A Sheepish Encounter at Pemberley: A Pride and Prejudice Variation

by Bella Breen

Things look baaaaad for our dear couple when Elizabeth and the Gardiners visit Pemberley...

Elizabeth Bennet is touring the Peak District with her aunt and uncle, Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner. Little do they know that as they make their way to Pemberley, fate has other plans for them.

When Elizabeth arrives, she finds herself admiring the lake when a wet Mr. Darcy, having been knocked in the water by a sheep, stumbles across her. But the chaos isn't over yet, as Elizabeth is holding in her laughter, a sheep knocks her into the lake. Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner arrive just in time to see Elizabeth being fished from the lake by Mr. Darcy, leaving them both embarrassed and forcing them to marry.

As Mr. Darcy courts Elizabeth, old foes try to keep them apart and the sheep have more to say as well. But no matter how hard they try, nothing can stop Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth from falling in love. The culprit behind the constant interference is revealed and with a happily ever after, all's wool that ends wool!

Genres: Historical Romance

314 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 30, 2022

About the author

To be notified of new releases and special sales, subscribe here: http://bit.ly/bellabreen

Bestselling author of clean and sweet Pride and Prejudice variation books, Bella Breen's books feature Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet. She first fell in love with Pride and Prejudice in highschool and again with the BBC mini series. Colin Firth will forever be the perfect Mr. Darcy. Today she brings her fantasies to life for every fan of Mr. Darcy.

She was born in Missouri, then moved to Iowa in grade school and finally settled in South Dakota which reminds her of the English countryside, if you squint and ignore the harsh winters and humid summers. Her favorite animals are cats, corgis and horses. When she's not writing you can find her walking in nature, cross stitching, reading, antique hunting and practicing calligraphy.

Visit her website at https://www.bellabreen.com

Reviews

[Sam H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I followed along as this was written in FF and enjoyed it very much. I think this is my favorite of this author so far.
Got it from KU to reread it in one go.

Lets be real, its the sheep that are the stars of this story, but ODC do have their moments, courtesy of the sheep. Poor Darcy finds himself jumping through hoops to make Elizabeth his wife.

Aside from the sheep there is a lovely ensemble of the usual characters to keep things going. Even when the sheep aren't making nuisances of themselves.

[James S · Rating 3 out of 5]

sheep

The sheep were humorous but the rest the story had too much Lydia and Wickham, Lady Catherine, the embarrassing Bennet family and worse, Caroline Bingley. I felt sorry for Lizzy and Darcy having to spend so much time with this crowd of horse flys.

[Sheila Majczan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Elizabeth traveling to Derbyshire with the Gardiners and touring Pemberley, finds herself compromised when some sheep running loose cause Darcy's horse to upset him into a pond and then also push Elizabeth into the water. Clinging clothing reveals too much to allow the scene to be described as innocent.

While the sheep are responsible for bringing Elizabeth and Darcy together, there are other forces at work to pull them apart. Lady Catherine is determined to have her way and uses her power first on a parson and then we find out towards the end that she has a secret ally who is passing information to her from within Pemberley.

While this is a FMS our dear couple find love prior to their actual wedding ceremony. Bingley and Jane do not marry prior to Darcy and Elizabeth so that is a change. Mrs. Bennet is her usual loud and pushy self. And then there are those actions on the part of Lydia and Wickham which cause more than one person to counsel Darcy that he cannot marry into such a family.

Interesting but dragged in spots for me.

This author uses a great many of Jane Austen's sentences, paragraphs, etc. in conveying this story to us.

[wosedwew · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up to 4 stars

[Gail Frisby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good story

Great love story liked how the sheep kept doing something cute. Loved how the seemed to dislike miss Bingley, I guess the sheep knew she was no good. Liked having the sheep at the wedding.Liked the epilogue.

[Michelle David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ewe need to read this

It would be baaaad to miss this amusing and fluffy little variation inspired by Jane Austen’s classic novel Pride and Prejudice by Bella Breen. You herd it from me that it was a delightful little tale perfect for a relaxing afternoon enjoying the weather.

[Adriana · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars approximate to 4 stars

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has so many problems. Sentence fragments everywhere. Travel seeming to take no time or a lot of time depending on the author’s needs.

The whole Wickham subplot makes no sense and is just more irritating than usual. Ditto for Lady Catherine and her machinations.

Also sheep are usually sheared in the spring. This is high summer.

Modern language included the 1980s term gobsmscked and the US term discombobulated.

[lori huff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute

The story begins when Elizabeth and the Gardiners are touring Pemberly, and unexpectedly encounter Mr Darcy. That's the first episode in which the sheep from the title have an impact on ODC, causing first one, then the other to fall in the lake, resulting in a compromise. At this point, Darcy is perfectly happy to be forced to marry Elizabeth, and Elizabeth feels much better about Darcy after having read his letter from Hunsford, except that Jane is still unhappy after her abandonment by Bingley. The Bingleys and Hursts show up at Pemberly, and Caroline is horrified to learn about Darcy's betrothal.

The whole story is written with a tongue-in-cheek tone, as if it's kind of a madcap adventure. The sheep make a few more appearances, thus justifying the title. A story like this makes it imperative that the reader accept a lot of silly and strange behaviors and circumstances. But even allowing for this, there were several very confusing and contradictory situations that made me think that this work wasn't well edited or thought out. Simple things, like Darcy taking Elizabeth's hands, and then the next paragraph having her extending her hands for him to take. This and several other details like this were overlooked. There was a situation involving Lady Catherine and the rector of the Lambton church that felt very strange, contrived, and very much stretched the limits of my credulity. I was forced to unwillingly chalk it up to a madcap adventure.

The book is written well enough. I recommend it for a silly but pleasant tale.

[Madenna U · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sheep forces a compromise of Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy while she is touring Pemberley with her aunt and uncle. There is very little pride or prejudice, but there is some angst caused by the usual characters and one new priest.

It was an easy read and seemed to be half a good idea. The end was a bit awkward and it features a lot of happily ever after.

[wendy luther · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved the sheep

I have to say the comic relief of the story was the sheep. I lol it made my sides hurt...but this story should also be called a series of unfortunate events! You name it ..it happened . if you love a laugh ...and seeing Darcy fluttered this.story is for you

[Holly · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 1/2 Stars - At the point in P&P when Elizabeth goes to the north with her aunt and uncle and tours Pemberly, this book varies by having Mr. Darcy waylaid by one of his tenants sheep. He ends up falling in the pond, and wet and disheveled is how he encounters Elizabeth. A combination of being startled by Mr. Darcy and another wayward sheep ends up with her having similarly wet, revealing clothings. They were caught like this by her aunt and uncle, which apparently left them compromised enough that they needed to get married.

Things That Worked:
- This story caught Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth in a forced marriage situation when they both did want to get married and they had dealt with their previous erroneous impressions of each other. However, neither one had quite figured out how the other person was feeling.
- I appreciated that Elizabeth specifically said that she wanted to be courted before getting married. Just because they were in a situation where they had to get married, didn't mean that it wasn't worth them going through the effort to get to know each other better before that happened, and I appreciated that Elizabeth stood up and asked for that.

Things That Didn't Work:
- I would have appreciated a bit more awkwardness between Elizabeth and Darcy to make this feel like there was enough to warrant a story here.

Things Were Mixed:
- I didn't totally buy that being caught wet in the pond would force their hand at marriage. I don't know, times were weird and very different, but I guess the situation they ended up in, where Elizabeth had skin tight clothes from the water made it seem like she was scantily clad with Mr. Darcy. But surely if they really didn't want to get married, with only Elizabeth's aunt and uncle and Mr. Darcy's servants being present, it seems like something that wouldn't be required. But maybe the point of this story was that they were both at a point where they did want to get married, and this was just the thing that shoved them in that direction, so to speak. Anyway, I would love input from someone with historical knowledge of the time as to whether this particular situation would force a marriage between a couple.

[Katja · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was one of the better efforts by this author. I have struggled with finishing some of the others but I read this in an afternoon. Darcy and Elizabeth get knocked in a lake by a sheep and have to get married because they have been compromised. You know, wet clothes and all. But she made it worse by running out of Pemberley half dressed and disheveled, despite being provided a bath. Then there is some trouble with Wickham and Lydia, and Lady Catherine. I found it readable and at times amusing if you read it without thinking too much.

If you think too much some detail may seem a little inconsistent. Like, when Elizabeth was stranded wet at Pemberley Mrs. Gardiner says she had summoned the modiste from Lambton to get her new clothes. But the modiste was originally a random Darcy thought, and surely Mrs. Gardiner would have seen it was much easier, faster and cheaper for someone to get Elizabeth's own clothes from Lambton. Wicky abandoned Lydia penniless at a roadside inn, and she had to borrow money to get home alone, yet she's still going on about her beloved Wickham afterwards. Really girl? You learned nothing?

Darcy gets a special licence for Wickham which he probably couldn't have got because there was not one peer involved in the affair. Some travel times seem unrealistic and they arrange a wedding ball in, like a day. Getting new gowns from the modiste would surely take more time, and the poor servants have to go to the market and do the catering in a day. And what on earth did they do with the invitations? Somehow everyone knows to be there although the wedding was a huge secret and there was absolutely no warning for any of the guests so it's a miracle that anyone got there in time, in their full ball splendour.

I missed some sort of an emotional reunion scene in which they would talk of their emotions more. She decides at some point that she loves him but I am still not sure that he knows.

There are some quotes that I think got lifted straight from the 1995 BBC adaptation and the screenwriter was not acknowledged in any way so that was a big ugh. Look, Jane Austen's words are in public domain by now and they're free to steal. But Andrew Davies is still alive and selling a book that incorporates large chunks of his dialogue without crediting him is not cool. I docked a star for this.

Steam level: She gets pregnant but the methods of becoming so are not addressed.

[Carol Perrin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Sheepish Encounter at Pemberley

Who knew just how sheep could lead to so much happiness. This title could have been A (Sheepish) Comedy of Errors instead of one of the author’s previous books. Those little fluffy bits of wool stepped up, or pushed in, just at the right times to do what was needed - to compromise Elizabeth in Darcy’s favor. Pesky little things as they pushed both Darcy and Elizabeth into the lake like wayward children playing just close to the water’s edge to cause havoc. It was bad enough she was stuck in the thick mud to move, but her pale colored dress became see through as she stood before Darcy in the summer sun. Little did her Uncle Gardiner know that Darcy was ever so happy to concede to his demands for an marriage contract. The only drawbacks were that Caroline Bingley was a guest at Pemberley, Wickham would show up at Lambton to visit his mother, and Lady Catherine de Bourgh would show her unwanted self to Elizabeth at the inn then at Pemberley. Where were those dear little sheep when they were needed? Well one did show up at the picnic sending Caroline into a fit as one ate part of her dress sending her back to her room along with a tablecloth scattering food and china every where. Darcy managed to pull off his wedding to Elizabeth without his aunt’s knowledge, because someone was feeding his aunt information. No one will be surprised who that person was. Lydia and Wickham’s wedding was executed with little fanfare, but some fallout later because of Lady Catherine’s interference. The wedding ball was delightful once Lady Catherine’s loud brash manners were handled swiftly by her nephew. Their first Christmas was spent with the Bingleys at Netherfield Hall. At Christmas dinner at Longbourn, the Darcys’ announcement brought extra joy to all. No sheep were needed for that bit of happiness. Cute story with all unpleasantness handled rapidly without too much angst.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

So normally, most of the Jane Austen fan fictions I read I enjoy, laughing or crying or both. I love reading about different possibilities of our favorite characters. And in saying that, I'm very picky when it comes to my ratings and generally rank most books I enjoy 3 out of 5 starts. Very few books, and Miss Austen herself is in this small list of less than 10 books, get the full 5 out of 5 stars, meaning the book is truly perfection and I wouldn't change anything of it because it's a book that people will learn from and will survive long through the zombie apocalypse. A few more books fall into the 4 out of 5 star category for me, and that generally means I have to be loving the book for more than 10 reasons.

This book falls under a rare 4 stars for me because of one character - the SHEEP! Oh my gosh, the whole plot involving the sheep just had me in stitches and rolling in laugher. Ms. Breen writes it in such as way that I could completely envision the action happening and all that transpires between our dear Darcy and Lizzy. I also enjoyed a plot twist involving our 'favorite' aunt, something that I have to say I've never read before with a sub-plot involving her and I found that plot very refreshing and a fresh new take. Mrs. Bennet is typical Mrs. Bennet whom we all love because of her absolutely annoying behavior (but she does have 5 daughters to marry off, so it's perfectly agreeable that her nerves are shot to threads lol).

A fun read before I have to return to work :)

[D M · Rating 5 out of 5]

It all started with a runaway flock of cantankerous sheep and a dunking in a pond.

The sheep that got away from their shepherds had to be some of the most stubborn beasts ever. Mr. Darcy ends up in his own pond and is thoroughly embarrassed to be seen by Miss Elizabeth Bennet, who had rejected his marriage proposal months earlier. Touring the Lake District with her Aunt and Uncle Gardiner, they also took a tour of Pemberly. It's here, while relaxing by one of the ponds that Miss Elizabeth sees Mr. Darcy exiting the water. Determined to be cordial, she tries to engage in light banter while making every effort not to ogle the handsome , thoroughly drenched man. Well, guess what? There's one sheep who takes exception to this intruder and headbutt her in the back, right into the pond, and so it begins. You'll laugh at the ridiculous, gasp at the obcerd and thoroughly enjoy this wonderful story. I certainly did.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny variation

After being knocked into the lake by a sheep, Darcy and Elizabeth are accidentally compromised. Elizabeth agrees to marry but requests a longer courtship to get to know Darcy before they we'd and he agrees. Their courtship is filled with Darcy's attempts to woo Elizabeth, getting Charles and Jane together, the problem of Lydia and Wickham, and the interference of Lady Catherine and Carolone Bingley. I wish there had been more of the courtship and more sheep antics (all of which were funny). But overall a good, fast, fun read.

[Lisa E · Rating 2 out of 5]

Loses momentum

Starts off cute but the momentum dies as soon as it veers back to the original with the news about Lydia and Wickham. Then it just does not make sense in several places. Sometimes ideas get lost in pronouns and it is impossible to understand what is supposed to be conveyed. There is the mention of landscapes in the portrait gallery. There is Georgiana getting out of a carriage she was not in: at least that is what seemed to be implied.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delightful

I found this on Fanfic.net well the first chapter or so and found it charming and wished to read more so I hijacked my mother's kindle and was pleasantly surprised.

This is one of the best compromise/love writings I have found of P&P and it is brilliant. I really do enjoy your work and hope to read more.

This was engaging, funny, sweet and just over all a wonderful read.

Thank you for the effort you put into this. I am delighted truly in your ability.

- Nic

[Marsha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute clean hilarious

Hilarious through and through. I loved the underlying twist within the plot. I loved how the sheep showed up here and there. The courtship was cute, but the determination to wed is awesome. Lady C and Miss B are truly horrid, but that is expected. The Bennet family is cute this time. Not too much drama, well written, clean, and a definite read for anyone.

[tracy witz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cute idea

The wiring in the first half of the book is cute and charming, but the second half reads like it was written by a middle school student. It’s all well and good to employ sentence fragments as a device, but when it becomes overwhelming, you need an editor. This author clearly does need an editor very badly.

[Miranda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amusing and Fun

This was a fun variation; many passages of dialogue are taken directly from the source or the film adaptations, but that is understandable to some extent. The characters seemed true to their natures, and overall it was enjoyable. Some passages were a bit repetitive, so I kept my rating to a 4. It didn’t blow me away, but it was enjoyable.

[Martina Forisova · Rating 2 out of 5]

It started great and as a light quick read. But by about 70% it became clear there were no stakes or suspense. Any obstacle was overcame in about a paragraph. The story became unrealistic. It was too fast in the actually plot parts and too slow in the filler scenes.

[Wendy DeWachter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny and thoughtful

While there is angst involving the usual characters this book was funny, thoughtful, and a delight to read. I had put off reading it because the synopsis involving sheep sounded odd. Turns out this book is a treat. I recommend you give it a try!

[Allison Ripley-Duggan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved it!

Such a riveting tale. I couldn’t put it down. I got so engrossed in the story that I actually felt like I was apart of the story. I also love the all time classic original book it’s based, plus all the TV series and movie adaptations as well.

[Charlene S. Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I adored this book!

Excellent work. A bit more work from a Proof Reader would be quite welcome!
The sheep definitely deserve treats! Hopefully not a table cloth of someone's dress tis time!

[Terri Conley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good little story low angst quite cute in parts , its seems sheep can match make who knew.
Only quibble was the epilogue I found redundant.
But never mind the body of the book was pretty good.

[NANCY L · Rating 5 out of 5]

sheep and love

Sheep everywhere interfering with everyone of the characters. What a wonderful funny story. Lady Catherine was at her worst ever.

[Tess]

Darcy and Lizzy get compromised. By sheep.