This, of course, is the third volume of Aidan’s Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman, concluding the trio of An Assembly Such As This and Duty and Desire. As such, it’s the volume in which Mr. Darcy concludes that he simply must marry Miss Elizabeth Bennett, is soundly refused, takes a good look at himself, and changes his tune, finally succeeding in his goal. (It was ever thus.) It does a remarkably good job of showing the influences and causes that lead Darcy to so thoroughly change his manner; and does so in a delightfully believable way.

The good folks at Simon & Schuster were kind off to send me a review copy just in time for Christmas, and I read it through, not quite in one sitting, during the long, lazy Saturday of December 23rd. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

In short, if my reviews of the earlier books in the series at all piqued your curiosity, wait no longer….the sequence starts adequately, becomes quite good some way into the first volume, and continues to charm from there to the end. Enjoy.