01 August 2011

REVIEW: Promises (Pride and Prejudice Variation) by Wendi Sotis

promises
Wendi Sotis
ISBN #:  978-1463643065
Publisher Name:  Create Space
Date Released:  July 2011
Genre: Romance/Jane Austen Fan Fic
Book Format:  Kindle Version
Price: $7.99

BACK COVER BLURB:

Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy meet as children. Over the years, their feelings for each other grow, but what will happen when unfortunate circumstances and interfering family members seek to keep them apart?

COVER SNARK:
Self-Pubbed. Boring.
FIRST LINES:
William’s distress was evident on his face. So confused was he by the turmoil of emotions churned up by this quest that he no longer knew how to find what he was looking for among the rows of publications on the shelves of the bookshop.

LYNETTE'S TWO CENTS:

WARNING – MY FILTER IS OFF. I APOLOGIZE FOR MY RANT IN ADVANCE.
PROMISES lead me into a false sense of security. I really enjoyed the beginning. It reminded me of contest entries I read of unpublished romance novels. The first fifty pages or so are really great because they’ve been read and re-read forever by judges and industry professionals, but when you get the rest of the book, you’re like WTF, what was this person thinking.
This is how PROMISES read to me, like the author never had someone critique her whole work just bits and pieces, because it didn’t fit together as a cohesive novel. So when I got it (and brought it with my own money) I was furious. The only upside is that I think PROMISES has cured me of my fascination with Pride and Prejudice Sequels. To be honest, I’m tired of wasting the little money I have on fan fic from any Tom, Dick, and Harry who wants to write a Pride and Prejudice variation and hasn’t really worked on the craft of storytelling.
I haven’t been this annoyed since I attempted to read Sharon Latham’s fan fic attempt. Yes, I know that she is a very popular author of P&P fan fic, but no many times that I have tried I have been unable to read past the first fifty pages of her first novel. Because nothing happens except sex, and I love you so much. Plus, it’s obvious that Ms. Lathan didn’t even read Pride and Prejudice when she wrote that story, just went by that crappy Keira Knightly movie.
NOTE TO SELF: LYNETTE TAKE A DEEP BREATH AND GET A GRIP.
PROMISES has a very interesting and intriguing premise. Mr. George Darcy and Mr. Thomas Bennet are old school friends who meet up again by chance in Mr. Gardiner’s bookshop. Fitzwilliam Darcy who is grieving the recent loss of his mother meets the nine year old Elizabeth Bennet and becomes enchanted with her wit and intelligence. Elizabeth has a photographic memory and is something of a child prodigy. So she and Fitzwilliam hit it off right away. Over the years they have encounters and when Fitzwilliam comes back from his Grand Tour and sees how the now sixteen year old Elizabeth has blossomed, the sibling love and affection he’s always had for her has blossomed into love. He proposes but Mr. Bennet states that they cannot marry until Elizabeth turns seventeen so that she can benefit from a season to meet other men and to make sure that marriage to Fitzwilliam Darcy is what she really wants.
Well, you’re asking, what’s wrong with that? Nothing at all, because this is the part of the novel that was very compelling and justified me spending my hard earned money on PROMIES, but what happened next went right into WTF territory and made me wonder what book I suddenly picked up and started reading because it wasn’t the same book that I had just started.
After Elizabeth and Mr. Bennet leave Pemberly there is a serious of WTF events which involve missing letters and misunderstandings. These missing letters occur year after year through asinine circumstances that a two year old could have figured out how to overcome. I mean really, I’m not a history buff or anything, but even I know that it was no big deal for Mr. Darcy to send a letter by express or personal message to get to Longbourne, especially considering the circumstances he was in.
So what happens when Fitzwilliam Darcy meets Elizabeth and Thomas Bennet again? Years later, to what I presume is when Elizabeth is twenty years old like in Pride and Prejudice when Darcy arrives at Netherfield . . ..  Do they talk about the situation and figure out what was going on? Do they ask the most basic questions a two-year old would want to know? No they do not and the comedy of errors continues. And if PROMISES wasn’t on my Kindle and if I hadn’t had my Kindle replaced at least three times so far, I would have thrown it across the room.
Enough was enough. I stopped reading. My time is too short.
BTW. I am desperate for an awesome read (non Pride and Prejudice related please) to get the bad taste of this out of my mouth. I need to get out of my reading slump. So please in the comments below mention the most awesome book that you have ever read.
I need recommendations desperately to get out of this reading slump.

WHERE PURCHASED:
Purchased with my own money.

RATING:









post signature


7 people posted their 2 cents:

Blodeuedd said...

....a bit loss for words here. And we all know he would have sent it via express

Do not give up, but perhaps no more un polished fan fic for you

Lynette said...

The reason the author stated for not sending an express is because Mrs. Bennet might have read it. WTF. All the express would've said was that the older Mr. Darcy had died, so what if she read it.

The book was a series of stupid WTF to justify a weak plot.

Also, I apologize for the formatting. Blogger is acting stupid on me. I can't go back in and change the formatting or even preview the post after I write them. Very annoying.

Blodeuedd said...

Ok that is just stupid! They were friends, so why would it had mattered if his wife read it. Ok I just can't think of any reason that excuse would have worked.

Also, I would have been sure that when he met later I would have asked why the hell he did not write, and he would have asked the same and the whole mess would be over. Damn what a weak plot

Yeah, buu on formatting

Jade said...

Wow. I'm sorry the book didn't do it for you but I have to say I got a good laugh reading your review. I'm not a huge fan of self published books just becasue the majority seem to start alright and them turn to garbage. Like this one. As for good books, too many to name. But my all time favorite romance is Only Hers by Francis Ray. I'm also partial to Jude Deveraux's historical romance novels. With The Duchess, Knight in Shining Armor, and The Summerhouse being among my favorites. I hope you break your slump soon!

Jade said...

Oh and I meant to mention that bloggers I know who use blogger often have formatting issues. But by using windows live writer, which works with a myriad of platforms, the formatting and posting problem could be eliminated. I'm going to be trying it out soon myself.

Lynette said...

Okay, I've spent two days trying to reply to comments here. I apologize. I'm reading to gank Blogger.

Jade, I'll have to try Windows Live. I've read one of Francis Ray Grayson Friends novels and the heroine annoyed me after the first couple pages that I couldn't read another line. Heroine kept kid away from hero for some lame reason because he was a race car driver or something. So he was okay to fuck and get engaged with but not tell him you had his kid. Then she had the nerve to get an attitude because he found out and wanted to be in his kid's life. I was like WTF.

I read my first Jude Deveraux when I was 11 and read all the Montgomery/Taggert novels. Though I haven't read her in awhile, I did read Summerhouse and enjoyed it a lot.

@Bloudedd
I'm seriously getting turned off by the P&P adaptations, but I've been reading them steadily pretty much all year, so I might just need a break, especially after this on. While I can excuse a lot because these are fans not writers writer, the not asking why the other hadn't written cinched the deal for me and I couldn't read another page.

Jade said...

@ Lynette, that's one of her later novels. I was also annoyed by that one and also thought her reason for keeping the kid away was lame. But Only Hers is one of her earlier novels and by far her best (to me). But there has been a change in her writing as of late. But her first I'd say about 10-15 books are pretty good.

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