Anne's Adversity: A Pride & Prejudice Variation
Series: The Darcy Cousins, Book 2
By: Jennifer Joy / Narrated By: Emma Lysy
Length: 6 hrs and 13 mins
Not Brilliant, but certainly fairly enjoyable… Wow, what singing praise…?!
‘Tis m’ birthday month, and so the celebration continues (I’m wallowing in a Fave Pastime: All Things Jane Austen)!
This week’s ATJA pick is Anne’s Adversity wherein Anne de Bourgh grows a backbone and gains a love.
HUZZAH! as I’ve always been rather fond of Anne as a character who got a bum rap; I mean, no Darcy AND she’s stuck at Rosings with Lady Catherine as her MOM? YIKES! and can it get any worse than that (Uhm, if you’re Charlotte Collins and married to Mr. Collins, well, yesssss…. but maybe that’s just me)?
This is a Book 2 in a series and, as I don’t have Book 1 and I’m inordinately fond of Anne in Jane Austen Fan Fiction, I’ve no problem in upending the order. I canNOT delay gratification, I tell you. Apparently, however, the impetus which starts the ball rolling in this novel was originally planted in Book 1: A letter Anne FINALLY gets around to reading.
It’s from the man she believed died eeeeons ago, her father, and she is flabbergasted… then sore-peeved that her dearest mother has kept such information from her. When confronted, Lady Catherine is extremely miffed and demands Anne hand over the letter so that it might be destroyed immediately, and that Anne go forth (After apologizing), think no more on it, and act as if nothing had happened.
This, Anne cannot and will not do. She’s cast out of Rosings, and she finds herself in London, from whence the letter originated, her father’s last known address. Once there, she finds herself living on the wages from her lady’s maid, Nancy… until shame and desire to DO Something have her earning her own keep.
Along the way? The brother of a good friend just happens to find her arresting, yes, but comPLETEly outta his league. The more the two are in the company of each other, however, the more they find themselves drawn to each other.
There. That’s it. No heavy plot, just a beloved character finding her way and finding herself along said way.
Author Jennifer Joy didn’t craft any great literature here, and she has a deplorable propensity to Tell, Rather Than Show, which is unfortunate as she gets thiiiiiis close to writing properly. She’ll do things like Tell Us that Lady Catherine showed all the signs of relaxing, and then she’ll Show Lady C’s shoulders falling, fists being uncurled, a smile playing at the corner of her mouth. -OR- she’ll Show Nancy giving Luc (The Hero) a warning about him not hurting Anne, and then she’ll Tell Us exACTly what was intended, thus spoiling what woulda been a great line.
So no, Joy doesn’t suffer from glorious lyrical writing tendencies, but hey! at least she crafts some decent enough situations, and some jolly decent character development. Anne’s road has a few obstacles, and she morphs believably from Sickly Dithering Spinster into a Pleasing Gentlewoman with Strong Opinions of her own (Like her apple didn’t fall far from Lady Catherine’s tree…).
Emma Lysy? New narrator for me, and she does okay. She does NOT make her menfolk growly caricatures, and she adds just the right imperious tones for both Lady C and Anne’s newfound Aunt, who’s juuuust as crotchety as Lady C. Further, Lysy does a decent enough French accent for Luc. That said? Her pronunciations of the French words sprinkled throughout are somewhat atrocious. And embarrassing. Since when is a tête-à-tête pronounced: Teeeeet UH Teeeet?! Truly? Just embarrassing. Still, I’ve a really low bar when it comes to JAFF, will Like a helluva lot o’ twisted plots, outlandish scenarios, character 180s, so I’m letting it all slide and saying that, ultimately, yeh. She was okay.
Nope, not the best JAFF, but it scratched an Itch, and I’m ALWAYS happy for an Anne de Bourgh story, cuz she desperately needs a Happily Ever After. And a dad.
So this one? Well, it has both of those, and that’s A-Okay in my book… or audiobook…!
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