Brandie Fritts

Should have been an original story

Revisado: 02-02-24

I did not like this book. It felt like a completely unrelated story with a collection of characters that just happened to have familiar names. If you're here for D&E, it will take a long time to get there as they do not meet until well over the halfway point. At 6 hours and 40 minutes, it is only 1807.

I don't think I've ever disliked a portrayal of Colonel Fitzwilliam in a variation as much as I did here. I would go so far as to say I hated him.

The narrator was pretty good. I would be willing to listen to him elsewhere, but I ultimately returned this work. After nearly 7 hours of waiting for anything remotely resembling a Pride and Prejudice variation, I just couldn't go further.

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Might have benefited from being shorter

Revisado: 10-22-23 El oyente recibió este título gratis

I had not read Emma before this, so I watched the 2020 film and read enough of that book to get a feel for the personalities of those characters. I like the pairings the author chose in this one. (SPOILERS) Though I tend to prefer it when Jane and Bingley get their HEA, I thought the character she ultimately ended up with made sense. Bingley's new choice put Caroline in her place better than Jane would have. I also liked Emma's new suitor.

Overall, I liked the story fine, but there were a few parts where characters either talk about "drugging" other characters or they actually do it that did not sit right with me. There were a few repetitive phrases that got distracting after a while. The number of times characters exclaimed "Good God!" or they "made a droll face" is enough to make a drinking game out of it. There were parts that felt unnecessary, and one or two things that I don't feel got proper closure at the end.

If you liked Five Daughters Out at Once, then I'm sure you'll probably like this one.

The narrator was great. There were a few instances where I thought a line might have been read differently, but not many, and it didn't detract from my enjoyment of her narration.

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Not my cup of tea

Revisado: 04-22-23

Feyre is a hypocrite. After a few hours, that's all I could think about. I could not sympathize with her, and her attempts to escape the consequences of her actions drove me a bit crazy. I ultimately returned it and got my credit back

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Audio issues

Revisado: 02-23-23

I like the podcast and I like the host, but I have 2 issues.

1) I don't know if it's Audible being glitchy or some weird editing mistake, but nearly every episode has a 5-10 minute chunk of audio that just repeats for no reason. It drives me a little crazy. I may try listening on another platform to see if it is just here.

2) Again, I like the host. She does her research well and she has a way of delivering things in a way that's respectful. That said, she has a tendency to go off on tangents. An episode I just listened to was supposed to be about one topic, but she spent what felt like half of it talking about...how many books she read when she was young? And she does this to at least some extent every episode and some are less irrelevant than others. It just isn't an aspect of the show that I enjoy.

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A frustrating listen

Revisado: 01-05-23

Let me say first that I am admittedly only about halfway through, but I am so frustrated with this book that I don't know if I even want to finish it. Thus far, all of the conflict has been excessively contrived and blown completely out of proportion. Darcy and Elizabeth, but especially Darcy, refuse to talk to one another for sometimes days at a time, and then when they finally start to have some sort of breakthrough they are ALWAYS interrupted. It doesn't matter where they are, there is that inevitable knock at the door that stalls the entire thing, and then there is some new drama to take over before the last disagreement is even satisfactorily resolved. Darcy is horribly moody and I don't think I would be exaggerating when I say he has a tantrum over every little non-issue. Any time anyone wants to talk to him about something important, he insists it happen later and then actively avoids them for the next week at least. He makes insensitive comments and then accuses Elizabeth of being unreasonable when she is rightly offended. Elizabeth herself just cries and forgives him after an apology with a sad excuse instead of setting him down like she should.

Some things don't seem quite right as far as the time period and customs, and I think there could have been better research done, particularly with the clothing. Elizabeth chooses to wear her night gown over her corset instead of taking it off, for example, as if her chemise is not the base layer already. Also, ladies of this time period wore STAYS, not corsets. Corsets as we know them were not a thing for at least another decade. I concede that this particular issue may irritate me more than others, but it ruins my immersion and I have to roll me eyes every time the word "corset" comes up. It is surprisingly often.

I will do my best to finish it, and I will update this if the second half is more enjoyable than the first. Honestly, though, I don't have high hopes.

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An easy listen focusing more on relationships

Revisado: 07-25-22

Stevie Zimmerman is and will always be my favorite narrator, and she kept up her high quality in this work.

The story itself is low "angst" and free from forced misunderstandings. It's a bit like an "in an ideal world" story where the actions you think characters should take are the ones they actually take rather than doing something that makes no sense. They actually talk to each other and have a level of introspection. There isn't much excitement or conflict, but sometimes that's what will really hit that spot. I get in the mood for this more soothing type of book on occasion, and I'm glad I will have this one to go back to in the future. So, if a simple listen is what you're after, I highly recommend this book.

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A bit too silly

Revisado: 01-01-22

A similar plot has already been done and done better by another author. If you're looking for something silly and senseless, this will fit the bill, but I generally prefer variations that are a little more realistic, if not serious. I really only finished it because Stevie Zimmerman's narration made it more bearable.

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Very enjoyable

Revisado: 06-01-21

I finished this in a day. I liked the approach that the author took in regards to Mrs. Bennett and the younger girls. There was a solidarity and a sense of real affection that most variations tend to say exists but never show. Mrs. Bennett especially is given some positive attention and is allowed to shine in a way that still feels true to the character. There are no dramatic misunderstandings between Darcy and Elizabeth since they actually communicate with and have faith in each other.

As always, Stevie Zimmerman gives a perfect performance. She is my favorite narrator.

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Only Stevie Zimmerman kept me listening

Revisado: 09-24-20

I struggled to get through the first few chapters, but the always fantastic Stevie Zimmerman got me through until it improved enough to tolerate. It took a long time for the circumstances to be fully explained and the whole thing pretty much resolved just over halfway through.

Nearly everyone was either out of character or such an exaggerated caricature of what they should have been that it was hard to like anyone, including Elizabeth and Darcy. Some were needlessly vilified before being lazily dumped after a couple of hours of nonsense that could (and should) have been left out since it had so little impact. The last 4 hours was a complete waste of time.

There are slight spoilers from here.

The author killed off their "villains" in lazy and unsatisfying ways. I was kind of hoping for the redemption of a particular character, and it seemed it was going that way for a while until the author, of course, got bored or something and unceremoniously disposed of them. Even Mrs Bennett was turned into a bad guy and used as a figurative punching bag through this book. It was ridiculous. It only gets 2 stars because of the narrator.

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My least favorite P&P variation

Revisado: 05-02-20

It started out well enough, but became increasingly frustrating to listen to. Between the narrator's poor attempts at voicing any character except Elizabeth and the author's inability to keep characters IN character, I found myself highly disappointed by the end, especially since it seemed to be hinting at something for Mary only to shove her aside and go absolutely nowhere with it.

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