Shadows in a Brilliant Life is a short story in which Captain Frederick Wentworth is not an honorable man, but a man looking to gratify his own selfish desires. when Anne Elliot sees that Louisa Musgrove is the object of Wentworth's lust, she must try to stop him. with Louisa out of danger, is Anne his new target?
Review:
At the beginning of her novel, Susan Kaye explains the
prompt for this book: She partook in a writing challenge where authors were to
take a hero and turn him into a villain. Interesting.
One must truly know Captain Wentworth well—his past, his pain,
his fears—and examine other ways in which he may have reacted to Anne’s abandonment.
How would Captain Wentworth deal? Would one be bitter and hard-hearted toward love
in any form?
When pretty, vivacious Louisa Musgrove offers a pleasant
diversion in a secluded cottage, our ignoble, heartbroken hero takes Louisa up
on her entertaining offer. However, there is only one thing stopping Captain
Wentworth: Anne Elliot.
Totally taken aback by Wentworth’s rakish behavior, Anne
confronts the man who still holds her heart, though she no longer recognizes
that man. Wentworth agrees to leave Louisa at home on one condition: Anne goes
to the cottage in her place. What will Anne do? Can she convince this
once-gentleman-now-turned-libertine to change his dastardly ways?
Some may not like seeing Captain Wentworth in such a
negative light. And I agree; I probably would not either had the author not
forewarned the reader about the prompt for the piece. Yet, at the same time, an
argument is taking place in my head. After having one’s romantic hopes totally
dashed and disregarded, is it probable that Wentworth could act the rake? I say,
yes. It is possible that Captain Wentworth would handle his heartbreak the
way so many others do: at the bottom of a bottle and with a string of
meaningless swives. Why not? His pain is deep, and hope is lost…almost.
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First let me say that I love that you used the word swives. hehe.
ReplyDeleteOk now the more mature me will say "Great review, Jakki!" This is on my kindle but I haven't read it yet. Guys have a different way of handling heartbreak than we do (especially in that era - we ladies can have all the rebound swives we like now) so it isn't impossible he'd be like that. Like you said, at least it did come with a warning and had a h.e.a.. :)
So glad you approve of my word usage, Monica! I aim to please! (is what the old Wentworth said I'm sure) ;)
ReplyDeleteI had it on my Kindle for the longest time, and it was after reading Anna's review at Diary of an Eccentric that made me want to read it soon. The nice thing is, it is such short piece I read it while soaking in the bath one night.
Yes, I think that would have been quite cruel of Kaye not to give our couple a HEA.
Hope you enjoy it. Let me know what you think!
Let me garantee you all that I learned a hard lesson with Love Suffers Long and is Kind that not warning readers about gret sea change could prove fatal. In LSL, Wentworth marries Louisa and Anne goes on to marry James Benwick. Someday in the future, Laura Hile and I will get them back together, but we don't have the time right now. As for Shadows, that Wentworth was dark, and not pleasant. But he flowed from my pen like at no other time.I have decided that says a lot about Wentworth as a character and his broad personality palette, and me for taking nice guys and making them very very bad.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the review, Jakki. I hope reading my Bad Frederick didn't spoil my reputation.
Wow, sorry about the misspellings. It's quick-on-the-draw Tuesday around here.
DeleteNot at all, Susan. I enjoyed it. Thank you. One of these days, I will find time to read LSL. I enjoyed your writing in Shadows and Laura's in her Mercy's Embrace series.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by! :)
Hey Jakki! Haha! I love this review! Swives - that's great!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this story too! I've read it a couple of times! I like a dark story every once in a while.
It would be great for a darker short read every now and then. Thanks for the thought, Candy!
DeleteEven though Persuasion is probably my favourite Austen novel, it is NOT because of Anne's character at the beginning. She is underage and so must follow what her family wants -- then. However, she will soon be of age. She COULD have given Wentworth some verbal hope that she would be able to make her own decisions when she reached 21 years of age. She didn't have to be such a total limp dust rag. Sometimes I can just scream when people cut their noses off in plain stupidity. However, this is one variation I just cannot see. The characters of all the actors must be so totally reworked as to make it almost totally unrecognizable. It's too bad that it's only a short story, because nothing this extensive can be done in that format - even a novella would be too short.
ReplyDeleteLOL! I like that you equate Anne to a "limp dust rag." That seems so true at that point in the story. :) Thanks for sharing, Julia!
DeleteI have this on my kindle but I was a bit hesitant to read it, so I'm interested to read this. Glad to hear there is some redemption.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I was on the fence about this one too, Ceri. I think this premise is so different that it ranges in degrees of like/dislike for each reader. Will be looking forward to your thoughts once you read it.
DeleteLovely review, Jakki! I like the creativity of taking a character and pointing him in a unique but plausible direction. I can see Wentworth becoming a little harder after his rejection from Anne and the Elliots. Thank you for sharing your thoughts!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Meredith! I know we have talked about Persuasion variations and the need for more! This one isn't too bad. Maybe Kaye will publish it in paperback for you! ;)
DeleteGreat review I have been holding back until I get a chance to read Persuasion again I like to have the original fresh in my mind!
ReplyDeleteOh, I think that's a great way to do it, Tam. I am curious to know if having Persuasion fresh in one's mind would make them like Shadows more or less. Let me know your thoughts once you do read it. I'd love to hear them! :)
DeleteI thought this one was very creative, and I agree it would've made for a great longer piece, now that I think about it. At first, I was glad it was short because I didn't like that Wentworth, but because it's a short story, he's rakish and in your face right away. With a longer piece, one could be eased into it and see how it could make sense. Great review!
ReplyDelete