Book picks similar to
Dangerous to Know: Jane Austen's Rakes & Gentlemen Rogues by Christina BoydChristina Morland
jane-austen
jaff
romance
austenesque
The Forgotten Sister: Mary Bennet's Pride and Prejudice
Jennifer Paynter - 2012
She retreats to her room to read and play the pianoforte and, when obliged to mix in society, finds it safer to quote platitudes from books rather than express her real opinions. She also finds it safer to befriend those who are socially “beneath” her. When wealthy Mr. Darcy and Mr. Bingley glide into her sisters’ lives, Mary becomes infatuated with an impoverished young musician, the son of her old wet-nurse, who plays the fiddle at the Meryton assemblies.It is only after her sisters tease her about her “beau with the bow” that Mary is forced to examine her real feelings and confront her own brand of pride and prejudice.An elegant accompaniment to Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, The Forgotten Sister plucks the neglected Mary from obscurity and beautifully reveals her hopes and dreams.
Love Unsought
Kay Bea - 2020
But fate, with assistance from Darcy’s scheming cousins, contrives to keep them together.When Miss Darcy is summoned to Kent, the couple has a chance to begin anew, and their budding friendship carries them to London and Hertfordshire. Their feelings deepen but before their new understanding is made known, Elizabeth is sent to Brighton as chaperone to her youngest sister. Her stay there ends in ruin when Darcy’s past comes to call.Upon discovering the situation is worse than he feared, Darcy determines he must be the one to make things right. His departure leaves Elizabeth in doubt and their future in question. Was their love too new to withstand a scandal?A series of missed chances, misdirected letters, and miscommunications keeps the couple apart; it make require the intervention of their nearest relations to bring them back together.
Darcy's Christmas Wish: A Pride and Prejudice Variation
Penelope Swan - 2015
though he never expected to meet her again. But when he comes to Rosings Park to spend the Advent season with his aunt and encounters the enchanting, spirited Miss Elizabeth Bennet again, he discovers that at Christmastime, wishes can come true...DARCY'S CHRISTMAS WISH is a sweet, clean standalone Pride and Prejudice variation - a holiday romance inspired by Jane Austen's classic novel!* Includes an excerpt of "Darcy Unmasked" by Jane Grix at the end
Caroline Bingley
Jennifer Becton - 2011
Darcy made proposals of marriage to the Bennet sisters at the end of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, Caroline Bingley was both distressed by her brother's choice of bride and humiliated by Mr. Darcy's rejection of her. And she made her objections known. Now banished from her brother's household, Caroline must return to her mother's home in the north of England until she can make amends with both Bennet sisters. Desperate though Caroline may be to return to polite company, she absolutely refuses to apologize to Miss Elizabeth Bennet, and instead, she seeks an alternative route back into society in the form of Mr. William Charlton, heir to a barony. Through her connections with Mr. Charlton's sister Lavinia, Caroline begins to infiltrate the household in the hopes of securing the gentleman and his title for herself. However, she must also contend with her vexing emotions regarding Mr. Patrick Rushton, a once-wealthy landowner, and the meddlesome opinions of Mrs. Rosemary Pickersgill, the companion sent by her brother. When all that Caroline has ever dreamed of attaining: an ancient family name, a title, and a home of her own, is finally within her reach, will she grasp for it even if it means disregarding the workings of her own heart? Or will she cast off the trappings of society and give herself to true love?
The Longbourn Quarantine
Don Jacobson - 2020
A feared specter has escaped London’s grimy docklands and now threatens the wealthy districts. Amongst that ragged stream is a single carriage jostling its way toward Meryton. Inside are the Darcy siblings along with Charles and Caroline Bingley. They desperately seek the safety of Netherfield Park.For all their riches, they could not evade the epidemic’s dark hand. Bingley’s leasehold had been reduced to rubble as roving bands raped, pillaged, and burned. The only sanctuary was Longbourn where, once installed, the Darcys and Bingleys were barred from leaving by a fortnight’s quarantine.Events converge with disease in The Longbourn Quarantine. Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy abandon old prejudices to face grief and mourning. Pride is set aside as Death hovers nearby. The couple forges ahead. knowing that love unexplored is love lost: that words must be said lest they remain unspoken in the time of smallpox.
Sorrow and Second Chances
E. Bradshaw - 2019
In this adaptation, the Bennet family are afflicted with grief following a sudden death in their family, and as a consequence, the fate of the whole family is changed forever. Fitzwilliam Darcy, who has been filled with regret and deep remorse ever since his last encounter with Elizabeth Bennet, realises that – in this time of great sorrow – he might just have a chance to redeem himself in the eyes of the woman he loves. Told predominantly from the viewpoint of Mr Darcy, who has been left broken-hearted by Elizabeth Bennet’s rejection, this Pride and Prejudice variation tells the story of what happened next between these two much-loved characters. ‘He could easily see that he had astonished her, and he knew very well that he was skirting well over the line of acceptable conduct with his close proximity and with his use of her Christian name – but he felt that they had travelled well beyond the realms of proper conduct a long time ago. Somewhere between their heated argument at the Hunsford Parsonage and their private conversation in the dark of her bedroom, they had crossed an invisible line. They could never return to holding polite, stilted conversations about music or politics, or the state of the weather, when they had already bared so much of their inner souls to one another. Let other people conduct their courtships in such a way, he thought determinedly to himself, but he could remain silent no longer. If he had felt less for her then he might have been able to restrain his candour, but he knew he was well beyond that now.’
With My Whole Heart Forever
Wendi Sotis - 2020
Miss Elizabeth Bennet’s pleasure trip to the Lake District with her aunt and uncle is redirected when they receive an express stating Mrs. Gardiners’ sister and two nephews have fallen ill. The trio proceeds to a farm in Derbyshire to assist the ailing family, on the estate where her aunt grew up, Pemberley. During a walk, Elizabeth happens upon a young lady. A friendship is born, but secrets and heartache surround her new friend. Perhaps Elizabeth will finally meet Ana’s brother, of whom she has heard so much, at Pemberley’s Harvest Ball?Fitzwilliam Darcy is desperate to help his sister recover from the events at Ramsgate but is at a loss as to how to do so. After she begins to ride every day, she also seems to begin healing. In his state of relief, he does not push for answers as to why. When Ana comes to him excitedly requesting that he make the Harvest Ball a masque, he is so grateful for her interest in something, he agrees.
A Case of Some Delicacy
K.C. Kahler - 2019
When rumours of Jane Bennet’s impending betrothal to her father’s heir begin spreading at the Meryton Assembly, Elizabeth vows to save her dearest sister’s happiness from being sacrificed in marriage. She finds an unlikely accomplice in Mr Darcy, the taciturn man whose heroics on the cricket field have managed to turn Lydia Bennet’s infatuation away from redcoats. Upon overhearing a heated exchange between Elizabeth and Mr Bennet, Darcy is stunned not only by her devotion to her sister, but also by her defiant words to her father. An inexplicable desire to help Elizabeth draws Darcy into the match-breaking scheme, despite knowing that he should want nothing to do with a family like the Bennets. As the new allies work together, their friendship deepens into mutual admiration. But they must navigate a complicated web of sisters, parents, friends, cousins, and aunts, some of whom may be attempting their own manipulations and romantic schemes. Eavesdropping and jealousy abound, cricket balls go astray, and love blooms in spite of Mrs. Bennet’s misguided matchmaking. This humorous Pride and Prejudice re-imagining is novel length and pays homage to the wit of Jane Austen.
Longbourn
Jo Baker - 2013
Sarah, the orphaned housemaid, spends her days scrubbing the laundry, polishing the floors, and emptying the chamber pots for the Bennet household. But there is just as much romance, heartbreak, and intrigue downstairs at Longbourn as there is upstairs. When a mysterious new footman arrives, the orderly realm of the servants’ hall threatens to be completely, perhaps irrevocably, upended. Jo Baker dares to take us beyond the drawing rooms of Jane Austen’s classic—into the often overlooked domain of the stern housekeeper and the starry-eyed kitchen maid, into the gritty daily particulars faced by the lower classes in Regency England during the Napoleonic Wars—and, in doing so, creates a vivid, fascinating, fully realized world that is wholly her own.
Thursday's Child
Pat Santarsiero - 2013
Risking her own reputation, she enters into a bargain with an unknown gentleman in order to obtain the funds she desperately needs.However, she soon discovers that the bargain has cost much more than she could ever have imagined.Set in the world of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, Thursday's Child is a story of sacrifice, courage and love.
The Trials: A Pride and Prejudice Story
Timothy Underwood - 2017
Bennet died, Elizabeth became the governess of Lady Catherine’s unwanted ward. One day she collided with Mr. Darcy in the halls of Rosings. But though she now saw the good gentleman he truly was, it was too late: Mr. Darcy was engaged to his cousin, Anne. Lady Catherine called Darcy to Rosings after she learned about Georgiana’s near elopement to Wickham. She gave Darcy a terrible choice: Marry Anne, or I shall tell the world! When Darcy saw Elizabeth again, he knew he never ceased to love her. Darcy was torn between protecting his sister and the desperate wishes of his heart. When Darcy at last sees a hope for himself and Elizabeth, something terrible happens that may keep them apart forever…
A Match For Mary Bennet: Can A Serious Young Lady Ever Find Her Way To Love?
Eucharista Ward - 2009
Pious Mary Bennet tries to do her duty in the world as she thinks God envisions it. Initially believing (mistakenly) that her sister Elizabeth married well only in order to provide for her sisters, Mary is happy to be relieved of the obligation to marry at all so that she can continue her faithful works. But she begins to have second thoughts after further studying marriage through her sisters' experiences as well as spending time with two young men. One is a splendid young buck whose determined courtship must have ulterior motives; the other is a kindly, serious young clergyman whose friendship Mary values more and more. One day she realizes that God very much made man and woman to be together...but which is the man for her?
Pride, Prejudice and Jasmin Field
Melissa Nathan - 2000
Field's delicious contempt for the arrogant, overbearing Harry Noble goes from being wicked fun to infuriating. Her brief moment of theatrical glory looks as if it's going to be overshadowed by the betrayal of her best friend, the disintegration of her family and the implosion of her career. And suddenly she can't remember a single one of her lines. But, worst of all, Harry Noble -- who, incidentally, looks amazing in tight breeches -- has started to stare hard at Jazz with that sort of a glimmer in his eyes...Fresh, wild, wonderfully romantic and absolutely hilarious, Pride, Prejudice and Jasmin Field is Jane Austen as the great lady herself never imagined it.
Cake and Courtship (Mr Bennet's Memoirs #1)
Mark Brownlow - 2017
Unfortunately, that man is Mr Bennet of Longbourn: a world-weary gentleman who prefers his books to ballrooms.What follows is a heartwarming tale full of wry humour and wisdom, set against the backdrop of the first half of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.Join Mr Bennet as he and his friends in the Meryton Natural History Society attempt to help John, a task that forces our father of five daughters to confront his own romantic past."Life must be mastered with pragmatism and sense, which explains why so few people succeed at it."Cake and Courtship is a standalone story, but also the first part of Mr Bennet's Memoirs.
Disruption at Pemberley: A Pride and Prejudice Variation
Emily Russell - 2018
Ever since she harshly rejected his proposal of marriage months earlier, she has dreaded seeing him again. How could she have been so wrong about him? How could she ever look him in the face, knowing how badly she misjudged him?
Elizabeth and the Gardiners are not the only ones taking advantage of the master's absence. While travelling through the woods, their carriage is held up by three highwaymen who have been terrorising the countryside. In the scuffle, her uncle is injured, and Elizabeth is almost taken with them before they are saved by the last person she expected to see.
Fitzwilliam Darcy has struggled to overcome his feelings for Elizabeth Bennet. Ever since she rejected his proposal of marriage and made it clear how much she disliked him, he sought to put her from his mind. His only comfort is if he ever did see her again, he might prove himself a better man than the one she believed him to be.
Needing to return home to Pemberley earlier than anticipated, he takes a shortcut through the woods at night only to come across a carriage being held up by a gang of highwaymen. He intercepts and chases the thieves away. On his return, he is startled to find the woman he never thought to see again.
Darcy and Elizabeth put aside their emotions at seeing one another and agree that Elizabeth's uncle should be taken to Pemberley to receive care. Forced to live under the same roof, Darcy and Elizabeth finally have a chance to face their true feelings for one another and see if the wrongs of the past can be overcome. Can Darcy prove to her that he has changed from the man she thought him to be? And is Elizabeth still dear enough to him that he can overcome his hurt pride at her rejection?
Their growing closeness is disrupted when one of the highwaymen is captured and reveals information that forces Darcy and Elizabeth to make a decision about their relationship. And an old enemy from the past threatens to ruin everything that has been growing between them.