He hates everything about her.She despises him even more.So why is his heart so determined to belong to her?Once trapped by marriage to a woman he loathed, Fitzwilliam Darcy is finally free again. Resentful, bewildered, and angry, he is eager to begin his life over—preferably with a woman who is the exact opposite of his wife.He never imagined a short stay in Hertfordshire would bring him face to … Hertfordshire would bring him face to face with his worst nightmare; a woman similar in face, form, and name. He certainly never expected her to be so impossible to ignore.
Torn between what he believes he wants and what his heart cannot live without, his dignity begins to unravel. Will his desperation to escape his past drive a wedge into his closest friendship and destroy any hope of a future?
Will Miss Elizabeth Bennet prove to be as nefarious as his wife? Or, will the last woman in the world be his only chance at happiness?
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10*++++
“None of it had been my fault, but I bore the blame of it.” (quote from the book)
Fitzwilliam Darcy, a tortured, bitter soul, must find his way back to the honourable man he once was. A journey that takes him through his darkest days before finding that spark of light, that sense of hope.
After a disastrous first marriage, if one could even call it that, Darcy accompanies Charles Bingley to Netherfield Park. In his quest to expunge the nightmare of his dead wife, he embarks on a campaign of finding the exact opposite of her. Little does he know the war that will break out between himself and Elizabeth Bennet, a very worthy opponent. But who will draw the first blood?
“What does one do with an enemy who simply laughs at the sword tip?” (quote from the book)
This story is completely told from Darcy’s point of view. My words, thoughts and feelings cannot begin to describe the impact of being intimately immersed in Darcy’s head. Ms. Clarkston’s ability to take this literary character and breathe such fire, torment and anger into him was mind blowing. His road to redemption is littered with heartbreak and doesn’t let up. Oh the epiphanies he had, not only about himself and Elizabeth, but also Georgiana.
“The closer I held something, the greater its peril…” (quote from the book)
I was completely captivated, not only by the unique premise so brilliantly conceived by J.W. Garrett, but by Ms. Clarkston’s exquisite prose, that flows, bends and wraps around this reader’s heart…holding it in a vise grip. The yearning, the torment, the absolute futility of never being worthy left me breathless. And though this story deviates from canon, there is still ‘the letter’. Darcy pours his heart and soul into that letter, and I am so glad I have the paperback to be able to go back and read it again and again…I was completely undone.
“The resulting blaze nearly scorched my hair, and I stood back, squinting into the flames. If only it were so easy to uproot the tendrils of her memory from my soul.” (quote from the book)
As you can tell, I loved this novel. There was a very clever use of another novel first published in 1753 that highlights the depth of this author’s research and understanding of Pride & Prejudice. This is not a light, sweet rendering. This is an all encompassing study of the man, Fitzwilliam Darcy.
I honestly and wholeheartedly recommend this novel to all. I did receive an advanced reader copy of this novel, however, I did purchase the paperback to add to my collection of Ms. Clarkston’s books.
I also want to say what a beautiful cover (front and back) that was created for this book by Janet Taylor.
A tortured hero and a spirited heroine in a gothic-style variation on an old familiar classic pulled me in from the beginning especially from now fabulous and familiar author and narrator.
Nefarious is a variation on Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice that introduces the story with a stormy, bitter Darcy beside his wife’s grave. Hating the perfidy she and her family used to manipulate him into marriage and access his wealth (ala Mr. Rochester’s in laws from Jane Eyre), he swears he will never trust another Elizabeth. Gasp! Then the man decides to court the sister. Double Gasp!
But, that is only the first of the shocking twists on the original as Darcy endures much at the hands of his enemies and alienates the one woman who is nothing like his wife though she shares the same given name and has an ambitious mother and now counts herself as hostile toward the rude, arrogant man from Derbyshire.
It was full of angst and pushed me to my limits. I’m not generally a fan of that much angst and over the top gothic villainy, but something about the author’s writing and the story kept me listening and vested in the story. I had to know how Darcy saw his way through all the plotting against him from all sides it seemed and won Miss Elizabeth’s favor and love after he set her against him so strongly. I’m a softy for a wounded, brooding hero who has to overcome so much both character-driven and action-driven conflict and a strong, engaging heroine who has her own flaws to overcome and does.
Surprisingly, it wasn’t all doom and gloom. The humor-laced leaven in the lump even during the darker scenes had me smiling and sometimes laughing a little. I was glad to see it there so my emotions got a reprieve and the story felt more balanced.
As this was a Pride & Prejudice variation, I enjoyed seeing familiar characters, dialogues, and key scenes, but they were sometimes creatively mixed about to form this new story. Those who haven’t read the classic tale would do all right as a result.
The narration work was fabulous. This was all told from Darcy’s point of view and I thought Harry Frost, a now familiar and engaging narrator, captured Darcy so well. He voiced the bitter anger and betrayal as well as the lighter amusement. He did great with gender, age, class, and the various situations. I felt he gave an already solid story more depth and would happily look up more of his work.
All in all, Nefarious was captivating to my senses and had me emotionally vested in the outcome of this tumultuous variation tale of treachery and romance. I would recommend it to historical romance fans who like a bit of the classic gothic feel to their read-listens.
Warning this review may contain spoilers: Rating: clean, although a bit steamy with vailed sensual suggestions, there is mild language [British swearing].
“There were many beautiful vipers in those days and she was one of them. (“Eveline’s Visitant”)”
― Mary Elizabeth Braddon, The Gentlewomen of Evil: An Anthology of Rare Supernatural Stories from the Pens of Victorian Ladies
If you hate angst in stories, especially JAFF [Jane-Austen-Fan-Fiction] stories involving Darcy and Elizabeth, this might not be for you. It is gut-wrenching and will take your breath away as Darcy is raked over the searing coals of hopelessness and despair. In spite of the angst having a death-grip on the reader… there were many episodes of humor to temper the feelings of lost hope and devastation. Those moments included the verbal swordplay we love so much between D&E [ex: Netherfield drawing room when Jane was ill]. OH-MY-GOSH!! This story was an alternate universe portraying a very different P&P. Clarkston managed to keep the essence of the P&P characters in spite of scenes being manipulated and yet, maintained Austen’s ideas and/or concepts for the story. The dialogue was occasionally handled in different ways and/or was delivered by others. Even though Clarkston created equivalent scenes, they were easily recognizable and followed those from canon.
Told completely from Darcy’s point of view, the reader experiences his thoughts on everything going on around him. From the first few paragraphs, the reader is shocked to discover that something terrible has happened in the life of our dear boy and it was not good. He was an emotional wreck, nearly crushed in spirit and broken hearted for all those lost expectations his father had planned for him. Gone… in an instant… his life was now changed forever. In a moment of time, he nearly lost all those he loved and were dear to him. Now out of mourning, he was bombarded on all sides with schemes for him to remarry. This time he swore it would be on his terms.
“If you don’t get the wrong people out of your life, you will never be able to get the right people in it!”
― Alex Haditaghi, Softly, As I Leave Her
His in-laws: there were many hints about problems with them that were not fully explained until much later in the story. We only have hints of a situation that involved death and money… as it usually does. Wickham had a part to play and had a hand in stirring the pot… as was his character.
Lord Matlock: wanted Darcy’s help in furthering his political ambitions. He declared that Darcy had failed in his duty to the family with his first match. If he still refused to marry Anne, then he should at least marry the daughter of someone that could help him politically in the House. He had a list of wealthy families, socially and politically influential, with well-dowered daughters and matchmaking mammas just looking for a match/connection with the Fitzwilliam/Darcy families.
Lady Catherine: unrelenting in her demands that Darcy marries her daughter. She consistently ignored his refusal against the match. Anne didn’t have an opinion… she was resolved to whatever her mother wished/decided for her. What would be the use in thinking otherwise?
Lady Matlock: tried to walk a fine line between all the combatants. Her daughter-in-law, the viscountess, was a snippy snot that was quick to point out things that annoyed her. She was excessive in nit-picking at Georgiana, specifically pointing out the defects in her person [body], hair, and clothing choices. It was completely devastating to a young girl not yet out and unaccustomed to being in company.
Georgiana [immature and self-conscious] was caught under the magnifying glass of her aunts, cousin’s wife and trying to deal with her own raging emotions typical of a teenager not yet a woman. Everything wrong in her or her brother’s life she felt was her fault. She was mercurial in her range of emotions and easily fell to pieces when things didn’t go well. As in canon, she made a foolish, immature, and dangerous decision [with the help of Mrs. Younge] that nearly cost her dowry, damage to her and her brother’s reputation, and would have created a scandal for the rest of the family.
Then we have Darcy arriving at Netherfield [at Bingley’s request] and trying to avoid Caroline Bingley’s effusions and cloying attentions. He knew he needed to be careful and remain alert at all costs. He resolved that he would NEVER allow her to compromise him. At the assembly, he spotted Jane Bennet across the ballroom… an angel… and he was completely and utterly smitten by her grace and beauty. What??? And then he saw her next youngest sister… the spitting image of his deceased wife. Heaven forbid, he nearly bolted and ran when he heard her name… Elizabeth Bennet… so similar to his wife.
After the initial shock, the tone of the story changed and turned hilarious as Darcy dealt with Miss Elizabeth Bennet. The minx. Our dear girl was more than able to maneuver in such a way as to deflect and engage him in verbal and nonverbal swordplay on a level we rarely see in JAFF variations. The swine. This was freaking awesome as they went back and forth with their name calling. Our author was extremely creative with a list of names Darcy conjured for our Lizzy. It was hilarious.
The angst built again when the tone of the story shifted and Darcy [along with the reader] was thrust into the darkest pit where all hope seemed lost. It was touch and go there for a while and I wasn’t sure I was going to make it. OMG! The last of the book was a total surprise. I gripped my reader so tightly; my fingers were numb. I was afraid what happened with Darcy in that first scene was happening again.
I read this when it first posted as chapters on an authors’ website. I was able to watch as this story came together to form the most exciting, angst-filled JAFF I’ve read in a while. I love this story and have followed this author for several years. I have read nearly all of her work. I was so excited about the launch of the pre-order that I grabbed it immediately. I highly recommend this for anyone who loves a good Darcy and Elizabeth story. Many times, his and her words were so swoon-worthy. Heavy sigh!!
I love the beautiful stories that Jane Austen wrote, and just can’t get enough of them! Even the what if’s, the sequels, and the re-imaginings. Just imagine, Darcy has been trapped into, then released from a marriage from hell to a woman who not only looks like Elizabeth Bennet, but bears a strikingly similar name! Who would have thought it even possible to make an even worse first impression than Miss Austen imagined? Nicole Clarkston, that’s who! I thoroughly enjoyed the This Pride and Prejudice variation! Jane and Darcy? We all know Jane is soft spoken, but slow too? Bingley with a backbone? This story has more ups and downs and twists and turns, and even more angst than the original!