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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN num: 9780615147499
ISBN number: 0615147496
Label: Intertidal Press
Manufacturer: Intertidal Press
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 304
Printing Date: August 03, 2007
Publishing house: Intertidal Press
Sale Popularity Level: 124939
Studio: Intertidal Press
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In Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice, Mr. Darcy gives up on winning the woman he loves after she refuses his proposal of marriage. What if, instead of disappearing from her life, he took the initiative and tried to change her mind? In Impulse & Initiative, Mr. Darcy follows Elizabeth Bennet to her home in Hertfordshire, planning to prove to her he is a changed man and worthy of her love. THE PEMBERLEY VARIATIONS by Abigail Reynolds is a series of novels exploring the roads not taken in Pride & Prejudice.
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Rated by buyers 
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This book represents the fifth and final Pride and Prejudice "variation" that I've read by Abigail Reynolds. When I discovered these books I made that mistake familiar to most book-a-holics, I bought all five of them before reading any one. It was not completely a mistake but it certainly did teach me a lesson I will not soon forget.
As all of the other books do, this novel takes up after Darcy has proposed marriage to Elizabeth Bennet and been rejected. He leaves Rosings Park and goes to London to contemplate his future without Elizabeth in it. His cousin, Colonel Fitzwilliam, arrives in London on military business and finds a drunk and dejected Darcy in residence. After managing to cajole the reason for his depressed state of mind from Darcy, Colonel Fitzwilliam challenges Darcy to travel to the Bingley estate near Longbourn to try to win the lady's favor, to give it one more gallant try. Sounds fine so far, right?
I, like most Pride and Prejudice devotees, always wanted to understand Fitzwilliam Darcy better. Jane Austen devoted most of her writing to explaining the character of Elizabeth Bennett and left most of us wondering what Darcy was like when he wasn't interacting with Elizabeth. Abigail Reynolds took up a truly great challenge to write five books to endeavor to give readers such as me some answers, to fill in some of the blank spaces of what Darcy may have been like. All five of these books have been different. They can each be read completely as a stand alone. Upon looking back at my reviews of the other four books I find that I have rated three of them as 3 star reads (okay, but with some problems) and one as a 4 star read (really quite good for me). This one falls very firmly within the 3 star range for me.
Impulse and Initiative made no effort to follow the original story line for Pride and Prejudice. Although many of the original situations still take place or are referred to in this book, they are moved either forward of the original placement or backward after other events take place. In this "variation" Elizabeth and Darcy get married by about half-way through the book after he has convinced her to become engaged to him and then their passions overwhelm them and they run headlong to be married by a bishop in a cathedral chapel. All within a matter of days of her arrival at Pemberley and with none of Lizzy's family present except for Mr. & Mrs. Gardiner who are staying with Lizzy at Pemberley and only Colonel Fitzwilliam's parents and Georgianna there to represent Darcy's side of the family. Quite a rushed affair to be sure. But then it didn't really matter. Every chance they got both Elizabeth and Darcy told anybody who cared to ask that the reason they married so quickly was because they had been intimate and needed to marry. For two people who supposedly valued their privacy so much, they certainly didn't hesitate to confide that little bit of information.
The main reason for the 3 star rating for me was because I became so completely tired of the minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day, week by week description of what happened when Elizabeth and Darcy were together. And it wasn't actually the intimate details because Ms Reynolds wrote very discrete descriptions of those encounters. It was so very, very much of the repititious descriptions of the kisses, the touches, the endearments, the looks between the two. The conversations which covered the same ground over again, only maybe from a slightly different angle. For me, it got to be very boring. I began to wonder if I would ever finish this book. From the perspective of hindsight, I would never have bought all five of the books at once. I should have bought one, decided whether I liked it or not and then made my decision about buying more. As it was, I had already spent the money, I felt compelled to read the books. And I only found one, The Last Man in the World, to be a book I'm truly glad I read. Hopefully my experience will help you make a decision about buying one, all five, or none of the books in this series. I'm just heartily glad I'm finally finished with them.
Rated by buyers -
This is another yummy variation to the P & P story. Darcy decides after months of pining for Elizabeth to actually seek her out and court her. His attempts to woo her are presented in a genuine manner, and the use of language quite similar to Austen's own provides for an unexpected treat. The only part I am a bit disappointed in is the deflowering. I Expect Miss Austen would have been exceedingly shocked, grieved, etc. It is, however, a delightful read, and I devoured it as such.
Rated by buyers -
So far have read 3 of the 5 variations from this author, and "From Lambton to Longbourn" is the best one. This one is also very good. At very first the romancy-part is a bit much but then you get used to it and enjoy the story. I liked it so much that I am going to order the other 2 books in this series.
Rated by buyers -
Well, I started out not liking it. I read it while thinking "they would never act this way" and that it was too modern. After awhile I just abandoned my fussiness and decided to "go with the flow" and actually started to like it. No, it's not like Jane Austin, and yes, it's very explicit--especially about kissing and sex. But it was easy to start believing that it's how it would be if written today, and it was very romantic over all. I guess I'm going to buy the others now and read them too! I just wish I could afford a Kindle and get them that way... :)
Rated by buyers -
I have read all of her books. This is my second favorite. This is not P&P Austen style, but a refreshing take on my favorite couple. I never wanted it to end. I have read her collection several times and never seem to get bored. I enjoyed this new take and found it compelling. Cannot wait for your new book.
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