Book picks similar to
Rational Creatures by Christina BoydJessie Lewis


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jane-austen
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short-stories

Dangerous to Know: Jane Austen's Rakes & Gentlemen Rogues


Christina BoydChristina Morland - 2017
    Have you never wondered about the pasts of her rakes, rattles, and gentlemen rogues? Surely, there's more than one side to their stories. It is a universal truth, we are captivated by smoldering looks, daring charms ... a happy-go-lucky, cool confidence. All the while, our loyal confidants are shouting on deaf ears: “He is a cad—a brute—all wrong!” But is that not how tender hearts are broken...by loving the undeserving? How did they become the men Jane Austen created? In this romance anthology, eleven Austenesque authors expose the histories of Austen’s anti-heroes. "Dangerous to Know: Jane Austen’s Rakes & Gentlemen Rogues" is a titillating collection of Georgian era short stories—a backstory or parallel tale off-stage of canon—whilst remaining steadfast to the characters we recognize in Austen’s great works. What say you? Everyone may be attracted to a bad boy…even temporarily...but heaven help us if we marry one.

Elizabeth: Obstinate, Headstrong Girl


Christina BoydBeau North - 2020
    “I think her as delightful a character as ever appeared in print…” wrote Jane Austen in a letter, January 1813―and we think so too!

Conceit & Concealment: A Pride & Prejudice Variation


Abigail Reynolds - 2017
    He even admits to collaborating with Napoleon’s troops. And Elizabeth Bennet despises all traitors. But she can’t make sense of Darcy. He doesn’t act like a traitor. He risks his own safety to save young women from the French. And how can she despise a man who loves puppies? Something about him doesn’t add up – and she finds him far too attractive. Then Darcy’s carefully constructed world crumbles, and he must entrust his closest-held secret to Elizabeth. To protect that secret, Elizabeth must disappear entirely, leaving her family and Darcy behind, to plunge herself into the dizzying world of fashionable London and the dangers of the Loyalist Resistance. Nothing will ever be the same again. Darcy is determined to find Elizabeth. Now that she knows the truth about him, there’s nothing to keep them apart – nothing, that is, until the day Darcy is forced to choose between his country and the life of the woman he loves…

Rumours & Recklessness: A Pride and Prejudice Variation


Nicole Clarkston - 2015
    Finally confronted with a woman who ignites all his hopes , he agonizes over the cruel trick of fate which placed her in a situation beneath his notice. The morning after the Netherfield ball, he resolves to put as much distance between himself and her as possible.That very morning, however, Elizabeth's future is jeopardized by her father's untimely accident. With Mr Bennet unconscious and surrounded by concerned neighbors, Mr Collins presses his suit. Elizabeth's mother frantically demands her acceptance to secure the familiy's welfare. With so many witnesses to his proposal and everyone expecting her to make a practical choice, Elizabeth's reputation hangs in the balance.Without her father to defend her refusal of Mr Collins, there is no one to speak up for her... except the last man in the world she would ever marry.

Falling for Mr. Darcy


KaraLynne Mackrory - 2012
    When Mr. Darcy encounters Elizabeth Bennet injured after a fall, his concern for her welfare cracks the shell of his carefully guarded heart and a charming man emerges. Elizabeth sees an appealing side of him she never believed possible from the stoic, proud master of Pemberley. They find the simple gentlemanly act of assisting her home will best both Mr. Darcy's resolve to keep his heart safe and Elizabeth's conviction that this is the last man on earth she might have ever been prevailed upon to marry. Soon, falling for Mr. Darcy becomes a real possibility.

The Darcy Monologues


Christina BoydJan Hahn - 2017
    Darcy has captivated readers' imaginations as the ultimate catch. Rich. Powerful. Noble. Handsome. And yet, as Miss Austen's Pride and Prejudice is established through Elizabeth Bennet's fine eyes, how are we to know his mind? How does Darcy progress from "She is tolerable: but not handsome enough to tempt me" to "I thought only of you"?In this romance anthology, fifteen Austenesque authors assemble to sketch Darcy's character through a series of re-imaginings, set in the Regency through contemporary times--from faithful narratives to the fanciful. Herein The Darcy Monologues, the man himself reveals his intimate thoughts, his passionate dreams, and his journey to love--all told with a previously concealed wit and enduring charm. "It is your turn to say something now, Mr. Darcy."

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.

Suddenly Mrs. Darcy


Jenetta James - 2015
     But when Mrs. Bennet accuses Fitzwilliam Darcy of compromising her daughter, that is exactly the outcome. Trapped in a seemingly loveless marriage and far from home, she grows suspicious of her new husband’s heart and further, suspects he is hiding a great secret. Is there even a chance at love given the happenstance of their hasty marriage?

Miss Darcy's Companion: A Pride and Prejudice Variation


Joana Starnes - 2016
    The recently bereaved Miss Elizabeth Bennet is in need of a position. When she accepts the one Mr Darcy offers, she finds herself in his near-constant company and gets to know him at his best. Not as he would present himself to strangers in some remote corner of Hertfordshire, but as his nearest and dearest know him. An excellent brother, landlord, master. A wonderful man, noble, kind – and impossibly handsome. So who falls in love first? What of Mr Wickham and his dastardly ploys? And how is a lady’s companion ever to have a future with one who could marry into the best houses in the land?

An Arranged Marriage: A Pride & Prejudice Alternate Path


Jan Hahn - 2011
    Darcy's proposal at Hunsford, her father dies, leaving Longbourn entailed away and little fortune to sustain his widow and daughters. Six months later, the Bennet family receives a visitor with a most unusual offer that promises to save the family from financial and social ruin. Elizabeth's sense of duty forces her to enter into an arranged marriage with a man she does not even like. Told from Elizabeth's point of view, An Arranged Marriage is a compelling twist on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Can Elizabeth overcome her feelings of anger, resentment, and suspicion toward her new husband and - the most bewildering sensation of all - a growing attraction for the last man in the world she ever wished to marry?

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.

Mistaken


Jessie Lewis - 2017
    Miss Elizabeth Bennet, headstrong and usually self-assured, returns home to Longbourn chastened and confused after a surprising marriage proposal from Mr Darcy—a man she thought she despised. When Mr Bingley arrives soon afterwards, sent by his friend Darcy to resume his romantic attentions to Elizabeth’s beloved sister Jane, Elizabeth begins to feel something like regret for the man she so cruelly spurned.The once proud Fitzwilliam Darcy, thoroughly humbled by the rejection of his suit and resolved to become a man worthy of the woman he loves, sets about righting all the wrongs of which Elizabeth has accused him. But when terrible news reaches him from Hertfordshire, it becomes apparent that encouraging the capricious Charles Bingley to return to Meryton might just be the worst decision the master of Pemberley has ever made.Having assumed their own actions have ruined all hope of reconciliation, Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy soon learn they have greater troubles to overcome when betrayal of the worst sort threatens to forever ruin their chances of happiness.Mistaken is a novel-length Pride and Prejudice variation set in Regency England.

Fitzwilliam Darcy: An Honourable Man


Brenda J. Webb - 2011
    Not a simple retelling, it is an intriguing new story that does not follow canon and it is rated for Mature audiences. Leaving England after his disastrous proposal was refused at Hunsford, Darcy spent two lonely years in Scotland and Ireland before returning home to face Elizabeth Bennet, certain that he could regard her as an indifferent acquaintance. Events that transpired in his absence have left Elizabeth a changed woman. The victim of a marriage by deception to Count Stefano, she has suffered greatly at his hands. Will Mr. Darcy rescue the woman he vowed to forget?

A Most Civil Proposal


C.P. Odom - 2013
    It was therefore rather easy for Elizabeth to reject his offer in much the same manner. But what if Darcy, never one at ease when trying to speak of inner sentiments, had realized beforehand how his intended proposal would sound to the young woman he hoped to make his bride? What if he had attempted a much more civil and thoughtful proposal of marriage? Could Elizabeth Bennet have coldly and angrily rejected an offer made in such a manner? A Most Civil Proposal, a variation on Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice," examines and explores how the lives of the two main characters and their families and friends might have turned out differently had Darcy realized his error beforehand and thus avoided being so forcefully instructed and corrected by the love of his life.

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.