Book Girl of Mur-y-Castell: Renewed Hope

Sometimes love needs a second chance. Told against the backdrop of Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy's timeless love story, Renewed Hope continues the story of Sufficient Encouragement through the eyes of three couples experiencing love for the second time.

James Fitzwilliam may be the Viscount Arlington, but ten years ago he walked away from money and prestige to marry a servant girl against his family's wishes. Unexpectedly, she died, and he has spent the time since trying to forget his loss. At last determining to marry with no hope of love, he settles on his cousin Anne de Bourgh - the very lady he cast aside years earlier.

Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam is a celebrated war hero and has loved only one woman. Her plot to use him to entrap his brother, the heir of a wealthy and powerful earl, crushed him in ways even battle could not. Years have passed, but the wounds remain. He knows better than to trust a lady again but is defenseless against the captivating Lady Belinda Crenshaw. Instead of proving faithless, she proves constant to the naval captain she loved who died at sea mere months ago. As Richard attempts to convince Lady Belinda to love again, his plans for retirement disappear.

Caroline Bingley has not always been mercenary and title grasping. Once upon a time, she was a naïve girl who fancied herself in love with a shopkeeper's son with poor prospects due to the colour of his skin. When war broke out with France, he chose to prove his patriotism just as Caroline recognized her family would grieve over the match. Breaking the engagement nearly destroyed them both. Meeting Jacob Truman again could be the answer to all their dreams or their worst nightmares.

My thoughts:

That blurb really told everything that happens...then again, I already knew what would happen. And not because this was a variation, but because these things happened already in book 1. Just in the background because that was Lizzy's and the others story. While here the background people come into light and share their POVS.

Here Colonel Fitzwilliam gets his chance to find true love. Their story was nice, even if Belinda was all no, no love for me! Because she had loved and lost.

His brother Viscount Arlington does his duty to the family. But that story does not really get a conclusion here, and I think Anne really well step up in the next book.

And then there is Caroline, arghh, I hate when I like her. I want to despise her, but here, oh she is tired of it all and she wants to change. And I like her. Poor Caroline. She needs love too, she just have to stop caring about money and power first. Good for her to go for love.

Book 1 and book 2 is sort of the same then. Just from different POVS. We get to see Darcy in the background while he hunts for Lizzy. But it is not his story, it is the other's. Though it did bother me that we sill got no real endings here. There will be more. I would have liked an ending since I already read their story two times.

Side characters needs love too.!