Monica Fairview: The Other Mr. Darcy

After it was finally possible to download Kindle ebooks on Jane Austen's birthday, I immediately had to start to

read them. I downloaded four of the ten Sourcebooks novels.

    * The Darcys & the Bingleys by Marsha Altman
    * The Pemberley Chronicles by Rebecca Ann Collins
    * The Other Mr. Darcy by Monica Fairview
    * Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy by Abigail Reynolds

I finished 'The Darcy's and the Bingleys' last Saturday, reading it through in almost one day. And I love it! It was funny, entertaining, well written, witty, very Jane Austen-ish and addictive. So the series must be bought in it's whole. I'm not sure yet, if I will buy them all as ebooks or as paperbacks...

Over Xmas I finished reading 'The Other Mr. Darcy'. I had no idea what the book was about. It was a pleasant surprise though to read about Caroline Bingley and her development into a lovely character. Thank you Monica Fairview!
The author achieved to keep me in suspense all through the book, with surprises on every page. I liked how she wrote and how close she stayed to Jane Austen's style and the characters she created. But I also liked very much indeed how she had the others evolve or stay as they always were: Lydia is still scandal personified. Mrs Bennet still annoying, Mr Darcy and Elizabeth still wonderfully lovely and Jane and Bingley still charming. Louisa was quite a stranger to me, but very convincing. I pitied poor Colonel Fitzwilliam and hated Sir Cecil. Caroline's and Robert's process of opening up towards each other and their quarrels were entertaining and very believeable. They might be real persons nowadays...

Unpredicatable courtships appear to run in the Darcy family...
In this Pride and Prejudice sequel with a difference, Caroline Bingley is our heroine. Caroline is sincerely broken-hearted when Mr. Darcy marries Lizzy Bennet— that is, until she meets his American cousin…
Mr. Robert Darcy is as charming as Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy is proud, and he is stunned to find Caroline weeping at his cousin's wedding. Caroline, caught in a moment of extreme vulnerabilty, intends to put as much distance between them as possible, preferably a whole ocean. But events bring them together, and they must make the best of a bad situation.
As for romance, that is the last thing they could possibly expect...

So now I'm off to amazon and buy the sequel to the sequel: The Darcy Cousins.

Picture credit @ amazon.co.uk

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Merry Xmas

Merry Xmas von Emmeline Cartwright

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Marsha Altman: The Darcys & the Bingleys

After it was finally possible to download Kindle ebooks on Jane Austen's birthday, I immediately had to start to read them. I downloaded four of the ten Sourcebooks novels.

Here is the list of titles that were available:

    * Eliza’s Daughter by Joan Aiken
    * The Darcys & the Bingleys by Marsha Altman
    * Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife by Linda Berdoll
    * What Would Jane Austen Do? by Laurie Brown
    * The Pemberley Chronicles by Rebecca Ann Collins
    * The Other Mr. Darcy by Monica Fairview
    * Mr. Darcy’s Diary by Amanda Grange
    * Mr. & Mrs. Fitzwilliam Darcy: Two Shall Become One by Sharon Lathan
    * Lydia Bennet’s Story by Jane Odiwe
    * Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy by Abigail Reynolds

I have already read the Linda Berdoll book, as well as the Sharon Lathan sequels. They are available in my local library, like some other sequels. I have read them all, I admit. But the two books above are not to my liking. But I don't want to comment, as tastes are different!

Two other books I have already read and love, are Jane Odiwe's novel and Mr. Darcy's Diary by Amanda Grange. I have them as Paperbacks and would have loved to have them on my Kindle too. But they weren't available in my region. As was the case with Joan Aikens sequel. I couldn't figure out how to download the Google Books, so I missed them; all the other file versions are of no use, because I don't like to read on PC.

Finally I bought:

    * The Darcys & the Bingleys by Marsha Altman
    * The Pemberley Chronicles by Rebecca Ann Collins
    * The Other Mr. Darcy by Monica Fairview
    * Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy by Abigail Reynolds

I finished 'The Darcy's and the Bingleys' on Saturday, reading it through in almost one day. And I love it! It was funny, entertaining, well written, witty, very Jane Austen-ish and addictive. So the series must be bought in it's whole. I'm not sure yet, if I will buy them all as ebooks or as paperbacks...

SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!

What I like about the Kindle is the 'Notes & Marks' option and therefore I want to list my favourite passages. As there are only Locations, I will refer to them. All rights are of course those of the author, Marsha Altman, and of Sourcebooks (with a wonderful service team btw!):

[Darcy to Elizabeth] Loc. 395 - 'Elizabeth, the best thing I can think of to say is that if there was no fun to be had of it at all, the world would not be nearly so populated.'

[Mr Bennet to his daughters before their wedding] Loc. 1088 - If you are to have children, do make sure the servants have your husbands sitting down.'

[Darcy to Col. Fitzwilliam before the wedding and after he and Bingley have thrown Wickham out of a second storey window] Loc. 1129 - 'Oh no,' Darcy said, 'Enough people have gone out the window today. Lead on, Fitzwilliam.'

[Mrs Gardiner to her husband and his reply] Loc. 1144 - 'I am so very glad we visited the grounds of Pemberley.' 'Yes, the fishing was exquisite.'

[about Bingley] Loc. 1255 - He had that dashing young 'I am so exciting, my hair is tryng to escape from my head, and it is a hopeless case' unintentional style that was so adorable.'

[Bingley to Jane] Loc. 1422 - 'Jane, dearest, I could never say no to you', he added, 'And I have a feeling that you know it.'

[Lizzie to Darcy about writing to her mother according to tell her Lizzie's with child] Loc. 1477 - Will you do me a favour of writing her a quick response that I am and that she should stop asking?' 'Anything you - what?'

[Mr Bennet arriving at Pemberley] Loc. 1558 - Even far away from the entrance, he took off his hat as if he were entering church.'

[Darcy about Georgiana] Loc. 1766 - 'She'll be 17 when I damn well say she is!'

[Darcy to Lizzie about his contribution in creating their son] Loc. 1843 - 'All the work?' he said. 'There was at least... an hour of my time spent on... this,' he said, cradling his son.

[a muddleheaded Darcy in response to Lizzie's and Bingley's question if he wants to marry Miss Caroline Bingley] Loc. 3053 - 'What? He blinked. 'No! No... he's a nice man, but no. I'm too tall for him.'

[about Caroline and Dr Maddox standing in the hallway alone] Loc. 3164 - ... 'which was most improper for two unmarried adults of oppostite genders and a great deal of affection.'

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