Drive and Determination in Austen Variations

Aug 17, 2015 Sheila Majczan rated it it was amazing

I bought this book on 11/2/08 and have read it twice or more over the years. I found it to be quite the page turner. This is a modern take-off of our beloved P&P but the characters’ parallel to canon is easily recognizable due to not only their behaviors but also the similar names. Elizabeth, Jane, Darcy, Bingley, Lady Catherine, Aunt and Uncle Gardiner, Colonel Fitzwilliam and Georgina are represented along with perpetual bad boy, Wickham. Even friend, Charlotte, makes a cameo appearance.

Early I bought this book on 11/2/08 and have read it twice or more over the years. I found it to be quite the page turner. This is a modern take-off of our beloved P&P but the characters’ parallel to canon is easily recognizable due to not only their behaviors but also the similar names. Elizabeth, Jane, Darcy, Bingley, Lady Catherine, Aunt and Uncle Gardiner, Colonel Fitzwilliam and Georgina are represented along with perpetual bad boy, Wickham. Even friend, Charlotte, makes a cameo appearance.

Early in this story, Elyssa Barnett learns that Will Denton, best man (and Pemberleo Coffee boss) for her sister’s groom, Chad Blakely, has business commitments and can’t attend the wedding rehearsal. This brings up past bitter feelings about employers who are workaholics, as her beloved father died due to work-related stress. She regrets all the time he lost with his family due to demands from his boss. Elyssa immediately pins this moniker on Will. Then he announces at the rehearsal dinner that he is giving Chad a promotion but it means that he and his bride, Janet, must relocate to Guatemala. And to pin-the-tail on the donkey, of course, she overhears Will’s insult at the wedding reception that, “Hmmph. She’s tolerable I suppose. I find nothing noticeably striking about her.”

Several years past and the pair are brought together due to a tragic event which then brings Elyssa to Guatemala. Will shows up and they spend a week together off-and-on. While visiting some ruins Will overhears Elyssa sing, “I Will Wait for You” from "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg” and takes the message to heart. (He has realized that he loves her but also knows her opinions about him.) Elyssa’s harsh opinion of Will begins to undergo some changes as she hears from the Pemberleo Coffee Company employees their opinions about Will and as she reads her sister’s journal. She meets Janet’s neighbor, Shelley Walker, Janet’s friend, Maria, and George Westham plus visits various sites that her sister has visited and loved. But the latter’s revelation that Will tried to persuade Chad not to marry Janet is the deciding factor! Elyssa flees to the airport but when Will shows up throws her harsh opinions in his face. (So this is your opinion of me.)

Elyssa’s new profession of Interior Design and her first contract brings her into close proximity with her Aunt and Uncle Garner and with the city of Chicago in which Will’s company is headquartered. Plus she also meets Gina, Will’s sister and learns how mistaken she is about a certain man’s slander of her brother. But is it too late and will he ever talk to her again?

There are so many romantic twists herein: bumper cars, a Ferris wheel, a rented movie theater, a porch swing, a painting over the fireplace, pictures on his office wall, a rain storm and a sandal that floats away. Then there is the time when she becomes sick from eating unwashed fruit and has to be nursed…by whom?

Elyssa keeps turning in circles with her viewpoints about Will. His character is so hard to make out. He uses manipulation to help him not only bring Elyssa into his area of the country but also to create other connections which he knows she will be furious about if she learns of these influences in her life.

This was a very satisfying story for one who can’t get enough of ODC. I recommend this, another great story by one of my favorite authors, Kara Louise.

PS. I had to download "I will wait for you" from iTunes to add it to my "favorites" collection. ...more

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Aug 28, 2013 Ceri rated it liked it

Shelves: austen-inspired, contemporary, austenesque-different-era

This is a modern version of Pride and Prejudice with some differences. The first noticeable one is that the characters names have changed somewhat, e.g. Elyssa Barnett instead of Elizabeth Bennet, William Denton instead of Fitzwilliam Darcy etc. the second change is a big change, with a tragedy happening very early on.

William Denton runs a successful coffee company which sources coffee beans from Guatemala. The company also has offices there, and Elyssa's brother in law, Chad gets promoted to wo This is a modern version of Pride and Prejudice with some differences. The first noticeable one is that the characters names have changed somewhat, e.g. Elyssa Barnett instead of Elizabeth Bennet, William Denton instead of Fitzwilliam Darcy etc. the second change is a big change, with a tragedy happening very early on.

William Denton runs a successful coffee company which sources coffee beans from Guatemala. The company also has offices there, and Elyssa's brother in law, Chad gets promoted to work in Guatemala, taking his wife Janet along too. At their wedding, Elyssa meets William, and she's already heavily prejudiced against him, feeling that he is the type of boss that is insensitive to the needs and feelings of his employees. She's rude to him and then overhears him saying less than complimentary things about her so her dislike is very quickly established. Fast forward two years and the tragedy occurs. Elyssa unfairly puts all the blame squarely onto William's shoulders. She travels to Guatemala, where she meets George Westham, who finds her eager to have her mind poisoned against William. William learns that George is in contact with Elyssa. He knows that George is untrustworthy and Elyssa is feeling emotional and could be easy prey, so William follows her to Guatemala. He realises that he has feelings for Elyssa, and he knows that she has a lot of negative feeling towards him, but he is willing to work to improve her opinion of him, which is just as well, because there are other obstacles ahead of them.

It took me a little while to get into the book, because at the start Elyssa comes across as pretty immature and quite naive. She dislikes him even before she's met him, and on the basis of the behaviour of somebody else's boss, nothing that he has done at all. It's quite hard to see what William sees in her at first because there's not even a veneer of politeness over things, she quite obnoxious towards him! She does improve when she begins to spend more time with him, thankfully, although she is eager to always think the worst of the poor fella even though she is generally very trusting.

I warmed up to the characters after a while, especially once Elyssa stopped feeding her prejudice and started giving him a chance. There are a number of events and dialogue which refer back to Pride and Prejudice and it's fun to spot them, although sometimes the dialogue doesn't read as natural for a modern character and perhaps could have been updated.

It's a very sweet story, with some really romantic bits. If you like your romances with no sex scenes you will be safe with this one, there are no sex scenes at all, not even implied. ...more

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Jan 07, 2014 Staciel rated it really liked it

Shelves: jane-austen-inspired

So, chances are if you are considering reading this book it is because you like reading modern Jane Austen 'adaptations', as I do..

In 2013, I read 12 of them, and this is my second one in 2014, and I'm glad I found it.

To be fair, though, I love several things- among them: Jane Austen retellings (as stated above), and the country of Guatemala, which figures heavily into this book..oh, and my hubby loves, loves, loves coffee, particularly from Guatemala, so that could play into my rosy feelings fo ...more

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Jan 16, 2018 Elin Eriksen rated it really liked it

Modern variation of Pride and prejudice. Sweet,romantic and a good level of angst.
ODC meet at the Bingley wedding and Elizabeth takes an instant dislike to the owner of Pemberleo coffee since he is promoting Bingley to a position in Guatemala. It doesn't help that he insults her at a party... The Bingleys dies in a car accident 2 years later and Elizabeth goes Guatemala to clear out their apartment. Wickham comes to her aid and Darcy sends him of to another place to protect her and stays to help ...more

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Jul 27, 2023 Craftyhj rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: zz2023jaff, maybe, mod-non-regency

A very different and interesting modern setting of Pride and Prejudice

A solid 4.5*.

This story was well written with minimal errors and has been generally well edited. I did feel that the story dragged a little at the beginning but once it got going I really found myself immersed in the story. There was perhaps a little too much background on Guatemala but not enough to impact significantly.

The characterisation was interesting and thankfully the author did not attempt to squeeze everything from t ...more

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