A Fortuitous Fall

A Pride and Prejudice Variation

By: Laraba Kendig

Narrated by: Lydia Kendig

Darcy and Elizabeth find their lives greatly affected by a changed Mr. Collins when one false step causes startling consequences.

Mr. Collins is knocked unconscious while dancing at Netherfield and requires medical care, which prevents the Bingleys and Mr. Darcy from leaving for London after the ball. The situation grows only more complicated when Mr. Collins wakes up...changed.

With a thoroughly odd Mr. Collins at Netherfield recovering from his injuries and Mr. Wickham lurking in the background, love swirls between Jane and Bingley, and Darcy fights desperately against his attraction for Elizabeth.

©2020 Laraba Kendig (P)2023 Laraba Kendig

Fairly entertaining

The story is interesting, the writing while not superb is still far better then some. The author writes in a way that borders anachronistic but not quite.
The performer mispronounces many words and has a stilted cadence. I think that with practice they would be fine.
I own the paperback as well as the audiobook now and wouldn’t recommend against listening for a pleasant few hours of low angst , light hearted fare.

Unique storyline

I love Laraba Kendig writing. Always a great story with wonderful character development. I enjoy Harry frost and Stevie zimmerman’s reading more.

Forget the narrator, focus on the story

The narrator... oh the narrator... Let's start there: this book is narrated in American English. Therefore the names are pronounced in a way none of us JAFF lovers are accustomed. That being said, even without the accent, various words are mispronounced (e.g. "remonstrated" in chapter 10 and countless others). I've always taken the narrators using British accents for granted. As most variations include a smattering of various French phrases, hearing them here, in such a loud and plain American accent, nearly pains the ears. There was an attempt to give the French pronunciation a try. I believe she tried to say "haut ton" a couple times and failed at each time. That stabbed at my ears. To keep hearing "penchant" pronounced in this manner made my brain spin. Taking a step back, it must be asked: Did the narrator do a better job than I probably would have done? Very likely. I shouldn't be too hard on it. The audio quality itself has almost vacancy echo in terms of the space it was recorded.
Now, for the story, I really liked it! I enjoy versions where Collins isn't a sniveling toad. I've read at least ten of her other books and this one is definitely up there.

Sweet story starring Mr Collins

Let me start by saying that Laraba Kendig is one of my favorite P&P JAFF writers. I have listened to 12 of her titles, and many are among my favorites. My love of Ms Kendigs books began with “Elizabeth Bennet’s Inheritance”. I fell in love with that and therefore put all of her books on my wish list. I ended up purchasing her entire catalog. Yes. She’s that good!

Another favorite is “Peacocks at Pemberley” - just a phenomenal variation.

I highly recommend Ms Kendig’s other books.

Now let’s address “A Fortuitous Fall”, this book. I note it was offered in 2023, and this might be the author’s first published book. (Plot: We learn Mr Collins is a savant and highly intelligent. Mr Darcy takes him under his wing.).

This variation, “A Fortuitous Fall”, likely being the first, is a sweet offering, but doesn’t have the polish in writing and professional editing that the subsequent books show so wonderfully. The narrator does a fine job, as if you’re at a local bookstore in America, and the bookstore owner is reading this to a group of P&P JAFF fans (like us :) And though the narration has some mispronunciation of some counties and character names, that doesn’t detract from the story.

Just approach the book and narration as if someone is reading you the story, and enjoy the sweetness of the plot and a new Mr Collins.

As someone who has listened to Ms Kendigs many other works, I would prioritize the others first. Seriously, her works are definitely worth a listen! Some of my favorite JAFFs are among her works and I highly recommend them.

“A Fortuitous Fall” is a sweet and different take on some of our favorite characters, however I would save “A Fortuitous Fall”, until after I had listened to her others first.

I look forward to more of Ms Kendigs JAFFs and Regency books.

A twist on Rev. Collins

I really enjoyed this remaining of painting Rev. Collins in a different light once his true self emerged. made me fall even harder for Darcy. A thing I never imagined possible.