ISBN-13: 9780340923740Publisher: Hodder Paperbacks
Published: 2007
340 pgs
To you I shall say, as I have often said before,
'Do not be in a hurry, the right man will come at last.'
~ Jane Austen
(Extracted from Me and Mr Darcy)
I am sure fans of Jane Austen will know of this literary well-known couple, Elizabeth Benneth and Mr Darcy, in one of her novels Pride and Prejudice. In this book, author Alexandra Potter featured the famous Mr Darcy into her story and cleverly weaves a humorous yet romantic story of Emily Albright and her other self.
Emily is in her late twenties and works as a bookstore manager in New York. Being a true romantic and a big fan of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, she yearns for a relationship with a gentleman like Mr Darcy but alas, most of the men she met are either losers or are too self-centered.
Her subordinate, Stella, could not stand her losing faith in men and herself, thus she asked her along to a trip in Mexico so both of them could let their hair down and perhaps meet someone along the way. No doubt both women are good friends, she however does not share her younger subordinate's enthusiasm in fashion and views when it comes to men and relationship so she told her she had booked a Austen's literary tour to England as an escape. But the tour turns out to be a disappointment for her as the participants who signed up for the tour are mostly older ladies except a young, arrogant journalist who never fails to infuriate her throughout the whole trip.
Spike Hargreaves, on the other hand is perplexed over why Mr Darcy is being viewed as every woman's fantasy, thus he joined this literary tour as a chance to interview these participants for an article he writes for The Daily Times. Although the tour group fascinates him in a way, he is finding a hard time getting along well with Emily as it seems both of them are at loggerheads over some opinions they had for each other the moment their tour begins. Like a scene taken straight out from Pride and Prejudice, Spike thinks Emily is dull and average-looking, while Emily thinks Spike is nothing but an arrogant man who thinks he knows it all; and to complicate matters, it seems to Emily that Spike is also incorrigible and an unreasonable man based on an incident that involved one of their tour mates and the coach driver.
But as the tour continues and when Emily gets to meet the real Mr Darcy in a subconsciously manner, she could not help but compare him with Spike and towards the end, she will come to a conclusion that pride and prejudice are the factors that ruined her judgement on Spike and what she would do to overcome their differences.
Being a reader and fan of Pride of Prejudice, I find Me and Mr Darcy original and what's more, the bookstore setting and the tour the author described in this story made it a real pleasurable read (especially the museum visit). The subplot story of Stella and her so-called husband is another fun and delightful read. However, one of the things I find most enjoyable about this story is that the author had taken a different scenario and meaning of pride and prejudice and recreated it into a modern day love story. The author has also written another book, Be Careful What You Wish For and I will be looking forward to reading this in the near future.
Other blog review:
Hello, My Name Is Alice
Stephanie's Written Word
(Let me know if I have missed your review.)
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Thank you for your great review, Melody! This sounds like a fun book!
Great review, Melody! This is a fun book. I've also read the other one you mentioned, but I think Me and Mr Darcy was better. I hope you'll enjoy the other one and can't wait to hear your thoughts!
Wendy - It sure is a fun book! :)
Alice - You know, I really like the ending of Me and Mr Darcy. ;) I'll definitely look out for that other book. :)
A bookstore setting is certainly an added perk :) I'm glad you enjoyed it, Melody!
I read this book on a long flight last year (you can see my review here: http://thewrittenword.wordpress.com/2007/08/18/me-and-mr-darcy/) and found it to be a fun read.
This P&P spinoff seems to be more promising than others wing to the bookstore setting. I'll certainly keep my eye on it! Thanks for the awesome review. :)
Mel, this sounds like a fun twist on P&P. I LOVE the cover. It's really cool. I also love the name Stella. If we'd had another girl, I really wanted to use that name. My husband, not so much, so who knows which one of us would have won. It's moot now, because we're DONE having kids :)
Shana
Literarily
Nymeth - I love bookstores! So any books with a bookstore setting always intrigue me, hehe...
Stephanie - Thanks for the link! :)
Matt - I love reading anything on Elizabeth Benneth and Mr Darcy! There're a few sequels of them written by different authors so I'm hoping to read them if possible, hehe...
Shana - It's an enjoyable read! I'd laughed out loud a few times reading it, hehe. I agree Stella is a great name; I've a friend by that name too. ;)
There have been so many P&P spin offs lately that I haven't been sure how to pick one to read. I did receive The Darcys and The Bingleys in the mail the other day, but I think that is more of a sequel type book rather than a modern take. This one does sound cute--and especially fun with the museum and tour tie ins!
It's getting hard to keep track of all these P&P spin-offs :)
You know what's sort of kept me from them? The fact that I've never read P&P!! This one sounds cute and I'm a sucker for a bookstore setting so I'll keep this one on my radar! Glad to hear you enjoyed it Melody.
Trish - Oh, I too have that copy! I'm currently tied up with other books but I'll read it once I've cleared them. :)
Iliana - I agree! There're so many of them out there... ;) Oh, you should read P&P! It's one of my favourite Austen's books!
I'm definitely looking for this one when I go scour the bookstore tomorrow. I was so carried away by the election yesterday and I didn't go. One of the worst P&P spinoff is Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife. Based on the original, I would have expected the Darcys to have had a passionate marriage, but nothing so explicit as the author has depicted in this book. *sigh*
Glad to hear its a good one, Pride & Prejudice is one of my favorite books.
Great review!
http://thebookworm07.blogspot.com/
Matt - Oh great! I'm hoping you'd like it. :)
Naida - Thanks! :)
Great review, Melody! And I love Jane Austen books!
May see if I can find a copy of ME AND MR DARCY book
Thanks, Julia! :) I love Jane Austen's books too! I hope you'll like the book if you've the chance to read it.
Jane Austen is one of my favorite authors, but now I have to add Alexandra Potter to that list. This book is fabulous! If Jane Austen had lived in this century, this would be the story she would have written. This is a must-read for all of us who are waiting for our Mr. Darcy.