A Pemberley Medley - Abigail Reynolds

Five pathways to Pemberley! It's the best of all worlds in this collection of five short Pride & Prejudice variations by bestselling writer Abigail Reynolds. Can Mr. Darcy win Elizabeth Bennet's heart... or are they doomed to misunderstand one another forever? Can Mr. Darcy stand by and watch while Elizabeth loses everything she holds precious... including him?

Contents include "Such Differing Reports", "A Succession of Rain", "Reason's Rule" (an excerpt from The Rule of Reason), "The Most Natural Thing", and "Intermezzo"

A Pemberley Medley is a collection of five short stories featuring Mr Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet in slightly different versions of the story told in Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice. It is an enjoyable and romantic read but, as most P&P inspired novels, it tries to show the passionate relationship between Lizzie and Darcy and I have to admit that I always have a hard time imagining them in heated embraces.

Still, it is nice to revisit them and their world and think about the possibilities if the plot had taken a different turn.My favourite stories were

INTERMEZZO

Georgiana Darcy is decided to conquer her natural shyness and bring her brother and the woman he loves together. In this "what if" story Bingley and Jane are about to be married and Lizzie believes she lost Darcy when he unexpectedly appears for the wedding breakfast. This was my favourite story and the one where I thought that the characters more closely resembled the original.

SUCH DIFFERING REPORTS

This story is set during Elizabeth's visit to her friend Mrs. Collins. There are visits to Rosings and more than one lively conversation in the gardens between Lizzie and Darcy. I loved the verbal sparring they engage in.

THE RULE OF REASON

Lizzie and Darcy are engaged when they find out about Lydia's elopement with Wickham. This leads them to  marry in haste as they feel that Wickham is a threat to their happiness. Maybe because this is a part of a longer work and here there wasn't time to expand but I wasn't totally convinced with this reasoning.

THE MOST NATURAL THING

This was my least favourite story, it's written in three parts which felt a bit disjointed and it portrays a "darker" Darcy. Mr Bennet had died, Mr Collins has taken over Langbourn and Darcy actually believes that Lizzie can behave like Lydia...

A SUCESSION OF RAIN

Darcy is looking forward to catch Lizzie alone and having a hard time with it. I had some trouble recognising them in these characters that seemed to light and without substance.

My conclusion is that this is a light and easy read but some of it felt a bit out of character, especially the last two stories, and I ended up thinking that I am more of a purist than I knew. 

Grade: 3/5

This counts for the P&P Bicentenary Challenge