Terribly charming. My only real complaint is that Charlotte's complete lack of faith in her own desirability and thus Mary's affection persists so long that it becomes frustrating and sometimes difficult to believe, given what a smart woman she is. Regardless, a delightful slow burn that feels faithful to Austen while also a complete work of it's own.

4.0 ⭐️

This was a cute, sweet regency-era romance, which I’m genuinely (but pleasantly) surprised I enjoyed so much!

I have a bit of a poor track record with Regency-era romances, particularly those inspired by or adapting Pride and Prejudice—before this, I had only read two and disliked both greatly. I really only started this one on a whim, since it had been offered to me as a pre-approved widget and I was stuck on the subway with nothing to read.

And I genuinely enjoyed it! I found myself pulling my phone out to read it even when I wasn’t on my way to or from work, simply because I wanted to know what would happen next. Charlotte’s struggles with compulsory heterosexuality, class, and her family are just as important as her blossoming romance with Mary, and her platonic and familial relationships are certainly not the main focus but they never disappear from Charlotte’s mind.

Because of those struggles with compulsory heterosexuality, and the fact that the author took care to make Charlotte’s struggles with entering queer community, navigating her first ever actually romantic relationship, and struggling self-esteem issues part of her character and not merely angst points in the romance, Charlotte’s character is genuinely likable and deeply relatable. I adored her, and frankly, her characterization is why The Unlikely Pursuit of Mary Bennet was such an enjoyable read—yes, I wanted to see how Mary and Charlotte’s relationship progressed, but more than anything I wanted to see how Charlotte changed.

Charlotte’s struggles with compulsory heterosexuality, societal pressure, low self-esteem, and her newness to queer community is what smoothed over what would normally be a huge pet peeve, which is the third act breakup. I don’t even read romance that often, and this narrative beat is a part of it—so often the third act breakup is completely unnecessary and eye-rollingly contrived. In this case, while it still did feel contrived—Charlotte does it to herself for really no good reason beyond assumptions she has very little logical reason to have—her struggles with self-esteem and her newness to queerness make the breakup make at least a little sense, so I am willing to forgive.

McLeod has such a beautiful touch on the regency-romance prose style and her side characters were all treats, so, frankly, I’d love to read sequels to this novel following some of the original characters introduced (particularly Miss Brodie). I know it probably won’t happen, but still. A lesbian can dream.

All of that said, there are elements endemic to the Regency-era queer romance genre that I’m simply never going to gel with, which, I think, is going to always prevent me from ever falling truly in love with any as a matter of taste. (Which goes to show how excellent of a specimen The Unlikely Pursuit of Mary Bennet is—or maybe it’s just a reflection of my taste. Who knows.)

Thank you to the publisher for reaching out and providing an e-ARC via NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

I have not read Pride and Prejudice but I do watch Pride and Prejudice (2005) dir. Joe Wright at least once a year and let me say I was eating this up.

This book picks up roughly four years after the original Pride and Prejudice story thought you don’t need any context to enjoy the book. I do think the first half of the novel was stronger than the second half (with all of its sapphic yearning and hand touches and loaded glances). If you’re looking for a sweet sapphic historical romance, you’ll enjoy this!

Once again i have not read Pride and Prejudice or any Austen and I don't plan to. So I read this one as original but I could tell there were many references to the original work but I can't comment on it.

I found the lesbian awakening of Charlotte really sweet and gradual but also it made a lot of sense for this period. As always I love when the queer historical romance introduces queer side characters living in a queer safe haven.

This book made me feel like the hilltop engagement scene in Gentleman Jack (and I cry when I watch it). Like what do you mean we get to have the big historical romantic stories with an orchestra and all that swoony writing? It hits most of the major stones of historical romances and I even got a sex scene against a piano. I love it

gorgeously romantic book based on one of my favorite books of all time. the yearning is epic, the romance is strong, and the characters are great. 5 stars. tysm for the arc.

I really enjoyed this! A nice romance that sticks pretty close to the original and still makes room for queerness. At a couple points the writing wasn't amazing, and felt a little like fanfiction (which I love, to be clear! I just have...lower standards for fanfic haha). But overall I really liked it!

Thank you to Netgalley and Harlequin Romance for the chance to read and review this ARC.

First lines are always hard, and I think that in the realm of writing in the Pride and Prejudice universe, with its iconic opening, they’re even harder. McLeod didn’t just nail the opening, they hit it out the park. It perfectly captured the energy of a familiar character and got me hooked from the start. I think Charlotte’s journey in this-in finding herself and her happiness-was so beautifully handled. Her fear and confusion as she sorts through what she’s feeling and what that means for her is so palpable. I think the book does a really good job of blending realistic historical context in a way that’s just shy of idealistic, which is exactly what i want out of this type of romance. I also adored the language of flowers being so woven into the story and Mary and Charlotte’s relationship. I’ve always been a sucker for it, and McLeod did a fantastic job of incorporating it and also using flower metaphors throughout to tie it together further.

I think my only complaints are that the pacing at the beginning and end felt a little off. the bulk of the book was paced perfectly, and the ending might just be a matter of my personal preference, but the beginning felt jarring at times, and bordering on heavy handed.

boooo tomato tomato.

i'm sorry that was mean but as a love of pride and prejudice i could not make myself love or care about this book. and i love a retelling or continuation don't get me wrong but i did not care about any of the characters or plot throughout this entire book. i felt like i was dragging myself through each page

Sapphic Jane Austen? Say no more! I gobbled this up. The yearning, people... the yearning. I definitely highly recommend this for Jane Austen/historical romance fans.

I thoroughly enjoyed this, honestly more than I expected! I recently read another queer Pride and Prejudice re-imagining, so this slotted right in nicely, and I liked this one a lot more. For fans of historical romance, especially of this era, Austen is pretty much the gold standard, and for queer fans of the genre this absolutely meets all expectations.

Charlotte Lucas and Mary Bennet are both underutilized characters in the original novel, which leaves you with a lot of space to play with when reimagining their personalities a few years down the line. None of the other Pride and Prejudice characters really feature outside of letters that are used as scene-setting for most chapters, making this read more as a wholly-original novel rather than a reimagining or spiritual sequel.

I felt like both women were very well developed throughout the story and their worries and personalities were very vivid and realistic, but the reliance on miscommunication throughout was a bit frustrating. However, as that is also a function of Pride and Prejudice’s plot, it’s easily forgivable.

Looking for a cozy, sapphic period piece that’s full of banter, raw and relatable emotions, and a lil bit of spice? This book is it! Some of the characters will be familiar, but will surprise you. I absolutely loved this book, I couldn’t put it down. It provided a wonderful escape from the stress of the world and gave me that warm, comforting, and hopeful feeling that there are still kind and accepting people out there. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!!!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an advance copy in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This is an imaging of a post Pride and Prejudice story where a recently widowed Charlotte spendimg time with and falling in love with Mary Bennet. It was fine.

The overall story is a nice period romance that takes it sweet time in getting on with the story. One of my biggest issues is that i had to restart this book 4 times because the begining is so slow. My other issue with this book comes towards the end.

During the 3rd act breakup one of the major causes of the breakup is Charlotte having reasonable fears of homophobia from her peers, and Mary acting as if Charlotte should not have those fears. This is something that often irks me in historicals. Mary often feels childish in how she acts when Charlotte is more cautious.

But overall it was a fine book, would not read again probably but will recomend to people looking for sapphic historicals.

This book was extremely well written and perfectly emulated Jane Austen’s prose. I adored the plot between Mary and Charlotte. The author did a wonderful job of flushing out their characters. However, I felt as though the first 50% of the book could have been significantly shorter while the latter half moved very quickly.

The Unlikely Pursuit of Mary Bennett is a slow, methodic love story. It feels a lot like I was transported into a moment in the regency era, just watching two individuals circle one another, paint, harvest flowers, and learn more about the world around them. It’s a very soft environment, despite having clear deadlines and conflict. It was strange that though there was a significant amount of stressors, this did feel like curling up in the corner of a gorgeous greenhouse.

I think that queer fans of Pride and Prejudice should absolutely pick this book up. It’s kind of the ideal– it feels very faithful to Austenian prose, historicism, and yearning. And yearning is the best part of a romance novel, don’t you agree?

Queer fans of Regency romance and Jane Austen will be overjoyed by Lindz McLeod’s quiet, romantic tour de force. McLeod recreates the typical Austenian courting and yearning while feeling entirely original and unique.

Such a beautiful take on two of the most overlooked characters in Pride and Prejudice. The characterization was spot on and expanded in such a way that it felt faithful to the original text. As a Jane Austen superfan, I would highly recommend!

I'm a big fan of Jane Austen and know (or at least feel I know) her works intimately, backwards and forwards, over and under, so when I heard of this sapphic "what happens after" novel, I knew I just had to give it a read.

What I loved about this read the most was the writing. The author does an amazing job of finding the tone of Austen while still engaging with a contemporary style that keeps the reader of today engaged and pursuing the story. The way she captures Charlotte's inner most thoughts and actions, the push and pull of angst at such tumultuous feelings and experiences is admirable.

Now the downsides: I really didn't like the way Mary was portrayed. There was little to no remnant of the Mary that Austen wrote, and while I understand that people do grow and change, it felt like very little time was given to why or how these changes came about. Mary felt like a completely different character and without the roadmap to see how she got from Point A to Point B, it was as if the author just sort of gave her the name. It was addressed in one or two conversations between Mary and Charlotte, but it was brief at best and truly didn't explain away much. Had I seen more of that, I think the story would have felt much more well-rounded and enjoyable.

➤Plot

May Interest you if you like:
- Sapphic Romance
- Friends to Lovers
- Secret Dating
- Flowers/Flower Language
- Bridgerton

The story starts off with death, Charlotte's husband's death, to be exact. Only being married for four years, Charlotte did everything she could to be the perfect wife and hold up her appearance around everyone. Yet, she is now faced with the impossible choice of remarrying to another man after her mourning period is over or moving back with her parents to forever be a widow. She was ready to decide between the two options until Mary Bennet, sister of her best friend, shows up and shows her a new world.

A story about learning to bloom into your happiest self, because it's never too late to turn into your prettiest flower and learn to love with your whole heart.

➤Characters

The characters were absolutely amazing. You follow Charlotte, so you don't really get the thoughts of other characters. However, you understand Charlotte so well and can't help but feel bad. Many times I have been in Charlotte's shoes, especially when figuring out who I am and how scary it can be to say you love someone.

This story strives from how strong Charlotte is as a main character and how absolutely lovely Mary is as a love interest. Honestly, I understand Charlotte. Mary is amazing and knows her ways to sweep someone off their feet. Mary knows who she is, what she wants, and has such a playful aura about her. But she isn't without her faults and fears, which makes her so realistic.

There are many side characters that don't get much page time and one of them is very much an antagonist, only without any redeeming qualities that we see. This story focuses so much on Charlotte and Mary that there didn't need to be a bad guy that was fully fleshed out - they needed someone to sprinkle in some drama here and there to add tension only. It works!

Even if there isn't a lot of time explored with some of the side characters, they have a presence that makes them feel alive in this world. How they interact with the main characters is so great. Yes, we don't see their whole life and know everything about them, but McLeod makes them feel like they have experienced the world and doesn't need to tell you everything about them to feel like they are alive. This whole world feels so alive and realistic.

➤Enjoyment

I adore this book! I kept gushing about it to all my friends, stating: "I can't wait until this release, so everyone can experience this story!"

There aren't any risks. It's a love story of two people who desperately want love in a society that wants to keep them in the shadows. In that aspect, it can be hard to read at times, because it can really reflect both history and the current society for some.

I will warn anyone who picks this up, it's very slow at the start! Even though it starts with death, it's more so warming the reader up to who Charlotte is as a character at the beginning, what the current society and expectations are like, and a lot of rules that may be a bit difficult to understand if you haven't read something similar to this time period. Everything really picks up when Mary comes in and every little detail you can do the dog meme reaction of "I know what you are."

It's heartwarming and I see myself picking this up many more times in the future! Highly recommend.

It was better than I had expected. I was pleasant wrapped up in the growing romance between the two main characters and even found myself invested in the outcome of their pairing (which says a lot when you know going in that they will be getting together, then there will be a falling out followed by a reconciliation).

Jane Austen, but make it gay!

One of the things McLeod did so well with this adaptation was she managed to emulate Austen’s witty voice in a way that made it comprehensible to modern readers. It truly feels like you are reading an Austen novel at points.

Mary Bennet and Charlotte Lucas make an undeniably appealing couple. They’re both relatively overlooked in the original work, each of them getting a far less happy ending than Lizzie or Jane. But them being overlooked is what made them excellent subjects for an adaptation, particularly a queer adaptation. Charlotte, who definitely read as queer-coded when I read Pride and Prejudice, being closeted and completely unaware of what else is possible in life worked so well. And because she was unaware, it allowed for lots of stolen glances and moments of unexplainable heart racing and instantly being able to sniff out Mary in a crowded room, all of which made my gay ass SWOON. Don’t even get me started on the use of flower symbology — an excellent through-line for the whole novel.

The first three-quarters of the book are excellent; I will admit that the last quarter was a bit contrived in terms of the plot. Charlotte had the exact path forward, but she backs away on account of not wanting to shame her parents. This would have felt more of a difficult decision if the Lucases had been remotely important to the rest of the story. And, of course, they’re completely supportive of Charlotte taking a job, so the angst in the 11th hour was relatively unnecessary overall.

Despite the bizarre pacing and decisions that led to the ending, this book is truly a fun read. Austen addicts and romance readers alike will enjoy this story. There’s lot of good queer representation to be found here, as well as a well crafted love story.

I wanted to like this one but it all seemed too rushed for me. Everything came easy and I didn’t feel the conflict.

I was expecting a slow burn romance but the romance came quick and I feel it would have been better suited if it was slowed down and felt more earned.

Thanks to NetGallery and the publisher for this arc I. Exchange for my honest review.