Written by Krista B, March 8, 2005
I waited 2 months for this book to arrive. It wasn't worth it.
1. If I was a publisher, I would have rejected the book.
a)The author uses huge, obscure words. There is one in particular, but I forget it. I consulted 2 dictionaries before I could find a listing for the word.
b)Too many of her emotions end in -ly. It's a lazy means of propping up a weak verb. Mrs. Darcy declared gravely. Sorry, doesn't cut it anymore. Not to mention when that same sentence is used more then one in the same scene!
2. I don't think the author read P&P.
Sure, she consulted Coles Notes and was able to add in a few of the popular quotes that JA penned, but beyond that, none of the characters were captured in that old light. Lydia was well down, although over the top. Considering her several beatings and births, one would expect her to have mellowed, not worsened.
3. We are told, but shown nothing.
Oh, how this irritates me. Don't tell me that Darcy is always affectionate to Lizzie; once only do we see them embrace and it was her going to him. Don't tell me that Lizzy didn't lose her good spirits, when it seems all she does is worry about her kids and be overwhelmed. If anything, I thought she turned into Mrs. Bennett.
4. Come up with something moderately original.
The London crowd did have different morals then country folk. That's been a consistent fact throughout English literature. The gentry in London, and especially the higher ranks, held different morals concerning mistresses, misters, lovers, gambling, and other such affairs. The characters act like it's the first time they've ever heard of a mistress. If they've been spending 25 seasons in London like the author says, then Lizzie and Darcy would be quited bored at the idea of anyone keeping a mistress. Nearly everyone has a mistress or a lover. The perfect world of JA gentry didn't happen in London.
Beyond that, Lizzie's boy taking his cousin as his mistress, and then Jane's boy taking up with her? I was hoping for something a bit more exciting then that.
Overall, it was a light and easy read. It was distracting enough for a couple of evenings, but I'll probably never read the book again.
Yes, I am venting. Mostly because I paid $20 for it and it took 2 months to arrive!!

Written by Kathleen Glancy, March 9, 2005
When I read it (and I quite liked it) there were no words in it that I could not understand. Nor is there anything intrinsically wrong in using long words. Mr Bingley tells us that a certain friend of his admired by most Pemberleans likes to use four-syllabled words.
I am personally acquainted with Diana. She has read P&P countless times, first read it long before P&P 2 ever aired, and is a long-time member of JASNA.
There were, and still are, certainly different standards of morals among groups of people, but in my opinion it is a little sweeping to say all country people were moral - the highest rate of pregnant brides was found in the rural working classes - but all the London Gentry weren't. Most of them weren't, but there were exceptions and I would contend that Mr and Mrs Darcy, however often they visited London, would still have moral standards and would therefore be distressed if their heir behaved immorally, especially if he picked the worst possible girl to do it with. But that is only my opinion.

Written by Linda, March 9, 2005
Not so bad, IMO. I rather enjoyed this book and did not find much that was objectionable.

Written by LynneRobson, March 12, 2005 
I felt that I could not see a son of Mr Darcy being so lax, he would have been brought up with good morals as the Darcy in P&P did not approve of the beliefs of society in his day which would have been different in his son's Victoria was ruling and the ton was not as lax in their sexual ways as they had been when the regent and King George IV was on the throne.
Mistresses were not as popular in Victoria's time ok some men still had a mistress but not as many as in the regency era. Women were treated with more respect in Victoria's rein. For me Elizabeth and Darcy's son and Bingley and Jane's son taking their cousin as a mistress would have been an insult to their up bringing, and I therefore could not see this happening. Darcy would have disinherited his son and so would Bingley in my honest oppinion. To me this story was a carbon copy of MP but written with P&P characters in a different time period.
When I first read this book I was not over thrilled with the way it was written but after reading it a second time I found too many things I just could not see either Bingley or Darcy allowing their sons to do. It is a interesting little read but not one I could recommend to people.