ana_reads 's review for:

Unequal Affections: A Pride and Prejudice Retelling by Lara S. Ormiston

2.5

lighthearted slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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I think I might be rating this book a bit harshly for what it is because of my own preconceptions of what I was expecting, so if you are reading this review, please take it with a grain of salt. 

I really liked the premise for this book, but the way it ended up just wasn't to my liking. I found the pace to be too slow. The days were covered in such detail that some people might enjoy, but I found it confusing and it often made me lose track of how much time had passed between the more major interactions/meetings between characters. I didn't really feel any type of tension between the characters and that made the reading process a lot less interesting. It took until about 80% of the novel/last 100 or so pages for any type of real conflict/confrontation to happen

Lizzie directly confronting Darcy about his behaviour towards her friends and family rather than just thinking about how she didn't like it

, which also made the ending feel a bit rushed by comparison while still somehow feeling slow and like there was too much filler. 

I did enjoy a lot of Darcy and Elizabeth's scenes when they were together. They were very romantic and cute at times, but that didn't fully rectify the changes to their characters that felt a little bit lacking to me.

Sometimes how possessively Darcy thought of Elizabeth and how often she stopped herself from speaking her mind or confronting him about an issue she had for the simple sake of not "spoiling the moment" just felt uncomfortable to me.

I understand that retellings, especially ones where major plot points are being rewritten, will have to make changes to the original characters, but the changes in this book felt so much out of character from their origins to me that it did make the whole story a little less enjoyable as I kept finding myself increasingly frustrated by their actions, or more often then not, by their inaction and lack of communication. 

I love Pride and Prejudice so much and while there are some redeemable moments in this retelling, it just didn't find it as enjoyable as I had hoped with such an interesting premise.