What if the younger Bennet girls’ wild ways were pointed out and corrected before they are introduced to Mr. Darcy?
When Mr. Carver leaves the neighborhood to keep his sisters from being harmed by the acquaintance of Lydia and Kitty Bennet, and some of the others in the neighborhood start cutting them, Elizabeth, Jane and Mary go to work to restore their good name. With a little positive attention, Kitty is quick to understand what’s going on and curb her behavior. However, Lydia is another story.
With Mr. Bennet off to Kent on some mysterious business with his cousin, Mr. Collins, the heir to Longbourn, and Mrs. Bennet confined to her rooms, this leaves the Bennet girls to manage the household accounts and to take care of the tenants. Their hardest job by far, is to keep Lydia from tarnishing their reputations even more.
When Mr. Pierce overhears a conversation between two young officers discussing their plans to elope with two of the local girls, he informs Elizabeth. Worried that Lydia might be one of the girls involved, Elizabeth does everything possible to keep Lydia safe.
I enjoyed this story very much! It is wonderful when Elizabeth realizes how she has never really taken an interest in her younger sisters. When she takes the time to talk to Kitty, she finds out how truly talented Kitty is with a thread and needle, and how Lydia makes life difficult for Kitty.
As in Darcy’s Decision, where Mr. Darcy is shaped and molded into a better person before he meets Elizabeth, the same is true in this book. Elizabeth and her family learn valuable lessons and begin to make changes before meeting Mr. Darcy. I really like this idea, and I can’t wait for Elizabeth and Darcy to finally get together! I wonder, what challenges they will have to overcome, if their pride and prejudices are already gone?
I’m really looking forward to Given Good Principles Volume 3!
I give this 4 out of 5 stars.
I was provided a copy of the book for review by the author.
Buy a copy here.
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About the Author:
Though Maria Grace has been writing fiction since she was ten years old, those early efforts happily reside in a file drawer and are unlikely to see the light of day again, for which many are grateful.
She has one husband, two graduate degrees and two black belts, three sons, four undergraduate majors, five nieces, six cats, seven Regency-era fiction projects and notes for eight more writing projects in progress. To round out the list, she cooks for nine in order to accommodate the growing boys and usually makes ten meals at a time so she only cooks twice a month.
Any thoughts? I would love to hear from you!
