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Title: Happenstance.
Fandom: Pride and Prejudice.
Pairing: Fitzwilliam Darcy/Elizabeth Bennet.
Categories: Angst, Marriage of Convenience, Romance.
Length: Epic (~198.000 words).
Warnings: None.
Author on LJ: n/a
Author Website: n/a
Author's Summary: "An inopportune meeting in a wooded area near Longbourn results in salacious gossip which threatens to wreak havoc to both Darcy's and Elizabeth's reputation. A forced marriage results wherein both characters must convince a discerning public that their marriage is "real". Private angry battles are at war with a public united front."
Review:
As forced marriages/marriages of convenience were not uncomon during the stricter moral code of Jane Austen's Regency England, a "Pride and Prejudice" fic seemed perfect for this month's theme. A careless act on Darcy's part soon after the Netherfield Ball leads to his marriage to Elizabeth to save their reputations. Darcy, due to all his objections to her family, is unhappy with their situation at first, but his attraction to Elizabeth and her competence as Mrs. Darcy soon make him wish to make them marriage more than a façade. Elizabeth, on the other hand, harbors not only a great dislike for him but also blames him for the position they find themselves in.
Elizabeth and Darcy's relationship is the undisputed center of the story and the way that it is written is what makes it work. There's a lot of conflict at first as they continuously misunderstand each other (Darcy even goes through a "Hunsford" rejection, though one of a slightly different kind), but it's believable considering both the characters and the circumstances. The inevitable romantic development is well handled, as are their interactions with other characters, canon or original.
All in all, this is a long, satisfying read for fans of the MoC genre.
Happenstance
Page 1 (Chapters 1-8);
Page 2 (Chapters 9-16);
Page 3 (Chapters 17-19);
Page 4 (Chapters 20-21);
Page 5 (Chapters 23-Epilogue);
or
Entire story in a .pdf file
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
Fandom: Pride and Prejudice.
Pairing: Fitzwilliam Darcy/Elizabeth Bennet.
Categories: Angst, Marriage of Convenience, Romance.
Length: Epic (~198.000 words).
Warnings: None.
Author on LJ: n/a
Author Website: n/a
Author's Summary: "An inopportune meeting in a wooded area near Longbourn results in salacious gossip which threatens to wreak havoc to both Darcy's and Elizabeth's reputation. A forced marriage results wherein both characters must convince a discerning public that their marriage is "real". Private angry battles are at war with a public united front."
Review:
As forced marriages/marriages of convenience were not uncomon during the stricter moral code of Jane Austen's Regency England, a "Pride and Prejudice" fic seemed perfect for this month's theme. A careless act on Darcy's part soon after the Netherfield Ball leads to his marriage to Elizabeth to save their reputations. Darcy, due to all his objections to her family, is unhappy with their situation at first, but his attraction to Elizabeth and her competence as Mrs. Darcy soon make him wish to make them marriage more than a façade. Elizabeth, on the other hand, harbors not only a great dislike for him but also blames him for the position they find themselves in.
Elizabeth and Darcy's relationship is the undisputed center of the story and the way that it is written is what makes it work. There's a lot of conflict at first as they continuously misunderstand each other (Darcy even goes through a "Hunsford" rejection, though one of a slightly different kind), but it's believable considering both the characters and the circumstances. The inevitable romantic development is well handled, as are their interactions with other characters, canon or original.
All in all, this is a long, satisfying read for fans of the MoC genre.
Happenstance
Page 1 (Chapters 1-8);
Page 2 (Chapters 9-16);
Page 3 (Chapters 17-19);
Page 4 (Chapters 20-21);
Page 5 (Chapters 23-Epilogue);
or
Entire story in a .pdf file
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chasethestars
chasethestars
Comments
Thank you!
I tried this once but couldn't get past the beginning... which has been the case with a couple of P&P forced marriage fics; anything where Darcy or Elizabeth's actions are responsible for compromising her squicks me, feels a bit OOC and I've always hated anything approaching the "they couldn't control themselves" explanation. Though if I'm remembering right which fic this is, at least it's not the "Darcy suddenly kissed her at a ball" one I tried once.
If you loved it so much, though, maybe one day I'll try reading it by skipping the beginning and going straight to the good stuff? So thanks for the rec.
BTW, you misspelt Elizabeth a couple of times.
This one doesn't really go that way. Yes, Darcy is responsible for the situation, as he followed Elizabeth to a secluded location when she repeatedly asked him to leave her. In his defense, he sees that she is clearly upset (he later says that it was obvious to him that she had been crying) and only wants to help. There are some slightly OOC moments in there (when he grabs hold of her arm, for instance) that even Darcy recognizes, but not something too out there to be believable (at least to me - YMMV). The thing only gets out of hand because he is rude to the man who witnesses the meeting, who then has less of a reason to keep his mouth shut as he might have otherwise.
Thanks for bringing the spelling thing up! I have a horrible time getting Elizabeth/Elisabeth right as another fandom of mine has an Elisabeth with an "s" and I'm way too used to spelling it like that.
Thanks:)