Review: A Closer Look at the Betrothal Period of the P&P Story- Premise good, but wanted a little more
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 11 29, 2013
I was eager to read this retelling because it focuses on a part of the Pride and Prejudice story that didn't get much attention, but was still an important time period in Darcy and Lizzy's romance.  The author takes the period after Darcy's second proposal through the wedding and teases out all the details involving all the usual characters with Georgiana and even Kitty getting some extra attention.  It was an engaging premise that took a closer look at just what family life would involve for the Bennets, Bingleys and Darcys.  While I found it mildly enjoyable, it didn't exactly pull me in.The story opens with Lizzy and her family making plans for the double wedding with Darcy staying with the Bingleys and Hursts.  Things aren't all smooth sailing after they declared their love and there are so many little crises to get through from soothing a father's pride over the marriage settlements to keeping Mrs. Bennet's loud vulgar comments from embarrassing and offending more than they already did.  As things progress, Lizzy starts to doubt whether she can really marry Darcy knowing what connecting to her family will bring him and Georgiana has to pluck up her courage to help save her brother's chance at happiness.When I started reading this one, I anticipated that I would enjoy the pre-wedding/engagement period for Darcy and Lizzy that was the time frame of this story.  I did to a certain extent.  I liked all the little scenes of the two families connecting like Darcy and Mr. Bennet and Kitty and Georgiana and even the reappearances of the Collinses gave me a laugh along with some of Mrs. Bennet's antics.  I enjoyed seeing Elizabeth already starting to mentor Georgiana and it warmed my heart to see how Darcy and Lizzy were together when they had the opportunity.But the crises of the story just didn't do it for me.  I just didn't buy that Lizzy and even Darcy were ready to call it all off over the possibility that Georgiana might hear mention of the Wickhams and that Lizzy's family was an embarrassment.  This ground was already covered earlier.  Several other solutions other than a broken engagement occurred to me so I guess that's why I didn't buy into it all.  I truly didn't understand why everyone was pussyfooting around Mrs. Bennet either.  She was way out of line, but nobody called her on it either.  Didn't make sense to me.  It felt contrived.All in all, I liked reading this one and I thought it was a good choice for a premise.  Austenesque lovers who are familiar with the original story would be best suited as recommended readers for this one.My thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.