Genuine: The Pemberley Chronicles by Rebecca Ann Collins

Rating: 3.5/4

This book is a companion volume to Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice. Spoilers for P&P below. Consider yourself warned.

The weddings are done and everybody's happy. Now it's time for the new couples to live in a new world of love, life, grief, obstacles, and joy.

Author: Rebecca Ann Collins
Series: The Pemberley Chronicles

Published: 1st of April, 2008

Genre: Historical Fiction
Format: 384 pages, physical copy (paperback)

Source: purchased

What can I say about a book that brought me back to those days of adoring Jane, agreeing with Lizzie, and fangirling Mr. Darcy?

Well, it is universally acknowledged to be worth it. 

About a year ago, I watched the pilot of The Lizzie Bennet Diaries and ended up marathoning them all. As much as I dread to say it, I have not read Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen but Lizzie's story of finding love in the oddest of places still captured my heart. (Just like Harry Potter.) It's one of my favorite classics of all time.

So the reason for buying The Pemberley Chronicles is laid out front. (Another is that it's in the bargain section and I can't resist the opportunity.) And adding this to my ever-growing bookshelf is a not regretted decision. It honestly surprised me in unexpected ways and drowned me with all the Darcy-and-Lizzie feels.

Rebecca Ann Collins was able to make the characters truly Jane Austen's. They underwent a lot of blissful moments and tragic events all throughout that you notice the changes - sometimes subtle - in manner in everyone of them. Any yet, Lizzie was still Lizzie with her teasing habits, Jane with her delicate persona, Lydia with her slutty attitude, and Darcy with his sturdy silence.

The Pemberley Chronicles revolves around the lives of the Bennet family - mostly Lizzie as Mrs. Darcy - after the happy marriages of the two eldest daughters. It includes a lot of letters between Lizzie and her loving Jane and Charlotte, as well as each of the characters reception of political and economical crisis that had occurred during the Georgian era. The politics was interesting to learn but there are times when my attention drifts away from the pages. This addition, however, made the characters even more real, as if they truly lived and struggled with these problems.

Lizzie and Darcy are very much contented to be the "happiest couple in the world". And I have no disagreements about that, but as their story developed with this statement in mind, it seemed like everything was blissful and perfect. Everybody was happy.

It took a few hundred pages to reach some tragedy - excluding the political concerns among the husbands. And by that time, I was definitely eager for some action. I can't say it was very well played. Just quite. (pun intended)

The adversities that struck, however, were truly heartfelt being matters of life and death, literally.

Collins' work isn't the perfect sequel to Pride and Prejudice that I'd expected. But it was as genuine as it could get. Fine by me.

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