Pride and Papercuts: Inspired by Jane Austen's Pride and Papercuts (The Austens, #5)

by Staci Hart

Hate is a strong word.

Depending on the company, loathe is a good substitute. Abhor might be a little fancy, but it gets the job done. But the word that really sums up how I feel about Liam Darcy is, without question, hate.

He doesn’t seem to think much of me either. The second he lays his fault-seeking eyes on me, he sets out to oppose me. Everything about him is imposing, as if he consumes the nearby air to power the rise and fall of his broad chest, and it’s clear he resents my presence on his advertising team. Every idea I have is shot down. Every olive branch I offer is set on fire by nothing more than the blistering coals he calls eyes.

In return, I light him up with my words.

It’s not as if he can dismiss me, since I work for his client, Wasted Words. Instead, he’s forced to tolerate me, which seems the closest we’ll ever be to friends. Fine by me.

I can be civil and still hate Liam Darcy.

But if there’s more to him than his exterior shows, I won’t be able to hate him at all.

I might stumble over that line between love and hate and fall right into his arms.

• ISBN13: 9798695274769
• Publish Date: 8 October 2020
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: Independently Published
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 288
• Language: English

Reviews

[Berls]

3.5 stars
I'm drawn to pretty much anything that refers to Jane Austen and most especially Pride and Prejudice, so this was a no brainer to pick up for me. I read the first book in the series (a Emma retelling) and liked it well enough. Even though I skipped 3 books, I was never lost - they have overlapping characters, but stand alone really well.

That it's a retelling of Pride and Prejudice is obvious from some unmistakable characters - like Liam Darcy and his sister Georgi (spelling? hazardous of audiobook reading!), Wickham, Caroline, Catherine de Bourg and even a Mr. Collins equivalent. But there are some notably absent characters/changed characters as well. Instead of a bunch of sisters, Laney Bennett has a host of brothers. Most notably, Jane has been replaced by her brother Jett. So instead of the Bingley-Jane romance, we have Georgi and Jett. Little differences like that abound and even as a super fan, they mostly worked for me.

The one challenge of these small changes for me was that without the sisters, the Wikham situation wasn't as extreme. And while there was a situation for Darcy to step in and save the family - because of his love for Laney - it didn't feel as big as Darcy's actions for Elizabeth in the original. And The Letter came pretty close to the end, making for a less complete reversal, in my opinion.

But really, I doubt any retelling will ever measure up for me and this is one of the better retellings, for sure. I enjoyed the characters quite a a bit and their placement as rivals in an advertising campaign for the bookshop/bar was a lot of fun. I will definitely read more books in this series eventually, since my favorite measured up so well.

This was narrated by Aiden Snow and Mia Madison. I enjoyed both their styles and would happily listen to more from both of them. They worked well together as well, very complimentary voices.