A Royal Disposition

A Pride and Prejudice Novel

By: Amy Cecil

Narrated by: Marina Barrett

Length: 9 hrs and 16 mins

Publisher's Summary

What if...Elizabeth Bennet outranked Fitzwilliam Darcy? The familiar love story featuring two of the most celebrated characters in our history comes to life again in a “what if” story with a twist.

Elizabeth and Darcy are in love and plan to marry, until Elizabeth comes face-to-face with Lady Catherine De Bourgh. Although standing strong during the worst confrontation of Miss Elizabeth’s life, she soon realizes that she cannot marry Mr. Darcy and refuses him. Futile attempts by Mr. Darcy to win her back fail, until he finds out the most astonishing information about Elizabeth Bennet.

©2012 Amy Cecil (P)2020 Amy Cecil

Elizabeth more stubborn than usual

I found a Royal Disposition a little maddening. Elizabeth has concerns regarding a marriage to Fitzwilliam Darcy. She is afraid her low family will hurt the Darcy family’s status in society. She breaks off their engagement. Only Elizabeth and Lady Catherine seem concerned about how society will view the couple. The Matlocks are accepting of Elizabeth and the Bennets, so are Georgianna, Colonel Fitzwilliam, Elizabeth’s real father, etc. so why does Elizabeth play the drama queen and insist she cannot marry Darcy? She creates multiple episodes of drama when no one else seems to care. Darcy begs, pleads, humiliates himself, yet she will not marry him. He almost dies, yet sticks to her stubborn ideas. I can’t understand why Darcy wanted her in the end, she was such a pain. I finished the book, but was so annoyed the whole time. I won’t listen a second time

persistence against the odds pays off

Lizzy gave me whiplash with her i decision. The yes and no to the marriage made me want to throat punch her!! Frustrating!!! Darcy was steadfast and tenacious, which finally paid off. Mrs. Bennett was a real mercenary social climber to the bitter end! Here's to hoping that vile villain gets his in the next book. I voluntarily listened to a free copy of this and am giving an honest review. The narrator did a good job.

Drag, drag, draaaag

Oh my word! Everything in this story is dragged out. Every character hems and haws about everything. Some variations occur in a ridiculously short timeline. Characters go from absolute dislike to true, unconditional love within a few days. This one allows the characters to grow in love through honest conversations in a somewhat believable timeline. After that, it trudges through in self created melodrama after melodrama. The story could have been better if 1/3 of the length.
For soooo many words, there is very little character development.

Some of the situations and scenes are just ridiculous. I find it hard to believe of ALL the gentry in England, a royal daughter is placed with the Bennets with no real follow up from anyone for 20 years. The Bennets... really?
Also, all of the nobles and royals are pretty much treated like random gentry with no recognition of their rank. I’m no expert, but propriety and social standing (or lack there of) was a big deal in the original. In fact, it was the primary source of conflict in Pride and Prejudice. Everyone in this story is casual with everyone else 90% of the time.
Narration- The narration wasn’t terrible but it wasn’t great. It was rushed and overacted. It had a weird mix of being overly dramatic like Shakespearean actors and cutesy like a children’s tv host or fairy tale narrator. She never caught the right tones or variations of the characters or situations. I won’t go into the specific mispronunciations, but there are many.

Loved it.

Really great story. Well written story and greatly narrated. I highly recommend this book to a Jane Austen fan fiction lover.