with a lazy wave of his hand. “You do realise that Bingley would have been marrying the lady and not her entire family, do you not? Certainly, there would be a connexion, but he need not parade them in front of the ton. If this angel was as genteel as you say, why should he not propose?”

“Because I have grave doubts regarding her affections towards him. Not only is her family unrestrained, but their estate is entailed to a distant cousin—who is our aunt’s idiot parson, by the bye—and none of the daughters have any dowry to speak of. I have heard that they are entitled to only a thousand pounds apiece upon their mother’s death, and nothing at all saved by their father.”

Such recklessness was abhorrent to Darcy. How could any man, a father no less, do so little to prepare for the future? Mr Bennet presently appeared to be in good health in the rare instances Darcy had been in company with him, but there was no guarantee that such would always be the case. As a man in his middle years, one would think him more aware of his inevitable decline than that. Further, being hale and hearty did not prevent him from suffering a horrible accident, nor would it safeguard Longbourn from the threat of other unexpected tragedies—poor crop yield, epidemics, and so on. Really, it was no wonder the man’s wife was so nervous all the time; in her position, Darcy might have succumbed to a few fluttering attacks as well.

And there is Mr. Darcy being both a wonderful and terrible friend at the very same time. 🙄

While we can appreciate how he defends his friend’s gentleman status and truly feels he is looking out for him in a protective way…his interference isn’t as altruistic as he thinks… 🙈

Great scene! Can’t wait to see what happens next! 📖

 

 ✨ On His Judgment Alone is available for Preorder!✨

~~~

GIVEAWAY TIME!!!

In conjunction with Mary’s lovely visit, Quills & Quartos is giving away  copies of On His Judgment Alone to  lucky readers of this blog. 

 To enter this giveaway leave a comment, a question, or some love for Mary below!

• This giveaway is open worldwide.  Thank you, Quills and Quartos!
• This giveaway ends February 28th.