Nefarious in Austen Variations

May 17, 2019 Sheila Majczan rated it it was amazing

This story does have angst, which I love, and the largest part is where many authors are giving the readers a climax...not so here. The story reaches out and grabs you around the throat at about 85%. So if you are expecting a love story similar to canon you will be disappointed.

Darcy has to work very hard to change, to be the man Elizabeth Bennet might accept, while he is pulled and distracted by other forces in his life.

The blurb about this story's premise gives us only a hint about the storyl This story does have angst, which I love, and the largest part is where many authors are giving the readers a climax...not so here. The story reaches out and grabs you around the throat at about 85%. So if you are expecting a love story similar to canon you will be disappointed.

Darcy has to work very hard to change, to be the man Elizabeth Bennet might accept, while he is pulled and distracted by other forces in his life.

The blurb about this story's premise gives us only a hint about the storyline. Darcy's history with not only his deceased wife but with her family and acquaintances connected with that family and time in Darcy's life is very complicated. Part of the angst herein is that I kept wanting the whole story about how/why Darcy married this first Elizabeth (Benedict). The man we know from canon is so careful not to raise false expectations and seems to hold all women off with his disdain and silent presence one can only wonder.

Darcy waxes hot and cold about Elizabeth Bennet. He assigns all the evil he knew of his wife to E.B. because she not only bears that name but also looks somewhat like her. However, she also enchants him and he curses that fact even as he can't seem to shake the feelings off. He assigns many names to her in his thoughts. "Minx" seems to last and she has called him "swine". I did love his thoughts about her and even how she became his whole life as he changes and accepts that place she has won in his heart.

This second Elizabeth is much as ODG in canon but it is not that Hunsford letter that reveals her mistakes about her opinions of the man. She overhears some details and he finally tells her some but she doesn't know it all. Georgiana comes into the picture early. She (as in canon) is shy and Darcy, with his aunt's help, hires a companion and introduces Elizabeth to Georgiana. That friendship is introduced early in the story. However in trying to protect his sister Darcy again keeps some facts secret from her and this has consequences. (No, she doesn't elope with Wickham.)

This Darcy has some changes to make but he also is trying to balance demands from his past and at the same time is finding his bank and his lawyer are causing come ripples in his life. I think of a carousel as I think of his life: up, down, round & round.

I have not set down many details as there are just too many in this long story. However as I said above I was not expecting that just when I thought things were going to come together the story explodes and becomes very dark. No author has taken Darcy on this path before! Well done, Nicole.

There is an epilogue, which has some reflections from earlier in the story.

I highly recommend this story!

12/30/19: I began listening to the Audible version of this today. 1-8-2020 - finished listening.
Excellent narration. Loved the male voice (Harry Frost) reading Darcy's POV. Highly recommend this version also. ...more

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Jun 19, 2019 wosedwew rated it it was amazing

Shelves: book-reviews, 2019, 2021

One does evil enough when one does nothing good. ~ German Proverb

If you are a fan of Evil this is the book for you!

Darcy is a widower. He arrives at Netherfield Park a bitter man. His insult at the Assembly is multiplied by an unfortunate coincidence: his hated wife had been christened with the name Elizabeth Benedict. Now Darcy has another reason to scorn Elizabeth Bennet.

The plot grows complicated when we meet the family of the nefarious Elizabeth Benedict. Darcy’s wife didn’t come to evil by ...more

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May 24, 2019 Don Jacobson rated it it was amazing

In “Nefarious,” author Nicole Clarkston has tackled what many fiction writers have asserted to be the most difficult manner of composing a novel: writing in the first person. Such an autobiographical effort demands that the writer clothe herself in the character’s raiment. She must, in this case, write of a man without injecting her own gender into the composition lest the truth of his maleness vanish in the author’s femaleness, casting an inverse of Woolf’s “Shadow of I.”

Readers, too, must adj ...more

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May 26, 2019 Elin Eriksen rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favourite, well-written, hilarious, angsty, thrilling, dark-ambiance, elin-s-jaff-2019, epic, unexpected-twist-and-turns, badass-darcy

Pride and Prejudice variation

I adore a badass Darcy, I have a penchant for a good insults and I love a witty but wise Elizabeth... This book delivered spectacularly on all accounts!

This was an angsty read but it ebbed and flowed, giving me some respite in between the nailbing sequences. A dark ambience but at the same time, hilariously funny. Very well written, unique and creative book that I heartily recommend!

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Dec 21, 2022 Nicole Barton Sasser rated it really liked it

Shelves: p-and-p, kindle, kindle-freebie, jaff, audible-audiobook, author-nicole-clarkston, 2022-austenesque-lovers-challenge

Status: Read Decmeber 16-24, 2022
via kindle & audible editions

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

My Library Notes:

Nefarious: A Pride & Prejudice Variation
by Nicole Clarkston
Kindle Edition, First Edition, 482 pages
Published May 24, 2019 by White Soup Press (first published May 17, 2019)
ASIN: B07RV6G64V

He hates everything about her. She despises him even more. So why is his heart so determined to belong to her?

Once trapped by marriage to a woman he loathed, Fitzwilliam Darcy is finally free again. Resentful, bewildered, ...more

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Jun 20, 2019 Dung rated it it was amazing

Shelves: austen-inspried, favorite, favorite-austen-inspired, books-owned-pp-hc, books-owned-kindle-ibook, books-owned-audibles

Wow, what a story! Such a unique and brilliant premise. Review to come.

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Nov 18, 2019 Anna added it

Shelves: austenesque

Nicole Clarkston's latest Pride and Prejudice variation, Nefarious, is a whirlwind of a novel that took me on an emotional rollercoaster, and I loved every second of it. I don't want to say too much about the plot because it simply must be experienced and each layer unfolded on its own, but she writes a Mr. Darcy that you've never encountered before.

When the novel opens, Mr. Darcy is an angry widower who has nothing nice to say about his dead wife. Shockingly, the former Mrs. Darcy shares the na Nicole Clarkston's latest Pride and Prejudice variation, Nefarious, is a whirlwind of a novel that took me on an emotional rollercoaster, and I loved every second of it. I don't want to say too much about the plot because it simply must be experienced and each layer unfolded on its own, but she writes a Mr. Darcy that you've never encountered before.

When the novel opens, Mr. Darcy is an angry widower who has nothing nice to say about his dead wife. Shockingly, the former Mrs. Darcy shares the name and look of a certain lady in Hertfordshire who bewitches him the moment he first sets eyes on her. Despite setting his sights on the angelic Jane Bennet, believing she could be the one who brings him back to life, he is hung up on her sister, Elizabeth, who he sees as a minx, an adversary...and the list of his "complaints" about this "enchantress" go on and on.

Nefarious doesn't stick to the plot of Austen's novel and is a breath of fresh air in that regard. When Darcy takes up residence at Netherfield, there has been no incident at Ramsgate, for instance, and Georgiana soon joins him in Hertfordshire. That was one of the things I liked best about the novel: the clever twists and turns and not having any idea what would happen next. Darcy's first-person viewpoint is both brilliant and infuriating -- infuriating because he is such a disagreeable fellow for the first quarter of the book and deserves a good thrashing, and brilliant because you get to see his evolution from angry and bitter to helpless and desperate through to his ultimate redemption.

There is something for everyone in Nefarious, from the mysterious events surrounding Darcy's marriage to the dastardly plots that threaten to ruin him to the romance and passion that one would expect in a Darcy and Elizabeth tale. I stayed up well past my bedtime several nights in a row because I needed to know what happened, and if work and real life hadn't interfered, I probably would have read this book straight through because, really, who needs sleep when Darcy's life and happiness hang in the balance?? Clarkston's beautiful writing and a fascinating story conceived by the JAFF community's very own J.W. Garrett come together in what likely will be one of my favorite books of 2019, and among my all-time favorite P&P variations.

Review originally posted on Diary of an Eccentric ...more

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Aug 05, 2019 M rated it really liked it

2022: 4 stars
While I didn’t love Darcy’s behaviour over Jane, the madness that overtook him felt more understandable. Being prepared for him acting poorly I was able to enjoy the darkness of the book much better & felt it improved on a second read (helpfully I didn’t actually remember most of what had happened so I was able to get caught up in it). I was also able to enjoy more clearly the feeling of him resisting and admiring Elizabeth at the same time. It flows well and keeps up interest, with 2022: 4 stars
While I didn’t love Darcy’s behaviour over Jane, the madness that overtook him felt more understandable. Being prepared for him acting poorly I was able to enjoy the darkness of the book much better & felt it improved on a second read (helpfully I didn’t actually remember most of what had happened so I was able to get caught up in it). I was also able to enjoy more clearly the feeling of him resisting and admiring Elizabeth at the same time. It flows well and keeps up interest, with each new chapter bringing another blow & they keep coming right to the end. I liked that while it’s definitely full of drama, it never feels melodramatic - I especially liked the parts where all the men get together and they are arguing but also tired of arguing, it’s very realistic. The fall out & later the reunion between Darcy and Bingley made me cry. I also liked that every behaviour had a good explanation and even while people behaved badly they were all incredibly human and flawed in ordinary ways. Darcy is often very OOC, but the author keeps up his character in many small ways that make it clearly a P&P variation (though there is much original storyline). This is the same with other characters, like Mr Bennet, whose intervention is unusual but so teasing that it’s very him. I feel like the author knows the canon extremely well to be able to change it so believably and successfully.

2019 first read: 3/3.5
Darcy’s monologues are a bit much, especially at first - he sounds crazy. I disliked his obsession with Jane, it was creepy. Felt he could have pursued her against his inclination for Lizzy in a less pervy way. The plot and background to the first Elizabeth was interesting. Some bits seemed out of character, others very Darcy. I liked that Lizzy acknowledged that she liked him early on, but was annoyed at herself for it, whereas he was convinced he disliked her - good swap of their behaviour! Once we get to London the story rapidly improves, with Darcy confronting both his feelings and his former wife’s family/friends. There is a point when it all seems resolved too easily and everyone is happy, which was a bit annoying... but no, it’s not really resolved! The end was a bit quick but overall an interesting story. The author’s writing is much better in this than other books, though there are still a few editing issues. ...more

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Nov 30, 2019 Dawn rated it it was amazing

Shelves: dawn-s-2021-austen

4.5 rounded up to a 5. This book was such a delight! I love stories from Darcy's perspective, but this one is very fun and unique. Instead of the reserved, but impeccably mannered Mr. Darcy, we get the raw and embittered Darcy who has had enough of the rewards of living up to society's dictates and expectations. He has always let his overdeveloped sense of honor and duty govern his choices and it has brought him nothing but trouble and grief, more than even he realizes when we begin this journey ...more

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