Haunting Mr. Darcy: A Spirited Courtship in Austenesque Lovers TBR Pile Reading Challenge 2016

Jan 21, 2020 Debbie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: jaff, 2020-great-books, kindle-unlimited

5+ stars!

This has been one of my all-time favorite Pride and Prejudice stories for years. It's such an excellent alternate universe P&P with a dash of fairy tale and supernatural elements, and Ms. Mackrory's writing is just splendid.

We begin on New Year's Eve with Darcy in his town home fruitlessly trying to forget Elizabeth Bennet after having convinced Charles Bingley to stay in London rather than returning to Netherfield. Meanwhile, Elizabeth and Jane are about to attend a New Year's Eve asse 5+ stars!

This has been one of my all-time favorite Pride and Prejudice stories for years. It's such an excellent alternate universe P&P with a dash of fairy tale and supernatural elements, and Ms. Mackrory's writing is just splendid.

We begin on New Year's Eve with Darcy in his town home fruitlessly trying to forget Elizabeth Bennet after having convinced Charles Bingley to stay in London rather than returning to Netherfield. Meanwhile, Elizabeth and Jane are about to attend a New Year's Eve assembly in Meryton. Both Elizabeth and Darcy make wishes for the New Year that are about to be fulfilled.

Jane's memories of the night she first met Charles are too much for her. At Elizabeth's insistence, the two sisters leave the assembly early in the Bennet carriage, and the icy conditions cause a disastrous accident. Jane sustains only minor injuries, but Elizabeth hits her head and remains unconscious.

She awakens in a dream-like state in a marvelous place - a huge library. She glides rather than walks to the library shelves and finds she can explore the entire content of a book merely by passing her fingers through it. Mr. Darcy has come home early from yet another disappointing ball, unsuccessfully seeking a lady to replace Elizabeth in his mind. Subsequently, he's been in his study drinking. A lot! He hears something in his library just beyond the door and isn't altogether surprised to discover Elizabeth Bennet there. After all, she's been haunting his dreams for weeks.

It's a fantastic scene: Elizabeth believes she's dreaming, while Darcy believes his excessive drinking led to this hallucination. Since both believe the other isn't real, the rules of propriety go out the window. Elizabeth is amused that the appalling Mr. Darcy is ruining such a wonderful dream, and Darcy is enjoying the lifelike vision of his obsession.

The premise evolves. Elizabeth is still present the next morning. Now Darcy starts to worry he's insane. He tries to ignore her, but Elizabeth's pithy comments, laughter, and attention-grabbing tricks make that difficult. No one else can see or hear her except Darcy, leading the servants and Georgiana to notice the master's odd behavior.

Events at Longbourn aren't ignored. The Bennet family is collectively holding its breath - praying, hoping, willing that Elizabeth will come out of her coma. The reader understands exactly what's going on, but Darcy and Elizabeth can't figure out why she's there. And Darcy isn't about to go back to Hertfordshire and have to deal with TWO Elizabeth Bennets - he's already fit for Bedlam as it is.

This book has everything I love in a P&P story. It's rich in humor. The characters feel real. The relationship between Darcy and Elizabeth develops believably (despite the unbelievable basis). The romance is positively swoon-worthy. I love that Elizabeth's awakening (c'mon - you KNOW she's going to wake up, right?) is only the middle of the story, and Darcy has a lot more work to do to win their Happily Ever After.

Ms. Mackrory's writing itself is of the highest caliber. Everything flows beautifully. There are snippets of identifiable dialogue from canon, usually in a completely different context and often spoken by a different character, and they always fit perfectly, with no glaring difference in quality between this author's words and Jane Austen's.

The content is clean. I cannot praise this book highly enough! ...more

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Nov 08, 2015 Debbie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: jaff

This is undoubtedly one of my top-ten JAFF favorites. My fifth reading was just as enjoyable as the first time- perhaps even more so, since I picked up on some nuances I'm sure I missed originally. ...more

15 likes · Like · see review

May 18, 2016 J. W. Garrett rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: era-6-regency-1811-1820, jaff-pride-and-prejudice, 2016, read-again, trope-paranormal, trope-fall-injured

Delightful, suspenseful, paranormal P&P drama, couldn’t put it down

I have not read a more suspenseful, funny, and intriguing, totally exciting, and a simply couldn’t put it down story in forever. This was the most fun I’ve had with our beloved P&P characters. WOW!!!

Not since the 1990 paranormal movie Ghost have I been more on the edge of my seat as I was with this story. The book cover was wonderful. As you can tell by the reviews, most everyone loved it. I am still blown away. I sat up late in ...more

11 likes · Like · see review

Apr 21, 2017 Sara rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: k-unlimited, jaff

I loved this book! I hesitated to read it for a long time as I do not normally read anything in the paranormal genre. However, I was in the right mood and took a chance on this variation. I'm so glad that I did.

The beauty of this story was the deliscious interaction between ODC D and E. The experiences that they have are so touching. I've never read another variation where they get to interact to intimately. I was so connected to the characters that I wanted to laugh, or cry with them.

Others h ...more

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Sep 22, 2015 Marina rated it it was amazing

The variation on the P&P was excellent and i absolutely adored “spiritual” relationship development. It made me think it many ways about the soul mates and sleeping beauty.

1 like · Like · see review