Review copy was received from Author. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Pemberley Encounter by Monica Fairview Published by White Soup Press on July 8, 2025
Genres: Historical Fiction
Pages: 383
Format: eARC
Source: Author
Goodreads
Amazon
During a visit to Derbyshire, an unexpected encounter will change everything…Elizabeth Bennet thought a walk on the footpath crossing Pemberley would be a quiet respite, a chance to marvel at its grandeur from a distance. But fate has other plans. A chance meeting with the shy Georgiana Darcy leads to an innocent invitation to dinner—an act of kindness that sets off a series of unexpected events.
When Darcy unexpectedly arrives at Pemberley, he is shocked to find a complete stranger in his house. His immediate suspicion of Elizabeth’s intentions – and his desire to prevent her taking advantage of his sister – drive him to cast her out in unfortunate haste.
This compelling tale of a fated, unexpected connection unfolds as Elizabeth’s headstrong charm grapples with Mr. Darcy’s stern reserve, setting the stage for a heartwarming romance that grows steadily long after their first encounter.
Set in the summer of 1811, before Netherfield Park is let, this is an alternative first impressions variation of Jane Austen’s timeless classic, in which Elizabeth’s first meeting with Mr. Darcy goes very badly indeed!
When a despondent young lady is preparing to take her life, a woman visiting the area has the chance to not only save said life, but form a friendship. Then our heroine gets accused of thievery and tossed out of the house by the suspicious brother. Monica Fairview has penned some engaging Pride and Prejudice Variations in the past and this one dealt the romance some tough blows that had me sitting up and taking notice.
Pemberley Encounter is well-titled in that Elizabeth Bennet and Georgiana Darcy encounter one another by the river. Elizabeth talks the poor girl down from her angst and befriends her. Darcy is still trying to recover from his nearly too-late rescue of his sister from a rogue after her dowry and the rogue’s accomplice. He can’t seem to get through to his little sister and feels a woman might stand a better chance so off he goes to bring his friend’s sister, Caroline, in his desperation.
He returns to find a stranger has done what he could not. Caroline came, but she is a social climber and is after Darcy so she sees a different sort of danger when this Bennet lady has befriended Georgiana and the girl has taken to her. Caroline employs her wiles and preys on Darcy’s fears to separate Elizabeth from Georgie. Darcy is duped and acts outlandishly on a mistaken incident, leaving the door open for the rogue, Wickham to play out his wiles on Elizabeth. The road to romance is rough for certain.
I’ve read some dramatic variations in my time, but my lands, Pemberley Encounter had my eyes bugged out over a series of cringe-worthy, sometimes inexplicable choices on the part of Darcy. First, he thinks Caroline Bingley, a social-climbing gossip, is a good choice to coax a gentle, guilt-ridden girl from her depression? Caroline?!? Then, he actually throws an invited guest out of his home to walk five miles to the nearest town so that her feet, because she was attired in dinner slippers which were not made for walking, were bleeding when she got there all because she is “suspected (not proven)” of stealing? Oh, and then I got a good laugh that it is Charles Bingley, the usually impulsive one of the two friends who was urging caution. All that to say, be prepared for not just a variation in the plot, but in the characters, too.
The set up was very dramatic and tangled, but I enjoyed the challenge Elizabeth and Darcy faced to figure out truth from lies and sort out motivations and misunderstandings. The sweet friendship Lizzy and Georgie shared was a special balancing to the enemies to lovers that was going on with Elizabeth and Darcy. I was cheering hard for them to figure it out in spite of those ranged against them.
All in all, I found it an attention-grabbing romance set up, a careful handling of a young girl in need of a friend, and a sizzling pair for the tender romance. Those who enjoy P&P variations or dramatic sweet Regency romance are the target audience.
As a lifelong reader, it was inevitable that Sophia would discover book blogs and the joy of blog reviewing.Sophia is a prolific reader and audiobook listener which allows her to experience so many wonderful books, authors, and narrators.Few genres are outside her reading tastes, but her true love is fiction particularly history, mystery, sci-fi, and romance.Though, sorry, no horror or she will run like Shaggy and Scooby.
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Dang, sure sounds like these characters are dealing with a lot in this book.
Oh yeah, they had a lot going against them in this one, Mary!
I really enjoyed this book, despite Darcy listening to Caroline and making assumptions about Wickham! He needed a lot of humble pie! Obviously we knew that Monica would come up with a happy ending somehow!
You said it, Glynis! Monica really knows how to grab one’s attention with the conflict. Ha, yeah, Darcy really did make it hard on himself. 🙂
Caroline!?! Oh Darcy this version of you is questionable.
Yeah, he really stuck his foot in it this time. 🙂
Wow…oh my goodness, Caroline?!? What was Darcy thinking? Glad you had fun with this one!
That’s what I say! 🙂
It’d be hard to come back from throwing a guest out knowing she’d have to walk 5 miles! There were some definite differences in this adaptation!
Oh yeah, he had to eat so much crow. It was startling with those changes, but definitely pulled me into the story. 🙂
Is Darcy a complete jerk in the original? I know he is grumpy, but just curious overall.
No, he’s not. Here’s the skinny on Darcy in the original: He’s a shy man, chased by all the women for his status and fortune, whose lost his parents while he was young, inherited a big estate and wealth and the care of his baby sister, and has a strong sense of duty to what he thought his parents wanted for him- marrying socially well. He’s really conscientious about the people who work for him so he works hard to look after the estate, does honorable stuff and doesn’t want recognition. He even keeps cleaning up a villainous rake’s messes because his father liked the guy (plus the guy knows a secret about Darcy’s little sister that would ruin her). He’s feeling a little testy about this guy right at the beginning of P&P and sad about his sister when he accepts an invitation to help his friend decide if he wants to purchase an estate.
So, when Elizabeth Bennet meets him, he doesn’t show well- the crankiness (aka Pride) and the villain guy is a real charmer who lies about him, too. She makes a snap judgment (aka Prejudice) and the conflict is launched. 🙂