Beth > Recent Status Updates

You CANNOT be serious. Why would MARY BENNET, A RATIONAL, REGENCY woman EVER complain about convention and the rules of polite society!?! To even CONSIDER writing to a MAN her romantic feeeelings?! MA'AM. LIVING AT YOUR AUNT'S HOUSE FOR ANY PERIOD OF TIME CAN'T MAGICALLY TURN A MARY BENNET INTO A MARIANNE DASHWOOD!! WHAT IN THE POLLUTED SHADES OF PEMBERLEY IS THIS!?!?

The whiplash this book gives. I was really enjoying it again as a Not Mary Bennet Regency Story, but then "Mary" started being a Royal Idiot and the book is growing tedious again. Also, Caroline Bingley willingly scaling a mountain to chase a libertine rake?? HARDLY. And why is no one debating philosophy through scripture? This was England. 19thC. Everyone knew the moral standard was from Someone above mortal whim.

Wow. We went from a tedious slog to a sudden appearance of every cliché. There are aspects of this I approve as reasonable, but unfortunately, the author has completely obliterated any resemblance to the source material in order to get to this point and it feels like we've gone fully into self-insertion fanfiction dot net mode. The speed at which perfect strangers confide intimate feelings to each other is WILD.

Good grief! This book is too long. Why does the author write as if no people existed in the whole of England besides already described P&P characters? Like Mary has NOOO options besides living forever off the charity of others. Pretty sure the Bingleys and Darcys would have gladly thrown any number of balls to get Mary introduced to eligible young men! Why is she only now remembering her aunt and uncle exist??

This is going to be difficult to review. It's excellently written. Unfortunately, the Mary Bennet presented to us here does not feel like an accurate version of Jane Austen's Mary. It would be an immense challenge to make *that* Mary a relatable and likable character however, so I understand the temptation to make other characters look worse in an attempt to justify her actions and behaviours.

How delicious to be within the pages of a well-written book again.

Yes, I am “reading” this again. Or rather, the lovely Jennifer Ehle is reading it to me via YouTube videos.

This book is already a marvel in that Elizabeth Bennet as a 15 year old is portrayed as such an irresponsible, inconsiderate brat, that she out-does even Kiera Knightley’s uncultured attitude in the 2005 film. I feel so sorry for Mr Darcy who has to put up with this crap human being.

This started with such cringe! The servant was way out of line, Georgiana is once again a caricature of what shyness is, and the Colonel calling her “sweetheart” every other sentence is sickening. But then it got good when Darcy went to pursue Lizzy and there were actual Regency-appropriate discussions and introductions! But it quickly spiralled into YA type physical passion over genteel reason tripe again. Urg.

Once again, I cannot remember which of the badly rated P&P books this is and why I hated it, so I’m refreshing my memory. Is 2 stars too harsh? Not harsh enough?

I’m reading this again because I wasn’t sure if my original critique was too harsh or not. I’m still undecided. It’s certainly amusing! But also aggravating. Hm.