Mr. Darcy's Vow by Timothy Underwood - 2 stars - unsuccessful executionn of an interesting premise

Mr. Darcy's Vow: A Pride and Prejudice Story by Timothy Underwood

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

A very interesting premise of Darcy being in serious debt due to his father's overspending. In addition, he does not go to Ramsgate and Wickham is successful in his elopement with Georgiana. When Darcy arrives in Meryton, he is worried about money, unsure where Georgiana is with Wickham, and has just paid out her dowry of 30 thousand pounds through a loan from Bingley.

Although the premise is interesting, I am not sure it was successful as a story. This Darcy is less admirable than the original, although he is trying desperately to live up to his vow that he will not be like his father who wasted money, kept a mistress, and brought Pemberley to its knees financially. Darcy appears to stubbornly stick to the letter of this vow while not at all recognizing when it is hurting his own self-interest, not to mention that of Elizabeth. He continually attempts to stay a "rational man" and not let his emotions run away with him. From my perspective, he is very irrationally sticking to a vow. At one point he reminds himself he has an adequate income to marry anyone he chooses, even if a good portion of his income is still going to pay off the huge debt. He keeps telling himself over, and over, and over, that he must marry an heiress or his uncle Matlock will stop lending him money when he knows, and Bingley tells him, his uncle would not abandon him. He seems to believe he is being selfish and like his father to choose to marry a woman he loves. More troubling, however, is his ability to flip back and forth between wanting to marry Elizabeth (and demonstrating his love to her, so she and everyone around knows) and determining he cannot have her (hurting her and himself each time). He just seems like such a stubborn idiot over and over.

I also found little to admire in Elizabeth. She appears to be a loose cannon, letting her mouth go off pretty much wherever she is regardless of possible consequences to herself or to others. It is not only that what she says is improper, it is that it is not smart to attack people verbally when she doesn't know what they are capable of.

I really enjoyed The Return written by Underwood, but found the writing style in Mr. Darcy's Vow to be stiff and less descriptive. There was not a lot of emotion or a sense of place. The book is okay, but nothing to recommend to others.



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