What If Mr. Darcy Fell into a Compromising Position?!?

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Source: Review Copy from Author

TYPE OF AUSTENESQUE NOVEL: Variation

SETTING: March 1812 during Darcy’s and Elizabeth’s simultaneous visits to Kent

MAIN CHARACTERS: Darcy, Elizabeth Bennet, Lady Catherine, Mr. Bennet, George Wickham, Georgiana Darcy

WHY I WANTED TO READ THIS NOVEL:

• I enjoyed Letters from the Heart, a charming novella variation by Rose Fairbanks and wanted to see what she would do with a full-length novel.
• I love premises that explore compromising situations and forced marriages!
• It seems like Lady Catherine plays a prominent role in this variation, I always love to see what mischief and schemes she gets into!

WHAT I LOVED:

• A Compelling Premise: Oh yesssss! Another compromising situation and forced marriage! Can we ever have too many of them? (Answer: no, definitely not!) And this scenario takes an interesting twist as Darcy and Elizabeth are somewhat forestalled in proceeding with their forced marriage by other – well for lack of a better word – forces! Not everyone believes that Elizabeth’s reputation is tarnished and some try to exert their control in this situation…

• Darcy is All the Things: He’s perceptive, passionate, and extremely honorable – just everything you could possibly love about him. (Don’t worry, he still has flaws!) In this variation he shows a lot of intuition and quickly perceives Elizabeth’s unfavorable feelings for him and how she formed such a negative impression of his character. But at the same time, he is a man ardently in love and to see his vulnerability for Elizabeth and his need for her willing affection made my heart melt! I also loved seeing Darcy come to feel remorse for Elizabeth for being trapped into this situation and seeing him compare his reserved nature with Jane Bennet’s…very insightful!

• Lizzy Falling in Love: After seeing Darcy come to her defense to his most infuriated and intimidating relation, Elizabeth immediately senses she gravely misunderstood Darcy’s character. She softens her opinions and gives him the benefit of the doubt in regards to Wickham, but she doesn’t immediately fall in love. I loved seeing the moments where she analyzes her feelings and questions what love is. In addition, I also loved seeing her defend Darcy, protect his feelings, and show in little ways that she was beginning to care for him. *sigh*

• The History of Lady Catherine: I love it when an author reveals something we don’t know about Jane Austen’s characters. In this variation we learn about Lady Catherine’s past, and with this history her behavior and strong desire for Darcy and Anne to marry becomes a bit more understandable. What drove Lady Catherine to such lengths is a circumstance not too uncommon for the this period, but one we frequently don’t see in Austenesque novels.

WHAT I WASN’T TOO FOND OF:

• Waiting on Wickham: Of course Wickham is up to no good. That’s no surprise! (Although, it was quite a fun surprise to learn who he is in cohorts with!) But it sort’ve felt like we were waiting a long time for his nefarious schemes and actions to take place. And when there was a plan to stop Wickham, it involved more waiting and putting someone in a potentially dangerous circumstance. It just left me wondering if Darcy would really allow something like that to happen…

CONCLUSION:

No Cause to Repine is a splendidly romantic and enjoyable tale! I greatly enjoyed how Ms. Fairbanks invented such a thoughtful premise and developed such perceptive characters! I definitely recommend this variation to readers who enjoy seeing Darcy and Elizabeth in forced situations and love witnessing a gradual growth of consideration, understanding, and love.

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