beaustiful wistful and sad

The story was lovely, but I my overall feeling was just sadness. I'm a happy kind of person and enjoy the more witty and entertaining PP variations.

4 people found this helpful

This variation was interesting, I'm on the fence

Stevie Zimmerman is as always, excellent, and the story was good; but I couldn't help feeling that three quarters of the way through the story started to drag. Elizabeth's character although strong and admirable seemed very different from the one in the original Jane Austen novel. Jane Austen's Elizabeth was wise, witty, smart, and unworldly. The Elizabeth in this book lacked some of the innocence that I admired in the original Jane Austen novel.
Although a good novel in its own right this is not one that I wish to keep and re-read in my library.

4 people found this helpful

This would make a great movie! Loved it!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I absolutely would recommend this book. As a Jane Austen fan, I find it hard for variations to live up to the original; however, there was nothing about this story line that I did not thoroughly enjoy. The author does a superb job of fleshing out these beloved characters, and warming up Mr. Darcy.

What was one of the most memorable moments of On Equal Ground?

Mr. Darcy's alcohol-induced epic fail at flirting with Elizabeth.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

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4 people found this helpful

Simply the best!

This is certainly one of my favorites variations I had the pleasure of listening to so far! This one takes you through the life of Elizabeth, her marriage to her first husband Lord Robert Talbot--who is many years her senior and how she grew and learned about life and high society from him during the few years of their marriage. It was after his accidental death, which left Elizabeth heartbroken and planning on never to marry again. However, meeting up with Mr. Dacy, and thinking very little of him in the beginning, she comes to know him --with his persistence-- and the two end up together.

Elizabeth Adams did a fabulous job with this variation and her pick of Stevie Zimmerman to narrated it was perfect! This is a must read or listen to, you will not be disappointed.

3 people found this helpful

Absolute Perfection!

This Pride and Prejudice variation explores what would happen if Elizabeth outranked Darcy when they met, and all Darcy's advantages of wealth and privilege weren't a consideration. At 17, Elizabeth is traveling with her Aunt and Uncle Gardiner when they meet a charming older man named Mr. Robert Talbot. After Mr. Talbot spends more time in the Gardiner's company, he confesses he's actually the Earl of Asheland, a very wealthy man with a number of estates. He's drawn to Elizabeth and makes her an offer of marriage. She accepts and grows to love him deeply. When Elizabeth travels to Hertfordshire several years later and meets the Bingleys and Mr. Darcy, she's now the Countess of Asheland.

After several years of happy marriage to the Earl, Elizabeth is widowed and mourns her husband deeply. When Mr. Darcy meets her again, he remembers the relationship the Earl and Elizabeth had, and determines that he wants that for himself. Rather than look for a carbon copy of Elizabeth, he can now have the original. But she's not so eager to accept the haughty and proud Mr. Darcy, and he has to convince her that he's worthy of her heart.

I really enjoyed this variation! It's split into two parts, the first part is Lizzy's marriage to Robert Talbot, and in the second part, she's widowed and caring for her children. It's beautifully written and takes the time to delve deep into all the characters and their relationships with each other. There's little to no conflict or drama, it's merely a story about Lizzy's life.

I loved the depiction of Lizzy and Robert's marriage, he was so wise and kind. I loved that he offered marital advice to Bingley and parental advice to Mr. Bennet, and I would have been happy to have the book end with her married to Robert. He was such a paragon, and their marriage so wonderful, that when Darcy was introduced he was almost unlikable in comparison. But the author pulled out all the stops and gave us TWO swoon-worthy men for Lizzy to love. It was really well done.

The narration was wonderful, Stevie Zimmerman was perfection as always. Her regular speaking voice is so pleasant and her character voices are distinct and recognizable. She just brought me right into the book and made it a pleasure to listen to. I requested a copy of the audiobook, and I'm voluntarily leaving a review. I would 100% recommend this book to fans of Jane Austen.

3 people found this helpful

Really a fresh story

It is different from most of the variations if you’re a fan of p&p you must listen this story

2 people found this helpful

Stands on its own

I think what I liked the most about this book is that it's such a fresh take on the original story that you don't even need to have read Pride and Prejudice to enjoy it.
It's original enough to entertain even those who are not fans of Pride and Prejudice, but still like a nice, romantic story.

4 people found this helpful

Narration was good

Rounding up from 2.5 stars

I was given this audiobook some time ago and finally decided to listen to it. (I'd been waiting to use it for a 13 hour drive trip that didn't happen). For me the book was a mixed bag.

I loved the first half of the book where Elizabeth is married to Robert. Their relationship was so sweet. Based on the description of the book I'd assumed that the tragic loss would occur early in the book and we'd move on to Darcy but Robert's death didn't occur until after I had long been attached to him. By the 1/3 point of the book I was confused on this point and began to wonder how I could ever begin to root for Darcy to win Elizabeth. And that kind of ruined the book for me. Forget P&P. Just let the book be about Lady Elizabeth and her Robert. But alas, the book continued. And my interest began to dwindle. I found it much harder to care about Darcy. Never to the point of not wanting to finish the book but I think some greater conflict in the story needed to happen to regain full interest. It seemed the only conflict was Elizabeth's inner concerns about remarrying. Not much else happened. And since something needed to happen to spice things up, it ended up being sex. Closed door sex but sex. Premarital sex actually. Once Elizabeth decides to marry Darcy her big conflict changes to figuring out how to have sex and not get caught with a house full of guests around. To me, Austen's Lizzy and Darcy would not do that so it ruins the story for me. I knocked a star off my review based on that alone. All the other P&P conflicts are resolved before they ever occur in this story. Robert foresees the potential problems within Lizzy's family and fixes it all. The sister's get educated and dowries etc. There is no evil Wickham or interfering Lady Catherine. Everything falls into place nicely for all the sisters. No conflict.

I think the only thing that I really liked in the second half was the way Darcy's determination to win Elizabeth was portrayed. He was able to accurately read her to know that she did care for him and was willing to more or less sit back quietly and bide his time waiting for her to come around. I'm not sure that fits with Austen's Darcy but I did find it enjoyable.

One HUGE plus for the audiobook was the choice of narrator. I've enjoyed every Stevie Zimmerman narration I've listened to. She is excellent.

Sex: Marital innuendo, closed door premarital.
Language: a little Deity
Violence: no

1 person found this helpful

An interesting switch

What would happen if Elizabeth married an Earl long before she ever met Mr Darcy? Parts f this book follow the original with the exception of Elizabeth being a countess and later a widow and now she is the one who is the better standing.
This book did a great job with imagining how things could be different and also brought us inside the Elizabeth and Darcy relationship over the course of many years. It was a fun change from other P&P imagining. The narration by Stevie Zimmerman was superb - she does a great job of making all the voices sound great>

1 person found this helpful

Mr. D as a Misogynistic Alcoholic

Part 1 is lovely and the narrator does well, but it should have ended there.

Part 2 isn’t true to either Elizabeth or Darcy’s character and paints a fairly disgusting portrayal of both of them.