This was an unexpectedly delightful romance between Charlotte Lucas and Mary Bennet that was just begging to be written! It's a lovely read, with excellent characterization (I particularly loved Charlotte's growth throughout), and the romance was very sweet. Honestly, it just made sense, so I'm going to adopt this as my personal P&P canon now. Justice for Charlotte and Mary!

So thankful that I got to read an arc of this. I love revisiting the world that Austen created through other people’s interpretations.

Saying I enjoyed this was an understatement. This book made my heart soar and I appreciated the expansion of both Mary and Charlotte’s voices in this book. Their chemistry was simultaneously electric and sweet. It was chaste yet incredibly sexy. This was the epitome of sapphic yearning with the happiest of endings.

I highly recommend this one!

When Mr. Collins dies after just four years of marriage, Charlotte is lost. While not exactly heartbroken, she will soon have to quit the parsonage that has become her home. In desperate need of support, she writes to her best friend, Lizzie. Unable to leave Pemberly, Lizzie sends her sister, Mary Bennet, in her stead.

To Charlotte’s surprise, Mary Bennet is nothing like she remembers. Mary’s discovery of academia and her interest in botany (as well as getting out from under her mother’s thumb) have caused her to flourish. Before long, Charlotte is enraptured—with Mary, and with the possibilities that lie beyond their societal confines. With each stolen glance and whispered secret, their friendship quickly blossoms into something achingly real.

If you can forgive some of the time-period lacks of understanding and dialog, this book is adorable. I loved Charlotte and Mary and their awakening to each other. I really enjoyed the large cast of characters. (I hope we see a few of them in later books!) There was a little bit of repetition with some of the ideas, but overall, this book was a solid read for me! 4⭐

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced digital reader's copy (ARC) in exchange for an honest review!

A nice, "Austen-adjacent" type of Sapphic romance. Not really a "re-telling" as such, but more of a reimagining sort of a "what if" based on Lizzie Bennet's sister Mary, a scientist now, from "Pride and Prejudice" in a romantic relationship with Charlotte Lucas, now a widow. I enjoyed it a lot but it helps that I am very well-versed in the source material, not sure how it would work for any unfamiliar with the original story and characters. Many thanks to the publisher and Net Galley for my advanced readers copy - a pleasure to review it!

This is a very charming story about Charlotte Collins, a widow, and Mary Bennet. They become very close after Charlotte's husband dies. Very slow burn. I think to enjoy this story the best, you should have a very good understanding of Pride and Prejudice. It helps for context. I was also happy how the author arranged the couple to have a HEA. .
Thank you to netgalley for the ARC. Opinions are my own.

“I will lay bouquets at your feet so that they will never touch common ground again.”

I am a Jane Austin girlie. And a “Charlotte Lucas is ace or a lesbian” truther! So the moment I saw this title on NetGalley, I knew I had to request it.

References to the meaning of flowers is so beautiful throughout the story, down to Mary smelling of violets - a well-known sapphic symbol.

I thoroughly enjoyed this story of self-discovery. Who knew Mary Bennet could be so desirable and confident? (And trusting of a pianoforte’s sturdiness!)

I will always love queer period romances. They remind us that the 2SLGBTQIA+ community has always been here if you know where to look.

Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC of this book! As a long time Pride and Prejudice lover I loved reading a new perspective on Mary and Charlotte. I absolutely loved their dynamic, shared passion for science, and love for flowers. A very adorable addition to Pride and Prejudice spin-off works!

A tender and spicy Pride & Prejudice inspired sapphic romance that will have you demanding the next season of Bridgerton be queer.

While Elizabeth Bennet & Mr. Darcy are living their happily ever after, Elizabeth's best friend Charlotte isn't faring so well. Charlotte's loveless marriage ends when her husband dies after only four years, leaving Charlotte feeling unmoored. Elizabeth can't leave her children, so she sends her sister Mary Bennet to comfort Charlotte.

This book is so well written. I love that our main characters are fully defined humans even within the confines society has locked them into. The conversations between Charlotte and Mary are so genuine I could actually imagine sitting beside them on a bench in an English garden.

The themes of this book are so tender and beautiful as we follow Charlotte navigating the complications of being a widow in regency England. She is immediately at risk of losing her home, her station and her sense of self.

I have over 50 highlights because the writing is so compelling. The spice is used to tell the story and growth of our two main characters together.

Read this if you want
🌹 FF historical romance
🌹 Queer-awakening
🌹 One bed
🌹 "Teach me"
🌹 Fancy balls
🌹 Beautiful dresses
🌹 The meaning of flowers

Thank you to Harlequin and NetGalley for the ARC.

This book is best read while gathering flowers for your beloved. Remember, the perfect bouquet cannot be rushed.

If flowers could sing, which would make the prettiest music?

2.5 stars

dnf @ 86%/Ch 28



I am extremely sad that I did not like this one. :(( It started off splendidly, with a narrative tone that felt comfortably between Jane Austen's and a contemporary one -- this worked really well, allowing the reader to feel just adjacent to the source material without the style feeling artificial. We're held at a distance from the characters, but that still works for the first half -- it reminds the reader of Austen's style, and the tension between the main characters moves the narrative along, even if it's slow-paced.

But once we get into the 2nd half (and Charlotte and Mary have gotten together), it stops working. The delicious tension from the first half completely evaporates and leaves us hanging. Once they get together, it seems like a happy ending is inevitable and neither character has to actually work for it. The tension and chemistry is completely gone; even the sex scenes are completely lacking emotion. It was such a bizarre shift, I have no clue what happened; I went from really loving the story to not caring at all. I tried to chug along for another ~25% or so, but I couldn't find myself to care about anything that was happening. Everything was won with no consequential conflict.

Also, tbh, I wish we had gotten a chance to actually know the side characters who worked on Mary's staff. Maybe I'm just more interested in the history of queer working class people, but it seemed like a wasted opportunity. We glean that Pitt's husband died at sea, and we find out that the one transfem character was sexually harassed by her female employer (which tbh felt extremely weird to me, but whatever), but that's it.

My hope is that the author is allowed to do a ton of edits to the final ~40% or so before this book is sent to press -- there is a TON of potential, but as this ARC stands, the second half falls extremely flat.

I think this book is worth a try if you enjoy modern books that effectively mirror the writing styles of the early 1800s, as well as if you're a fan of Pride & Prejudice. (I am specifically thinking of my P&P fanfic girlies, this one is for you.) I definitely am looking forward to more from this author in the future!

I just finished reading this after receiving a copy from Netgalley and I am very pleasantly surprised. I'm a big fan of the writing in Jane Eyre and all other regency romances must stack up to it, and I'm glad to say that this one does. It reads easily while sticking to the era. The romance was natural and easy to root for. There were some modern ideals that I'm not sure matched the time but the way they were written seemed to fit in very naturally. I enjoyed both main characters and their relationship as it progressed throughout the story. If you love regency, sapphic, friends to lovers, and a broad cast of characters then you'll love this!

And just to circle back around, I did not realize that this was a spin on characters from Pride and Prejudice as I haven't read it. As a lover of Charlotte Brontë I have yet to venture into the works of Austen. Maybe it's time after having enjoyed this story so much.

I enjoyed this a lot! I love a good Pride & Prejudice remix or continuation with queer characters, so this book spoke to me immediately. I’ve always wondered if Mary’s character was queer, so I’m happy the author decided to tell that story, and I love it being told through Charlotte’s POV post Mr. Collins’ early death.

The themes of this book centres around Charlotte’s very wallflower people pleaser identity, and it’s sometimes frustrating in a very realistic way but very satisfying to read as she works through this, with the assistance of Mary.

I loved the detailed description of flower meanings, and how Charlotte uses them to express herself as she slowly comes out of her shell and realizes her worth. Really lovely to read!

I definitely recommend picking this book up if you are a fan of queer renditions of Jane Austen and regency period history. Definitely enjoyable!

Sweet and unexpected!

I never really pick up Pride and Prejudice "spin-off's" or retellings or the like. There is something very picturesque and idyllic about the original that I could not imagine ever being satisfied with something so closely tied to it.

I'm glad that I did.

Mary and Charlotte are a breath of fresh air. Their romance was funny and delicate and full of yearning, everything that has made Pride and Prejudice so special and time enduring. It's a breath of fresh air, all while taking in beloved, familiar scenery. Everything was fantastic, from the lush prose to the sapphic yearning.

She’s just Mary. Middle Sister. Not the scandalous one, not the flighty one, not the strikingly beautiful one, and not the iconic one.

Through the eyes of Charlotte Lucas, the reader learns more of the piano playing, science minded feminist lady of the ton. Their interaction results from the death of Charlotte’s husband and unfolds slowly with forced proximity at the parsonage, a jaunt to the countryside with an impromptu stay at an inn and eventually, a stay at Mary’s aunt’s home where the occupants lead a life apart from society.

As the title suggests, it’s more Charlotte Lucas’ story more than anything. I like that parts of the original P & P are referenced here, the use of letters at the start of chapters to give voices to characters off page and the use of flowers as a love language. I didn’t like the fact that the buildup to their romance wasn’t so much as a ‘finally’ as much as ‘an ok, now what?’

#TheUnlikelyPursuitofMaryBennet #NetGalley.

This ARC was provided by the publisher, Harlequin Romance, via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a really fun one for people who are obsessed with anything Austen like I am. Faced with unexpected personal tragedy that causes her to reevaluate her life decisions, Charlotte Lucas finds an unexpected companion in Mary Bennet -- a more mature, self-assured, and alluring person than who she remembers from her youth.

I felt that this book did a pretty good job of replicating a good sense of Austen's world, while also adding a different depth through the point of view of new characters. I really thought the the way we saw Charlotte work through her inner emotions was well done.

My one qualm with the book is that there was a storyline that at this point I'm starting to see as a cliche in historical sapphic romance, which is a sexual awakening in which one character is so sheltered she never even knew of same-sex love as a possibility before. It's okay if I see it done once or twice, but I keep seeing it in books with women way more that I see it in books with same-sex male pairings. It's not like that wasn't a historical possibility, but I think there were a lot of different ways historical queer people led their lives and thought about themselves and it can be tiring to read the same sexual awakening story again and again. It understand how it made sense for Charlotte's character, but I did wonder if her sheltered mindset needed to be pushed so far.

3.5 rounded to 4

A love match between Charlotte Lucas Collins and Mary Bennet? Sign. Me. Up!

There was a lot to like here. I really enjoyed the author's take on Charlotte, and also her stately attempt at period language. I enjoyed the very ending, once we got there. I loved the meeting between the two and the gradual development of awareness, though there were some bumps along the way.

First of all, the author's apparent total lack of knowledge about the customs and culture of the ecclesiastical world. Beginnig with the fact that Charlotte, after several years of marriage, would have known exactly what to expect if Mr. Collins were to die suddenly: the position has to be filled, for there must be a clergyman conducting the vital affairs of the church. Charlotte's profound ignorance is that of a contemporary of ours with zero knowledge of that aspect of history, not a woman of the period.

Then, the customs of mourning would be even more rigid for a clergyman's widow, and it would be extremely unlikely that Lady Charlotte de Bourgh would not post back from Timbuktu or even Mars once she heard of Mr. Collins's death, in order to oversee the proper disposition of this living in her gift. Still less would her daughter be introducing Charlotte to eligible men during those early months of morning!

So the reader who knows anything of the period has to dodge around these sizable boulders plonked in the path of the story in order to get to the evolution of the romance. For the most part, it was worth it. This Mary Bennett has utterly nothing to do with the Mary Bennet of Austen's novel, who reads very much like a person on the spectrum, but that aside, Mary is a delightful character in her own right. A self-possessed bluestocking scientist (or as they would have said then, a natural philosopher) who reminded me in fact of what Mary Shelley might have been, if she'd not run off with Shelley and had to compound with constant pregnancy, losing her children, poverty while racking about war-torn Europe, and Shelley's love affairs.

For the most part, I really enjoyed Mary and Charlotte. The best part of the novel was the evolution of their relationship as two intelligent women negotiate the changes in their lives, and explore their evolving identities. There was a small bump toward the end when the author succumbed to the lamentable requisite "Dark Moment" that too many romances these days seem to require, but once we're past that, it's clear sailing to a happy ending.

Leaving me thinking: Charlotte and Mary! Great idea!

When Mr. Collins passes away Charlotte Collins nee Charlotte Lucas is left adrift. Everyone in her life has ideas her parents want her to come home, Anne the heir to Rosings Park wants to help her find a new husband, her best friend Elizabeth wants to come to comfort her but circumstances prevents this and she instead send her sister Mary to help console Charlotte. Mary has found herself and away from her parents in the Bennet household and instead in the home of her aunt has many new friends, new ideas and a new confidence. Charlotte finds that she has new feelings within herself and while she should be in mourning. This is a sweet romance where Charlotte is a woman that has not had the feelings of love within her marriage, she married for her own financial safety but she finds it with another woman in a space where she knows nothing about relationships of this type. This is a story of figuring things out, falling in love and two women finding out how to be in love during this period.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of my ARC in return for my honest review

I was immediately interested in the cover and story of this book. A sapphic, slow burn romance set in the P&P universe? Sign me tf up

The plot: two lesbians pining after each other in the most obvious way ever until one of them dies (jk)

The story follows a recently widowed Charlotte. Elizabeth had plans to visit, but her child fell ill, so she sent Mary in her stead. Gay shit ensues.

Am I wrong to say I’m glad Mr. Collins died? Is that rude? I really liked how the story followed 2 of the lesser known characters from P&P, and I feel that the author really captured their essence. It was wistful, romantic, and a deliciously slow burn. It was mildly spicy

The Unlikely Pursuit of Mary Bennet was everything I wanted in a regency romance. I love that this book picks up four years after Pride and Prejudice. It was so sweet to be able to be swept into a world I already knew and see it expanded so beautifully.

We meet up with Charlotte just after Mr. Collins has died, because Lizzie can't visit her and she sends Mary in her place. With Mary's arrival Charlotte begins to examine long buried thoughts and feelings. Seeing Charlotte come out of her shell and discover her queerness felt like such a real and natural progression. I loved the pinning and desire and this book was everything I wanted and needed.

I absolutely recommend you pick this up if you love romance, regency, and sapphic stories. It left me feeling hopeful and cozy. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book.

4.5 Stars rounded up to 5

Sometimes, this style of romance is just a throwaway with recast/altered characters. The Unlikely Pursuit of Mary Bennet does not follow into that trap. Jane Austen's Mary was, let's face it, weird. McLeod captures that, but also creates a complexity that Austen didn't necessarily have time to grant Mary. Charlotte, likewise, is more than a good friend and a plot device. She has real feeling, real conflict about her emotions and her actions. The romance blossoms naturally, when it's ready, and doesn't pretend that it will be simple for two women to be together in a time when such a thing was incomprehensible to many. I really like this and I hope it secures many readers despite its somewhat generic cover.

Absolutely loved! The writing style was amazing, I don’t think I’ve read anything like it but I will be looking to read similar books. I loved the story and development, it was sweet, heart aching, and kept me glued to each word. Charlotte and Mary were so cute together and as individual characters they were great and also relatable. I enjoyed the discussions it had about class, familial duties, and women’s role in society at the time, I thought it was interesting. Overall, this was a great read and I recommend!!

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for providing the ARC!