Betrothals & Betrayals

A Pride and Prejudice Variation

By: Cinnamon Worth

Narrated by: Megan Green

Length: 7 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's summary

A Pride and Prejudice variation set primarily in Derbyshire, this Regency-era romance explores how the destiny of Jane Austen’s characters will be fulfilled even when all of the odds are stacked against them. 

After a mysterious accident leads to their father’s death, the future for the Bennet girls seems bleak. Elizabeth Bennet finds work in Ramsgate, and one blustery morning, chance brings her together with Georgiana Darcy, a young, wealthy, orphaned girl. When Elizabeth saves her new friend from ruin, she sets off a course of events that alters not only her own life, but the lives of those she cherishes.

Fitzwilliam Darcy was looking for a wife, not love. He had everything he needed to be happy. A wife would provide him with an heir, and if he was lucky, she would not interfere too greatly in his life. Then, fate put Elizabeth Bennet in his path - destroying his tranquility. Now, in addition to trying to find a bride, he must deal with a stubborn, impertinent troublemaker who doesn’t seem to understand her place.  

Will Elizabeth destroy his chance at happiness, or will she be the making of it?

©2018 Genevieve Frederick (P)2019 Genevieve Frederick

Betrothals and Betrayals by Cinnamon and Kay

I love Pride and Prejudice and I must say that this is one of the best variation I've ever read or listened to. ❤ So sweet and romantic. So perfect! Well, what can I say? He's Mr.Darcy!

The narration by Megan Green is superb! I love how she made life to the characters with her voice.

Not Your Typical Pride and Prejudice Retelling

I love "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen. I also love retellings and spins offs of Austen's work, but often find authours do not make their stories unique enough that instead of focusing, I end up letting my mind wander and do not pay the best attention while listening/reading.

"Betrothals and Betrayals" by Cinnamon Worth is an amazing, funny, unique, totally different, and shocking telling of Austen's "Pride and Prejudice".

From the first to last chapter I kept noticing huge differences in the story line. It doesn't even start from your typical start point. It captured me from the first chapter until the very last. It keeps the integrity of the characters with a varying story line. For instance, Mr. Bennett has died. You find out more about this and when you do, your jaw will drop like mine did. Elizabeth and Georgiana meet while they are both out walking for various reasons. There are amazing scenes that happen between Darcy and Elizabeth in the library or at a special tree. This book has lots of funny humour just like Austen's novels do.

I don't think I have ever read such a unique retelling of Jane Austen's work and that is what I loved about this book. I have already shared it with others and I cannot wait to return to it in the future.

Megan Green also does a great job with the narrations. She has a unique and pleasant voice and I love the speed she performs at.

I received this audiobook at my request and I provided this voluntary review. All opinions are 100% my own.

Beautiful P&P variation story with a lovely ending

I am an avid reader of Pride and Prejudice variations and this story did not disappoint. It was a slow burn at the beginning but I loved the way the author set up the characters, back stories and confusions necessary for a good revelation at the right time! I usually read these types of books but having a great narrator like Megan really helped to envision the characters and kept the story rolling, I love listening to the way a narrator brings a story to life and Megan is great at this! I loved all the characters in this especially Georgiana who had a much bigger role than usual and some of the loveliest scenes I’ve read between Mr Darcy and Elizabeth were in this book. I would definitely recommend it to other P&P fans and anyone who loves historical and Regency novels.

My Apologies to Ms. Austen

I read Pride and Prejudice for the first time right before reading this book. I personally didn't feel that it was fair to read a variation on something that I had never read to begin with. So, I came to this book fresh off of Pride and Prejudice and a little worried that it was going to be more of the same. I was gladly wrong.

This book was wonderful, and it is obvious that while it was written to take place in the same era as P&P, it was not written during the same era as P&P. This story is very witty and creates a small twist on the original story and moves out from there. It is much faster paced than P&P which I believe is a difference in the writing styles of the time frame in which they are written. I enjoyed this book so much more than P&P and I would gladly read more variations from Ms. Worth and Ms. Springsteen.

I was provided with a free copy of this audio book for my honest review. The views expressed here are entirely my own.

Narration not for me

I have. A quantity of audible books, but never remember being so disappointed in the narrator. I believe the story will be a good one so I am going to order the e-book for my kindle. So sorry.

Familiar yet new

Fitzwilliam Darcy knows he must marry and has a short list of suitable ladies to propose to. Passionate love isn't a huge concern, as he aims for a marriage that could be comfortable and sturdy instead. He doesn't want to take a gamble on feelings when he could have the stability of facts. But none of choices work out, leaving him more annoyed than heartbroken. And when he returns to Pemberley to "woo" the brother of a potential bride, he's faced with his biggest challenge yet, the formidable Elizabeth Bennet.

Elizabeth Bennet has resigned herself to spinsterhood, unwilling to live on the charity of her relations. She decides to spend her life as a companion or governess, giving up on love and the idea of a family of her own for the stability of a wage. One cold day she meets Georgiana Darcy, a young heiress with a heavy weight on her shoulders. Soon, their complicated relationship brings Elizabeth towards the future she never thought she could have.

Darcy and Elizabeth enter into a timeless tango. Both are strong-willed and have a very specific idea of what love is and how they want to spend their lives. At first, they want nothing more than to be rid of each other, but we all know how the story goes! 

I don't want to spoil anything, since there are plot points that are different than the original work. But some of the storylines seemed to just end or disappear with no warning or explanation. You're left wondering what happened to one character while trying to unravel the twisting lives of those in England's high society. It's nothing too major, but I would have liked some clarification in regards to some things.

Books like these are where Megan Green shines! She was born in the south of England, giving her the perfect voice for a classic work. Sometimes narrators take on projects with accents they're not familiar with, leaving you with a botched attempt at a western twang or an Australian one that makes you cringe. But Green uses her natural accent to create well-rounded voice for everyone in Austen's world.

Overall, I enjoyed my first Austen adaptation. It was interesting and comfortable, like revisiting an old story, but with enough twists to keep you focused. I think any Austen fan would find this book a lovely treat to listen to on a warm spring

Couldn't finish

The story line sounded fun. I just couldn't get past the narrator's voice. I would like to try and read the book, but I just couldn't listen. the voice makes it breaks an audiobook for me. This one just broke it for me.

Great pride and prejudice adaptation

I really enjoyed this story and getting to see Elizabeth and Darcy come together in a different way. The narrator was ok but not my favorite but I still really enjoyed the book

This book needs a better narrator.

This book needs a better narrator. I was very distracted by her annoying male voices.

I liked the story, but....

I love Pride and Prejudice and always on a lookout for variations of this book because enemies to lovers is my most favorite trope. I have been a bit disappointed with this audiobook. I liked the story, it was engaging and had enough differences from the Jane Austen's book to keep it interesting. I did not care for narration though. I listened to another book by this narrator and liked her voice, but I did not like the way she did the British accent in this book. I hope narrator will work on making her British accent voice as natural and smooth as she sounds while narrating stories with american accent.

Nice Regency

Betrothals and Betrayals by Cinnamon Worth and Kay Springsteen is a sweet regency story that is reminiscent of Pride and Prejudice in its imagery and characters. Megan Green performs this book so fittingly. She gives the characters life. This is a fitting tribute and continuation to the beloved Jane Austen's characters. I requested this review copy audiobook and have voluntarily written this review. I will definitely listen to more books by the authors and narrator.

Beautiful!

I love this audiobook. The storyline is great and the narration is perfect. Really enjoyable book.

Three and a half stars, rounded up to four (just)

REVIEW OF THE AUDIOBOOK AS PERFORMED BY MEGAN GREEN

Regency set alternative history to Pride and Prejudice, starting off in Ramsgate as Georgiana Darcy is contemplating eloping with George Wickham and is found alone, in inclement weather, on the street by Elizabeth, waiting for aforesaid "gentleman". Elizabeth Bennet is about to start working as a companion to a wealthy widow in Ramsgate, following the death of her father, and the elder Mr. Collins (father of William Collins from canon) has thrown the Bennet women out of Longbourn. She prevents anything untoward happening and is eventually offered the position of Georgiana's new companion. She refuses as she already has a positionand suggests her sister Jane, who eventually takes the post. Jane, coincidentally, has to leave it eventually to marry Bingley (who she meets at Pemberley) just as Elizabeth's employer dies. Guess who ends up in the post?

There are many misunderstandings between Elizabeth and Darcy, as usual; a major one being her presumptuous reorganistion of Pemberley's library. Personally, I'd probably have reacted just like Darcy if someone had done that to my library without permission or discussion, no matter how altruistic the reason turns out to be. Darcy is searching for a wife who fits a list of particular criteria and can produce an heir, not someone he can love and share his life with.

The title is quite appropriate as there are several of each. The first betrayal is obviously that of Georgiana by Wickham and the first betrothal is that of Jane and Bingley. Both occur quite early in the story. The remainder of both are for the reader to find out. One is a particular doozy, but...spoilers!

I definitely enjoyed this story and the story was engagingly enough told for me to want to see it through. Some of the plot twists were...unexpected though once again, as I've found with Ms. Worth's writing, there were a few too many modern and/or American language uses throughout for this picky Brit reader/listener (waistcoat, not vest!). The audio performance by Megan Green wasn't bad, with only an occasional mispronunciation: "lieutenant" is pronounced "leff-tenant" and not "loo-tenant" in UK English and there was a very strange pronunciation of "awry".

I obtained a free copy of this audiobook at my own request from Story Origin. A review was requested but not demanded and this is my honest opinion. I'd give it 3.5 stars if I could, but have rounded it up to 4.

I got a bit lost!!

This was a little hard to follow. I wasn’t sure in the beginning if I could keep up with who was who, but I got there in the end. Megan made this book a 4 star for me.