Nearly two full years later I finally got around to reading The Darcys and the Bingleys, and thankfully it was not at ALL what I expected. I mean it does help that Elizabeth and Darcy have a son named Geoffrey in this novel, so OF COURSE it’s going to get my vote! The blurb made me think this book might be more of a raunchy sequel to Pride and Prejudice, thankfully it was nowhere near as bad as I thought it might be. As this book has been on my bookshelf since December 2011, it counts as a bonus book for my 2013 Mount TBR reading challenge.
If I went with just what the back cover says (it’s actually factually wrong, which I find fascinating – I guess the book was edited after the writing of the blurb and it was not kept updated) I would’ve honestly believed this to be a raunchy sequel. It talks about Darcy and Bingley discovering the Kama Sutra and about Elizabeth and Jane eventually discovering it. Although this is true and all four of them are aware of the book and there are references to it here and there throughout the story, it is not the primary plot device. It only serves to get us through the wedding nights and then as a humorous interloper occasionally. I felt this novel could’ve been better without this crutch.
What a fun novel! I am so glad I stumbled across this novel and I cannot wait to read more of Syrie James’ works. I can’t remember where I first read about it or why I thought I had to read it, but I checked it out of the library last month and have waited patiently to read it as I trekked through 
It will not be a surprise to those of you who have followed this blog for sometime that I was able to maneuver a second read of Jane Austen into my calendar this year. It just happened to be the same I read back in January. If you really want a laugh, go read my fan-boy love letter to Austen for that response here. I’ve tried to rein it in a bit for this response, but let’s face it that’s not really going to happen.
As with 
I’m not sure about the rest of you, but in High School, one of my AP literature courses required that we learn a portion of the prologue in Middle English. Now rather than delight you all with a ridiculous video of me reciting it (I can still do the first 10-15 lines or so from memory), you’ll just have to use your imagination.