Miss Bennet and Mr. Bingley

by Fenella J. Miller

In Miss Bennet & Mr Bingley, Fenella J Miller returns to Jane Austen's best loved novel, Pride and Prejudice, giving an insight into both Charles and Jane's private thoughts through that difficult year. We discover what Jane did in London and how Charles filled the days until he was able to return to Netherfield. This book takes us past the wedding - when Kitty Bennet becomes the heroine of the hour. ""Jane Bennet is in the spotlight in Fenella-Jane Miller's delightful novel. We see Jane's growing love for Bingley as well as her view of Elizabeth and Darcy's unfolding relationship, and we find out what happened to her in London when she thought all was lost. Humorous, engaging and true to Jane Austen's world, this is a charming read for Austen fans."" Amanda Grange is the bestselling author of Mr Darcy's Diary, (Mr Knightley's Diary, Captain Wentworth's Diary)

Genres: Historical Fiction, Romance, Historical

280 pages, Paperback

First published March 16, 2009

About the author

Fenella Jane Miller was born in the Isle of Man. Her father was a Yorkshire man and her mother the daughter of a Rajah. She has worked as a nanny, cleaner, field worker, hotelier, chef, secondary and primary teacher and is now a full time writer.

She has over twenty five Regency romantic adventures published plus one Jane Austen re-telling and one YA romantic fantasy.

see also Fenella-Jane Miller

Reviews

[Misty · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am a bit in love with the idea of this book. I've always been so caught up in Lizzie and Darcy's story that I've sort of ignored all of the other connections in the book. I think each is really worth being explored - Lydia's disastrous marriage to Wickham, Charlotte's desperate marriage to Collins -- but especially the nearly thwarted love between Jane and Bingley. Here we have a couple who are enamored almost from the start, and there has to be a reason more than their general amiability. The idea of getting to explore this and experience all of the little flutters of budding love between these two, and then their painful separation, in which each is convinced the other doesn't love them, culminating in their glorious reunion -- this really appeals to me, and I think there is a lot of potential in it for a great stroy.

Unfortunately, I felt like I was reading a first draft of this story. I don't know if I've ever talked about my years spent as a college-level writing tutor (helping people write better papers, not helping people learn to write -- it always amuses me when people mistake what I did), but reading this, I felt Tutor Misty kick in. My hand was itching for sticky tabs and colored pens. I often had to read things over a second time to get the correct tone of it -- commas were misplaced or misused, or not in use at all when they whould have been; quotes were unattributed, and pronouns were often unclear (ie: who the hell is talking, and who the hell is being talked about?). There were missing and incorrect words (dual v duel, etc -- and that's setting aside the fact that there was an effing duel in the story). I know there are people who can set things like this aside, or who don't know grammar rules themselves, so things like this just slip by them. I, however, had a hard time getting past it. I couldn't get into the flow becuase I was constantly wanting to correct.

I also wasn't totally convinced of the story Miller created. Jane and Bingley's time apart was filled with instances that I just didn't buy, and I felt the characters through out the book (not just J & B), as well as their dialogue and actions jsut felt a bit forced and inauthentic. Things felt obvious and heavy-handed at times, and the prose was underdeveloped in favor of placing info and actions in the words of the characters, creating forced and unnatural dialogue, as well as a sense of dissatisfaction overall -- like I wasn't getting the meat of it, I was never really getting to delve into this hidden in plain site love affair, which I was looking forward to doing.

Now, I hate writing really negative reviews, and I don't want to completely warn people off of this book. I think that with work and development, I could actually like it quite a bit, but the combination of a pure "fanfic" feel, my expectations and desires for a nuanced and somewhat bittersweet love story, and my uber-tutor spideysense worked together to make me pretty critical of this one. I'm sorry that's the case, and I hope I don't make Ms. Miller mad, or regret participating in Jane in June, but such is life. I am always honest, if not completely tactful.

[krow · Rating 2 out of 5]

The writing is so clunky, I just can't with it.

[Sophia · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Pride & Prejudice retelling from the alternating points of view of two minor characters in the original was a delightful prospect for me.

This was one I was really hoping to enjoy a lot since I love seeing minor characters in the spotlight of their own story. Sweet, kind, and generous Jane paired with a man who is of very similar character though much more gregarious in nature. I was hoping to dig into these characters to their inner thoughts and motivations plus get all the details of those times when they weren't together away from the original plot. My anticipation was moderate, but it was there.

Miss Bennet and Mr. Bingley was my first historical retelling in a bit so, at first, I thought this was the reason it felt awkward to spend time with a plot that was simply a shift in perspective on a family series of happenings rather than all new events or alterations in character like in a variation.
However, no, I worked out after a bit that the reason I wasn't fully engaging with this one was because the characters were under-developed as was the plot. It skimmed along the surface and only went into the shallow depths at most. It had clunky bits where it didn't quite read smoothly. So it was a distracted reading experience for me. And, there were only a few new scenes for the P&P off page bits.

But, on the other hand, I wasn't utterly disappointed. I liked the shift in character emphasis and seeing them both get separate adventures when they were apart. I still felt some of the natural tension in the story and seeing Lizzy and Darcy from Jane and Bingley's amused perspectives.

So, it was good, but not great. Might be worth a try for who want more stories from Jane and Charles' perspectives.

[Kasey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book. Pride and Prejudice is probably the most popular of Jane Austens books but it is only centered on Elizabeth and Darcys relationship. It is hard sometimes to even realize that there is a seperate and wonderfuly tragic love story in the mix. This book is an indepth of Jane and Bingleys romance from the beginning to the end. The only problem that I had with it is that it ended very quickly but it is a great book that I highly recommend to any Pride and Prejudice fan.

[Alexa Adams · Rating 3 out of 5]

http://alexaadams.blogspot.com/2010/03/miss-bennet-mr-bingley-by-fenella-j.html

http://alexaadams.blogspot.com/2010/03/interview-with-fenella-miller-author-of.html

[Steph · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting point of view but I still found myself wanting to follow Lizzie and Darcy rather than Jane and Bingley. I thought the duel and Janes's scrape with Mr. Fox were both out of character. The editing especially the last quarter of the book needs cleaning up.

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a refocus of the original Pride and Prejudice book. With the interactions between Charles Bingley and Jane Bennet at the front of the story. The extra action felt forced to me and I hoped to read of their dialogue but it never went into enough depth for me

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought this author had a good idea, but the writing was pedantic and slow and stilted in places. I found myself skimming over passages to get to the real meat of the story.

[Lostintime · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars ⭐️ because I love the J&B books, their story is often underestimate because they are both good humoured, not outgoing in manifesting their feelings and less intriguing than E&D.

Instead I love this story of untold love and loss and forgiveness.

The author does a good job in depicting these two characters but the text would need a good editing.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charming Read

Miss Bennett and Mr. Bingley
was a delightful book. It was quite interesting to have Jane and Charles’ perspectives on the classic story by Jane Austen. I would have given it five stars if the version I have had been better proofed. Overall thoroughly enjoyable.