She’s planning an escape. He’s planning his future. But their destiny rests in the hands of schemers. What is a lady to do when your mother shares with one and all that you have lost your last chance for marriage and when the one man you wish to marry sees you only as a friend? If you are Mary Bennet, you plan to escape to London and begin a new life while attempting to forget the man you left … while attempting to forget the man you left behind.
What is a gentleman to do when your father retires to Bath, leaving you his estate as well as his debts along with new bills and the care of a devil-may-care brother? If you are a cautious and calculating businessman like Nicholas Hammond, you double down your efforts to make your estate solvent and tuck away your hopes of marrying until the finances are well and truly able to withstand the added expenses of a wife and family.
And what is the sister or brother of such a gentleman or lady to do if you wish to see your sibling happy? If you are Jane or Elizabeth Bennet, you attempt to arrange chance meetings, but if you are Alfred Hammond, you look to your conniving friend, Whit, for help and stage a scheme that will either destroy all hopes of happiness or result in a Very Mary Christmas.
A Very Mary Christmas is the sequel to Waking to Mr. Darcy and part of Leenie Brown’s Dash of Darcy and Companions Collection of Pride and Prejudice inspired novellas. If you like romance that is helped along by the scheming of well-meaning, though sometimes inept, friends and family, then you will love this story about a manufactured Christmas miracle and the discovery that true happiness is sometimes found close to home.
So, pour a cup of tea, grab your copy of A Very Mary Christmas, and escape into a world of sweet romantic indulgence today.
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In this Pride & Prejudice story, with Jane and Elizabeth nearly married Mrs Bennet turns her attentions to Kitty. As obviously Mary has lost any chance of marriage when she didn’t catch Mr. Collins. But Mary has friends on her side, so can she find her happy ending.
Loved this well-written story, it was wonderful to read Mary’s tale, and I really liked the new characters that were introduced.
Follow up to ‘Waking to Mr. Darcy’
This was an adorable story with Mary Bennet as the centerpiece. I liked her character and the way she handled herself in the wake of her mother’s flitting about preparing for the double wedding of the two elder Bennet sisters. What was a girl to do when she had two beautiful older sisters and two vivacious younger sisters and she was trapped in the middle? Her mother constantly berated her for not securing Mr. Collins, dumped on her with insults that she was not pretty like the older girls or lively like the younger girls. After years of that comparison, Mary’s self-esteem and confidence were fairly low.
This was a quick read. It followed ‘Waking to Mr. Darcy’ [which was 4-stars for me]; however, it could be read as a stand-a-lone book. There were references to the previous book but did not lean heavily toward it. The author did a good job of filling us in on the major points. I would suggest reading the first book. It is heavy with the story of Darcy and Elizabeth. It was the most page time I’ve seen between them and there was a lot that happened with their relationship. This book used that affection to settle many problems and situations and Jane and Bingley were also sprinkled through the story. Caroline was her usual jealous and controlling self.
Wickham made an appearance and left his usual slime trail. There were several new characters introduced to our core group and I really liked them. They moved the story along and their presence was very plausible as catalyst for our main characters reaching their HEA. It was really cute. There were those pesky editing problems that seemed to pop up here and there. Other than that, I really liked this story. I wonder if there will be additional stories with these new characters? I really liked them.
This was another great book by Leenie Brown and a really fun book based o Mary Bennet. I really enjoyed this sequel to Waking to Mr. Darcy (Dash of Darcy and Companions Collection, #2), although it has been a little while since I last read Waking to Mr. Darcy so it wasn’t as fresh in my mind but it wasn’t a problem since the author reminded readers about anything important from the first book as things came up. I don’t think it would be a problem to read this book without having read Waking to Mr. Darcy first. I loved Mary’s character in this book and Nicholas Hammond was a fun character as well. I also really enjoyed Nicholas Hammond’s younger brother Alfred and his friend Whit as well as the trouble they caused and the schemes they came up with. The epilogue at the end was also really cute. Overall I thought this was a really sweet and fun book that I definitely plan to read again.