A Timely Elopement by Joana Starnes - Review and Giveaway

Today I’m happy to be welcoming Joana Starnes back to the blog with her new book, a Pride & Prejudice variation called A Timely Elopement. I’m going to share my review of the book with you, and Joana is kindly offering an ebook giveaway. Let’s look at the blurb, and then I’ll tell you what I thought of this book.

Book Description

What if Mr Darcy’s first proposal was interrupted by a bearer of ill tidings? The worst tidings: an elopement!

Ah, but whose elopement would allow Elizabeth and Mr Darcy to spend quite so much time together and overcome their prejudices and his stubborn pride?

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The blurb of this book doesn’t give much away, does it!

A Timely Elopement – My Review

Many Pride & Prejudice variations start us off at Hunsford, at Darcy’s disastrous proposal. This one takes off there too, but sends us in a new direction for me. Just at the point where Darcy is about to kindly inform Elizabeth that he is proposing against his own better judgement, they get interrupted. Colonel Fitzwilliam arrives with news of an elopement, and although it involves George Wickham, this time he’s left the Bennet girls alone. He has run off with Darcy’s cousin, Miss Anne de Bourgh!

As it would be dishonourable to ask a lady to marry him when a family scandal is unfolding in front of his eyes, Darcy reassures his lady love that once it’s all sorted he will follow her, post-haste, to Hertfordshire, as he takes it for granted that she will jump at the chance to accept his most flattering proposal. Only here’s the thing; she doesn’t want to marry him.

Elizabeth is shocked to hear that George Wickham has behaved in such a fashion and realises that her judgement has been seriously at fault when considering his character and his relationship to Darcy. However, Darcy still interfered in Jane and Bingley’s relationship, was rude in Hertfordshire, is prideful and arrogant and she has never, until now, considered that he might even like her, let alone admire her. She feels bad at piling more bad news on top of the news of his cousin’s elopement but in fairness to him, Elizabeth knows that she has to tell Mr Darcy that she will not accept his proposal:

With a quiet sigh, Elizabeth drew her hand away, uncomfortably aware that she must tell him that. It would be cruel to let him labour under a misconception.

But she doesn’t get the chance, the Collinses have arrived home and Darcy leaves. Elizabeth must find a way to clear up the mistake. If Darcy arrives in Hertfordshire it would be hugely embarrassing for him and potentially could set off a disastrous possible chain of events for her if word gets out and she finds herself with no option but to marry him. Being offered an opportunity to accompany Lady Catherine to town, Elizabeth decides to go in order that she might have the opportunity to tell Mr Darcy that she won’t be accepting his very surprising offer.

Having the opportunity to see more of Mr Darcy, Elizabeth begins to see that he is a very different person to what she had thought, and has a much more attractive side to his personality.

She had seen him in his home. No ceremony. No reserve. No trace of the despot she expected. Not his sister’s keeper, but her whole world; her protector and succour.

Spending more time together also gives Mr Darcy the opportunity to get to know Elizabeth better. More specifically, once he realises that she has fault to find in his manners and behaviour, he starts to question his attitude somewhat:

If she had not seen his offer of marriage for the tribute that it was – a heartfelt homage to her delightful person – then she might have also failed to find due proof of his devotion in his honest recitation of the impediments he had brought himself to overlook in order to have her beside him.

I really enjoyed this story; there were some lovely sparks of humour, and I enjoyed Darcy’s character in particular and his slow steps in realising his mistakes and blunders. I thought his relationship with his cousin, Colonel Fitzwilliam, was delightful. I also liked the fact that the story didn’t follow the lines I expected; due to the nature of this genre, the fact that it’s based on Pride & Prejudice I have often seen scenarios played out in other works, and you can feel like you’re travelling down the same road. However, this story took me in directions that I didn’t anticipate, which was refreshing.

The only thing I would have liked would have been for the story to be set over a longer time-frame as I felt opinions and feelings changed quite quickly. There was also one character that I felt was let off too lightly, I wanted to see them suffer just a little!

Overall, this is a romantic, amusing, low-angst read, which I would recommend. There’s some passion too, but nothing graphic. I’d rate it as a 4½ star read.

About the Author

Joana lives in the south of England with her family. Over the years, she has swapped several hats – physician, lecturer, clinical data analyst – but feels most comfortable in a bonnet. She has been living in Georgian England for decades in her imagination, and plans to continue in that vein till she lays hands on a time machine.

She is the author of Austen-inspired novels (From This Day Forward ~ The Darcys of Pemberley; The Subsequent Proposal; The Second Chance; The Falmouth Connection; The Unthinkable Triangle; Miss Darcy’s Companion; Mr Bennet’s Dutiful Daughter, The Darcy Legacy and The Journey Home to Pemberley) and one of the contributors to the Quill Ink anthologies (The Darcy Monologues, Dangerous to Know, Rational Creatures and Elizabeth). They are all available at Amazon in Kindle and paperback, and some in Audible too: Joana’s Amazon Page.

Buy Links

A Timely Elopement is available to buy now in Kindle and Kindle Unlimited. Joana's other books are also available in paperback and audio so let's hope these will be too!

• Amazon US • Amazon UK • Amazon CA • Add to Goodreads shelf

Giveaway Time!

Joana is very kindly offering to give away an ebook copy of A Timely Elopement to two lucky visitors to Babblings of a Bookworm! To enter, just leave a comment on this blog post by the end of the day worldwide on Sunday 21 June. If you have any difficulty commenting, please contact me and I will add your comment for you :)

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