A forced marriage. When Elizabeth Bennet’s reputation is ruined, Mr. Darcy feels honor bound to marry her. The problem is, Elizabeth despises him and Darcy won’t let her go.Excerpt: Elizabeth laughed, but it was not a pleasant sound. “You are incredible, sir. If I had ever for one minute considered marrying you, your actions today would make me change my mind.”Darcy was dumbfounded. “I don’t … dumbfounded. “I don’t understand.”
“No, I don’t think you do. I don’t think you are capable of understanding. You act like one of the Greek gods, doing whatever you want, regardless of the consequences. At first, I thought it was because I am a woman and many men think women are of no importance, that we are silly, irrational creatures and cannot make decisions for our lives. But no, you don’t think you are superior only to women. You think you are superior to everyone. Tell me, is it lonely on Mount Olympus?”
Darcy flinched. “I do not think I am superior. I merely saw what needed to be done and did it.”
Elizabeth countered, “Without consulting me!”
“I am consulting with you now.”
“No, you are not. You are telling me what you have already done.”
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Darcy’s Folly is a variation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, a novella set in the Regency Era.
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This was a sweet, clean romance that I enjoyed very much. Our couple have struggles to overcome, as usual, but this story moves quickly toward the HEA.
Quick read, like a DVD on fast forward
This was such a quick read that it felt like I was finished before I started. At 88 pages and 9 chapters, you are in and out of scenes quicker than greased lightning. We are at Rosings Park and we have the usual cast of characters visiting Lady Catherine with one set of new characters. Lady C’s good friend and town gossip, Lord and Lady Baelhorn. This set the stage fairly quickly. You sort of knew something was going to happen to ODC with a gossip handy to spread it about. We later heard from Mr. Bennet in regard to what he had read of her in the London papers. This woman made the Meryton gossips, Mrs. Bennet and her sister Mrs. Philips, look like amateurs in comparison. Yeah, something was about to happen.
I’m not going to get into it. There are reviews that will do that. My observations were as follows:
Elizabeth was way too modern and brusque in her behavior, manners and conversation. She was obstinate and headstrong and her actions caused way too many problems. If she was not happy with her lot… it was her own fault. I have sage advice for her… learn to walk on flat ground.
Darcy was just so honorable and did not deserve the treatment he received from Elizabeth or anyone else.
Wickham was absolutely, no questions about it, without a doubt in this world, hands down, a sleaze and a scumbag, reprobate, scoundrel, seducer, extortionist, blackmailer… the list goes on and on… dirt-bag-rat-bastard.
Lydia was stupid, silly, self-centered, jealous of her older sisters, unrestrained by her parents and left to her own idleness. I could have shaken her. A lot of good it would have done. She was out for an adventure, a lark, it would be fun, she was uncaring and unconcerned what the consequences of her actions would cause to her family, let alone to her poor sisters. A brainless, teenager, out of control, left to run wild by an indolent father and encouraged by a mother who lived vicariously through her actions. Well little girl, you can’t cry over spilled milk. It… is… gone.
The story followed canon for most of the book, but then took a deep left turn every once in a while and we were presented with new scenes that gave us the following:
A confrontation of a different kind between Elizabeth and Lady Catherine.
Darcy large and in-charge. I just love him.
Wickham promoting his lies and deceptions with his rakish charms and scoundrel actions. Why she didn’t slap him silly I do not know. I would have knocked his head off.
The Gardiners and Bennets making the best out of situations out of their control.
A wedding that will not be forgotten anytime soon.
Delayed honeymoon… dang.
Trip to Scotland… dang… with a wait and see situation… hold your breath… again, dang.
I enjoyed it, but most of the canon parts, I skimmed through. There were some new scenes. A few deviations that took us on a detour, but usually brought us back to canon. There was nothing wrong with that. It just wasn’t a… I could-not-put-it-down novella.
The story’s end was a satisfactory completion and a satisfactory epilogue. So all in all, a 3-stars [I liked it] novella.