Willoughby's Return: A Review

Willoughby's Return: A Tale of Almost Irresistible Temptation by Jane Odiwe
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I was intrigued by this book and while I am a strong Brandon fan, I was interested to see how the author brought back the selfish Willoughby.

Needless to say I wasn't too impressed. For one the author took far too long to get to the point. In a way that is fine for it shows the relationship of Brandon and Marianne better, but if you advertise it to be about Willoughby trying desperately to win Marianne back then the story should, I don't know, be about Marianne and Willoughby a bit more than a party here and a meeting there. It took 3/4 of the book for the author to bring about anything of interest. While I liked seeing Marianne grow up a bit, she wasn't the main character I was absolutely annoyed with.

I don't know what possessed this author to turn Margret into a cookie cutter of her older sister, Marianne, but she did! Margret was one of my favorite supporting characters because she was adventerous and bold. She never understood social niceities and was always honest. Now Margret has grown up and she basically admits she wants a romance with a man like Willoughby. Partly I am to blame for my dislike since I envisioned Margret with a Captain or another adventurer. I had always thought she would be anxious to get out and see the world not caring if it was by marriage or her own way, she would seek out her own adventure out of life. It wouldn't bother me quite so much if the author had stuck true the Margret I knew from the book. Instead this author basically turns her into Marianne and in love with Willoughby 2.0. And what made me crazy was that the guy that I would have thought to be perfect for her freedom loving ways, she dismissed as nothing but a brother like male. Ugh!

If you're going to write Jane Austin Fiction then at least have the respect to not reinvent the characters, but try to stick true to their original backgrounds. Don't like it then write your own blasted story and leave Miss Austin's characters alone!

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