Customer Reviews

Affinity and Affection

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a great book. I had the pleasure of reading it before it was published, and I'm delighted that it's now available to everyone. Like my Pemberley Variations, it's a variation on Pride & Prejudice. It picks up on one of those missed opportunities in Jane Austen's original, when Darcy discovers that Elizabeth Bennet has met Wickham and chooses not to tell her the truth about him. In this book, Darcy stops and informs Elizabeth of Wickham's true nature, and a very different outcome occurs. We get to witness Darcy's anger at Wickham first hand, and later a touching and romantic scene where Elizabeth shows the power of her understanding, and her willingness to see into the truth of Darcy's heart.

It's a great premise - I wish I'd thought of it! Susan Adriani does an excellent job exploring it and giving us new reasons to love Darcy and Elizabeth. It made me think about Darcy's motivations in the original, which is always fun. Affinity & Affection is a very enjoyable read by a talented newcomer to the field, and a pleasure for those of us who can never have enough Elizabeth and Darcy.

Whether your passion is Jane Austen or simply the great desire to read a beautiful love story, Affinity and Affection will employ your imagination in a most gratifying way. Susan Adriani's skillful retelling of the familiar tale of Pride and Prejudice allows the reader to fall into the glorious scenery that her imagery paints. It is more than the emotional response of a man who is deeply in love with the woman of his dreams, and the awakening of her love for him; it is the response of the couple, together facing the trials from family and foes, which is the true jewel of this story. It is a pleasure to read, again and again.

Susan has captured such an emotional Darcy with this tale. Though it is a what if, it is definitly worth the read. Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy have never been better suited for one another. I would highly recommend this to any reader, you do not have to know Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice to understand it, you just need to love romance. Excellent read, quick and emotional. I will cherish my copy and reread it often. This is a brilliant new author worth your time and the investiment.

This was a pleasant, diverting read much in the same vein as the Pemberley variations series by Abigail Reynolds (who I see has written a review of this book). My only objection would be that sometimes Darcy says things that I seriously doubt any 19th century gentleman would have said -- or any man at any time for that matter. He behaves the way we romantic females would like men to think and behave. But this isn't reality -- it's a romance novel and as a romance this is wonderful fun. Who wouldn't love a guy like Darcy to be so obsessed that he can't keep his hands off! Read and enjoy!

I tried to like this book. But I just didn't. Darcy and Elizabeth were just too over the top for me. Wishy, washy and not how I picture them at all. There really was not much of a plot. Just sex scenes and going on and on about how wonderful each other are. Sorry not to my taste at all.

I love "P&P" variations, but this one is just crazy. Darcy is a complete sex fiend, to the point of being ridiculous. Really? He puts her hand on his "arousal" while they are in his opera box with his relatives around - relatives who regularly dismiss his want of propriety with a smile and rolling of the eyes because, clearly, Darcy is so in love. Not only would this not be acceptable in the early 19th century, but it is not even acceptable in the early 21st century. Once we are told that they had sex multiple times in a single hour. I didn't know they had Cialis in Regency England. If he is not trying to get Elizabeth to have sex with him, he is staring at her lustfully, fantasizing about having sex with her. I am absolutely cool with sex scenes (and they are quite graphic in this novel); but if you took out scenes of them having sex, talking about sex, or telling each other again and again and again how much they love each other, the novel would probably be about 20 pages long.

Another problem that I have with many variations, which is blatant here, is the removal of the pride and the prejudice. Here is a bit of a spoiler, but it happens so early in the book that it doesn't give that much away: Darcy is hesitant to pursue Elizabeth because she is beneath him, but a few harsh words from Bingley (that's right - BINGLEY standing up to Darcy!)and he is ready to propose. All of Elizabeth's misgivings re: Darcy are cast aside because she feels sorry for him, and then suddenly she's kissing him, out of pity I suppose. Elizabeth keeps wondering why she has developed feeling for Darcy. Well, you know what - so are we. Especially since he is practically a date rapist. Seriously, I would not want to go on a date with this Darcy.

What little plot there is actually is not bad, if one is of a mind to skim over some of the sex scenes and "I cannot believe how lucky I am to have found you" dialogue. Unless, of course, one prefers to skim over the plot to get to the sex scenes; in which case this novel proves more satisfactory.

A final warning: If punctuation errors drive you crazy, avoid this book. Commas are randomly dispersed through out. Someone needs to take the author aside and explain that, in a compound sentence, the comma comes BEFORE the conjunction.

It should not disappoint you when you look for Pride and Prejudice related stories. The author wrote a truly romantic story, full of mush, and sensual love scenes, definitely not for minors. This book is both touching and funny, but above all very well written.

My guilty pleasure is reading anything related to Pride & Prejudice, particularly "what if" scenarios. Susan Adriani's debut novel is refreshing and thought provoking. What if Mr Darcy had come down off his horse that day in Meryton when he saw Wickham speaking with Elizabeth and her sisters-- and later tells her & her father of Wickham's character? That is this story. I love how Adriani fleshes out all of Jane Austen original characters in this rendering & how diversions from canon set an entirely different tone, taking us on a sometimes "brow raising" journey. You need not have read the original to follow, as this novel clearly stands on its own. The purists may roll their eyes but "the person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid." I am pleased to own and have in my collection. For mature eyes only.

I liked the idea that Mr Darcy did not walk away but warned the people around what sort of person Wickham was. I also liked the fact that he was a very passionate man. The way he defended Lizzy and Georgiana when Wickham said those things to him by nearly strangling the life out of him. Also how he searched and found Lydia when they had eloped. How he became more of a father to her helping her get over the emotional upset of this. It is such a wonderful read I can recommend this to anyone who loves the Pride and prejudice story.

This book was one big romantic sigh after another. As I kept reading, I kept thinking that it couldn't get more sensual, more romantic...but it did! Beautifully written and agonizingly romantic...I've read it over and over right before bed just to have sweet dreams! This Darcy & Elizabeth make Romeo and Juliet look like amateurs! I highly recommend it!