The action takes place during Elizabeth's first Christmas at Pemberley. The Darcys are giving a ball and the Bennets, the Collinses, the Bingleys and some assorted neighbors are invited.  Eventually, Lady Catherine and Anne arrive uninvited.

The plot revolves around Charlotte Collins' flirtation with a widower who is a neighbor of the Darcys.  It is kind of a thin plot, but allows for a lot of interaction among characters we know and love.

Anne Hampson does a fair job with most of the characters.  They certainly seem more real than those in Desire and Duty and (God forbid) Pemberley.  However, they are all a little off.  Lizzy is much too strident and nasty about Lady Catherine and takes much too much satisfaction in seeing Darcy throw her out of the house.  She is also a little too submissive to Darcy.  Darcy, on the other hand, seesaws madly between steely and charming.  I think he may be bipolar.

I certainly preferred it Desire and Duty and Pemberley.  The plot is not as outlandish as Presumption and, but the writing is more Harlequin than Regency.  However, to one who always longs for more Pride and Prejudice, it was a quick and fun read.

Mrs Bennet is exceedingly annoying, though her husband tries to curb her somewhat.  Throughout, Mr Darcy is only coldly polite to Mrs Bennet and expresses his disdain for her openly to his wife.  In fact, Elizabeth shows little affection for her mother.

Mr Collins is ill during the entire visit.  It seems that his illnes is the result of wading into thigh high water to plant bullrushes for Lady Catherine at a time when the water and weather are not warm enough.  When Lady Catherine comes to pick up the Colllins for the return trip, she is even more rude to Elizabeth than she was during the famous visit at Longbourn.  And, Elizabeth gives as good as she gets.  As to be expected, their exchange is not nearly so entertaining, however.

I found Anne Hampson's Darcy to be a little overbearing; her Elizabeth to be too quick to express her ill opinions. All JA's characters that are present in this story, often do things that seem out of character to me.  However, they are still quite recognizable.

This book is a pretty quick and pleasant read.  It is not one of the best sequels that I have read, but it is worth a look see.

The Collinses arrive, being brought by Lady Catherine, who is going to stay with some friends who live nearby. Mr. Collins is ill and must be confined to his room for the majority of his stay at Pemberley, and his absence leaves Charlotte somewhat freer than she would normally be. She and Mr. Ashton quickly make friends and begin to spend quite a lot of time together. This is the basis for the major conflict of the novel, for Mr. Ashton and Charlotte have fallen in love. For fear of giving away the rest of the plot, I will say no more on that particular part of the story.

There are several small flaws in the book. The first and most irksome is the changing of Darcy's name to George Robert Fitzwilliam Darcy; throughout the book, Elizabeth calls him Robert. The author begins her story at Christmas, but then says the Darcys have been married five months, the Bingleys even longer, which does not quite match up with the timing (or with the double wedding) we are given in Pride and Prejudice. The detail of Lady Catherine bringing the Collinses to Pemberley then going on to stay with friends, then coming back to pick them up again bothered me because it seemed so out of character for Lady Catherine. But what bothered me even more was the way Elizabeth spoke to Lady Catherine, and how she afterwards expressed (to Jane, I think) how glad she would be if Lady Catherine did something which would make Darcy decide never to speak to Lady Catherine again. This is in direct contrast to what we're told in Pride and Prejudice, which is that it was at Elizabeth's urging that Darcy attempted to repair the rift with Lady Catherine in the first place.

All that having been said, I did find Pemberley Place a fun book to read. Darcy is stern, but with Elizabeth he is loving. The interest Elizabeth takes in renovating the cottages for their tenants is, I believe, true to character. The only other minor annoyances are that I don't think Mary would ever have giggled with Kitty and that a few of the plot problems are resolved without any description of the actual action. It was a quick and enjoyable read, and while not a prize-worthy work of fiction, it is certainly one of the less irritating of the sequels. If you can find it, by all means give it a try!