Book 3 of the Moralities of Marriage. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet find nothing but a mess in London after they escape Kent. The town home bare and the Wickhams caught up in Lord Strange’s illegal business venture, Darcy has little choice but to make unsavory friends as Elizabeth heals from her cousin’s attack. With the support of the Bingleys, Darcy and Elizabeth are finally ready to secure their … their future at the anvil in Gretna Green when Elizabeth has one small request. A novel of 55,000 words, The Blessing of Marriage continues the rewriting of Jane Austen’s amazing story of Pride and Prejudice, wondering what might have happened if Darcy never saved Georgiana from the clutches of Mr. Wickham.
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The underbelly of society is not a pretty sight…
This is the first series where the Darcy / Fitzwilliam family is not highly esteemed in society. Gossip rags, scandal sheets, ballroom twitter, outright lies and intrigue set the stage for all manner of trouble for ODC. All Darcy and Elizabeth want to do is get married. And, like any young girl, Elizabeth wanted the approbation and acceptance of her family.
I was really concerned with the stubborn attitude of Mr. Bennet where his favorite daughter was concerned. He held on to the bitter end to the notion that Darcy had taken Elizabeth as his mistress. He would not believe otherwise. She was dead to the family.
Rosings: Mr. Collins has to be the dregs of the earth. He no longer rates being a toad… that is too exalted for him. I have to admit that this Elizabeth was way too modern. She had a mouth on her, and said what was on her mind. Her father taught her to speak her mind and since he never raised his hand to her, she thought she was safe. She soon found out that Mr. Collins was not of that ilk. After he nearly beat the crap out of her, Darcy and Fitzwilliam, along with burly footmen… had to take care of the situation.
Lady Catherine was in rare form. Colonel Fitzwilliam, Anne, Darcy and Elizabeth: two sets of crossed lovers, finally remove Elizabeth from Kent for her health [after Collins’ attack]. As soon as she is able to travel, he takes her to London [Darcy House] in order to recover. This sets gossips wagging with the help of Georgiana and Caroline who are both at Darcy House.
London: Georgiana is absolutely horrid. I think I mentioned that she was awful in my last review. She surpassed that attitude in this book. She is a lazy, whining, eating herself into another dress size, crying, complaining, rude, and petulant teenager.
Wickham showed his underbelly to Georgiana and she still stuck with him. He is a degenerate and low-life scum of the earth. His parentage is in question and that has the potential to cause a lot of problems in the future. He is secretly meeting with Mrs. Younge and is involved with an investment swindle of such magnitude that it is a hanging offense. Even the Prince Regent has been convinced to invest funds. This cannot be good.
Caroline is still in high dungeon over her failure to secure Darcy. She and Wickham have an altercation when he tried to corner her in the study. She soon realizes that he is involved in some kind of crooked intrigue and she is not sure she wants to be caught up in it. She watches as her standing in society is slowly deteriorating and decides that her connections to the Darcy family is no longer the coup that it once was.
The Matlock family has their own set of problems. They are trying to dry out their oldest son and heir. Their finances are in shambles and they need Fitzwilliam to marry a certain lady with a large dowry and loan forgiveness from her father.
Longbourn: Elizabeth made an attempt to reconnect with her family; it was disastrous. Due to the scandal involving Elizabeth, Lydia was sent home from Brighton. When Elizabeth called at Longbourn, Mary was rude and accusing.
Netherfield: Charles and Jane welcomed Darcy and Elizabeth to their home. Mr. Bennet showed up, showed out and was thrown out. That was fun. Charles and Jane consider giving up Netherfield, and determine to take Kitty in to live with them.
Editing problems… also expensive for a third in series.