Of Kindness and Kisses is another sweet, clean, low-angst Pride and Prejudice variation of about 67,000 words. While written from a Christian perspective, it contains scenes of non-graphic intimacy between a married couple. Excerpt: Elizabeth Bennet sat at the writing desk in the bedchamber she shared with her sister Jane. It had been some time since she had recorded any thoughts, impressions, or experiences in her journal. She thought back over the weeks since she had returned to Longbourn. She paged through her entries from her time in Kent before flipping forward to find a clean page. What is this? Here is a single sentence fifteen or twenty pages past my last entry. There in a decidedly masculine hand were the words: Elizabeth, when your mother is better, I will be waiting to marry you. Yours always, F. D.
Kindness is free and does not cost anything but gives your heart warmth. This story really touched my heart. The usual plot twists were not awful and didn’t distract from it. A good way to spend the afternoon with Elizabeth and Darcy.
I am not the type of person to eat a bag of chocolates or a whole cake or even a tub of ice cream, which is book felt like. I would have finished it if this was a short story or even a novella but a whole novel was a bit too kuch for me and so I quit. May be I'll read it someday when I'm badly in need of sweets.
Delightful. Very light and low angst, but still quite interesting and intriguing because of the growing attraction between Darcy and Elizabeth, and the rich character development. No violence and almost chaste - kisses and a little fondling is all.
The story begins during Elizabeth's visit to Charlotte Collins at Hunsford parsonage. She is reluctantly strolling with Darcy, whom she doesn't like, when she receives an express from home stating that her mother has had an apoplexy. Darcy offers to convey her home, and begins a campaign to improve Elizabeth's opinion of him by taking on responsibility for seeing to everyone's care and comfort. It turns out that the apoplexy was brought on when Mrs Phillips gave Mrs Bennett the news that she overheard Lydia telling Wickham that he must marry her after she gave him her virtue.
Darcy becomes the family savior when he handles Wickham, having him thrown into debtor's prison, and then Darcy also continues to handle every little problem that arises for the Bennetts. Eventually, Elizabeth is overwhelmed by his kindness, and realizes that he's a pretty special guy.
Since the story begins after all of the drama and acrimony that occurs in the original P&P, the book seemed kind of bland to me. There are the usual villains and annoying characters, but nobody has any impact, they're all dealt with handily. Darcy and Elizabeth reach their understanding quickly, and it's mostly just lovey dovey stuff for the remainder. There are no crises, no mysteries, no uncertainties, in other words it's kind of boring. The romance is nice, but repetitive.
I must give credit to the author for very good writing. However, the book needs better editing. It's just a ho-hum kind of story.
If you are fan of angst and the introspection and improvements of main characters, this isn’t for you. ODC fall in love sooner than canon (well, Lizzy falls sooner) and they do so seemingly without all the misunderstandings and miscommunications. They are faced with external stressors and obstacles that are all handled in a tidy manner.
I enjoyed the first half more than the second. I enjoyed the message of forgiveness that was so important for Lydia & Mrs. Phillips. I enjoyed D&E and their loving relationship.
I wasn’t quite sure what the point of the last half of the book was (with the exception of the epilogue which was nice). It was very much a day in the life of the Darcys. Or 3 months.
A couple of incidents where Elizabeth was treated rudely and ‘handled herself well in putting her detractors in their place’ I found lacking. She wasn’t clever, it didn’t seem like she put anyone anywhere but she was praised for it.
That being said, I still found it entertaining. Despite the illness of Mrs.Bennet and subsequent heavy topics, it was a fairly light hearted book.
Why would any woman back then announce a pregnancy before feeling the quickening? Too much emphasis on marital realtions. How could ODC be married in April and arrive 3 months pregnant at Pemberley when they did not anticipate their vows? My point being the Matlock diner's stated timing of marriage in April and arrival at Pembereley made little sense. Way too much was made of becoming pregnant so quickly, especially when they should have waited for the quickening to say so, and the Bingleys were far too eager to share such news. I was enjoying it the story until then.
This AUTHOR NEVER DISAPPOINTS! I CAN HONESTLY SAY I HAVE NOT READ ONE BOOK FROM THIS AUTHOR I HAVENT ENJOYED! I don’t spoil the books. Read what they write what the books about. To see if it might interest you! Then believe me it’s even better than all that! Especially this author who adds a Christian accent to the books. If that’s not for you then maybe skip the book or maybe don’t skip it and read it and see if you find it as well written and in this world right now as it is we need all the heathy attitude we can get. I just loved this book and the others I read by this author.
This is a lovely, fully immersed variation of JA’s beloved novel. All of the main characters get full voice; Wickham and Lady Catherine get their comeuppance in a way that fully respects the time period in which it is set and they thoroughly deserve. I truly do appreciate Lizzy and Darcy’s story told in a way without the angst of the original novel or violence which permeates a lot of variations. The sweetness of their love develops and sustains, and is a balm to the soul.
This story was enjoyable with no angst for me. I liked the Christian perspective and scripture verses. The plot, though starting at Rosings, is different from canon. My only knock is that it needed a better editor. There were several instances of wrong words and words that had not been deleted. A good effort overall. If you like no/low angst books, you might enjoy this one.
Almost too sweet. Next to no conflict or character arc, and some editing needed to boot. I did enjoy the theme of forgiveness, although I felt it could have been better brought into the story. I was also disappointed that Elizabeth seemed to go from a strong woman, to a withering flower. I think the sentiment was sweet, but uncharacteristic.
I really like this book an easy enjoyable read. No angst, which is sometimes nice. A little predictable but that is ok, you can read this book before bedtime and don’t have to worry about staying up all night to read. I would read it again.
I’m not sure why people are complaining that its preachy. It tells you it’s Christian before you read it. It’s not even that preachy. I just can’t get behind the lukewarm plot and modern lingo
I would have given 5 stars, but the story needs proof reading and correcting. Several times Mr Bennett was referred to as "her" which meant rereading the sentence. That frustrates, but overall a good story. I would have liked to know Carolina's future!