Charlotte Collins: A Continuation of Jane Austen's Pride and…

My only complaint was that the villain didn't get the comeuppance he deserved. Other than that, I thought the book was written pretty well and the character of Charlotte fleshed out and given a story Jane Austen herself might have enjoyed. ( )

Free on Kindle. Spoilers all over. I enjoyed this. It isn't great but I found it readable. I would say there are two main problems with this book.

First, the plot is pretty weak. The bad guy is pretty bad & I didn't understand why. Is she that pretty? I thought she was supposed to be more plain. But even if he wanted her to have sex with him, once she said no, why did he go ahead & start the gossip? Wouldn't it have come back to him? Would "polite society" really be open to a guy who has affairs with respectable widows? And the rest of it...I could see that the author wanted to parallel P&P by having our main couple start out not appreciating each other. But I don't think she made it very clear why they changed their mines. Etc.

The second is that it seems pretty shallow to write a book with American characters, at that time, and not even allude to the question of their plantations and their slaves.

Charlotte Collins is a Jane Austen continuation that is actually worth reading. I applaud Becton for selecting a perfect subject for her work - secondary characters from the primary source, as opposed to the protagonists of the original - and argue that this choice is what primarily leads to the success of the text. Unlike continuations that attempt to rewrite Elizabeth Bennet/Darcy, which consistently fail to develop a character that even resembles Austen's original, Becton has selected a character that is only marginally developed in the original, and as such is ripe for re-imagining. In Charlotte Collins, the reader finds Elizabeth's dear friend burying her fairly repulsive husband after a fortunate accident has lead him to his ultimate reward. Now a young widow of very small means, Charlotte finds herself continuing to navigate the neighborhood shadowed by Lady Catherine, and welcomes her sister Maria to her household to relieve their parents of the burden of a coming-out. Of course, no Austenian novel would be complete without reputations being challenged, true characters being revealed, and a near-perfect love match, and Becton satisfies on all accounts. The mark of a contemporary author is so marginal that it is barely noticed, and I thoroughly enjoyed this Charlotte-Collins-romance. ( )

We all know about Mr. Darcy and Lizzie lived happily ever after, but what about Charlotte Collins? Does her life end in tears after the death of Mr. Collins or is it just the beginning?

Mrs. Collins planned to live a quiet, simple life now that she is a widow but that all changes when her sister Maria comes to live with her. Settled in a quiant cottage on Lady De Bourghs land, Charlotte enters back into society for the sake of finding her sister a husband but her plan to remain a wall flower is brought to a halt. She has caught the eye of two men- Mr. Basford and Mr. Edgingtons, however one is set to ruin her by placing her in a comprimising position. Her whole quiet life is not so quiet anymore, the real question is is it for the better- or worse?

As a Jane Austen fan it is great to find books outside the realm of Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth, it was a breath of fresh air to read about a different angle of P&P. A little cookie-cutter but still a fun, easy read! ( )

I know I have mentioned this before but I will repeat it again: I love Jane Austen sequels. I picked this one because I have never read or seen a sequel dedicated to Charlotte Collins before. For those of you who don't know, Charlotte marries the odious Mr. Collins after Elizabeth Bennett refuses to marry him. I don't know how other people view this union, but to me Charlotte sentenced herself to a life of tediousness and boredom. Jennifer Becton picks up Charlotte's story after the death of Mr. Collins. She longs to live out her days in peace and quiet but life and Maria have other plans for her. I really like this book! The story line was fantastic. It has twists and turns, heartache and humor. I loved the new characters that Jennifer introduced us to. Mr. Ben Basford is now a favorite of mine. I hope everyone loves him as much as I do. This is a great romantic read. You will fall in love with Charlotte as she learns to follow her heart. I sincerely hope that Jennifer Becton will write more books about Jane Austen beloved characters. ( )