REVIEWS; Sweet Extras

I have finally gotten my hands on some of Leenie Brown’s Mary Bennet-centric works and am making my way through them slowly. Still unable to get my hands on two, and a few other regionally locked stories. (Amazon, why?) But I am excited, and have already started making my way through these stories.

Title: Midnight with Mary
Author: Leenie Brown
Genre: Adult, regency romance, retelling
Type: E-book
Publisher: Leenie B Books

This is classified as a ‘Sweet Extra’ from Leenie Brown’s collection of novellas that add on to the world of her longer novels. And sweet it is!

The novella is a quick read, easy to breeze through but giving us a good sense of the characters and their wants and their growing relationship. While references are made to the longer story that comes before this, it is not necessary to have read it. You can glean enough about what may have happened to these particular characters to follow along.

I think this is the first time I’ve read a story entirely in Colonel Fitzwilliam’s point of view (including fanfiction). We do not know much about him from the original Pride & Prejudice novel except that he is not as handsome as Darcy and that he is quite good-humoured. This novella gives him some depth, as a Colonel during the time of war would be a lot more grounded. As for Mary, she is good-natured and the pedantic Mary of the original novel was a mask that was uncovered in the Sweet Possibilities novel before this. Mary turning to scripture and sermons as a means of keeping people at a distance is a trope that I am very fond of, so that was a nice touch.

The quickly forming friendship between these two characters felt real, a feat for such a short story. They have conversations and find common ground, and there are no unnecessary dramatics, merely a simple growing of feelings that Fitzwilliam finds inconvenient if only because he is a soldier and there is a war he can be called back to.

Definitely glad I finally got my hands on this!

Title: Pretending to Love Mary
Author: Leenie Brown
Genre: Adult, regency romance, retelling
Type: E-book
Publisher: Leenie B Books

Another Sweet Extra connected to a longer story. There are more references to the longer story here than the previous one, but you can still follow along without having read it.

The premise is simple and involves one of my favourite tropes. Fake relationships are always fun, especially when there are real feelings involved. It is just an entertaining time, and this one is just the right length to build it up, to build up a rapport between the Colonel and Mary that tells us that there is some mutual pining going on.

Some story beats that had me smiling: The Colonel not realising his feelings are deeper than mere friendship except that questions about them irk him? Check. Being needled about the fact that said questions irk him? Check. Realising very quickly that oh no, Bingley is right about his feelings? Check. All done in a light-hearted and fun manner.

This is a quick read with minimal angst, just enough to really get a sense of how the Colonel feels about Mary and the possibility that he might lose her before she even knows that his feelings are genuine. Some drama involving Miss Bingley in the background, and I am a little bummed we do not see her reaction to the Colonel and Mary walking back into the ball together, but it is all wrapped up nicely anyway with the suggestion that there is potential for growth on her part.

Title: Arguing with Mary
Author: Leenie Brown
Genre: Adult, regency romance, retelling
Type: E-book
Publisher: Leenie B Books

Yet another Sweet Extra! I absolutely love how short and easy to digest these are, with lots of fluff and quiet banter. Again, I did not read the Sweet Possibilities story this was connected to, but it was easy enough to follow along.

I enjoyed Mary’s stubborn nature probably more than the Colonel did. While the arguing between the characters could have been more intense, for a short novella such as this, it was perfect to remain within the fun and flirty tone that these stories seem to have.

One of my favourite things of the stories so far has been the Colonel’s friendships with Darcy and Bingley. There is clearly a long history there, and it shows in the conversations they have.

It was a very, very quick read, and I definitely enjoyed it.

Title: Moonlight, Mistletoe, and Mary
Author: Leenie Brown
Genre: Adult, regency romance, retelling
Type: E-book
Publisher: Leenie B Books

The shortest of the Sweet Extras so far, this one was RIDICULOUSLY adorable. I knew nothing about the Sweet Possibilities story that comes before this, but I could paint a picture easily enough.

It sets up the scene perfectly with the first chapter between the Colonel and Darcy. One really gets the sense that he desires nothing more than peace, away from war. That he is tired and wants the comfort of his own home and companionship. And just as perfectly, his thoughts tell us he’s found that perfect companion for himself.

I do enjoy the fact that we get, from the start, that the Colonel loves Mary and all he is looking for is an opportunity to ask if she feels the same  Just as fun as that is is the fact that Lady Lucas and Mrs Bennet have been engaging in matchmaking (of course) and that others also seem to think he and Charlotte would be a good match. It is not hard to see why when their back and forth is so fun, but also the constant mentions of her siblings suggest that she considers him thus.

Mary is not as prominent as I would hope but in her scenes, her wit and ease with the Colonel shine. She understands him easily, and they work well together to turn Bingley towards a new matchmaking prospect and help Charlotte find happiness – but the ending line that perhaps they were being guided along to their own happily ever after as well was such an adorable and unexpected twist for me. I legitimately giggled out loud.

Another very fun, very fast read that I’m glad I got my hands on.

I have another two of Leenie Brown’s novellas to read (already read one of them) and another two I’m trying to get my hands on. If anyone has any help on that front, it will be greatly appreciated.

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