Some very enjoyable well-written stories. Two were straight Darcy Elizabeth stories. A nice mix of characters from three of Jane Austen books in The Christmas Matchmaker, and a Mansfield Park short story which is a very rare treat. ( )

For reasons I won't get into here, I used to steer clear of all literary retellings and fan fiction based on iconic classics that were done so well. Even so, I jumped in to read Her Christmas Gift by author Robin Helm, a romantic holiday tale based on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.

You certainly should be familiar with the original novel before trying this novella, as the retelling wouldn't hold much significance or make the best sense on its own. I found myself visualizing most of the characters here as the actors who played the corresponding roles in thee best onscreen adaptation of the novel, the 1995 BBC miniseries.

Now, even with its short length, I felt that this read could have been shaved down and sharpened for pertinence and pacing. Also, the chunks of Elizabeth's italicized thoughts often seem more like careful, extended lines of narration than just a person's natural thoughts, and both Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy seem somewhat softer in this story than I picture their original characters.

Nevertheless, the novella does have its shining moments, some interesting further development of a character or two, and the warmth and festivity of Christmas. Worth checking out for fans of P&P retellings.

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What do you get when you mix Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, Emma, and Mansfield Park for the lead-up to Christmastide? You get The Christmas Matchmaker by author Laura Hile.

Wow! I wasn't expecting to like this Austen World mash-up so much, but I found the novella to be a refreshingly clever reimagining of paths for classic characters I know. (And, yes, you do have to know Austen's original characters already to truly appreciate what this read means.)

It all started out nicely enough, and I expected mild entertainment, but once a certain mysterious relative and the touch of the fantastical came into play... And, my, I even had some real laughs here and there, and then a little conspiracy began to heat up, and...

Well! Suffice it to say I was in for some surprises. I've not tried many, but so far, this is the most I've ever enjoyed a tale based on Austen's work.

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More than the two novellas preceding it, No Better Gift by Wendi Sotis felt to me like the middle of a story rather than a story on its own. That's fine, since I jumped in knowing what had come before already in Pride and Prejudice.

I appreciate the strength and wit to Elizabeth's character here. But where the romance comes into play, the sentimentality is overdone on Elizabeth's side as well as on Mr. Darcy's, Elizabeth's virtual 180 concerning her thoughts about Mr. Darcy is too fast, and the rush to bended knee and the mutual declaration of major feelings is indeed a huge rush.

The possibility of Elizabeth Bennet being a competent mistress of an estate, though? Quite easy to see in this story.

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Mistletoe at Thornton Lacey by Barbara Cornthwaite is a quick conclusion to this Austen-inspired collection.

This short story has a few letter case errors, and the plot won't give you a whole lot to go on if you haven't already been into the characters before and you aren't familiar with their situation already. But my previous experience with Mansfield Park made this simple read a fun little one for me. ( )