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Fiction. Romance. Historical Fiction. HTML:A Tale of Two Gentlemen's Marriages to Two Most Devoted Sisters Three days before their double wedding, Charles Bingley is desperate to have a word with his dear friend Fitzwilliam Darcy, seeking advice of a most delicate nature. Bingley is shocked when Darcy gives him a copy of an ancient, illustrated book of sensual secrets-but it does tell him everything he needs to know. Eventually, of course, Jane finds this remarkable volume and in utmost secrecy shows it to her dear sister Elizabeth, who goes searching for a copy in the Pemberley library... By turns hilarious and sweet, The Darcys & the Bingleys follows the two couples and the cast of characters surrounding them. Miss Caroline Bingley, it turns out, has such good reasons for being the way she is that the reader can't help but hold her in charity. Delightfully, she makes a most eligible match, and in spite of Darcy's abhorrence of being asked for advice, he and Bingley have a most enduring and adventure-prone friendship.… (more)
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Yes.
The Darcys & The Bingleys, upon first inspection, is the sequel that all Austen
While it's far from being the worst thing I've read this year, I really can't recommend it to fans of Austen.
Three days before their double wedding, Charles Bingley is desperate to have a word with his dear friend Fitzwilliam Darcy, seeking advice of a most delicate nature. Bingley is shocked when Darcy gives him a copy of The Kama Sutra-but it does tell him everything he needs to
What a fun book this was to read! Just that little excerpt gives you an idea about what the book is about but it also about so much more. The reader is drawn into the upcoming marriages and then the married life of both couples. I was enchanted with this book as I got to see how the relationships between Charles and Jane and Darcy and Elizabeth grow and mature. One thing that I liked about this book was their was so humor thrown into the story and I couldn't help but laugh at a few parts. Elizabeth had a dry sense of humor that I could relate to and I really liked her as a character. The book also encompassed Charles' sister Caroline and her possible marriage prospects. I honestly wasn't sure if I would like this book and was pleasantly suprised when it turned out to be a great read.
Now that I've written the basic review and my thoughts I have something to share: I've never read Pride and Prejudice. Aack! When I requested to review this book...well...I wasn't so sure about it for this reason, and now that I think about I'm not sure what I was thinking. But I had read a really good review on another book blog and it made me want to give it a try. Boy, I'm so glad I did. It has inspired me to read the original Pride and Prejudice just to see how this whole story started. I've been wanting to read Jane Austen (yes, I haven't read anything by her) for some time and this may be the key to me picking up this book. Who would of thought? Anyways, I really ended up enjoying the book and am glad that I gave it a chance!
The story begins not long before the wedding and then moves along quickly as we see both Elizabeth and Jane settling in with their respective spouses. The reader will also get glimpses into what happens with other characters such as Caroline, Mr. Bingley’s sister, Colonel Fitzwilliam as well as a few other characters. My favorite parts involve the on-going joke between Darcy and Bingley over a certain “educational” book that Darcy gives Bingley as a wedding gift. If you are a fan of Pride and Prejudice I think you will find this to be a satisfying sequel and Marsha Altman will soon be having a second book coming out next month in the series.
Aside from the wit and humor, you also see inside of both their marriages and again, it's a different face to the characters you're used to reading in Pride and Prejudice. It's amazing to see both Jane and Elizabeth take charge in their marriages and manage to get their own way when it comes to decisions. I liked seeing Darcy having to give in to Elizabeth's demands although it may seem very uncharacteristic at first as whoever thought Elizabeth could just order Darcy around and have him coiled around her little finger? (I actually never pictured their marriage to be this way but it's not that bad to read). You don't hear much from Lydia or Wickham in this book. Also Mary and Kitty have their own appearances but small ones.
You also get to see a different side from Caroline Bingley (she's still catty, but she's actually got a heart) and that, I think got a little too strange and a little too different. The outcome of Caroline in the novel, is nice but I couldn't really get used to it. Perhaps because with previous Jane Austen spinoffs, Caroline Bingley was always catty, mean, and always had a snide comment here and there as a means of insulting someone "politely". It's just hard to picture her being nice and loving (yes..she was loving believe it or not). It's a different side to Caroline, yes. I suppose it's the author's way of showing that Caroline can be human too.
Aside from that, the other problem I had with this book was there were times where present day English would accidentally appear throughout the dialogue. It does take the realism out of the story just a little bit. The characters and their new different "face" might take a while to get some die hard Austen fans to get used to (perhaps they might cry out sacrilege) but the storyline is wonderful, the humor is great, and I'm really looking forward to more from Marsha Altman's works.
Overall a hilarious read with plenty of fun adventures. It makes you wonder what's going to happen next with the Darcys and the Bingleys. I recommend this book to those in love with Jane Austen spinoffs.
I liked the idea of continuing the stories of the Bennet sisters and the writing was good. However, it
I liked the idea of continuing the stories of the Bennet sisters and the writing was good. However, it