The Wager

By: Sue Barr

Narrated by: Bridget Thomas

Never expecting to lose the race to his cousin, Viscount Ashton, Darcy must now accept the terms of their wager.

“Can we negotiate terms?”

"You agreed to dance, at minimum, three sets per evening. You are not required to dance the opening or final sets, but you must dance the supper set and escort your partner into dinner.”

With the end in sight, only three more balls to attend, he travels with his good friend Bingley to Hertfordshire where he meets again Lady Elizabeth Hamilton Bennet, a woman he egregiously insulted six months prior.

“She is tolerable I suppose, if one prefers ordinary garden flowers. However, she is not handsome enough to warrant an introduction.”

Fate truly has not smiled at him lately.

©2024 Sue Barr (P)2024 Sue Barr

Fun story to see Darcy lose a bet

The wager is a horse race between Darcy and his cousin. Darcy being the loser has to dance at 20 balls before the end of the year. No spoilers as you find this out immediately. This is a story of Elizabeth is not being a Bennet and has higher rank and wealth than canon. Mr. Bennet loves Mrs. Bennet, but missed out on marrying her first. She was blissfully married to a young rector and they had three children Jane, Elizabeth and her twin brother. Her husband and his brother died in an accident and Mr Bennet came to support and love her and her children after her mourning was completed. I really did enjoy Mr. Bennet’s love and care for his wife, especially after she had suffered a head injury and she struggled with memory and nerve issues. From their father’s side of the family the children had rank and wealth but it was a secret the community kept. Darcy meets Elizabeth at a ball in London and insults her but she along with her aunt and uncle took him to task. Darcy and his cousin travel with Bingley to Netherfield and keep the secret of the ladies family. Oh the Bingley family continues to stick their feet (not just foot) in their mouth repeatedly except for Mr. Hurst, who knows the truth and is laughing his butt off behind the scenes. Darcy is good at eating, humble pie and making himself agreeable to Elizabeth. Darcy and his cousin make good with Jane and Elizabeth and we get a beautiful happy ending.

Great read

This was a fun read. I highly enjoyed it. Ashton was a new character to me. He was a great chap. The narrator did a great job as well. Great Jaff

Great Dialogue

Interesting take on P&P - Elizabeth and Jane are titled daughters of Mrs Bennet’s first marriage to a younger son. Big difference in Bennet household with loving parents. This author does great dialogue. Much more sophisticated Darcy despite his original insult. The narrator does very well for female characters, but her males have light voices. Still a very enjoyable audio.

Great dialogue.

Sweet not-a-Bennet trope, filled with entertaining dialogue. I especially enjoyed Darcy’s teasing manner, not only with his cousin the viscount, but also with Elizabeth. I really loved the story. The narrator, Bridget Thomas, is new to me. She’s very good, and for the most part I enjoyed her performance very much. If I have a critique, it is that I found her interpretations of some of the characters a little too soft-spoken, especially for primary male characters like Darcy and Mr. Bennet. I prefer a bolder voice for the gentlemen of Pride and Prejudice. Also, there were some incorrect words used—‘amendable’ for ‘amenable’, for example. I would listen to this narrator again.

The Wager

The Wager is much more than an “ordinary garden flower” of a story; it’s as sweet as a fragrant red rose. There is lots to love in the book, including a Mr Bennet who cares deeply for his wife, a Jane with a spine of steel, and a Darcy with his dancing shoes planted firmly in his mouth.
This narrator was new to me, and her male voices seemed a bit soft, but I’ll still be counting the audiobook as a favorite for multiple re-listens. 💜

Winner!

Great story and fantastic narration! I really enjoyed listening to this audiobook. The author did a wonderful job weaving in bits and pieces of the original story into this one with making me roll my eyes, unlike so many other variations of Pride and Prejudice! This is one I’ll listen to again! Two thumbs up!

Loved it

Original story. Great characterization. I loved the clever banter and classy let downs. I laughed out loud. Nicely paced story. It would have been nice to have an epilogue.

Terrific story and excellent narration

Definitely a stretch from cannon, but very enjoyable. Nice short listen. Love the expressive narration.

Narrator ruined a great story

Loved this story line so much, some of it may have been cleaver dialogue, too bad the narrator was SO HORRIBLE that the story was lost in the reading. She seriously sounded like a hissing, sneering snake lady for every character. I'm sorry to be so negative, but there are some cases where it's justified, and even though I bought this on sale, I still wasted good money on this terrible performance! Don't be like me and waste your money on this audiobook, buy it and read it instead because the story is worth it.