great twist

George Wickham, a widower with a penchant for gambling, women, and alcohol, has recently gained his freedom and fortune.
great twist to the Jane Austin book

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1 person found this helpful

Interesting twist to Pride & Prejudice original

I am a huge lover of all P&P variations and have enjoyed many stories from Cinnamon before. I really enjoyed the twist of the usual Wickham and Caroline Bingley characters, I think this might be one of my favourite versions of these two and how they were 'made for each other'. However, I felt the story suffered a bit regarding not enough of Darcy and Elizabeth's relationship and romance, Lizzy was her usual self in this version but I felt Darcy was a bit weak and personally I prefer a stronger, savvier more passionate version of him. The story was however, very original and I shall remember it against all the other versions I've read. Megan's narration was flawless and I really enjoyed her bringing the characters to life!

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Wickham is Darcy's rival - how does that work out?

DECEPTION AND DEBAUCHERY (audiobook) by Cinnamon Worth, performed by Megan Green

This is a regency-set variation of Pride and Prejudice that's a lot more Wickham-centric than many books in this genre. Instead of becoming a self-inflicted impoverished militia officer, he's been able to marry a wealthy woman AND be widowed all before the start of the story. This means there's been no Ramsgate incident with Darcy's sister. He still has an eye for the ladies and both Caroline Bingley and Elizabeth Bennet catch that eye. His grudge against Darcy still exists and the gentleman from Derbyshire has been to Hertfordshire as per canon and left again, fighting his attraction for Miss Bennet. She however, has experienced a strong attraction to the handsome widower and is almost convinced she's in love with him.

How Darcy and Elizabeth reach their HEA is told in quite an inventive storyline which, to me, occasionally develops into more of a farce as some scenarios tend to be somewhat unlikely for the propriety of the times. Apart from that, my only other criticism would be for the language use, as I felt there were too many non-period expressions sprinkled throughout the book. Wickham's eventual fate, leading to who he ends up marrying, is an unusual one that I don't think I've come across before.

The audiobook performance by Megan Green is quite good and though I came across a couple of mispronuncations, I've heard many a worse performance during the course of many years listening to books from this genre and others.

I definitely enjoyed this story and the direction in which the author took the characters, especially the 'slow burn' version of Elizabeth and Darcy's romance. I'll definitely be listening to others by her. My main caveat would be some of the language use, as already mentioned.

I'd rate this as a solid three and a half to four stars for both story and performance.

Please note: I voluntarily requested and received a free copy of this audiobook from Story Origin and this is my unbiased review.

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