Shades of Grey marries Little Women and moves to Austenland.
Darcy and Elizabeth, Pride and Prejudice’s most chaste lovers, are trying not to have sex. Desire between Regency England’s most famous lovers hides in the glare of sanctimonious prohibitions. But secret passageways and an illicit library urge their intimacy beyond restraint. Betrothed but delaying the wedding, Darcy and Elizabeth learn the language of love while the hypocrisies of repressed sexuality are everywhere apparent.
Shifting between Elizabeth and Darcy's POV, the novel tracks the myriad ways the language of intimacy develops while they resolve conflicts produced by the Austenesque themes of misunderstanding and social constraints. Anne falls in love with an inappropriate suitor; Mr. Collins is in need of a matrimonial education; Bingley’s gorgeous cousin turns all heads but chooses an unexpected love interest. With titillating fun and satiric relief, the fairy-tale romance turns on its heels and the happy ending is assured only if the lovers can stay apart until they are wed.