Book picks similar to
A Short Period of Exquisite Felicity by Amy D'Orazio


jaff
pride-and-prejudice
austenesque
historical-romance

A Matter of Honor: A Pride & Prejudice Variation


Abigail Reynolds - 2019
    He must marry her. It is a matter of honor. All he has to do is find her and propose. Surely that will be simple enough. But Elizabeth does not want to be found, especially not by Darcy. From the moment he entered her life, he has caused disaster after disaster. Now he has followed her all the way to Scotland, foolishly certain it is within his power to fix all her problems. But far more is at stake than Darcy knows, and Elizabeth is out of options. Darcy’s quest for Elizabeth takes him from backstage at Edinburgh’s Theatre Royal to the wilds of the Scottish Highlands, where Highlanders prove both friend and enemy. And now his search risks exposing long-hidden secrets that threaten his happiness and her future. On the run and in danger, Elizabeth is forced to make impossible choices to protect those whom she loves – including Darcy. Her growing attraction to him is at war with her need for caution, and the stakes are impossibly high. Can she trust him to continue to fight for her protection when he knows the whole truth? And if he does, will it be for love… or will it be merely a matter of honor? Join bestselling author Abigail Reynolds as she transports the reader to the Scottish lochs and mountains in this sweeping Regency drama based on Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice!

Duty Demands: A Pride and Prejudice Variation


Elaine Owen - 2017
    Darcy wants to marry her- and even more surprised when her uncle tells her why. But after they are married she begins to see a different side of her husband.Darcy thinks that Elizabeth has married him for love, but slowly begins to realize that all is not as it appears in their marriage. Will he still love her when the truth is revealed?Will our two favorite characters overcome their misunderstandings and achieve a marriage based on more than duty and obligation? This is a Pride and Prejudice variation brought to you by the author of Mr. Darcy's Persistent Pursuit, Love's Fool: The Taming of Lydia Bennet, and One False Step. This is a new release of an edition originally published by Elaine Owen.

To Conquer Pride: A Pride and Prejudice Variation


Jennifer Altman - 2018
    Indeed, knowing the lady's true feelings for him, he makes every effort to see that they do not. But when a chance encounter leaves him stranded in an abandoned cottage with the one woman he can never have, Darcy quickly realizes there is more at risk than just Elizabeth's reputation.Elizabeth Bennet knows Mr. Darcy is the last man in the world whom she could ever be prevailed on to marry. Until the morning he hands her a letter, his countenance as dark and forbidding as the windswept sky. Now, trapped in a snowstorm with the one person she was certain she despised, Elizabeth is startled to discover that her feelings are not at all what she expected.But is one night alone together enough to alter the course of their future?Can any man as proud as Mr. Darcy be expected to offer for the same woman a second time?In this tale of serendipity and second chances, the world's unlikeliest couple must conquer pride, prejudice, and faulty first impressions in the elusive quest for their own happily ever after.

A Peculiar Connection: A Pride and Prejudice Variation


Jan Hahn - 2015
    Bent on preventing the engagement of her nephew to Elizabeth Bennet, Lady Catherine de Bourgh declares that any union between Fitzwilliam Darcy and Elizabeth would be “a sin against Heaven itself!” Her shocking revelation, along with a cryptic message written over twenty years earlier, thrusts the couple into a whirlwind of heartbreak and disbelief. Could a deserted mansion in Derbyshire or a small church hidden in the wood hold the key to solving the puzzle? And why is Elizabeth inexplicably drawn to the portrait of three young boys in Pemberley’s gallery? Determined to confirm or refute Lady Catherine’s accusation, Darcy and Elizabeth are forced to embark upon a twisted trail into bygone days and family secrets. All the while, they must endure the exquisite torture of denying the indisputable desire that still hovers between them. From the award-winning author of An Arranged Marriage The Journey and The Secret Betrothal

These Dreams: A Pride and Prejudice Variation


Nicole Clarkston - 2017
    Taken far from England, presumed dead by his family, and lost to all he holds dear, only one name remains as his beacon in the darkness: Elizabeth.Georgiana Darcy is now the reluctant, heartbroken heiress to Pemberley, and Colonel Fitzwilliam her bewildered guardian. Vulnerable and unprepared, Georgiana desperately longs for a friend, while Fitzwilliam seeks to protect her from his own family. As the conspiracy around Darcy’s death widens and questions mount, Colonel Fitzwilliam must confront his own past. An impossible dream, long ago sacrificed for duty, may become his only hope.Newly married Lydia Wickham returns to Longbourn- alone and under mysterious circumstances. Elizabeth Bennet watches one sister suffer and another find joy, while she lives her own days in empty regrets over what might have been. Believing Darcy lost forever, she closes her heart against both pain and happiness, but finds no escape from her dreams of him.

The Perfect Gentleman


Julie Cooper - 2019
    Lizzy Bennet knows just what to do to find her. ‘Tis no secret that Lizzy Bennet has dreams. The uniquely talented daughter of a woman with a dubious reputation, Lizzy knows she must make her own way in a world that shuns her.Fitzwilliam Darcy carries the stains of his family’s dishonour upon his soul and only by holding himself to the strictest standards has he reclaimed his place in society. If his fifteen-year-old sister cannot be found quickly, her scandal could destroy years of perfect behaviour. Lizzy is willing to join the pursuit to get what she wants but will Darcy be willing to trust her with his secrets? And what will they do when the search for Georgiana reveals what neither expected to find?

The Unthinkable Triangle: A Pride and Prejudice Variation


Joana Starnes - 2015
    Darcy’s rival for Elizabeth Bennet’s hand and heart is not some inconsequential stranger, but his dearest, closest friend? How is he to reconcile the claims of loyalty and kinship with the urge to pursue his heart’s desire? "Eyes tightly shut against the horrifying future, Darcy dug his fingers in his hair. Lost to him forever. Not merely lost, but promised to his cousin – firmly in his life, but never his! How in God’s name was he to bear it and not become unhinged? How was he to have her at his table as Richard’s affianced, and not betray himself? How was he to see her, time and again, and give no sign that he wanted her more than he had ever wanted any woman? How was he to keep up the pretence, day after excruciating day?" “This cannot be! Today’s events have tampered with your judgement.” “Elizabeth, pray let my judgement be my concern alone. From the very first days of our acquaintance I sat in judgement instead of courting you, and I paid a terrible price for it. After a year such as I had, there is nothing – nothing, do you hear? – that I would not do to be with you.” He kissed her with a passion bordering on desperation, then burst out, more fiercely than ever: “You must leave me room to hope! Or, as God is my witness, by this time tomorrow I will have carried you off to Gretna Green and damn the consequences!”

Some Natural Importance


Jan Ashton - 2021
    Men hold power over women, but I am not a man who wants to wield such power. I would prefer a woman who has some power over me.”Fitzwilliam Darcy already has one arranged marriage in his past. The last thing he envisions for himself is another, yet he has somehow become entrapped in a promise to a dying man. Not only must Darcy overcome his resentment in order to live up to his sense of honour, but when he realises how deeply his heart may be engaged, he must convince Elizabeth Bennet of his true feelings.Elizabeth never expected the imperious Mr Darcy to become a good friend of an idle gentleman like her father. And she certainly never anticipated they would form a secret pact compelling her marriage to a man she dislikes. She must set aside grief and resentment, as well as her suspicions: Is Darcy using her to avoid another bride pushed onto him by his family, or to gain riches Elizabeth never knew she had?Or is it possible he loves her?

Lover's Knot: A Mysterious Pride & Prejudice Variation


Jenetta James - 2018
    A perplexing murder. Netherfield Park — a house of secrets. Fitzwilliam Darcy is in a tangle. Captivated by Miss Elizabeth Bennet, a girl of no fortune and few connections. Embroiled in an infamous murder in the home of his friend, Charles Bingley. He is being tested in every way. Fearing for Elizabeth’s safety, Darcy moves to protect her in the only way he knows but is thwarted. Thus, he is forced to turn detective. Can he overcome his pride for the sake of Elizabeth? Can he, with a broken heart, fathom the villainy that has invaded their lives? Is there even a chance for love born of such strife?Lover’s Knot is a romantic Pride & Prejudice variation, with a bit of mystery thrown in.

Pride, Prejudice & Secrets


C.P. Odom - 2015
    One of the crucial points in Austen’s novel is Miss Elizabeth Bennet’s fiery and passionate refusal and denunciation of the equally passionate but infinitely more repressed Fitzwilliam Darcy. What might eventuate if the robustly healthy Elizabeth falls prey to illness for almost the first time in her life just when Darcy comes to call? Bemused by her illness, she hardly comprehends what Darcy is asking, and her simple nod of acknowledgment is misinterpreted as acceptance of his suit by a joyous Darcy. By the time Elizabeth regains her health, it seems that every one of her acquaintance and many outside of it accept that she has become engaged to the last man in the world she would ever have considered marrying. Can she openly demand her engagement to the amorous but prideful Darcy be broken, a course fraught with hazards in the social milieu of Regency England? In a maelstrom of confusion, choices have to be made and disclosures closely considered. Elizabeth knows that nothing in her life will ever be the same, and the consequences will likely spread further than she can imagine.

In the Wilds of Derbyshire


Jann Rowland - 2017
    Bingley to make her proud, Elizabeth Bennet goes to her uncle's estate in Derbyshire, ostensibly to assist her cousin in her introduction to society. In reality, Elizabeth feels there is nothing left for her in the neighborhood of her birth. Her uncle's estate is small, and Elizabeth must work while there, and though she finds her tasks easy to bear. She quickly becomes close to her young cousin and uncle, though her aunt is a hard, demanding woman, who seems to hold a grudge against Elizabeth. But she also meets many friends, including the daughter of an earl, and the handsome friend of her sister Jane's new husband, a Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy. As Elizabeth is slowly pulled from her melancholy, new vistas open up to her, and she realizes that she can still have everything she has ever wished to have. But the jealousy of a woman who is no friend of her courtship with a wealthy man threatens her newfound happiness, and the coming of a sister who rejected her has the potential to once again disrupt Elizabeth's life and destroy her future.

A Will of Iron: A Pride and Prejudice Variation


Linda Beutler - 2015
    Their return finds Rosings swathed in mourning. In death, Anne is revealed as having lived a rich life of the mind, and she plotted rather constantly to escape her loathsome mother, Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Anne’s journal—spirited into the hands of Elizabeth and Charlotte Collins—holds her candid observations on life and her family. It also exposes her final, and sadly fatal, means of outwitting her mother. Anne’s Last Will and Testament, with its peculiar bequests, sends Lady Catherine into a tailspin and throws into turmoil every relationship amongst the Bennets, Darcys, Fitzwilliams, Collinses, and even the Bingleys! Was Anne de bourgh a shrewder judge of character than Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy combined?Includes mature content.

The Coming of Age of Elizabeth Bennet


Caitlin Williams - 2016
    Mr Bennet has died, leaving his wife and five young daughters bereft. The family estate, Longbourn, is now lost, entailed away and fifteen-year-old Elizabeth Bennet is to go two hundred miles away to live with strangers. George Darcy, repaying a debt of gratitude, has offered to take her to Pemberley, to live under the mantle of his care and be raised alongside his own daughter, Georgiana.But on the day she is to leave Longbourn forever, young Elizabeth, grieving and confused, runs off into the Hertfordshire countryside. Fitzwilliam Darcy gives chase, telling his father he will have her back in an hour or two. Luck and fate, however, are not on his side and capturing Elizabeth Bennet turns out not only to be more difficult than he could ever have imagined, but events will conspire to turn her little adventure into his worst nightmare.The prideful man and the girl prejudiced against him, meet much earlier in this rethinking of Jane Austen’s masterpiece. Elizabeth grows up under the ever-watchful eye of Mr Darcy, from fifteen to twenty one. She errs and falters, there are stumbles and trips, but could this ‘disobedient little hellion’ one day become mistress of Pemberley and the keeper of his heart?

Agony and Hope


L.L. Diamond - 2021
    What will become of him when Georgiana is wed, and he is left by himself? He cannot give away a heart not his own. Must he remain in this mournful existence, anticipating the nights to come, where in his dreams, he can finally be with Elizabeth, a spectre of his once living, breathing beloved. When a surprise visitor brings unexpected news, his hope is breathed back to life. Will he finally obtain his deepest desires? Will Fitzwilliam Darcy be able to leave behind the agony of the past and hope for the future he once thought impossible?Due to circumstances beyond her control, Elizabeth Bennet’s family is irrevocably altered. Her father is dead, Lydia is missing, and her mother and remaining sisters are to be relegated to a life of poverty. Fitzwilliam Darcy’s behaviour at Pemberley indicates he still loves her, but too much has happened. She can never hope for him to once again make the offer of his hand. Elizabeth’s sole option is to abandon the life she once led and start anew. But what happens when her path once again crosses with the love she thought lost to her? Will Elizabeth choose to protect him with the one option available to her or will she put aside the agony of the past and choose hope?

Bluebells in the Mourning


KaraLynne Mackrory - 2013
    . . ...nothing can be lost that love cannot find? Jane Austen's beloved "Pride and Prejudice" is readapted in this Regency tale of love in the face of tragedy. Mr. Darcy is thwarted in his attempt to propose to Elizabeth Bennet at Hunsford when he encounters her minutes after she receives the sad news from Longbourn of her sister's death. His gallantry and compassion as he escorts her back to Hertfordshire begins to unravel the many threads of her discontent with him. While her family heals from their loss, Darcy must search London for answers --- answers that might bring justice but also might just mark the end of his own hopes with Elizabeth.