Longbourn's Lark: A Pride and Prejudice Variation

A Convenient Marriage #1

by Meg Osborne

Longbourn’s resident songbird finds her happily ever after, and determines to help her sister, Elizabeth, find hers.

Mary Bennet is used to being the overlooked Bennet sister, but when Colonel Fitzwilliam accidentally enters her life, everything changes.

As cousin to Mr Darcy, Colonel Fitzwilliam knows what it’s like to feel invisible. His experiences at war have left him with one goal in to marry, set up home and live in peace. When he witnesses the interaction between his cousin and Mary’s sister, Elizabeth, he is determined his own happiness will not be the only end in mind. However, with Mrs Bennet focused only on securing Longbourn by matching one of her daughters with the odious Mr Collins, will there be any chance of marrying for love, for anybody?

Longbourn’s Lark is book one of A Convenient Marriage, a Pride and Prejudice variation novella series.

Genres: Romance, Historical, Novella, Regency

170 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 1, 2023

About the author

Meg Osborne is an avid reader, tea drinker and unrepentant history nerd. She writes sweet historical romance stories and Jane Austen fanfiction, and can usually be found knitting, dreaming up new stories, or on twitter @megoswrites

Reviews

[Elin Eriksen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mary Bennet's story

A sweet romance between the shy Mary and the charming Colonel Fitzwilliam.
This was the first part of a serie, entering at Meryton where the Colonel was added to the Netherfield party.
No other romantic interest came to a conclusion but headway was made by both Jane & Bingley and Darcy & Elizabeth.
It didn't grab me as I like my books to do so I will not read the next instalment.

Worthwhile

Rated: Chaste

[wosedwew · Rating 3 out of 5]

An OK start -- but nothing spectacular.

This is another that will be released in 3 parts -- the first part dealing mainly with Mary and the Colonel. I really dislike the trend to sell a book 3 times (even though I am reading online). Authors should disclose the ultimate purchase price before beginning a series. Cost does make a difference to some of us.

I'm going to reserve judgment on this until I have finished the series.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this Pride & Prejudice variation, when Colonel Fitzwilliam gets lost on his way to Netherfield, he arrives at Longbourn, to ask directions. He is invited to tea by Mr. Bennet and Mary. Into the mix we have Mr. Collins. Is there a happy ending for any of the visitors to Hertfordshire. The first of six novellas.
Felt a need to read a sweet romance between my favourite JAFF couple - the Colonel and Mary Bennet - so I re-read this novella and as I still enjoyed the story it gets 5 stars. Another re-read, again.

[Teresita · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely plot

But what a cliff at the end of this book! I sincerely hope there is a follow up to this story

[Heidi Doyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ive always felt a little sorry for Mary Bennett, the middle child who isn’t as pretty, or witty, or spirited as her sisters, but in this variation, we get a chance to see Mary shine! In addition, Colonel Fitzwilliam was someone who you couldn’t help liking and to have him as the romantic lead is just delightful. I look forward to reading the next book in the variation series and see what happens to the Bennett sisters.

[Katja · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Colonel meets shy, awkward Mary Bennet and manages to draw her out. He is starting to weary of the army life and she is struggling with her feelings of unease in social situations.
We also get glimpses of what Darcy and Elizabeth are thinking but there is no resolution for them for a book or two.
I enjoyed this story, the characterizations and the dialogue, although I find serial novels somewhat annoying for the plot threads they leave hanging for the next book.

[Chelsea · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this story so far and how all the characters were written. Mary and Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam's story was so well done in this book and I enjoyed seeing how the other couples interacted as well. I look forward to seeing what happens next in the next book in the series.

[Jacquelin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is part of a 7 book series called A Convenient Marriage. They’re all decent reads and all of them are short (not short stories but about 150). And each one takes on a couple and their road to the altar. Unfortunately, in all these books you have to endure the typos and grammatical errors that accompany poor sub-editing. I don’t know if Meg Osborne is self-published, but I would hazard a guess that she is because of the types of errors and typos in her books. If an author has a publisher there will be an editor and a sub-editor. A sub-editor is the primary person responsible for fixing any grammatical errors, misspelled words, etc. and often items will change whole sentences in order make them more accurate or readable. When an author publishes their own books (as most do these days because eBooks are significantly easier to publish than hard copy books) they can choose to either be their own sub-editor or they can choose to use a program that searches the text for errors. When a book is littered with errors, making it very hard to read, its clear that they sub-edited the book themselves (if at all). When a book has some errors here and there but not too many, it’s most likely because the author used a program. I believe that’s the case in this series. The errors are distracting but thankfully there aren’t many. Errors like spelling de Bourg 3 different ways in the span of one book. Or, a sentence that’s meant to read “…it was distracting enough to see it all unfold” but instead, the program corrects it to read “…it was distracted enough to see it all unfold”. Annoying. But readable.

This is a sweet, short book with the kinds of changes that I like in P&P variations. Well, not all the variations were good. Mrs Bennet is, if you can believe it, even worse than in the original. She's shrill, unbelievably rude and so completely clueless as to how lacking she is in social manners. I really liked that Mary was portrayed as shy and unappreciated by her whole family yet she is a masterful musician. A fact Colonel Fitzwilliam immediately notices. Elizabeth also comes to the realization that she hasn't seen Mary for her true self and determines to change that. It's odd that in only 3 weeks the Colonel falls head-over-heels for Mary and proposes. I never understood why books like this have to rush things. But there it is. At the end they haven't married yet but are getting ready to leave for Hunsford to visit Lady Catherine and possibly be married from there; Mr Bennet has conceded to let Collins marry Elizabeth (which is very bizarre and not believable in the slightest) so Elizabeth is to accompany Mary, though she got her father to agree that it is up to Lizzy whether or not to accept him; and Darcy is pressed by Fitzwilliam to go with them. Though Darcy is already having strong feelings about Elizabeth so it's no hard ship to accompany them. The second book, Three Weeks in Kent, takes off from there. All in all I really liked this book. The writing style, grammar and verbiage is superb. Too many books don't honor the correct speaking style they had back then. I don't mean to say it has to be exactly like they spoke, but if you find yourself reading a great deal of "don't" instead of "do not" after you've read a period novel, then the author didn't do their job. Meg Osborne did a great job here. I would have given it 5 stars were it not for Mr and Mrs Bennet being disappointing characters. Maybe the next book will fix that.

[Maria Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

This Austen fanfiction was a fun read. It isn't often I see one that focuses on Mary and I loved the way this Mary was portrayed. She underwent a big transformation from canon right at the beginning but it was believable. Once she got out of her pious mode she was really likable and it didn't feel out of character. I loved her new found relationship with Lizzy and Jane. And the Colonel. I wouldn't always think of those two as compatible but it totally worked.

It was fun to have three romances going on. However, the one thing I didn't like about this book is that it is a cliffhanger and I hate cliffhangers. I prefer storylines to resolve by the end of the book. Forcing me to have to buy the next one to finish the story makes me not want to buy the next one cuz I'm too irritated. Other than that, I was quite entertained.

No sex, language or violence

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too many points of view

I didn't realize when I picked this up that this was just a portion of an overarching plotline that goes over a few books. I thought it would be more focused on Mary and Colonel Fitzwilliam, who deserves an HEA. I had always thought Mary should have married Mr. Collins since they were more alike to me.

But I liked that we get a different version of how the beloved classic could have gone and she even made Mary quite proficient at music. There just wasn't enough Mary and the Colonel interactions for me. They are both soooo sweet to each other that I wanted more, but the book is taken up by too many POV's they get drowned out. Sometimes you can't really tell whose point the chapter is focused on because its not labelled; you just have to muddle through and figure it out on your own. Overall it was a sweet romance.

[Elizabeth S · Rating 3 out of 5]

Colonel Fitzwilliam courts Mary, who has some musical talent in this variation. He has left the military and has begun to think of marriage and a home. Mary is quite shy, having been bullied by her sisters, including Elizabeth, all her life. The Elizabeth in this book is quite unpleasant. She pinches Jane more than once for saying something she didn't like and jams a hairpin into Mary's scalp. She also says things to Darcy that are totally out-of-character, invasive and impertinent questions.

This is not a standalone. It's part of a series, and requires the purchase of further books to complete the story.

[Lesley Barklay]

This was a sweet story of Mary's romance with Colonel Fitzwilliam, but while it resolves that story with a proposal, it ends on a cliffhanger. Mrs (and to a lesser extent) Mr Bennet expect Lizzy to travel to Kent and marry Mr Collins. This story was enjoyable enough, and very low angst.

Since book 2 is priced at $6.30 for the Kindle version (and is only a novella), and I understand it also ends on a cliffhanger, setting up a third couple (Anne de Bourgh?), I'm not planning to continue the series.

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story sticks to the major points of the original story but adds the focus of her sister Mary and his cousin Colonel Fitzwilliam. How they play into this story while keeping with most of the actual story line is very creative and ends with a hea

[Kimbelle Pease · Rating 4 out of 5]

Go Mary! I love it when she gets chosen first, and the twists the staple couple must overcome are the angst many want!

[Jo Richner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like this version where Mary and the Col. are the first to marry and the six-books together equal about two books. I like that they are quick reads.

[Lynda · Rating 5 out of 5]

First in a 3 book series. Loved the 1st one.

[Charlene S. Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vignette delightful

Short of a story, just a glimpse of what might have been..
I can't wait to read the next one!

[E · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a very enjoyable read. I really liked the portrayal of Mary Bennet. I would highly recommend this book.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this P&P variation, when Colonel Fitzwilliam gets lost on his way to Netherfield, he arrives at Longbourn, to ask directions. He is invited to tea by Mr. Bennet and Mary. Into the mix we have Mr. Collins. Is there a happy ending for any of the visitors to Hertfordshire.
I admit my favourite JAFF story is the Colonel and Mary together, and I really liked the Mary of this variation.
This novella is only the first of six books in the series.
This is a another re-read and again it was a delightful read

[Patty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it! A variation that watched this classic story unfold mostly from Mary and Richards’ point of view was enlightening. It was nice to see a bit more about Mary and the “possibilities” in store for her.

[Liz H · Rating 3 out of 5]

First reading 2022, 2nd reading 3/16/2025