His Choice of a Wife: A Pride and Prejudice Variation

3.5 rounded up to 4 starsThis book is excellent in so many respects and even brilliant in some others. I wish I could rate it higher, but I can't overlook some missteps that just don't work for me. Sorry, but this will be a long review in order to explain.The premise starts the book off on a high note: It's the morning after the Hunsford proposal. After reading Darcy's letter of explanation, Elizabeth returns to the parsonage to find him and Colonel Fitzwilliam still making their farewell call. Both she and Darcy, upon reflection, now regret their poor behavior the previous evening, especially considering what they learned about Wickham and about Jane Bennet, respectively. They communicate this softening of their attitudes through veiled dialogue in company and then surreptitiously plan to meet again for further discussion the next morning before Darcy leaves for London. That conversation leads Darcy to bring Mr. Bingley calling on the Gardiners in Cheapside, providing both couples (Elizabeth/Darcy and Jane/Bingley) a second chance.Georgiana gets a handful of great scenes. She starts out so shy she can barely speak in more than one-word sentences when Darcy brings her to call on the Gardiners and Bennet sisters, but she gradually gets more comfortable and outgoing. It's a solid characterization for the little sister who's sometimes not much more than a cardboard figure in these variations.By the time Elizabeth and Jane return to Longbourn, Darcy has received Elizabeth's consent to call on her there. We quickly learn this dysfunctional Bennet family is even worse than Jane Austen's. Mrs. Bennet is... well, Mrs. Bennet at her silliest and most dense. And I guarantee you'll HATE Mr. Bennet, whose disinterest in anything that would require him to exert himself is taken to extremes. Lizzy is still his favorite, but that works against her in this situation.The strange parental dynamics also provide a credible explanation for Lydia's wild behavior. You may hate Lydia at times, and perhaps she does get off a little easy at the end. However, it's made clear that this is a child whose parents have created a monster. She never had a chance. As presented here, Lydia is (at times) sympathetic, while Mr. and Mrs. Bennet are awful throughout, even when they think they're being supportive.Along with the not-so-nice-Mr. Bennet, we find a wishy-washy-wimpy Mr. Bingley. He SO does NOT deserve Jane Bennet! But he's not a one-dimensional character, either. He gets a couple of nice shining moments highlighting Darcy's poor persuasive skills, especially in the Lydia-and-Wickham storyline.Elizabeth and Darcy have a great deal of page time together, which is always popular. Sparks fly, both verbal and the other kind. Their sensual chemistry is steamy throughout. Be aware that the content is definitely MA, though I don't consider it gratuitous. The fact that they anticipate their wedding vows (at which time they consider themselves already husband and wife, though no one else would think so) is absolutely relevant to the way the plot develops and does have ramifications in Darcy's future decision-making.The last half of the book, starting from the point where Lydia elopes with Wickham, is excruciatingly angsty. (I actually mean that in a good way.) Prepare to be as tortured as Darcy and Elizabeth in the pages leading up to the end. Colonel Fitzwilliam returns in an integral role. The build-up, the climactic turning point, and then its aftermath are among the best I've read in JAFF, and that's saying something! (Have tissues nearby. It's likely you'll be crying.)The writing is very good, too. I know it's not easy for a contemporary writer to capture authentic-sounding Regency wording. It's a fine line to walk, and there are times here when the dialogue seems a bit too wooden or overly dramatic. Most of the time, however, Ms. Moll does a creditable job. I especially like her character insights, some of which I've indicated above. There are only minimal editing errors. Someone did a great proofreading job.I truly appreciate that she wisely does not veer off into involved tangents with Lady Catherine, Anne de Bourgh, or other pop-up subplots. There's plenty of story here without adding more. Darcy hears from his aunt, of course, but she's not allowed to take significant page space.With all this praise, why not rate this a 5-star, or even a full 4? (I REALLY wish Amazon allowed half-star ratings, BTW.)The first half of the book employs a trope I often read that ALWAYS bugs me. It creates plenty of reconciliatory closeness between Elizabeth and Darcy, so I guess that's the attraction for some readers, but I hate it. They misinterpret each other's body language, get seriously annoyed, and then they don't talk about it immediately. This happens several times, with Elizabeth assuming the worst about Darcy, while the poor guy tries to figure out what's changed her mood and usually guesses wrong. Time goes by before they finally talk, and then Darcy gets ticked off because he feels she willfully mistrusts him (she does), no matter how far he bends to try to gain her trust.To this author's credit, she does give an explanation for Elizabeth's reactions. However, it makes our heroine too unlikable through much of this half of the book. There's enough going on in the rest of the story that these stupid spats could/should be eliminated because they do NOT affect the primary plot. Just TALK to each other, for heaven's sake! It's manufactured angst that gets on my last nerve. Fortunately, by the time serious outside obstacles emerge, they're mostly over this phase of their relationship, to my great relief.I know this was originally posted as a story online. As is often the case with fan-fic works that get published, it's guilty of repetitive and sometimes excessive character introspection. This is a true omniscient (not limited) point of view, so we get glimpses into many characters' heads. It's often unnecessary, since the reader can deduce some of these thoughts based on their actions, or it's something we were already told two chapters ago. For example, Elizabeth and Darcy constantly obsess over Elizabeth's loss of virtue and comparing it to Lydia's situation. I got it the first time. Perhaps I'd be okay with it coming up just once more at a far later page, but not as frequently as it does here.Knowing my dear Amazon friends, this will be a 5-star read for many of you. I do recommend it because it has a lot of wonderful qualities even though I found it dissapointingly uneven.I do have two other problems in the book, but they have plot details that involve some spoilers.DO NOT READ FURTHER IF YOU WANT TO AVOID SPOILERS!!Mr. Bingley and his sister's get all bent out of shape about how their position in society will be wrecked if he attaches himself to such a scandalous family. But the Bingleys are still only first generation out of trade and Bingley hasn't even bought an estate yet. It's Darcy who's their entry ticket to that high society they're so concerned about. If he cuts them off, they won't get to hobnob with the rich and influential anyway. It seems like an obvious point that Darcy never makes when he's trying to convince Bingley to stand by the Bennets.Dr. Lockwood and his wife leave the country immediately after the climactic scene and settle for good in Ireland so there will be no possibility of him being hanged for murder. This works nicely to create a the plot resolution, but there are two issues here. The first is that he'd NEVER be charged with murder -- the "official" story is that the death was accidental. The other is that, once they marry, they should have oodles and oodles of money to buy their own estate. They don't need to lease Darcy's property, even at a reduced price. Why don't they buy it from him and allow him to keep the land rights for the farming and herding?

What a lovely well written romantic variation of P&P... Elizabeth and Darcy get past their misunderstandings pretty quick, and Ms Moll writes many beautiful romantic interludes between our young couple as other problems and difficult people get in the way... The usual folks are included... Jane and Bingley, Lydia and Mr Wickham, Caroline and Lady Catherine... a Mrs Bennet we all recognize, and a Mr Bennet who tries hard to be the bad guy... I enjoyed this book immensely... The author is a very good writer... She has successfully taken these tried and true characters into familiar territory and has still managed to make an interesting and compelling tale... Some of the results are different than the original, but everything ends up happily ever after.... Love the love scenes here... I don't always need hot and heavy descriptions, but sometimes they are fun to read, and Ms Moll can certainly write them! And a sexy Mr Darcy is often just what the world needs! So all I can say is "for a good time" pick this one up!

Well written with an inventive plot. Although I very much enjoyed this their were several plot points that I struggled with. SPOILERS: I just can’t see either Darcy or Elizabeth anticipating their vows so cavalierly. Elizabeth doesn’t even consider the possibility of pregnancy and when Darcy considers it she states she will only know with the “quickening.” Women in that time were perfectly aware of what missed courses might mean so she would know much sooner than 3 months. I think Darcy could have been more giving to the Colonel. He saves his life, he’s like a brother to him, but this version of Darcy does more for Lydia than the Colonel.

I couldn't put the kindle down. I found this variation to be thoroughly engrossing. There is more than a dash of Wickham, a small dash of Caroline , a wee bit of second-hand Lady Catherine, and a very disappointing Bingly. Oh.... and some anticipation from Lizzy. Well worth the time and money. I hope Heather Moll has more stories to share.

I normally don't like books quite so mired in drama as this one is, but staying up till the wee hours of the morning to finish reading this one speaks for itself. Also, with the pacing, it wasn't overwhelming, though I did wonder at one point why ODC didn't just get married and be done with it, lolz (only in a silly way, though).It started a bit slow in my opinion, but that's likely because I've read dozens of variations which have started in the immediate wake of the botched proposal and I'm losing interest in such set ups. However, I will say that there wasn't a better way to begin this book considering everything got a kick start at a specific point therein, it's really just my prejudice (haha) against the aforementioned botched proposal beginning. Once I got past it, the story unfolded in a way that I enjoyed immensely.I'll only add: poor, stupid Lydia, good riddance to Wickham and SHAME on Bingley.I recommend. I'm going to jump right into this author's other published story right after this one and look forward to seeing another of hers (which I've been following on another site) appearing on my Kindle, as well. I purchased a copy of this book after reading it first via KU and will automatically buy the unpublished one I mentioned as soon as I get the chance.

to 'get into' this story, not that it was poorly written but that our couple decided to talk and appreciate each other earlier, that sounds trivial even to me now and I soon became truly involved. Ms Moll's storytelling is very good and this first book means that I will look forward to more. I was a little confused regarding the Lydia situation, would it be reasonable at that time for Wickham to be expected to acknowledge responsibility making it more public? However it wasn't a simple idea and its own little story developed from there which was very satisfactory. Mr Bennet was not the lovely man we know (sometimes) not evil but very selfish. Almost everyone else is as expected, but I can easily understand Ms Moll's change of Bingley's personality.There are a few intimate scenes which can be glossed over if necessary and I don't like scenes to be too explicit. I know some readers disagree with these scenes being included in variations but, as much as I honour Jane Austen, these are written by modern writers for a modern audience. Just because they weren't written about then doesn't mean it didn't happen. I can recommend Heather Moll.

I do love stories with an early agreement between Darcy and Elizabeth! Elizabeth did struggle a little with her feelings but once she was sure she did let Darcy know. They did have one or two (or more) moments of misreading the other, but finally decided that actually talking their feelings through might help!?Mr and Mrs Bennet were less than useful (gross understatement) in fact Mr Bennet was mostly unlikeable.I think the only thing this story lacked was an epilogue! I especially like the extra details usually revealed in an epilogue so I missed them here. But apart from that I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Good story and very well written. Enjoyed this characters in this story particularly the different to usual ending for Jane. I do recommend this story. Enjoy

I loved reading this Pride and Prejudice variation. Darcy and Elizabeth show their passion much more in this variation. They sort their differences early but then then encounter many events and obstacles they overcome together. There were some lovely endearing scenes of the interaction between Darcy and Elizabeth. I also loved the style of writing. Looking forward to more stories from Heather Moll.

This book was well paced and a balance of story and as I like to say 'fluffy' content (as many of us read these for the romance). I enjoyed it.