Cause To Repine by E.M. Storm-Smith

Book Review Jul 04, 2024

My review

4/5 stars

The premise of this particular JAFF (Jane Austen Fan Fiction) story is that Darcy never said that Lizzie was "not handsome enough" to tempt him, therefore she never overheard it and instead of being offended she actually goes on to develop a solid friendship with him.

This twist of events leads to many other interesting developments in an otherwise very familiar story:

Lizzie is suspicious of Wickham from the start because he contradicts everything she knows for herself of Darcy's character.
Mary secures a proposal from Mr Collins, because both Jane and Lizzie are already spoken for in terms of interest and potential proposals.
The first proposal still happens, but this time Darcy is rejected because of Lizzie's fear that she's not good enough for his world.
Lydia Bennet gets what is arguably a better ending than the one she's left with in the original story, but is still subject to Wickham's bad character.

I enojyed the subversion of expectations using familiar plot points, it kept me reading and gave the book a lighter, slightly more soft-romance feel than it's source material.

The way the author played with some of the characters was also fun to read. Anne de Bourgh was my favourite change - watching her playfully interact with her cousin, play a more pivotal part in the plot and just generally be more assertive was a nice change from her usual sickly demeanour in these fan fictions (and the original, of course). I also enjoyed the fact that Mr Darcy's father was still alive - getting to see moments of the relationship that he could have had with his influential father, and the more relaxed demeanour he had as a result of not shouldering the burden of being head of the family was well written and enjoyable.

There were elements of this book which took me slightly out of the time period it was supposed to be set in, and the general language used was very modern, but on the whole it was a nice little read and one of the more entertaining JAFF books that I've read over the years.

Book blurb

Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy come from two different worlds. She loves her country estate existence. He was born for London's high society. If his aunts have anything to say about it (and they always do), Darcy's future depends on finding a bride with connections to the nobility.

Can Darcy and Elizabeth overcome their families, fears, and the constant berating of London's gossipmongers to follow their hearts?