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Mr. Collins in Love
The year is 1811 and the new rector of Hunsford, Mr. William Collins, must be above reproach. He must be respectable, pious, good at losing at quadrille, and disapproving of popular novels. Above all, he must obey his terrifying patroness, Lady Catherine de Bourgh.
When William's boyhood friend Jem arrives, looking for safe harbor from the press-gangs, William's "perfect clergyman" disguise begins to slip. A farm laborer's son, Jem is gentle and loyal, and being with him is all William wants. Soon, Jem and William renew their youthful intimacies—until Lady Catherine's demands come between them.
Can William find a way to navigate the Regency marriage market without losing his beloved Jem?
When William's boyhood friend Jem arrives, looking for safe harbor from the press-gangs, William's "perfect clergyman" disguise begins to slip. A farm laborer's son, Jem is gentle and loyal, and being with him is all William wants. Soon, Jem and William renew their youthful intimacies—until Lady Catherine's demands come between them.
Can William find a way to navigate the Regency marriage market without losing his beloved Jem?
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First published August 1, 2025
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About the author
Lee Welch
7 books382 followersLee Welch lives in a house on a hill in the windiest city in the world – Wellington, New Zealand. She shares the house with her partner, two kids and two cats. Hedgehogs visit occasionally, which makes her happy.
Lee wrote her first novel (an unpublished pastiche of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe) when she was seven and has been writing on-and-off ever since.
She studied ancient history at Auckland University and creative writing at Birkbeck, University of London.
To pay the bills, she works as an editor and business communications adviser for a large government department. By night, she writes escapist fantasies, mostly m/m romances, usually with magic in them. She likes crumbling mansions, cavernous libraries, mysterious curses and handsome magicians.
When she’s not writing, she reads, especially fantasy, history, romance, biography, folklore, comics, and children’s books. Her favourite authors include Ursula Le Guin, Peter Ackroyd and KJ Charles.
Lee wrote her first novel (an unpublished pastiche of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe) when she was seven and has been writing on-and-off ever since.
She studied ancient history at Auckland University and creative writing at Birkbeck, University of London.
To pay the bills, she works as an editor and business communications adviser for a large government department. By night, she writes escapist fantasies, mostly m/m romances, usually with magic in them. She likes crumbling mansions, cavernous libraries, mysterious curses and handsome magicians.
When she’s not writing, she reads, especially fantasy, history, romance, biography, folklore, comics, and children’s books. Her favourite authors include Ursula Le Guin, Peter Ackroyd and KJ Charles.
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June 24, 2025I don't like Jane Austen. I realise this is not a popular literary opinion but here we are. I also don't generally like Jane Austen retellings because with a couple of honourable exceptions (eg What Will People Think? and Ayesha at Last) I rarely see the point.
This one, however, works like an absolute charm.
It takes Mr Collins, the ghastly clergyman cousin who proposes to Lizzie and marries her friend Charlotte. Mr. Collins is one of the more mean-spirited characters in what I maintain is a thoroughly mean-spirited book. (Feel free to disagree with me in your own head, rather than the comments.) This version takes a far more generous view--not changing the events of the book, but presenting Mr. Collins as painfully repressed, awkward, seriously neurodivergent (I would say autistic), horrendously socially inept and entirely failing to understand subtext, but fundamentally a good-hearted man doing his best in a world he doesn't understand very well, and who responds wonderfully to tolerance and kindness. His romance with his old childhood friend turned gardener is terrifically depicted, with little being stated aloud but everything there, and we really root for this poor man to win the safe, comfortable home and love he deserves.
Wisely, we aren't shown any of the Bennets except the horrible father. Charlotte Lucas is depicted with respect and kindness for making a brave and intelligent decision for herself.
A deeply kind retelling. I loved the warmth, the wisdom, and the way it offers a realistic but profound happy-ever-after to people who rarely get such a thing in romance.
I had an ARC from the author.
This one, however, works like an absolute charm.
It takes Mr Collins, the ghastly clergyman cousin who proposes to Lizzie and marries her friend Charlotte. Mr. Collins is one of the more mean-spirited characters in what I maintain is a thoroughly mean-spirited book. (Feel free to disagree with me in your own head, rather than the comments.) This version takes a far more generous view--not changing the events of the book, but presenting Mr. Collins as painfully repressed, awkward, seriously neurodivergent (I would say autistic), horrendously socially inept and entirely failing to understand subtext, but fundamentally a good-hearted man doing his best in a world he doesn't understand very well, and who responds wonderfully to tolerance and kindness. His romance with his old childhood friend turned gardener is terrifically depicted, with little being stated aloud but everything there, and we really root for this poor man to win the safe, comfortable home and love he deserves.
Wisely, we aren't shown any of the Bennets except the horrible father. Charlotte Lucas is depicted with respect and kindness for making a brave and intelligent decision for herself.
A deeply kind retelling. I loved the warmth, the wisdom, and the way it offers a realistic but profound happy-ever-after to people who rarely get such a thing in romance.
I had an ARC from the author.
August 5, 2025
What if Mr. Collins was a much more complex person than the stuffy, effusive and ridiculous man Elizabeth Bennett told us he was, in Pride and Prejudice?
What if in reality he was a kind but very insecure man on the autism spectrum, unsure of himself but loyal to his patroness Lady Catherine (and deeply afraid of her) ?
A man who hated small talk, because he didn't understand social rules, who thought he had constantly to put up a front in order to not lose his position and to be respected in his role as rector?
It's astonishing that it took the author only a few pages to make me feel protective of Mr. Collins.
Elisabeth Bennett's Mr. Collins (how she perceived him) and the Mr. Collins in this book are the same person, yet Lee Welch shows us that how Elizabeth saw him was not his whole personality. There is more to him, his character is multi layered, not one dimensional.
I adore the idea behind the book, the execution is flawless, the writing stellar.
Instant all time favourite.
I nearly forgot to mention that this is also available on Smashwords!!
What if in reality he was a kind but very insecure man on the autism spectrum, unsure of himself but loyal to his patroness Lady Catherine (and deeply afraid of her) ?
A man who hated small talk, because he didn't understand social rules, who thought he had constantly to put up a front in order to not lose his position and to be respected in his role as rector?
It's astonishing that it took the author only a few pages to make me feel protective of Mr. Collins.
Elisabeth Bennett's Mr. Collins (how she perceived him) and the Mr. Collins in this book are the same person, yet Lee Welch shows us that how Elizabeth saw him was not his whole personality. There is more to him, his character is multi layered, not one dimensional.
I adore the idea behind the book, the execution is flawless, the writing stellar.
Instant all time favourite.
I nearly forgot to mention that this is also available on Smashwords!!
November 20, 2025
Kudos all the way down for Lee Welch, who in 150 lyrical pages took one of the most mocked characters in modern literature and made him a wholly sympathetic, kind, unforgettable romantic lead.
Reading between the lines, Welch's Mr Collins is on the autism spectrum: his canonical obsession with propriety, rectitude, and the bestowing of lavish praise covers bone-deep insecurity and an inability to interpret social cues and behavior. Mr Collins is, himself, painfully aware of these shortcomings, and has devised multiple coping mechanisms for them; but the narrative is at its most touching when he plumps for honesty and directness rather than what he thinks he's supposed to say. Jem is wholly without artifice, intuitive, observant, grounded, and a perfect match for Mr Collins. Their connection feels utterly genuine and mutually profound, even though it is seen entirely through Mr Collins's confounding perspective. Charlotte is an absolute delight: a perfect mix of delicacy and boldness, forthright and honest, and a far cry from the somewhat pathetic creature we get in the original. One imagines that she and Jem will soon be, if not friends, at least mutually appreciative of each other, and invested in ensuring that all is in harmony.
I loved how we get glimpses, via Jem, of how servants and parishioners -- common folk -- admire Mr Collins for the kindness and consideration he shows, however fumbling he may be. To the gentry and upper classes of P and P, he is a figure of ridicule; to those who he serves, in his modest way, he is someone they can depend on. The scene with Miss Polkington was a master class: tragic, funny, and touching in equal measure.
This is no bodice ripper; mutual masturbation is as steamy as it gets. Also note that, insofar as characters' looks are described, neither is presented as conventionally attractive: Jem is large, shaggy, and has a cleft lip (described in the book by the historical term "harelip"); and I think we all have a facecast for Mr Collins (though here he is only 25, younger than he seems in the BBC or 2005 film versions). I read Mr Collins as ace, and his relationship with Jem is more emotionally than physically intimate -- although their physical intimacy is also very important to both characters. The way Jem and Mr Collins discussed the prospect of a lavender marriage was nuanced and incredibly welcome, in the context of many histrom authors shying away from those kinds of arrangements. Welch is not out to rewrite P and P; there is no canon divergence here. But the whole thing is sensitively and intelligently done, and leaves the reader with the feeling that the best outcome for all characters is achieved.
Lee Welch really did wake up one morning andchoose violence set herself an impossible task, and all I can say is: hats off. An absolute delight, and one I will carry with me on my next re-read of the classic it's based on.
I got an ARC from GRR in exchange for an honest review.
Reading between the lines, Welch's Mr Collins is on the autism spectrum: his canonical obsession with propriety, rectitude, and the bestowing of lavish praise covers bone-deep insecurity and an inability to interpret social cues and behavior. Mr Collins is, himself, painfully aware of these shortcomings, and has devised multiple coping mechanisms for them; but the narrative is at its most touching when he plumps for honesty and directness rather than what he thinks he's supposed to say. Jem is wholly without artifice, intuitive, observant, grounded, and a perfect match for Mr Collins. Their connection feels utterly genuine and mutually profound, even though it is seen entirely through Mr Collins's confounding perspective. Charlotte is an absolute delight: a perfect mix of delicacy and boldness, forthright and honest, and a far cry from the somewhat pathetic creature we get in the original. One imagines that she and Jem will soon be, if not friends, at least mutually appreciative of each other, and invested in ensuring that all is in harmony.
I loved how we get glimpses, via Jem, of how servants and parishioners -- common folk -- admire Mr Collins for the kindness and consideration he shows, however fumbling he may be. To the gentry and upper classes of P and P, he is a figure of ridicule; to those who he serves, in his modest way, he is someone they can depend on. The scene with Miss Polkington was a master class: tragic, funny, and touching in equal measure.
This is no bodice ripper; mutual masturbation is as steamy as it gets. Also note that, insofar as characters' looks are described, neither is presented as conventionally attractive: Jem is large, shaggy, and has a cleft lip (described in the book by the historical term "harelip"); and I think we all have a facecast for Mr Collins (though here he is only 25, younger than he seems in the BBC or 2005 film versions). I read Mr Collins as ace, and his relationship with Jem is more emotionally than physically intimate -- although their physical intimacy is also very important to both characters. The way Jem and Mr Collins discussed the prospect of a lavender marriage was nuanced and incredibly welcome, in the context of many histrom authors shying away from those kinds of arrangements. Welch is not out to rewrite P and P; there is no canon divergence here. But the whole thing is sensitively and intelligently done, and leaves the reader with the feeling that the best outcome for all characters is achieved.
Lee Welch really did wake up one morning and
I got an ARC from GRR in exchange for an honest review.
August 1, 2025
I saw someone else boost this for publication day, and what a good idea. Mr Collins in Love is the most remarkable, unexpected, utterly lovely novella. It won me over instantly to a character I would have thought unredeemable.
And it's available wide, so no need to patronize the evil billionaire.
------
I’ve read "Pride and Prejudice" multiple times, yet I don’t think it’s once occurred to me to wonder why the vicar Mr Collins behaves the way he does — not beyond the surface presentation of a long-winded self-important lickspittle rubbing his sweaty palms together at the prospect of inheriting Longbourn.
Lee Welch, however, has wondered. And so here’s Mr William Collins: He was raised by a tightfisted and unaffectionate father, his mother having died in his early childhood. The comfortable and prosperous parsonage that comes with his living is the warmest home he has ever known. He kowtows to the odious Lady Catherine de Bourgh because she is a bully and he’s at her mercy. He struggles to understand social interactions, so he carries around a little notebook in which he records his observations of human behavior and his ideas for how to please people. He never seems to get it right, a fact of which he’s well aware, though by pretending to be a man named Trafford, whom he watched carefully while at Oxford, he is able to produce the pompous received opinions that help him get by in the world.
He is courteous to his servants and thoughtful of their needs, he pays his bills promptly, he works hard to take care of his parishioners (who could use some extra potatoes?), he’s terrified pretty much all the time, he doesn’t believe in God, and he has had one friend in his entire life: Jem, the son of a laborer on the elder Collins’s farm. He isn’t, at the book’s opening, aware that he’s in love with Jem; he certainly has no idea that Jem is in love with him. And they haven’t seen each other in a decade, because Jem ran off to sea during Mr Collins’s first term at Oxford.
On the very day when Lady Catherine informs her victim that it is high time he marry, Jem reappears, destitute. The agonies Mr Collins suffers as he tries to decide whether anything terrible will happen if he gives Jem shelter and a job might be funny, except that Lee Welch has already established his fear, his loneliness, his joy at seeing Jem, and his all too genuine vulnerability to losing everything good he’s ever had.
This is such a quiet story in many ways: “Master Willie” and Jem re-establish their friendship and, eventually, their sexual relationship (which isn’t like any other sexual relationship I’ve ever seen in a romance novel; it works for these two characters, and I would give a lot to know what inspired Welch to write it as she did); meanwhile, Lady Catherine continues to press Mr Collins to find himself a wife. Lee Welch’s resolution is brilliant: Not only does it give Jem and his Master Willie, his Blackbird, the most space for their love that would be realistically possible for their place, their time, their social condition; it also entirely reimagines the character of Charlotte Lucas, whose decision to marry Mr Collins so appalls Elizabeth Bennet.
Mr. Collins in Love is fanfiction (complimentary!), doing what the very best fanfiction does: taking up threads the original work has dropped or otherwise neglected and making something new and astonishing out of them. Understated, thoughtful, touching, glorious.
Many, many thanks to Gay Romance Reviews and the author for the ARC. The opportunity to read it has been a privilege.
And it's available wide, so no need to patronize the evil billionaire.
------
I’ve read "Pride and Prejudice" multiple times, yet I don’t think it’s once occurred to me to wonder why the vicar Mr Collins behaves the way he does — not beyond the surface presentation of a long-winded self-important lickspittle rubbing his sweaty palms together at the prospect of inheriting Longbourn.
Lee Welch, however, has wondered. And so here’s Mr William Collins: He was raised by a tightfisted and unaffectionate father, his mother having died in his early childhood. The comfortable and prosperous parsonage that comes with his living is the warmest home he has ever known. He kowtows to the odious Lady Catherine de Bourgh because she is a bully and he’s at her mercy. He struggles to understand social interactions, so he carries around a little notebook in which he records his observations of human behavior and his ideas for how to please people. He never seems to get it right, a fact of which he’s well aware, though by pretending to be a man named Trafford, whom he watched carefully while at Oxford, he is able to produce the pompous received opinions that help him get by in the world.
He is courteous to his servants and thoughtful of their needs, he pays his bills promptly, he works hard to take care of his parishioners (who could use some extra potatoes?), he’s terrified pretty much all the time, he doesn’t believe in God, and he has had one friend in his entire life: Jem, the son of a laborer on the elder Collins’s farm. He isn’t, at the book’s opening, aware that he’s in love with Jem; he certainly has no idea that Jem is in love with him. And they haven’t seen each other in a decade, because Jem ran off to sea during Mr Collins’s first term at Oxford.
On the very day when Lady Catherine informs her victim that it is high time he marry, Jem reappears, destitute. The agonies Mr Collins suffers as he tries to decide whether anything terrible will happen if he gives Jem shelter and a job might be funny, except that Lee Welch has already established his fear, his loneliness, his joy at seeing Jem, and his all too genuine vulnerability to losing everything good he’s ever had.
This is such a quiet story in many ways: “Master Willie” and Jem re-establish their friendship and, eventually, their sexual relationship (which isn’t like any other sexual relationship I’ve ever seen in a romance novel; it works for these two characters, and I would give a lot to know what inspired Welch to write it as she did); meanwhile, Lady Catherine continues to press Mr Collins to find himself a wife. Lee Welch’s resolution is brilliant: Not only does it give Jem and his Master Willie, his Blackbird, the most space for their love that would be realistically possible for their place, their time, their social condition; it also entirely reimagines the character of Charlotte Lucas, whose decision to marry Mr Collins so appalls Elizabeth Bennet.
Mr. Collins in Love is fanfiction (complimentary!), doing what the very best fanfiction does: taking up threads the original work has dropped or otherwise neglected and making something new and astonishing out of them. Understated, thoughtful, touching, glorious.
Many, many thanks to Gay Romance Reviews and the author for the ARC. The opportunity to read it has been a privilege.
August 1, 2025
It's going to be fun writing this review!
I saw all the five-star ratings, and I trust those readers, but my brain was incredibly skeptical that in 150 pages anyone could get the weasely, awful, Mr Collins to not only fall in love, but sway me to like him!
I was a bit torn between a 4 and 5 star rating, and then asked myself, well, what else did I need to make it a five-star read? Nothing. I wouldn't add anything, so five stars it is!
Longer RTC - today!
This is an eARC, all my opinions are my own, etc.
I saw all the five-star ratings, and I trust those readers, but my brain was incredibly skeptical that in 150 pages anyone could get the weasely, awful, Mr Collins to not only fall in love, but sway me to like him!
I was a bit torn between a 4 and 5 star rating, and then asked myself, well, what else did I need to make it a five-star read? Nothing. I wouldn't add anything, so five stars it is!
Longer RTC - today!
This is an eARC, all my opinions are my own, etc.
July 20, 2025
While appreciating the talent of Jane Austen, I've never fallen into the love affair with her writing and, having had to study Pride & Prejudice for my O Level English Literature exam, it became a book I was heartly sick of the sight of.
So, it was with great surprise that I found myself utterly in love and enchanted by this retelling from the viewpoint of Mr Collins, the somewhat officious rector who comes to Longbourne to inquire after Elizabeth Bennett's hand in marriage.
Here the same story is told, but in a very different light as Mr Collins, William, is a man who has no real desire for a wife, indeed, he's a man whose only real singular friendship and relationship has been with his childhood friend Jem, the gardener's son.
With period appropriate language and behaviour that so wonderfully fits the character, Lee Welch draws the reader into a really wonderful narrative that shows how deeply Mr Collins tries to be his very best person, while beset by self-doubts and fears.
When Jem returns to his life, he brings back the sunshine, the courage that he can be the young man of Jem's boyhood memories, not afraid to speak his mind, to do what's right for his friends and his household of servants who are more like a second family.
Don't expect explicit sex, you won't get that here, what you will get instead is two men deeply and emotionally committed to each other who explore their feelings and their attraction at a respectable distance while still finding a connection and a release.
It's realistic for the time period, its conclusion feels truly earned and completely believable, it never takes anything away from its source's inspirational material, only adds a second layer of possibility which puts Mr Collins into a new light and explains away his awkwardness.
He's Jem's Blackbird, curious, fearless, bright with the prospect of spring and all the new possibilities to come.
I loved everything about this and only wish it had been longer!
#ARC kindly received from the author, I am voluntarily leaving a review
So, it was with great surprise that I found myself utterly in love and enchanted by this retelling from the viewpoint of Mr Collins, the somewhat officious rector who comes to Longbourne to inquire after Elizabeth Bennett's hand in marriage.
Here the same story is told, but in a very different light as Mr Collins, William, is a man who has no real desire for a wife, indeed, he's a man whose only real singular friendship and relationship has been with his childhood friend Jem, the gardener's son.
With period appropriate language and behaviour that so wonderfully fits the character, Lee Welch draws the reader into a really wonderful narrative that shows how deeply Mr Collins tries to be his very best person, while beset by self-doubts and fears.
When Jem returns to his life, he brings back the sunshine, the courage that he can be the young man of Jem's boyhood memories, not afraid to speak his mind, to do what's right for his friends and his household of servants who are more like a second family.
Don't expect explicit sex, you won't get that here, what you will get instead is two men deeply and emotionally committed to each other who explore their feelings and their attraction at a respectable distance while still finding a connection and a release.
It's realistic for the time period, its conclusion feels truly earned and completely believable, it never takes anything away from its source's inspirational material, only adds a second layer of possibility which puts Mr Collins into a new light and explains away his awkwardness.
He's Jem's Blackbird, curious, fearless, bright with the prospect of spring and all the new possibilities to come.
I loved everything about this and only wish it had been longer!
#ARC kindly received from the author, I am voluntarily leaving a review
August 1, 2025
Boosting this for publication day—it really is terrific.
Highest possible recommendation—it's a DIK. Buy this. Keep this. Re-read this. Frequently.
I stuck my neck out the other day and posted a status to the effect that all Pride and Prejudice variations were rubbish*. Lizzie and Darcy get stuck in a ski-chalet. Lizzie and Darcy but this time she's the same social class, so-yay!—there is no conflict. (Huh?) These aren't variations on P&P: the authors have hi-jacked the branding to write their own fiction, with no understanding of what made the original...well, original.
But in Mr Collins in Love: A Pride and Prejudice inspired m/m romance, Lee Welch has done two quite remarkable things, which raise the book from its marketing as just another "P&P inspired" to an excellent work of fiction in its own right. (I won’t rehash the plot here: it’s almost completely contained in the book’s blurb, and, in any case, the eventual ending is dictated by Austen.)
Firstly (to get over the P&P bit)—is it necessary to have read P&P to appreciate this? Not really, though there can be few who pick this up who aren't aware of the film/TV versions.
Welch takes as her inspiration a minor, one-note character (Mr Collins); according to Austen, he's pompous and self-satisfied. Subsequent renditions have intensified the portrayal: Hugh Thomson's illustrations take their cue from Austen, and exactly 100 years later the BBC version's David Bamber completed digging the character's greasy ingratiating grave.
Welch, in a brilliantly imaginative tour-de-force, has walked round the back of the book's cardboard cut-out of Mr Collins to explore his real shape. She's done it most beautifully: her interpretation of him (of which more below) is totally convincing and it marries perfectly with the lines Austen has given him. It's as if—say—the original P&P jigsaw puzzle showed a caricatured and alien Mr Collins with a green face. Welch retains the green face, but completes the puzzle with additional pieces showing Mr Collins as a man standing in the green shade of a tree, no longer an alien.
So that's all very clever, as is the way that occasional P&P lines are artfully wound into the story. Lady Catherine is urging Mr Collins to marry:
That's down to Welch's kindness and intelligence in rendering the real Mr Collins. William Collins is innocent, observant, trusting, a good rector, and completely unable to comprehend other people's motives or complexities. And also worried, dutiful, unworldly, scared, scarred by his upbringing, an unbeliever in spite of his profession, unaccustomed to happiness:
"When events are unfolding, even events that most would consider joyous, I am usually too concerned with displaying the correct behaviour to take much enjoyment. Only afterwards, when I am alone and safe, can I cherish the memory."
I like how, throughout the book, “country” words are incorporated without explanation—dumbledores, huffkin, pedicular—all clearly part of Mr Collins’ vocabulary; yet even in his thoughts he doesn’t use any contractions at all. It’s an elegant way of pointing out that he is neither one thing nor another, halfway between a country boy and a gentleman rector. Look too at the sentence structure Welch gives Mr Collins. He thinks, for the most part, in complex sentences, with more than one clause—often many clauses—that mirror how he feels his way through the eddies of his worries.
In a lovely passage that's worth quoting at length, Mr Collins ends up—through a completely logical set of decisions—in a faintly ridiculous situation, which illustrates perfectly his lack of confidence, his worries about living up to his position, his kindness and how important Jem is to him.
The ending is enormously satisfying: it’s period appropriate, it’s character appropriate. This is a book to cherish, for its antecedents, for its poetry, and for its reverence for tolerance, kindness and humanity.
* Exceptions to my anti-P&P-variation stance:
What Will People Think?—good review here.
Expectations—my review here.
Gorgeous cover by miblart.com
I received an ARC from the author, for which I am grateful; it has not influenced my review.
Highest possible recommendation—it's a DIK. Buy this. Keep this. Re-read this. Frequently.
I stuck my neck out the other day and posted a status to the effect that all Pride and Prejudice variations were rubbish*. Lizzie and Darcy get stuck in a ski-chalet. Lizzie and Darcy but this time she's the same social class, so-yay!—there is no conflict. (Huh?) These aren't variations on P&P: the authors have hi-jacked the branding to write their own fiction, with no understanding of what made the original...well, original.
But in Mr Collins in Love: A Pride and Prejudice inspired m/m romance, Lee Welch has done two quite remarkable things, which raise the book from its marketing as just another "P&P inspired" to an excellent work of fiction in its own right. (I won’t rehash the plot here: it’s almost completely contained in the book’s blurb, and, in any case, the eventual ending is dictated by Austen.)
Firstly (to get over the P&P bit)—is it necessary to have read P&P to appreciate this? Not really, though there can be few who pick this up who aren't aware of the film/TV versions.
Welch takes as her inspiration a minor, one-note character (Mr Collins); according to Austen, he's pompous and self-satisfied. Subsequent renditions have intensified the portrayal: Hugh Thomson's illustrations take their cue from Austen, and exactly 100 years later the BBC version's David Bamber completed digging the character's greasy ingratiating grave.
Welch, in a brilliantly imaginative tour-de-force, has walked round the back of the book's cardboard cut-out of Mr Collins to explore his real shape. She's done it most beautifully: her interpretation of him (of which more below) is totally convincing and it marries perfectly with the lines Austen has given him. It's as if—say—the original P&P jigsaw puzzle showed a caricatured and alien Mr Collins with a green face. Welch retains the green face, but completes the puzzle with additional pieces showing Mr Collins as a man standing in the green shade of a tree, no longer an alien.
So that's all very clever, as is the way that occasional P&P lines are artfully wound into the story. Lady Catherine is urging Mr Collins to marry:
“You are a single man, are you not? And in possession, now, of a very tolerable living. Not exactly a fortune, perhaps, though it might be called so by some men in your position, Mr Collins, indeed it might. So, now you must be in want of a wife.”But this is not why I'm rating Mr Collins in Love quite so highly and why it will be, without any doubt, one of my top books of 2025.
That's down to Welch's kindness and intelligence in rendering the real Mr Collins. William Collins is innocent, observant, trusting, a good rector, and completely unable to comprehend other people's motives or complexities. And also worried, dutiful, unworldly, scared, scarred by his upbringing, an unbeliever in spite of his profession, unaccustomed to happiness:
"When events are unfolding, even events that most would consider joyous, I am usually too concerned with displaying the correct behaviour to take much enjoyment. Only afterwards, when I am alone and safe, can I cherish the memory."
I like how, throughout the book, “country” words are incorporated without explanation—dumbledores, huffkin, pedicular—all clearly part of Mr Collins’ vocabulary; yet even in his thoughts he doesn’t use any contractions at all. It’s an elegant way of pointing out that he is neither one thing nor another, halfway between a country boy and a gentleman rector. Look too at the sentence structure Welch gives Mr Collins. He thinks, for the most part, in complex sentences, with more than one clause—often many clauses—that mirror how he feels his way through the eddies of his worries.
In a lovely passage that's worth quoting at length, Mr Collins ends up—through a completely logical set of decisions—in a faintly ridiculous situation, which illustrates perfectly his lack of confidence, his worries about living up to his position, his kindness and how important Jem is to him.
His boyhood friend, Jem, is eating in the kitchen, and Mr Collins wants to talk to Jem before he leaves.What adds gravitas to this (faintly comical) side of Mr Collins is how he responds to the visual world around him. He sees and looks for beauty.
I went back to my study and sat at my desk… [But i]f Jem was brought in, he would have to stand and I did not want that expanse of desk between us.
I seated myself in the easy chair by the grate, but it was not the same without a fire, and of course it was too warm to want one. It was a shame Jem could not have arrived in April when I should have had a fire in here, and then it would have seemed most natural and fitting to talk before the fire.
I stood up.
I should stifle in the study. Fitting or not, I must have air.
Once in the garden, though, I realised that since I usually spent Sunday evenings in my study, that was where Mrs Fowke or Milly would look for me. What if they did not think to find me in the garden? What if they let Jem go without his seeing me again? But I had said ‘let’s talk when you have eaten’, which made it plain I expected to speak with Jem again. I was suddenly not sorry for having said it.
I looked at the beans without seeing them.
Perhaps, under the circumstances, it would not be wrong for me to stop by the kitchen door? I could say ‘Come, Jem, let us talk now, then I must get to my study’. Or I could invent a need for tea, or bread and butter, or some other excuse that would give me a reason to stop by the kitchen.
Then I hit upon it. The gate.
There were two front gates to the property: the main—or garden—gate and the stable gate, but both gave directly onto the lane. Jem must pass through one or the other to leave. It was more likely he would leave by the stable gate, because that would be more fitting for a man of his station, and because it lay closer to Hunsford which was likely the direction he would go when he departed.
There was a bench by the stable, and I sat upon it, but the sun dazzled me and sweat pricked out under my arms and down my back. I pulled out my handkerchief and mopped my brow... I could get inside [a] stall and be out of the sun, but then I might miss Jem.
I stood up and spied a long strip of shadow under the hedgerow on the other side of the lane. It would be cooler there. I opened the gate, crossed the lane, and edged into the shade.
The hedgerow was not quite high enough and my head and shoulders were still full in the sun. I could not sit in the dust of the road, but I stepped across the ditch and up onto the verge, which rose a little above the level of the lane at that point. I turned and stood in the long grass. Now I was in the shade of the hedge and, moreover, from my vantage point had an excellent view of the house and both gates. There was even a breeze coming through the hedgerow, pleasantly cool upon my back.
Now I could not miss him.
“A slender pool lay at our feet, four or five yards across at the widest point and perhaps half as deep. A huge old willow grew upstream and in narrowing to flow around this giant, the water had carved out this trough for itself before flowing on. All was in shade but for a dappling of gold and a single ray of sunlight which passed through the willow’s branches and pierced the water like a coppery sword.”
Or “There was a spiderweb, jewelled with dew. There, a hawthorn’s scarlet hips, miraculously missed by squirrels and birds. A russet carpet of leaves lay beneath the trees and everywhere there was a rich scent like Mrs Fowke’s good plum cake. I swung my stick and strode along, spirits rising. I might find some interesting new plant to tell Jem about. Perhaps I could collect an unfamiliar seedpod and we could sow it come spring and find out what it was.”
Or “Every time we reached the pool, I looked for the sticklebacks, and the ferns which grew in the cool place beneath the fallen tree, and for the sword of sunlight piercing the water. Then, once we were in the water, we would lounge at the head of the pool, where, above us, hung always a velvety brown spider in her place in the centre of her web. I do not much care for spiders usually, and had she lived anywhere in the rectory I should have instructed Milly to remove her forthwith. But down by the pool, I liked to see her because she was a part of it all and belonged there. I looked for her as one might look for a friend.”
The ending is enormously satisfying: it’s period appropriate, it’s character appropriate. This is a book to cherish, for its antecedents, for its poetry, and for its reverence for tolerance, kindness and humanity.
* Exceptions to my anti-P&P-variation stance:
What Will People Think?—good review here.
Expectations—my review here.
Gorgeous cover by miblart.com
I received an ARC from the author, for which I am grateful; it has not influenced my review.
September 20, 2025
My review for this is months overdue; I needed a Pride & Prejudice refresher before reading, as (embarrassingly) I'm not much into Austen, and then time got away from me. So it goes!
MR COLLINS IN LOVE is a sweet, introspective character study with beautiful writing and kindness at its heart. Lee Welch decided to take one of the most pathetic and unpopular characters in romance and gently rework him into a leading man worthy of his own happily-ever-after. A heruclean feat.
Welch's Mr Collins is very plainly neurodivergent, desperately clinging to prescribed social mores to cover up his inability to read people or social cues. His thought processes are mortifyingly relatable, and you could do much worse if you're looking for a well-developed, deeply sympathetic autistic MC. He doesn't want a wife but accepts that he needs one, of course pursues the wholly inappropriate Lizzie Bennett, and then completely fails to recognize the overtures of a much more suitable woman. His utter hopelessness in these matters is somehow now endearing rather than detestable. His own queer romance throughout is understated but lovely: childhood friends reunited to heal together from the banal abuse of growing up othered.
I was consistently struck by the prettiness of the prose, the little descriptions and turns of phrase that made up the setting. I wanted to be there, soaking it all in. With its limited cast, it reads like the kind of novella I most like to write, so I am absolutely recommending it to all my readers. It's such a nicely contained story that, although I would very much like to read about how the characters' marriage arrangement unfolds going forward, it feels beyond the scope of what this book set out to do. However, I adore a historical lavender marriage and I'm surely not the only reader who feels this way, so if the author ever feels inclined to write a sequel, I am ready and seated. Bring on the boiled potatoes.
Recommended for readers looking for a soft and slow queer historical romance with a neurodivergent lead and an emphasis on the importance of moving through life in gentleness and kindness.
MR COLLINS IN LOVE is a sweet, introspective character study with beautiful writing and kindness at its heart. Lee Welch decided to take one of the most pathetic and unpopular characters in romance and gently rework him into a leading man worthy of his own happily-ever-after. A heruclean feat.
Welch's Mr Collins is very plainly neurodivergent, desperately clinging to prescribed social mores to cover up his inability to read people or social cues. His thought processes are mortifyingly relatable, and you could do much worse if you're looking for a well-developed, deeply sympathetic autistic MC. He doesn't want a wife but accepts that he needs one, of course pursues the wholly inappropriate Lizzie Bennett, and then completely fails to recognize the overtures of a much more suitable woman. His utter hopelessness in these matters is somehow now endearing rather than detestable. His own queer romance throughout is understated but lovely: childhood friends reunited to heal together from the banal abuse of growing up othered.
I was consistently struck by the prettiness of the prose, the little descriptions and turns of phrase that made up the setting. I wanted to be there, soaking it all in. With its limited cast, it reads like the kind of novella I most like to write, so I am absolutely recommending it to all my readers. It's such a nicely contained story that, although I would very much like to read about how the characters' marriage arrangement unfolds going forward, it feels beyond the scope of what this book set out to do. However, I adore a historical lavender marriage and I'm surely not the only reader who feels this way, so if the author ever feels inclined to write a sequel, I am ready and seated. Bring on the boiled potatoes.
Recommended for readers looking for a soft and slow queer historical romance with a neurodivergent lead and an emphasis on the importance of moving through life in gentleness and kindness.
dropped
September 14, 2025***no rating***
dropped @30%
Sadly, this wasn’t for me. While I was intrigued to see a different side to Mr Collins and him finding love with his childhood friend, this was all too proper for my liking —in writing and storytelling alike. It was still cute and heartwarming, tho.
I guess I hoped for a bit of a cheeky retelling the way I found it in Mrs. Wickham.
dropped @30%
Sadly, this wasn’t for me. While I was intrigued to see a different side to Mr Collins and him finding love with his childhood friend, this was all too proper for my liking —in writing and storytelling alike. It was still cute and heartwarming, tho.
I guess I hoped for a bit of a cheeky retelling the way I found it in Mrs. Wickham.
June 21, 2025
A warm, summery hug of a book, and a very deft and loving reinvention of a character who’s been traditionally ridiculed, both in the source material and every adaptation thereafter. Honestly, if you’d asked me to compile a list of the most promising Pride & Prejudice characters to choose as the protagonist of an m/m romance, Mr Collins would probably not even have made my top five, which somehow made this read even more delightful because it was such a welcome surprise (especially given the overabundance of P&P-inspired works – it’s hard to come up with a truly fresh spin).
The love story is sweet, tender and unassuming, but it’s the characterisation of Mr Collins that is the quiet triumph here – the way the author gets into his head and shows us someone who is terrified of how the world might perceive his differences, and thus spends pretty much every waking hour lying, pretending to be someone else, imitating behaviours that he has painstakingly learned by heart in order to not stick out or offend. His behaviours and coping mechanisms will of course be familiar to anyone who’s familiar with neurodivergencies and masking, but it’s wholly rooted in Regency attitudes and the absence of any kind of awareness or language about it.
Both plot and style are Austen-compliant but handled with a light touch; it reads very natural, and Mr Collins’ voice is somehow both completely familiar and entirely sympathetic. (There were a few little things that made me wince, like how he'd persistently refer to women as "females" - I know that's a modern sensibility, it's straight from the source and it works for the character but could've done without that one, tbh.)
It’s not an externally high-stakes book, and much of the conflict is internal. There are no steamy sex scenes - - but the emotional intimacy and deep sense of connection are beautiful.
I also loved the vibrancy of the descriptions, the way the natural world is integrated in the narrative – both William and Jem love gardening and their affinity for all things growing is palpable, with a wealth of scents and sounds and lush visuals; it’s winter here right now and this little book had me missing summer fiercely.
It’s a quiet, gentle, deeply caring sort of book, and I say that as someone who loathes the “cosy” book trend. It isn’t cosy, it’s kind, and it shines with the author’s love for a neglected side character whom I’ll never view in quite the same light again. Brava.
Disclaimer: I had an ARC from the author. This review contains my unbiased opinions.
The love story is sweet, tender and unassuming, but it’s the characterisation of Mr Collins that is the quiet triumph here – the way the author gets into his head and shows us someone who is terrified of how the world might perceive his differences, and thus spends pretty much every waking hour lying, pretending to be someone else, imitating behaviours that he has painstakingly learned by heart in order to not stick out or offend. His behaviours and coping mechanisms will of course be familiar to anyone who’s familiar with neurodivergencies and masking, but it’s wholly rooted in Regency attitudes and the absence of any kind of awareness or language about it.
Both plot and style are Austen-compliant but handled with a light touch; it reads very natural, and Mr Collins’ voice is somehow both completely familiar and entirely sympathetic. (There were a few little things that made me wince, like how he'd persistently refer to women as "females" - I know that's a modern sensibility, it's straight from the source and it works for the character but could've done without that one, tbh.)
It’s not an externally high-stakes book, and much of the conflict is internal. There are no steamy sex scenes - - but the emotional intimacy and deep sense of connection are beautiful.
I also loved the vibrancy of the descriptions, the way the natural world is integrated in the narrative – both William and Jem love gardening and their affinity for all things growing is palpable, with a wealth of scents and sounds and lush visuals; it’s winter here right now and this little book had me missing summer fiercely.
It’s a quiet, gentle, deeply caring sort of book, and I say that as someone who loathes the “cosy” book trend. It isn’t cosy, it’s kind, and it shines with the author’s love for a neglected side character whom I’ll never view in quite the same light again. Brava.
Disclaimer: I had an ARC from the author. This review contains my unbiased opinions.
August 3, 2025
Well… I’m gonna say something I rarely say. Something that, when I see other people say it, makes me think they’re delusional fools, but, here we go: This could have been longer.
Like a lot longer.
And I say that having read Pride & Prejudice just before, so the elisions in this book that are filled in by that one are relatively fresh in my mind.
It’s not that I have any complaints about what is on the page here. Autistic Mr. Collins is perfect. But the least autistic thing about the whole book is how understated it is. With more pages, you could iron out the ambiguities, nail down the optimistic outcomes. So many uncertanties. What happens when Jem and Charlotte meet? What does she really know? What about the rest of the household? I feel like certain people know more than Mr. Collins realizes, I just wish more of that was spelled out.
Still, excellent.
Like a lot longer.
And I say that having read Pride & Prejudice just before, so the elisions in this book that are filled in by that one are relatively fresh in my mind.
It’s not that I have any complaints about what is on the page here. Autistic Mr. Collins is perfect. But the least autistic thing about the whole book is how understated it is. With more pages, you could iron out the ambiguities, nail down the optimistic outcomes. So many uncertanties. What happens when Jem and Charlotte meet? What does she really know? What about the rest of the household? I feel like certain people know more than Mr. Collins realizes, I just wish more of that was spelled out.
Still, excellent.
June 23, 2025
Marvellous and simply what I needed right now.
Very few romance writers can pull this off - to take a character so universally despised and ridiculed and write a novella in which you fell in love with him? Wow, just wow.
What I especially enjoyed:
- the novella is character-driven. There is a plot but a very straightforward one and not much tension. The whole novella is here to get you to know and understand Mr Collins. It is therefore slow-paced. I loved that but I know there are plot driven readers who would be driven nuts by the tempo.
- the kidndness and deep understanding for the character. I noticed already in Salt Magic, Skin Magic, that Lee builds the characters with compassion and empathy and understanding for their motivations. It is so much more obvious here. Mr Collins's world view is brimming with kindness even though he is constantly afraid of saying and doing the wrong thing. His neurodivergent logic is at odds with others more often than not but I found myself agreeing with him almost every time.
- the bond with Jem - so tender, so deep. Jem is lovely, kind and brave and not afraid to speak up and draw boundaries even in his position of (not total but still) dependency on Mr Collins
- the language??? Oh my god. So accurate for the period and Mr Collins (the entire novella is from his point of view, so we spend a lot of time with his thoughts)
- the beginnings of a new found family - I would love to see that dynamic develop and see how they would navigate it but it's also nice that it is left to our imagination
Also, as an aroace reader, I so identify with
I received an ARC from the author and I'm leaving a voluntary honest review.
Very few romance writers can pull this off - to take a character so universally despised and ridiculed and write a novella in which you fell in love with him? Wow, just wow.
What I especially enjoyed:
- the novella is character-driven. There is a plot but a very straightforward one and not much tension. The whole novella is here to get you to know and understand Mr Collins. It is therefore slow-paced. I loved that but I know there are plot driven readers who would be driven nuts by the tempo.
- the kidndness and deep understanding for the character. I noticed already in Salt Magic, Skin Magic, that Lee builds the characters with compassion and empathy and understanding for their motivations. It is so much more obvious here. Mr Collins's world view is brimming with kindness even though he is constantly afraid of saying and doing the wrong thing. His neurodivergent logic is at odds with others more often than not but I found myself agreeing with him almost every time.
- the bond with Jem - so tender, so deep. Jem is lovely, kind and brave and not afraid to speak up and draw boundaries even in his position of (not total but still) dependency on Mr Collins
- the language??? Oh my god. So accurate for the period and Mr Collins (the entire novella is from his point of view, so we spend a lot of time with his thoughts)
- the beginnings of a new found family - I would love to see that dynamic develop and see how they would navigate it but it's also nice that it is left to our imagination
Also, as an aroace reader, I so identify with
I received an ARC from the author and I'm leaving a voluntary honest review.
June 27, 2025
I really enjoyed this book. Welch has made Mr. Collins so much more palatable by making it clear he is neurodivergent and struggling to maintain his place in the world. I never thought I'd be able to sympathize with him, but I did and found him lovable in how much he cares for everyone around him. I wish we got a bit more of Mr. Collins and Jem, but overall, I REALLY enjoyed this story and even the bit with Charlotte made sense and was handled so well.
June 27, 2025
Aww, I have a new appreciation for Mr Collins after that! After reading and watching the bumbling Mr Collins for years, I can happily believe this was what was really going on behind the scenes. Especially when Charlotte’s only aim was to remove the burden from her parents.
Yeah, I love this idea, to be honest, and the book was so good. It’s realistic, not fantastical in any way. Things that may seem improper for the time are addressed, and it was so nice to see a different side to Mr Collins. I always worry about retellings, but this wasn’t the same because it didn’t rewrite Pride and Prejudice; it just gave us Mr Collins’s POV. He’s still the same awkward person, but we get to see that he is more than that.
I really enjoyed it!
——————————————
I received an ARC of this book from GRR, and this is my honest review.
Yeah, I love this idea, to be honest, and the book was so good. It’s realistic, not fantastical in any way. Things that may seem improper for the time are addressed, and it was so nice to see a different side to Mr Collins. I always worry about retellings, but this wasn’t the same because it didn’t rewrite Pride and Prejudice; it just gave us Mr Collins’s POV. He’s still the same awkward person, but we get to see that he is more than that.
I really enjoyed it!
——————————————
I received an ARC of this book from GRR, and this is my honest review.
August 1, 2025
4.5 Stars
A Pride and Prejudice-inspired novel about… Mr. Collins? Oh yes, and it actually works really well.
In this version, Collins is a gentle, introverted man who doesn’t always fully grasp social interactions. He’s developed an entire repertoire of behaviors to appear as “normal” as possible, but inside he’s often tense and insecure, overthinking everything. He tries to avoid confrontation and conflict whenever he can.
When his patroness, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, suddenly demands that he get married, his world is thrown into turmoil, because Collins is simply not the marrying type.
At the same time, his childhood friend Jem reappears, in need of help, and ends up working as a gardener for him. With Jem come not only old memories, but also new feelings into Collins’ life: tender and even romantic.
The story is quiet, sensitive, and deeply moving. And that’s exactly what I love about it.
Long inner monologues are usually not quite my cup of tea, but Collins is so charming and relatable in his uncertainty and effort to do things right that I genuinely enjoyed being inside his head.
Charlotte Lucas (whom he chooses to marry, just like in the original) was particularly well-written here. She knows what she needs and isn’t afraid to ask for it. The arrangement they eventually come to feels realistic. Both benefit from it, and they even start to develop a real friendship.
I highly recommend this lovingly told, gentle story to anyone in need of something heartwarming.
A Pride and Prejudice-inspired novel about… Mr. Collins? Oh yes, and it actually works really well.
In this version, Collins is a gentle, introverted man who doesn’t always fully grasp social interactions. He’s developed an entire repertoire of behaviors to appear as “normal” as possible, but inside he’s often tense and insecure, overthinking everything. He tries to avoid confrontation and conflict whenever he can.
When his patroness, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, suddenly demands that he get married, his world is thrown into turmoil, because Collins is simply not the marrying type.
At the same time, his childhood friend Jem reappears, in need of help, and ends up working as a gardener for him. With Jem come not only old memories, but also new feelings into Collins’ life: tender and even romantic.
The story is quiet, sensitive, and deeply moving. And that’s exactly what I love about it.
Long inner monologues are usually not quite my cup of tea, but Collins is so charming and relatable in his uncertainty and effort to do things right that I genuinely enjoyed being inside his head.
Charlotte Lucas (whom he chooses to marry, just like in the original) was particularly well-written here. She knows what she needs and isn’t afraid to ask for it. The arrangement they eventually come to feels realistic. Both benefit from it, and they even start to develop a real friendship.
I highly recommend this lovingly told, gentle story to anyone in need of something heartwarming.
Want to read
November 17, 2025Thank you Perky Goodcheer for the gift!
November 14, 2025
Pretty clever trick,
making the most reviled man
someone to root for.
This was truly delightful, with not one but two gigantic (in society's view) loser men falling for each other despite the barriers of class, sodomy laws, and terrible communication skills. Mr Collins' desire to do the right thing and his inability to read social cues or nuances of meaning made him such a likeable character after all. It was obvious how much his parishioners, servants, nearly everyone (aristocrats aside) he met found him overwhelmingly kind and decent. It makes perfect sense that Charlotte would want to marry him--her aggressive courtship is the only kind he'd notice and she is proved right to trust him to deal with her honestly. In the original, of course, we're meant to pity Charlotte, but here she makes a bold and brave choice to trade her life as an overworked spinster for a partnership with a respectable and rising husband. And Jem--not handsome, not a cliched "bit of rough" but a true friend and a pragmatist--was a lovely long term match for Collins despite their unconventional romantic and sexual relationship. They met each others' needs, joyfully.
Terrific, 4.5 stars rounded down.
making the most reviled man
someone to root for.
This was truly delightful, with not one but two gigantic (in society's view) loser men falling for each other despite the barriers of class, sodomy laws, and terrible communication skills. Mr Collins' desire to do the right thing and his inability to read social cues or nuances of meaning made him such a likeable character after all. It was obvious how much his parishioners, servants, nearly everyone (aristocrats aside) he met found him overwhelmingly kind and decent. It makes perfect sense that Charlotte would want to marry him--her aggressive courtship is the only kind he'd notice and she is proved right to trust him to deal with her honestly. In the original, of course, we're meant to pity Charlotte, but here she makes a bold and brave choice to trade her life as an overworked spinster for a partnership with a respectable and rising husband. And Jem--not handsome, not a cliched "bit of rough" but a true friend and a pragmatist--was a lovely long term match for Collins despite their unconventional romantic and sexual relationship. They met each others' needs, joyfully.
Terrific, 4.5 stars rounded down.
August 24, 2025
Honestly never thought I would ever want to hold Mr. Collins to my bosom & protect him from all bad things at all costs, but here we are! He is such a source of satire in Austen, but here he is just a neurodivergent, logical man who just wants to love his precious Jem & have his independence & not be forced to have a wife playing the piano all over the place. I am relieved that Lady Catherine remains the villain she is (otherwise what are we doing here), & the glimpses of Mr. Bennet as the little shit he is are also priceless. Is Charlotte Lucas the real hero of P&P? Bc with every passing year of my spinster life, I respect her orchestrating her independence more & more (bc even though we don’t see it in the original, we all know she did- neither version of Collins is capable of figuring out this solution on his own). What a delightful little gem of a novella.
July 27, 2025
This was wonderful. More of a character study that casts new light on aspects of Mr. Collins personality and reframes his actions in a way that fits within the Pride and Prejudice narrative, but expands our understanding of why he is the way he is. I wasn't expecting to love it this much, nor to tear up as often as I did.
My satisfaction wasn't as much in the romantic aspect, though there is an important relationship with his childhood friend Jem that he is desperate to protect and we want to see preserved. Rather, I enjoyed seeing how someone can be badly misunderstood, especially when they are trying to perform to society's expectations of them, but still find joy and comfort in the world in their own way. It also shows us how fundamentally GOOD Mr. Collins is, despite his convoluted way of communicating and often sycophantic need to please.
The book reminded me of this quote from the 1995 television adaptation: "I don't mean to imply that either his mind or his manners are changed for the better. Rather, my knowing him better improved my opinion of him."
That line was about Darcy, but I think it applies here because we are given so much more background, inner voice, and context that Mr. Collins' actions are cast in a very different light. We can see how some people are put off by him, he admits it himself, but knowing him as we are given the opportunity to here, the reader is disposed to feel more charitably about the man who tries to be proper and charitable to everyone he can, no matter their station in life.
(It feels slightly strange to be invoking the filmed adaptations, but they are so much a part of Austen culture. )
Thanks to GRR for the review copy!
My satisfaction wasn't as much in the romantic aspect, though there is an important relationship with his childhood friend Jem that he is desperate to protect and we want to see preserved. Rather, I enjoyed seeing how someone can be badly misunderstood, especially when they are trying to perform to society's expectations of them, but still find joy and comfort in the world in their own way. It also shows us how fundamentally GOOD Mr. Collins is, despite his convoluted way of communicating and often sycophantic need to please.
The book reminded me of this quote from the 1995 television adaptation: "I don't mean to imply that either his mind or his manners are changed for the better. Rather, my knowing him better improved my opinion of him."
That line was about Darcy, but I think it applies here because we are given so much more background, inner voice, and context that Mr. Collins' actions are cast in a very different light. We can see how some people are put off by him, he admits it himself, but knowing him as we are given the opportunity to here, the reader is disposed to feel more charitably about the man who tries to be proper and charitable to everyone he can, no matter their station in life.
(It feels slightly strange to be invoking the filmed adaptations, but they are so much a part of Austen culture. )
Thanks to GRR for the review copy!
July 29, 2025
This was lovely! It's a very clever and kind take on a very unlikable character. I actually went and re-read a chunk of Pride and Prejudice while reading this and Mr Collins in Love will now forever be my head canon for his backstory. Being in Mr Collins' head felt very real and thus, difficult but also so endearing. His and Jem's relationship is so sweet and wholesome and it had me tearing up at times.
I received a digital Advance Reader Copy from the author in exchange for an honest review.
I received a digital Advance Reader Copy from the author in exchange for an honest review.
Read
August 24, 2025I loved this so much 😍😭
Hats off to the fantastic folks in the salon for reccing this gem
Hats off to the fantastic folks in the salon for reccing this gem
Read
August 1, 2025This is really good. Textured and beautifully written, and absolutely believable in what it makes of Mr Collins. I actually wish it was novel-length rather than novella length - I think there are a couple of hanging plot threads I'd have liked to see more of - but it's perfectly formed as it is.
July 3, 2025
4.5 stars
Mr Collins from Pride and Prejudice isn’t a likely romance protagonist. Ridiculed by the narrative and the readers, Mr Collins is portrayed as an obsequious man who prepares compliments in advance and cares very, very deeply about appearances. Lee Welch took a look at this character and asked, “What if?” What if this behaviour was the result of someone neurodivergent, likely autistic, trying to make sense of a world he didn’t quite fit in?
This novella is fanfiction in the best possible way. The most exciting types of fic, for me, are the ones which shed light at the dark corners of canon, or provide new interpretations, or re-invent characters without upsetting the original story in any way. This is what Welch has done here, and it’s masterful. She approaches Mr Collins compassionately and shows a man who is deeply caring, anxious to do best by his people, and terrified of social situations whose conventions he never understood. He is a vulnerable, lonely man who struggles, who constantly overthinks his responses or pretends to be someone else so as not to be ‘different’ because he was bullied for being different. Seeing him find happiness is a true joy, and I was surprised at how much I rooted for his HEA.
The story begins when Mr Collins is tasked by his patroness, the formidable and terrifying Lady Catherine de Bourgh, to find a wife, and, at the same day, an old childhood friend returns to his life. The pace is slow but doesn’t drag; the language is beautiful, with lush descriptions of the countryside and the garden Mr Collins is so proud of; and the romance that unfolds between Mr Collins and Jem is sweet and tender, their connection coming across as genuine and real. The one intimate scene isn’t steamy, but it fits this narrative and this couple. Finally, I loved how pragmatic and brave Charlotte Lucas is here, asking for what she wants.
This is a touching and sweet romance, and like many reviewers said, deeply kind. The new interpretation of Mr Collins is simply astonishing, and I’m so rarely astonished these days. Highly recommended!
Many thanks to the author for providing the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.
Mr Collins from Pride and Prejudice isn’t a likely romance protagonist. Ridiculed by the narrative and the readers, Mr Collins is portrayed as an obsequious man who prepares compliments in advance and cares very, very deeply about appearances. Lee Welch took a look at this character and asked, “What if?” What if this behaviour was the result of someone neurodivergent, likely autistic, trying to make sense of a world he didn’t quite fit in?
This novella is fanfiction in the best possible way. The most exciting types of fic, for me, are the ones which shed light at the dark corners of canon, or provide new interpretations, or re-invent characters without upsetting the original story in any way. This is what Welch has done here, and it’s masterful. She approaches Mr Collins compassionately and shows a man who is deeply caring, anxious to do best by his people, and terrified of social situations whose conventions he never understood. He is a vulnerable, lonely man who struggles, who constantly overthinks his responses or pretends to be someone else so as not to be ‘different’ because he was bullied for being different. Seeing him find happiness is a true joy, and I was surprised at how much I rooted for his HEA.
The story begins when Mr Collins is tasked by his patroness, the formidable and terrifying Lady Catherine de Bourgh, to find a wife, and, at the same day, an old childhood friend returns to his life. The pace is slow but doesn’t drag; the language is beautiful, with lush descriptions of the countryside and the garden Mr Collins is so proud of; and the romance that unfolds between Mr Collins and Jem is sweet and tender, their connection coming across as genuine and real. The one intimate scene isn’t steamy, but it fits this narrative and this couple. Finally, I loved how pragmatic and brave Charlotte Lucas is here, asking for what she wants.
This is a touching and sweet romance, and like many reviewers said, deeply kind. The new interpretation of Mr Collins is simply astonishing, and I’m so rarely astonished these days. Highly recommended!
Many thanks to the author for providing the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.
September 7, 2025
I didn’t expect to love this book as much as I did. Amazing character work, beautiful descriptions, and making me love a character I thought was just ridiculous. I love the deep empathy for him, a much better backstory that felt so authentic to his canon, and a beautiful happy ending for someone who really deserved it. One of my big surprises this year. Loved it!
August 31, 2025
This novella resists every single one of my favourite romance beats, and centres on one of the most unromantic secondary characters in literature. And yet, it stole my heart right out from under my nose. Just lovely.
September 4, 2025
I really can’t say anything better than @Kathleen: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I’m ready to declare Lee Welch my newest autoread obsession. I’ve been really impressed with all her writing, even with some recognizable flaws they have been imaginative, well crafted, emotionally resonant, engaging and also really different from each other in a way not many authors can pull off! She also really packs a punch with the shorter works- sure I’d love more of those characters but there’s nothing lacking or unfinished or flabby about them.
The ability to so comprehensively change minds & hearts about one of literature’s most uninspiring suitors - take all my money
I’m ready to declare Lee Welch my newest autoread obsession. I’ve been really impressed with all her writing, even with some recognizable flaws they have been imaginative, well crafted, emotionally resonant, engaging and also really different from each other in a way not many authors can pull off! She also really packs a punch with the shorter works- sure I’d love more of those characters but there’s nothing lacking or unfinished or flabby about them.
The ability to so comprehensively change minds & hearts about one of literature’s most uninspiring suitors - take all my money
November 28, 2025
lovely
September 21, 2025
Mr. Collins is the comically 'creepy' and self-important clergyman in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. To those around him, he's a source of amusement, a pompous bore, and looked down upon. However, in Lee Welch's story, we definitely get to see him differently. He really does come across as someone who is neurodivergent. He is meticulous about following rules and routines and obviously feels uncomfortable with others. The author has portrayed him brilliantly, with a great deal of empathy. I never thought, as a Jane Austen fan, that I would end up liking Mr Collins a great deal! He knows he has to get married (Lady Catherine decreed it to be so!), but he loves his life as it is, doesn't want it to be disturbed, and he just wants his Jem....who he obviously loves very much. The bond between the two men is palpable. This is not a romance full of grand passion or overt sex, but it's obvious that he cares for Jem very much. Understanding him through this lens allows for a more sympathetic and perhaps more accurate appreciation of a character often dismissed as a fool. To some, the ending will very likely be unsatisfactory (no sex, no ending up living together), but for the time, it is perfect. I really enjoyed this, such an original and cleverly written read.
July 30, 2025
4.5 stars
oh this was just lovely. This is exactly what o want from a historical romance. Lovely subtle subtext, immersive world building, rules and rituals of bucolic England society and sweet swooning over Fantastic characters.
Jem and Master Willie were just so sweet. Mr Collins was so kind, so generous, seeing the world through such a literal lens and So very riddled with insecurities. I can relate to the over thinking, the doomsday scenarios, the need to fit in to not rock the boat. But still he goes out of his way for his household and this constituency. It’s quite touching.
Jen’s life has been extraordinarily hard and even though we don’t really see chapters from his point of view he is a vocal expressive character and you don’t feel like you’re missing anything in their interactions. I’m so glad he found Mr Collins.
If you like a sweet low spice swoony historical romance with just the best people I would highly recommend this book.
Quotes:
We were safe. We were together. For once, we had triumphed over the world.
“I want you with me.”
“I learned the opposite. I learned I like no one so well as I like you.”
“I’ll always be yours. Always.” “Aye, I see that now. In it together, ain’t we? Forever.” He wiped his eye with his knuckle and sniffed. “Luckiest day of my life, I reckon, the day I met you behind those raspberry canes.” “The luckiest of mine, too,” I said.
oh this was just lovely. This is exactly what o want from a historical romance. Lovely subtle subtext, immersive world building, rules and rituals of bucolic England society and sweet swooning over Fantastic characters.
Jem and Master Willie were just so sweet. Mr Collins was so kind, so generous, seeing the world through such a literal lens and So very riddled with insecurities. I can relate to the over thinking, the doomsday scenarios, the need to fit in to not rock the boat. But still he goes out of his way for his household and this constituency. It’s quite touching.
Jen’s life has been extraordinarily hard and even though we don’t really see chapters from his point of view he is a vocal expressive character and you don’t feel like you’re missing anything in their interactions. I’m so glad he found Mr Collins.
If you like a sweet low spice swoony historical romance with just the best people I would highly recommend this book.
Quotes:
We were safe. We were together. For once, we had triumphed over the world.
“I want you with me.”
“I learned the opposite. I learned I like no one so well as I like you.”
“I’ll always be yours. Always.” “Aye, I see that now. In it together, ain’t we? Forever.” He wiped his eye with his knuckle and sniffed. “Luckiest day of my life, I reckon, the day I met you behind those raspberry canes.” “The luckiest of mine, too,” I said.
August 6, 2025
I really liked this closer look to Pride & Prejudice that took Mr Collins in focus. A gentle book, with great care to detail of the descriptions of Mr. Collins home and the nature of his beloved garden.
Though Mr. William Collins has his life well organised and safe, his dealings with people are difficult for him to master, being neurodivergent.
His attitude of being self-satisfied and pompous put up as a way for him to interact safely with people, especially socially. The only person he really connects, he can be his natural self is his childhood friend Jem, who comes into his life again, asking for work.
The pace of the story is slow but holds the tension really well on different matters until the very end and kept me always engaged, how the story would proceed. The expectations of Lady Catherine, the history of Williams and Jems friendship. If there was against all odds a chance to continue it. The descriptions of Mr. Collins anxiety and his efforts to deal with the tasks outside of the routine felt very real.
It was beautiful to see how William and Jem can interact more naturally away from social formality. The romance between them was also handled well and with care, not in your face steamy, but intense and fitting the characters and period.
At the end of the story I was happy that Mr. Collins dared to communicate his situation with Miss Lucas truthfully, who very practically had approached him, obviously seeing a chance for a happy life for herself. I almost see a happy living community coming along.
I really love this book and will surely come back to check out more by this author.
A very hopeful story, kind and with some wisdom throughout. That even in difficult circumstances in life, and even if you might not feel very good equipped to cope with it, that there is still a good chance to achieve happiness and that forthright, honest communication often is one key to it. *Happy sigh* Highly recommended!
Many thanks to the author for providing the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.
Though Mr. William Collins has his life well organised and safe, his dealings with people are difficult for him to master, being neurodivergent.
His attitude of being self-satisfied and pompous put up as a way for him to interact safely with people, especially socially. The only person he really connects, he can be his natural self is his childhood friend Jem, who comes into his life again, asking for work.
The pace of the story is slow but holds the tension really well on different matters until the very end and kept me always engaged, how the story would proceed. The expectations of Lady Catherine, the history of Williams and Jems friendship. If there was against all odds a chance to continue it. The descriptions of Mr. Collins anxiety and his efforts to deal with the tasks outside of the routine felt very real.
It was beautiful to see how William and Jem can interact more naturally away from social formality. The romance between them was also handled well and with care, not in your face steamy, but intense and fitting the characters and period.
At the end of the story I was happy that Mr. Collins dared to communicate his situation with Miss Lucas truthfully, who very practically had approached him, obviously seeing a chance for a happy life for herself. I almost see a happy living community coming along.
I really love this book and will surely come back to check out more by this author.
A very hopeful story, kind and with some wisdom throughout. That even in difficult circumstances in life, and even if you might not feel very good equipped to cope with it, that there is still a good chance to achieve happiness and that forthright, honest communication often is one key to it. *Happy sigh* Highly recommended!
Many thanks to the author for providing the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.
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