Review: "My Own Mr. Darcy" by Karey White

Non ricordo come sia venuta a conoscenza di questo libro, ma ricordo benissimo che per mesi ho seguito l’autrice su Twitter come promemoria di questa mia futura lettura. Come Janeites (ossia fan dei libri di Jane Austen), qualsiasi libro che vagamente tratta l’argomento attira la mia attenzione. Potevo forse farmi sfuggire questo? Ovviamente no!
Uscito nel luglio dell’anno scorso, fa ora parte (anche) di una raccolta di sette romanzi, chiamata “Romance through the Ages”, e che per ora è in promozione a soli 0.89 centesimi. Finora di questa raccolta ho letto anche un altro romanzo, “She owns the knight” di Diane Darcy, ma ve ne parlerò in un’altra recensione!

I do not remember how I became aware of this book, but I remember very well that for months I have been following the author on Twitter as a reminder of my future reading. As Janeites (ie fans of the books of Jane Austen), any book that loosely covers the subject catches my attention. I could maybe make me miss this? Of course not! Released in July of last year, is now (also) part of a collection of seven novels, called “Romance Through the Ages ”, and that is now in promotion for only 0.99 cents. So far of this collection I also read another novel,“She owns the knight” by Diane Darcy, but I’ll get into another review.

Title: My Own Mr. Darcy
Author: Karey White
Date of Publication: July 15th 2013
Language: English
Source: Purchased
Genre: Romance, Chick-lit, Clean Romance

After being dragged to the 2005 movie Pride and Prejudice by her mother, sixteen-year-old Elizabeth’s life changes when Matthew Macfadyen’s Mr. Darcy appears on the screen. Lizzie falls hard and makes a promise to herself that she will settle for nothing less than her own Mr. Darcy. This ill-advised pledge threatens to ruin any chance of finding true love. During the six intervening years, she has refused to give any interested suitors a chance. They weren’t Mr. Darcy enough. Coerced by her roommate, Elizabeth agrees to give the next interested guy ten dates before she dumps him. That guy is Chad, a kind and thoughtful science teacher and swim coach. While she’s dating Chad, her dream comes true in the form of a wealthy bookstore owner named Matt Dawson, who looks and acts like her Mr. Darcy. Of course she has to follow her dream. But as Elizabeth simultaneously dates a regular guy and the dazzling Mr. Dawson, she’s forced to re-evaluate what it was she loved about Mr. Darcy in the first place.

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When the sixteen year old Elizabeth is dragged by her mother to the screening of the film “Pride and Prejudice”, she can not explain what she is doing there, seeing a movie based on a novel that she does not care (and never read). Jane Austen’s world is so far from her world and the unbridled passion for her by her mother seems unjustified. Still, the simply appearing on the screen of Matthew Macfadyen (ie. Mr. Darcy), changes her life forever. She falls madly in love of his interpretation, of his Mr. Darcy, so different from those of the past in her eyes. Six years later, Mr. Darcy is still her ideal man, a standard certainly much higher than all the suitors who had so far. So when her best friend gets tired of seeing how any man was overshadowed without a real reason, poses a challenge: she have to date with the same guy ten times before she can say that is not for her. But will this be enough to change her mind? And when fate will test her making her know the perfect Mr. Darcy, what will she do?

These are more or less the premise of a delicious chick-lit perfect for all Janeites, who, like me, have always believed in seeing Mr. Darcy as the perfect man.

But is really Darcy the perfect man for us? We really know what we want and what it fits for us?
I have also asked me while I was reading the “adventures” of our protagonist committed to attracting the attention of Mr. Dawson, the man of her dreams, and go out with Chad, a guy who she normally would not have given another possibility. Her obsession with Mr. Darcy (with a continuous viewing of the film) and dissatisfaction with a job, that she never wanted, lead her to finally make a choice a bit obvious, but certainly right for her.
In some ways, I liked both the male characters, though certainly one has had the upper hand over the other (I will not say who to leave a little mystery and also because, in a book like this, do a spoiler would be awful). At times I wanted to be there to tell Lizzie who she had to choose and certainly to tell her to stop being so undecided. But, in general, it was fun to see her thoughts and her incessant questioning what was going on in the film to follow it perfectly.

“My Own Mr. Darcy” is a well-written chick-lit with a protagonist in search of true love, or rather the perfect Mr. Darcy, able to make her happy as he has done with his Elizabeth.
A must read if you’re a fan of “Pride and Prejudice”.

Rating:

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In italiano

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