Hello everyone,
The Best Part of Love is everything but canon and it contains several aspects I usually dislike on a JAFF story: Elizabeth marries someone else, has a child from that marriage and worse than that, she actually loves her first husband! These 3 facts alone would lead me away from this book and I confess I would not have read it if I had not heard so many good comments about it. But I did read it and ended up considering it one of my favourite reads from 2016! And why is that, you may wonder? The Best Part of Love portrays one of the deepest and strongest love stories I have ever seen developed in JAFF, plus, it has an enormous amount of angst which is always a favourite of mine 🙂
When I started reading it I could not stop thinking that the author would have to be incredibly good to make me love this story, but the book is quite long and before I knew it Darcy and Elizabeth were spending time together and gradually falling in love with each other, well…at least for Elizabeth it was gradual, so I had not finished reading it and I already wanted to re-read it to go back to the small details from the beginning that were no longer in my memory.
With several new characters, plots, conspiracies and historical aspects we soon forget that Elizabeth deeply loved her previous husband and has a child, instead, we start focusing on the love she is growing for Darcy and all the beautiful moments they spend together.
I don’t want to say too much because knowing what may happen and especially when it happens may spoil the book for you, but let me just tell you that Elizabeth’s love for her previous husband will pale in comparison to the love she has for Darcy and that is just what I needed to overcome my initial worries. Elizabeth realises that what she felt was not exactly love, not quite…at least not an epic love, not the love she could only have for Darcy! Seeing her come to this conclusion was one of the best rewards I could have in this book.
The book is long but not slow paced and the story and character development kept me interested from the beginning until the end. In fact, the book truly needed to have this length or it would not be as good. We needed to see the characters go through a certain path to understand how strong and deep Darcy and Elizabeth’s love is.
The angst was expected and on several pages I kept thinking, “don’t say it, don’t say it, please just don’t say it”, of course they all said what I didn’t want to hear, so I just started thinking “this is not happening, this is not happening, this is not happening”. But it was happening and getting worse, with more moments than I can count when I felt like tearing my poor heart out! I don’t know how Darcy survived this, or Elizabeth! So when it comes to angst this book hits the charts and I just love that 🙂 If like me you love angst, this book is for you, but be prepared, some moments are just heartbreaking and you will probably cry a river.
Summing up, The Best Part of Love is a roller coaster of emotions that will keep you reading from the first page until the end. It has romance, adventure, mystery, angst but also several rewarding moments throughout the book that culminate in a happy ending that will give the readers an enormous satisfaction. It’s a different, interesting and hard journey, but in the end it will all be worth it 🙂
You can find this book at :
Amazon.com – The Best Part of Love
Amazon.co.uk – The Best Part of Love
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***Book Blurb***
Avoiding the truth does not change the truth
When Fitzwilliam Darcy meets Miss Elizabeth Bennet he has no idea that she — that indeed, the entire town of Meryton — harbors a secret. Miss Elizabeth, a simply country girl from a humble estate, manages to capture first his fascination and then his heart without him ever knowing the truth of her past.
When she meets Darcy, Elizabeth had spent the two years prior hiding from the men who killed her beloved first husband. Feeling herself destroyed by love, Elizabeth has no intention of loving again, certainly not with the haughty man who could do nothing but offend her in Hertfordshire.
In London, Elizabeth surprises herself by finding in Darcy a friend; even greater is her surprise to find herself gradually coming to love him and even accepting an offer of marriage from him. Newly married, they are just beginning to settle into their happily ever after when a condemned man on his way to the gallows divulges a shattering truth, a secret that contradicts everything Elizabeth thought she knew about the tragic circumstances of her first marriage. Against the advice of everyone who loves her, including Darcy, Elizabeth begins to ask questions. But will what they learn destroy them both?
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***Author Bio***
Amy D’Orazio is a former breast cancer researcher and current stay at home mom who is addicted to Austen and Starbucks in about equal measures. While she adores Mr. Darcy, she is married to Mr. Bingley and their Pemberley is in Pittsburgh PA.
She has two daughters who are devoted to sports which require long practices and began writing her own stories as a way to pass the time she spent sitting in the lobbies of various gyms and studios. She is a firm believer that all stories should have long looks, stolen kisses and happily ever afters. Like her favorite heroine, she dearly loves a laugh and considers herself an excellent walker.
Facebook: Amy D’Orazio
Instagram: amydorazio
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11 Jan Savvy Verse & Wit; Character Interview, Giveaway
12 Jan Half Agony, Half Hope; Review
13 Jan Austenesque Reviews; Vignette, Giveaway
14 Jan Darcyholic Diversions; Author Interview, Giveaway
15 Jan Delighted Reader; Review
16 Jan From Pemberley to Milton; Review
17 Jan A Covent Garden Gilflurt’s Guide to Life; Guest Post
18 Jan Obsessed with Mr. Darcy; Review
19 Jan My Kids Led Me Back to Pride & Prejudice; Vignette, Giveaway
20 Jan Diary of an Eccentric; Review
21 Jan More Agreeably Engaged; Vignette, Giveaway
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***It’s Giveaway Time***
To enter the giveaway, click here!
sounds like a wonderful variation
denise
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Thank you Denise!
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Haha, yes, I kept muttering ‘don’t say it’ to myself in those parts, too. This was a lovely read. Glad to read your review, Rita!
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Did you also kept thinking “why did you have to ask?” And “why couldn’t you have kept your mouth quiet?”
I kind of guessed what would happen but still I couldn’t believe it when it Did! And at the end, when Darcy gets injured I was just like “common!” 🙂
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I was really tapping in on that “curiosity” aspect of Elizabeth Bennet wasn’t I? Thanks Rita!
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Yes, why did she had to insist in knowing?? But it all turned out well, so I guess in the the end her curiosity was a good thing :))
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I don’t even mind if Darcy and Elizabeth don’t get married
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Really? That is not very common I think. I’ve read a few where they don’t have kids, but I can’t remembre of one where they don’t get married 🙂
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in a few unpublished ones they have not married. At the moment I prefer reading about the minor characters
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I like some minor characters stories too, my favourites are Mary and Col. Fitzwilliam 🙂
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That seemed to have been a brief trend for awhile, there were several posting on the boards where the HEA was NOT D&E — to each his own right?! I like to drag them through the angst but in my stories, D&E always end up together!
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I love the synopsis of this
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It is definitely very different Patrícia 🙂
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Thank you!
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Yes Rita I know what you mean about this storyline. I too would not have thought of reading it after seeing that Elizabeth was married and loved her husband. But every review I have read has been so positive that I just have to read it. (although your comments about the angst levels do have me worried so I must stock up on tissues before I buy it. I would love to enter the giveaway but fear it is a Rafflecopter competition and for some reason my phone won’t let me enter usually. Nevertheless I will try once more. Thanks for this post.
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I would not have read it were it not for Claudine’s enthusiasm about it, but it was worth it Glynis, but this one is trully angsty, so you better be prepared 🙂
I’ll check what I can do for the Rafflecopter and let you know 🙂
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To be honest, I am usually the first one to get out of ANY story where D&E have previous marriages/loves … I can’t cope with it, esp where Darcy has married Anne! So I get what you mean but hopefully my own bias made it all a little easier to swallow!
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Oh I love a good long book! It allows the author to bring together or untangle all the threads they have woven into a story. Looking forward to this amazing book! Wonderful review!
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Thank you Carole, this one really needed to be long because the story occursin a long period of time and many, many things happen in it 🙂
Good Luck in the giveaway and I hope you like it 🙂
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Thank you ladies! I do tend to write long in general but like Rita said it was a lot of ground to cover!
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Lovely review! This story is one of my favorites! Congrats, Amy!!
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Obrigada Daniela 😉 It’s good to know so many people share my enthusiasm for this book, it’s a sign that Amy did a wonderfull job with it 🙂
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Thank you!!
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I’m currently reading it, and I love it more and more the further I get into the story. Great review!
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Thank you Anna! I’m sure I’ll be reading your review shortly as well 🙂
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Thanks so much!!
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Love your review and your enthusiastic reaction to this wonderful story,Rita!
I can very well imagine you sitting down and exclaiming loudly,for all the world to hear,about what was happening on the page! 😉
Isn’t it great when a book moves you like this!
Long may authors like this continue to pen such heartbreaking and emotionally exhausting stories that make us heave a huge sigh of relief when everything has been happily resolved!! So glad you enjoyed it!!
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On this one I did fear they would not have their happily ever after Mary. I could not believe it, but it felt it would happen at certain point, but then, it wouldn’t be JAFF would it? I have not yet read a single one that didn’t end well 🙂
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I will guarantee for myself that NOTHING I ever write will end without D&E happily riding off into the sunset together 😉
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Thanks for the review and the warning about angst. Glad to hear that the journey is worth it. Can’t wait to read!
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Thank you Darcybennett, good luck in the giveaway 🙂
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Thank you!!
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I can understand what you mean about being reluctant to read a variation where one or other of Darcy and Elizabeth have been married before and even had one or more children. I used to be a bit like that but having read some really good stories with exactly that premise, Rita, I have changed my mind. Maria Grace’s Remember the Past (widowed Darcy with two sons) and P.O.Dixon’s Darcy and the Young Knight’s Quest series (widowed Elizabeth with one son) are two such. What I personally find somewhat off-putting is either of them married to someone else at the start of the book but Brenda Webb’s Fitzwilliam Darcy, An Honourable Man has him already married at the start (but not in love with his wife) and that’s a pretty good tale too. Elizabeth married to Wickham is something I’d find very difficult to contemplate, though.
So, Amy’s book doesn’t bother me in the slightest and from everything I’ve read and heard about it, I’m really looking forward to reading it. I love a good long book that I can really immerse myself in and as long as there is a HEA I can put up with any amount of angst. My angst threshold may have been tested a couple of times but never yet crossed. Thanks for your lovely review!
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Thank you Anji! I agree with you completely although I must say there is one book, Stronger Even than Pride where Elizabeth marries Wickham — oh man just thinking of it gives me shivers but it is SUCH a good book, really amazing. Its funny how we all have our *things* that we just can’t cope with!
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Angst? Did you say angst? Then count me in! Nothing I love more than seeing our dear couple in abject misery … because I know they’ll always have their happily ever after. How they get there is always the best part of any JAFF story!
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Now there is the spirit! I love some good angst too!! Thanks Janis!
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Loved this book!!!! Goodness, Rita, You’ve done such an amazing job of expressing your own love without giving anything away and it’s so hard!! I’ll try to avoid spoilers too and only say that the scenarios haunting the nightmares of devoted Janeites are brilliantly addressed in this book and make for an irresistible plot and an incredibly satisfying resolution. Loved loved loved it!!
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I’ll be a winner just enjoying your book, but I’d also like to be a winner of this giveaway. 🙂
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