The Subsequent Proposal: ~ A Tale of Pride, Prejudice & Persuasion ~ in Austen Variations

Jan 08, 2014 Ceri rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: austen-variation, austen-inspired

I’ve read lots of Pride and Prejudice variations, but none which crossed over with another Austen book as much as this one. What if, after the disastrous Hunsford proposal, Mr Darcy went off heartbroken, in the belief that Elizabeth Bennet would never reconsider her feelings towards him? What if he felt he could never love another, but had found a friend in a lady who soothed his feelings and proved herself a genuine good friend to Georgiana? A friend who is unappreciated by her own family? Darc I’ve read lots of Pride and Prejudice variations, but none which crossed over with another Austen book as much as this one. What if, after the disastrous Hunsford proposal, Mr Darcy went off heartbroken, in the belief that Elizabeth Bennet would never reconsider her feelings towards him? What if he felt he could never love another, but had found a friend in a lady who soothed his feelings and proved herself a genuine good friend to Georgiana? A friend who is unappreciated by her own family? Darcy needs to marry at some point, and meeting and getting to know Miss Anne Elliot (from Persuasion) provides some balm to his wounds. He is persuaded by Colonel Fitzwilliam to think of matrimony and the story begins with Darcy actually proposing marriage to Anne (Nooooooo!).

Darcy is honest with her that he loves another, and Anne hints at her own disappointment in love. I felt quite sorry for Anne at this point, but let’s be honest, a loveless but respectful marriage with a good man would be better than having to live with HER relatives. Sir Walter insists on a long engagement that will not be announced for some time, to give Miss Elizabeth Elliot chance to make a match rather than see the indignity of having two younger sisters marry before her (although there is no delay mentioned in Persuasion Captain Wentworth is less of a catch financially than Darcy, so I felt this was plausible). After sealing their tepid deal, Anne goes to stay with Lady Russell, and Darcy back to town. Here he meets with Bingley who tells him that both of the elder Miss Bennets have been to Pemberley while travelling with the Gardiners, in the company of one of Mrs Gardiner’s school friends, Mrs Croft, her husband and her brother, Captain Wentworth, who seems disposed to court one of the Misses Bennet. Darcy feels that his interference in Bingley’s affairs may have cost his friend his happiness so he sets off to Hertfordshire to give him what assistance he can, meaning that he crosses the path of Elizabeth Bennet once more, and starts to hope that her feelings towards him may have changed, even though it’s too late...

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The story is told in the third person, but we are privy to Darcy’s thoughts and passionate feelings, which makes his decisions easier to understand. The early parts of it where Darcy is dealing with his misery were almost painful to read, but were really compelling. Once Darcy has hopes that Elizabeth has changed her mind towards him he is almost as miserable, because he’s not in a position to propose. He is also very jealous of Captain Wentworth, who makes no secret of his plans to propose to Elizabeth, and the two men have a mutual distrust and dislike which was almost comedic, there are many looks of loathing directed at each other!

Poor Anne is almost completely forgotten by Darcy as he interacts with the bewitching Miss Bennet and gets caught up in events relating to the Bennet family. I felt even more sorry for Anne at this point, but knowing that she is supposed to end up married to Captain Wentworth, the man she loves really helped me forgive Darcy’s behaviour in overlooking his responsibilities somewhat.
“His first, his only thought had been of her. Her happiness, her comfort. Not Georgiana’s, and certainly not Anne’s.”

Although there are the characters from two Austen books here it’s very much a Pride and Prejudice variation. We see very little of Anne, and other characters from Persuasion such as Sir Walter are only in the story briefly. Characters from Pride and Prejudice such as Jane and Mr Bingley play a larger part in the story, and I felt that they were really captured well. I particularly liked the affectionate way the embarrassing and voluble Mrs Bennet was portrayed:
“Mrs Bennet had taken up her post at one of the tall windows that overlooked the garden – and if the curtains did not twitch, it was only due to her mastery of the art.”

I felt this story had everything; there was emotion, there was passion, there was a lot of humour and a big tangle to unravel to ensure that both of our couples got a happy ending. I read it in one sitting and I thoroughly enjoyed it. This was the first book I read this year and what a way to begin! I’d recommend this book without hesitation, I really did love it.

*I received a copy of this book in return for my honest review, courtesy of Leatherbound Reviews* ...more

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Mar 24, 2015 Sheila Majczan rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

12/22/18: I finished reading/listening to this book on Audible today and enjoyed it just as much the time around as I did before.

In reading all the other reviews and/or the sample, one gets the gist of this story. *Spoiler* What seems to have been neglected in mentioning significant parts of the story is that Sir Walter Eliot becomes a savior for these four characters, Darcy, Anne Eliot, Capt. Wentworth and Elizabeth, in that when Darcy goes to ask for permission to marry Anne (even though she i 12/22/18: I finished reading/listening to this book on Audible today and enjoyed it just as much the time around as I did before.

In reading all the other reviews and/or the sample, one gets the gist of this story. *Spoiler* What seems to have been neglected in mentioning significant parts of the story is that Sir Walter Eliot becomes a savior for these four characters, Darcy, Anne Eliot, Capt. Wentworth and Elizabeth, in that when Darcy goes to ask for permission to marry Anne (even though she is of age), Sir Walter Eliot can only think of how this will look to the "ton" to have his second youngest daughter married before his beloved Elizabeth. So he argues that Darcy and Anne should have a year's long secret engagement to allow Elizabeth (and how Darcy hates that she has Lizzy's name) time to attract a suitor while in Bath (to which they only recently moved). Darcy bargains for 6 months. Thus the engagement is not to be announced and only known to Lady Russell, Georgiana, and Col. Fitzwilliam. SO THIS ALLOWS TIME for many misunderstandings and lots of additional angst. (Especially, during a walk when Elizabeth B. trips into Darcy's arms and they almost kiss...Why didn't he kiss me? She ponders - I saw in his eyes he wanted to...not knowing he is engaged makes her feel even more rejected.) This time lapse allows our HEA ending without a scandal of a broken engagement as it is not official YET.

I love how this author gives us so much of Darcy's POV: his arguments with himself, his thoughts upon the smallest glimpse of Elizabeth being like water in the desert, his realization of and pondering about how quiet she is in his presence, his assessment of the Eliots and their personalities, his desire to finally give all to the only woman who can be his other half. Joana Starnes does a magnificent job with showing us Darcy as our true romantic hero. Are there any men in real life who go through this struggle...and who can finally come to the realization of their mistakes and work so hard to solve them in a fashion taking into consideration the consequences for all? Lastly, deciding it is how they want to live their life and not as society or family wants them to live their life that matters.

I read this book in one day and highly recommend it. ...more

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Feb 06, 2014 Anna added it

Shelves: austenesque

Check out my review on Diary of an Eccentric ...more

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Dec 20, 2013 Barb rated it it was amazing

Shelves: books-i-own-e-book, audible-jaff, books-i-own-audio, audio-book-listened, austen-fan-fiction-read

Definitely one of my favorite JAFF (Jane Austen Fan Fiction) reads. This very clever rewrite of both Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion has Mr. Darcy meet Ann Elliot shortly after being severely refused by Elizabeth Bennet. Ann has, of course, been persuaded to turn down Captain Wentworth's proposal years before. When Mr. Darcy realizes what a great friend Ann can be to Georgiana, and that the two of them are both suffering broken hearts, he suggests a marriage of friendship and companionship. T ...more

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Jan 23, 2014 Sophie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favourite-favourites, jane-austen-related, favourites

I was very much looking forward to reading this story as the idea of combing the characters from Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion intrigued me. And to have Mr. Darcy and Captain Wentworth in one book... well I’m not complaining!

I was not disappointed. I enjoyed this story very much. I really enjoyed seeing the characters from Pride and Prejudice and from Persuasion interacting with each, and I think it worked very well. The idea of Darcy and Anne as a couple, although strange to the imaginati I was very much looking forward to reading this story as the idea of combing the characters from Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion intrigued me. And to have Mr. Darcy and Captain Wentworth in one book... well I’m not complaining!

I was not disappointed. I enjoyed this story very much. I really enjoyed seeing the characters from Pride and Prejudice and from Persuasion interacting with each, and I think it worked very well. The idea of Darcy and Anne as a couple, although strange to the imagination (Darcy is meant for Elizabeth and Anne for Wentworth or course!), actually felt like quite a reasonable match. I could understand how each might be happy to settle for the other; both are nursing a broken heart and think that the ones they love are forever beyond their reach, and so settling for a marriage of companionship with at least mutual respect is perhaps a wise and sensible decision given the circumstances. (But it is strange, I warn you, to see Darcy with Anne and then Wentworth courting Elizabeth!)

This story is told completely (well, pretty much) from Darcy’s point of view. I really enjoyed this and I feel it added to the story in that it made his journey through the novel and its subsequent happy ending so much more pleasing for me as the reader, as we have experienced all his anguish and pain which he has had from the beginning with him, and we have been following Darcy’s emotional journey very closely, knowing all his inner thoughts and feelings.

I felt very sorry for Darcy at many times through this book. The author portrays his inner struggles and his torment very vividly and powerfully and you can’t help but pity him! You really see in this variation just how badly Darcy is affected by losing Elizabeth - it really shows how strong an attachment and love he felt for her! (Well, we already knew he was very affected by her refusal, but seeing his inner thoughts explained in such a way as in this book just really reinforces it!)

This story is certainly a sad and agonizing one for Darcy, and so also for the reader at times, but do not fret as there is also plenty of humour. For me, the most humorous aspect was seeing Darcy and Wentworth fighting over Elizabeth! I suppose really it should not amuse me as much as it did, as Wentworth being able to court Elizabeth right in front of Darcy when Darcy is no longer able to himself, should be a very sad prospect! But the rivalry between the two is rather funny; watching them each trying to comfort her or scowling at each other when Elizabeth isn’t looking! They are clearly fighting over the right to her attention – it is rather funny when they end up in a duel together, Darcy being Wentworth’s second, when it is clear that Wentworth would quite like to challenge Darcy himself!

As well as the anguish and the humour, this story also has its share of romance (while staying completely clean)! There are many stolen looks and tender moments between Darcy and Elizabeth as it becomes clear that feelings between the two are perhaps starting to become mutual! There are many very sweet scenes (especially towards the end!) that will please any romantic, like me.

As well as the main characters, the secondary characters are well developed and play some interesting roles in the story. One of my favourites was Colonel Fitzwilliam. I do so love his character in the original and so I always like to see more of him. In this variation, his interactions with Darcy show a real caring side to his nature as he is trying to help Darcy through his struggles. He is also very useful, let’s just say, in a few situations throughout the story!

We also see more of Bingley in this variation, and to begin with a very, understandably, upset Bingley. His interactions with Darcy through the story put a very interesting light onto their friendship and I like to see how it survives the ordeal surrounding Darcy’s interference with Bingley and Jane.

Of course Lady Russell comes into the story and causes trouble just as she does in Persuasion, but I enjoyed seeing her interacting with Darcy. Miss Bingley comes along as well and remains blind to Darcy’s complete disinterest in her (will she ever learn?)! And we also have some adventure and danger thrown into the mix, thanks to good old Mr. Wickham – nothing new there then.

The language and style of this authors writing is brilliant. She captures the characters very well and it flows very smoothly as you read, and it feels very much in the style of Jane Austen. I was very captivated and drawn in by her writing.

There is a very sweet epilogue to this tale which is not set too far into the future (which I like) and there are some very interesting surprises in this epilogue, as well as a very happy ending.

Overall I really enjoyed this story. It has a good balance of pain and sorrow, but also plenty of romance and some humour! I loved going along the journey through Darcy’s eyes and it was very clever how the author intertwined the characters from Persuasion and I loved the whole idea of the switching of partners from two of Jane Austen’s wonderful novels.
...more

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Mar 05, 2019 Staciel rated it really liked it

Shelves: jane-austen-inspired

I approached this one cautiously. While I read a ton of P&P fan-fiction, 'Persuasion' happens to be my favorite Jane Austen novel.

I love it to the moon and back.

So, I wasn't sure if I should read this one.

However, the high praises of some of my favorite Austen fan fiction bloggers won me over, and I was pleasantly surprised.
It was handled well.

Although, this is definitely a P&P variation with a dash of Persuasion.. I wouldn't have minded a bit more of Wentworth. ...more

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Jan 09, 2020 Martha rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Clever story

After reading the prologue a part of me was unsure, but another part (the one that won out) said go for it and I’m so glad I did. Such clever interweaving of Persuasion characters with P&P. Enjoyable story all around.

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