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Um Homem Como o Sr. Darcy
Os sonhos podem tornar-se realidade nesta comédia romântica sobre o solteiro mais cobiçado da literatura…
Depois de uma série de encontros desastrosos, Emily decide que os homens modernos já tiveram a sua oportunidade. Agora, ela quer passar o seu tempo a ler Orgulho e Preconceito e a sonhar com o Sr. Darcy, o elegante e apaixonado herói de Jane Austen.
Quando a sua melhor amiga a convida para uma semana de margaritas no México, Emily prefere fugir para Inglaterra, onde se inscreve numa excursão pelos locais do clássico de Austen. Mas aqui não há homens de sonho, e os seus companheiros de viagem estão longe de fazer sonhar com romance – um grupo de velhotas tagarelas e um homem, Spike Hargreaves, um jornalista temperamental que está a escrever um artigo sobre a razão de a maioria das mulheres ter uma paixão pelo Sr. Darcy.
É então que Emily entra num quarto e se vê face a face com… o próprio Sr. Darcy. E, de repente, as fantasias de todas as mulheres tornam-se a realidade de Emily.
Depois de uma série de encontros desastrosos, Emily decide que os homens modernos já tiveram a sua oportunidade. Agora, ela quer passar o seu tempo a ler Orgulho e Preconceito e a sonhar com o Sr. Darcy, o elegante e apaixonado herói de Jane Austen.
Quando a sua melhor amiga a convida para uma semana de margaritas no México, Emily prefere fugir para Inglaterra, onde se inscreve numa excursão pelos locais do clássico de Austen. Mas aqui não há homens de sonho, e os seus companheiros de viagem estão longe de fazer sonhar com romance – um grupo de velhotas tagarelas e um homem, Spike Hargreaves, um jornalista temperamental que está a escrever um artigo sobre a razão de a maioria das mulheres ter uma paixão pelo Sr. Darcy.
É então que Emily entra num quarto e se vê face a face com… o próprio Sr. Darcy. E, de repente, as fantasias de todas as mulheres tornam-se a realidade de Emily.
320 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2007
288 people are currently reading
11200 people want to read
About the author
Alexandra Potter
27 books2,337 followersAlexandra Potter is the best-selling author of fourteen romantic comedy fiction novels including Confessions of a Forty-Something F##k Up (which is now the basis of a major US TV show, NOT DEAD YET on ABC, Hulu and Disney+) MORE Confessions of a Forty-Something F##k Up and One Good Thing. These titles have been published in twenty-five territories and have sold millions of copies worldwide (making the bestseller charts in the UK, Germany, Czech Republic, Slovenia and Serbia).
Yorkshire born and raised, Alexandra lives in London with her Californian husband and their Bosnian rescue dog. When she's not writing or travelling, she's getting out into nature, trying not to look at her phone and navigating this thing called mid-life.
https//www.instagram.com/alexandrapotter
https://www.facebook.com/Alexandra.Po...
Yorkshire born and raised, Alexandra lives in London with her Californian husband and their Bosnian rescue dog. When she's not writing or travelling, she's getting out into nature, trying not to look at her phone and navigating this thing called mid-life.
https//www.instagram.com/alexandrapotter
https://www.facebook.com/Alexandra.Po...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,487 reviews
October 10, 2007
On page 36, the main character, a well-read, moderately intelligent, 29 year old Austenophile, is walking through Heathrow, and wondering what on earth all these silly British people are talking about. "Snogging? Blokes? Crimey?"
And that's when I put it down.
And that's when I put it down.
May 29, 2009
So. So. SO… I wish I could give this book more stars because the author was clearly full of good intentions and I hate being a bitch to nice people with good intentions, you know? But this book, despite being a nice, enjoyable summer read, has too many things which are wrong wrong wrong. I don’t even know where to start.
I’ve never been into chick lit. I mean, I do love ‘Bridget Jones’ but that’s as far as it goes really. Unless you count classics like “Pride & Prejudice” as chick lit, then fair enough. Anyway, I got “Me & Mr Darcy” as a birthday present after adding it to my Amazon list. “Pride & Prejudice” is one of my favourite classics, and I was looking for some more Mr Darcy to keep the fantasy going. The summary for this book seemed nice enough, and I was secretly jealous of the very pretty girl on the cover, so I went for this one.
At first I really enjoyed it. It was an easy read - something I’m not really used to – and interesting enough. But then she started quoting excerpts of “Pride and Prejudice” and it annoyed me a little. Especially since it was followed right after by a completely similar experience for Emily, the main character, I had a feeling that the author expected me to be stupid and not understand the parallel by myself.
Emily. She works at a book shop and claims to be a bookworm. Mmm… Thing is, throughout the whole book she sounds like a total idiot. She gets annoyed whenever someone assumes she is stupid because she is American, but to be honest it is not far from the truth at all is it? I don’t think there’s any depth to her character. She really seemed empty and superficial to me. Perhaps it’s a cliché, but I would expect someone who says they read a lot to be slightly more intelligent.
Then you’ve got Spike. How are you supposed to go from a detestable man to a man who’s not perfect but still perfect in his own way anyway? I thought the transition was pretty quick from one extreme to the other, and the harsh description of Spike made it very hard to suddenly like him. He sounded more ridiculous than sweet.
Finally, the whole Mr Darcy daydreaming was really odd. It was almost uncomfortable. It made me cringe too, because Mr Darcy sounded quite silly at times – and Emily sounded like the cool person which she herself claims not to be – and I don’t feel that’s the way Jane Austen described him. He was proud and brooding, yes, but well-educated. I just cannot picture Mr Darcy throwing rocks at a window to catch a woman’s attention. Moreover, the whole ‘is it true / is it not?’ plot was kind of awkward.
On the whole, and contrary to appearances, I don't think it was that bad a book. It could have been much worse. But the original novel is such a classic that I don’t think that it could work. If the book was not so obviously linked to “Pride & Prejudice”, I’m sure I would have made a shorter list for what I do not like. But here I cannot help but compare it to the Jane Austen novel and of course it’s not as good. Maybe the solution would be for the Austen fans like me to stop wishing for a sequel, to admit that Mr Darcy’s and Elizabeth’s lives stopped when Jane Austen wrote down the last full stop and that it is up to our imagination to come up with our sequels. And stop buying “Pride & Prejudice”-related books.
I’ve never been into chick lit. I mean, I do love ‘Bridget Jones’ but that’s as far as it goes really. Unless you count classics like “Pride & Prejudice” as chick lit, then fair enough. Anyway, I got “Me & Mr Darcy” as a birthday present after adding it to my Amazon list. “Pride & Prejudice” is one of my favourite classics, and I was looking for some more Mr Darcy to keep the fantasy going. The summary for this book seemed nice enough, and I was secretly jealous of the very pretty girl on the cover, so I went for this one.
At first I really enjoyed it. It was an easy read - something I’m not really used to – and interesting enough. But then she started quoting excerpts of “Pride and Prejudice” and it annoyed me a little. Especially since it was followed right after by a completely similar experience for Emily, the main character, I had a feeling that the author expected me to be stupid and not understand the parallel by myself.
Emily. She works at a book shop and claims to be a bookworm. Mmm… Thing is, throughout the whole book she sounds like a total idiot. She gets annoyed whenever someone assumes she is stupid because she is American, but to be honest it is not far from the truth at all is it? I don’t think there’s any depth to her character. She really seemed empty and superficial to me. Perhaps it’s a cliché, but I would expect someone who says they read a lot to be slightly more intelligent.
Then you’ve got Spike. How are you supposed to go from a detestable man to a man who’s not perfect but still perfect in his own way anyway? I thought the transition was pretty quick from one extreme to the other, and the harsh description of Spike made it very hard to suddenly like him. He sounded more ridiculous than sweet.
Finally, the whole Mr Darcy daydreaming was really odd. It was almost uncomfortable. It made me cringe too, because Mr Darcy sounded quite silly at times – and Emily sounded like the cool person which she herself claims not to be – and I don’t feel that’s the way Jane Austen described him. He was proud and brooding, yes, but well-educated. I just cannot picture Mr Darcy throwing rocks at a window to catch a woman’s attention. Moreover, the whole ‘is it true / is it not?’ plot was kind of awkward.
On the whole, and contrary to appearances, I don't think it was that bad a book. It could have been much worse. But the original novel is such a classic that I don’t think that it could work. If the book was not so obviously linked to “Pride & Prejudice”, I’m sure I would have made a shorter list for what I do not like. But here I cannot help but compare it to the Jane Austen novel and of course it’s not as good. Maybe the solution would be for the Austen fans like me to stop wishing for a sequel, to admit that Mr Darcy’s and Elizabeth’s lives stopped when Jane Austen wrote down the last full stop and that it is up to our imagination to come up with our sequels. And stop buying “Pride & Prejudice”-related books.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 17, 2008
The best thing about this book so far is the dark chocolate bar I bought with it in the airport bookstore. Am about halfway through it and the words of the guy in the bookstore who sold it to me are haunting me ... "we've sold, like, a thousand copies of this book in the last week!" I am in mourning for my twelve dollars. I was an English Major and a huge Jane Austen fan, and this book is making me cringe, all the more so because I started it just after finishing Three Cups of Tea, such a meaningful, significant, wonderful book.
Okay, just finished it. The heroine is an idiot. Lame attempts to make her a modern day heroine a la Bridget Jones fall completely flat, not the least of which is the liberal use of profanity in the book ... totally out of character for a self-professed book lover and manager of a bookstore. Don't even get me started on her ridiculous conversations with "Mr. Darcy" ... did she actually get surprised, then huffy and up in arms about Mr. Darcy's dismay that she has a JOB? No Austen-lover would have so little awareness or understanding of the mores of the period in which P&P took place. Tip for the author: don't sprinkle quotes from the real thing into your novel, they only highlight the comparison between Jane Austen's writing and your own.
I seem cursed to buy only horrible books in airport bookstores. That's it. When in an airport bookstore I am forbidding myself from buying anything but Stephanie Plum and Tony Hillerman mysteries.
Okay, enough bitching. Off to try and recover those lost six hours of my life by being super-productive today.
Okay, just finished it. The heroine is an idiot. Lame attempts to make her a modern day heroine a la Bridget Jones fall completely flat, not the least of which is the liberal use of profanity in the book ... totally out of character for a self-professed book lover and manager of a bookstore. Don't even get me started on her ridiculous conversations with "Mr. Darcy" ... did she actually get surprised, then huffy and up in arms about Mr. Darcy's dismay that she has a JOB? No Austen-lover would have so little awareness or understanding of the mores of the period in which P&P took place. Tip for the author: don't sprinkle quotes from the real thing into your novel, they only highlight the comparison between Jane Austen's writing and your own.
I seem cursed to buy only horrible books in airport bookstores. That's it. When in an airport bookstore I am forbidding myself from buying anything but Stephanie Plum and Tony Hillerman mysteries.
Okay, enough bitching. Off to try and recover those lost six hours of my life by being super-productive today.
did-not-finish
June 5, 201032 pages in, and just...
no
. <finality.>>
Poor Jane must be hurling with all the revolutions she's made in her grave over this farce.
Jane, I solemnly swear I won't read another book trying to ride the coattails of your glorious pen.
May Lady Catherine strike me dead if I do.
Amen.
****An Important Review Disclaimer:
Strictly speaking, pens don't possess coattails, but you're astute enough to get my drift.
Poor Jane must be hurling with all the revolutions she's made in her grave over this farce.
Jane, I solemnly swear I won't read another book trying to ride the coattails of your glorious pen.
May Lady Catherine strike me dead if I do.
Amen.
****An Important Review Disclaimer:
Strictly speaking, pens don't possess coattails, but you're astute enough to get my drift.
November 2, 2007
As an unashamed FOJ (friend of Jane) and a diehard fan of Pride and Prejudice in particular, I am often compelled to read contemporary retellings, spinoffs, and homages out of the same primal urge that leads other people to sneak a look at the car wreck on the side of the road. The end result is never pretty and I feel bad about myself afterward, but I do it anyway. This book brought no pleasant surprises, in spite of what initially seemed to be a fresh angle. What I thought was something quite different turned out to be just another modernization of the P & P story, only with a supernatural element thrown in, possibly in a stab at humor but unfortunately not entirely succeeding in this aim. The modern Darcy equivalent was fairly entertaining, colorful, and (thank goodness) not another fictionalized Colin Firth--which made it that much more disappointing when the character is obligated to write the requisite mea culpa e-mail (it's modern!) that stretches the reader's credulity to the breaking point for several reasons--not the least of which is that it sounds nothing like him. Truth be told, I'm not sure anyone could pull off that plot device today when unhappily, letter writing is a lost art, so it's hard to hold that against the author (Alexandra Potter)too much. In fact, I forgive her the whole thing actually because what is clear from the abundance of good intentions in this book, is that Potter really is a true Jane Austen fan and (to borrow from another literary hero of mine) we've all at some point or another been guilty of loving not too wisely, but too well.
October 2, 2011
I think I am going to be in the minority with this book. I ended up liking it. I thought the book was funny, enjoyable to read and really took the moral home.
As most know, Potter is English. At first, I thought Potter did a good job writing as an American. And overall, I don't think she did a very bad job. There were just some things where you could tell a Brit was trying to act American. After reading some reviews on the book, I think this fact bothered some readers. It didn't really bother me, but I can see their point.
The things that bothered me about the book were the language and the mention of smoking marijuana. While Potter incorporated smoking and made it funny, it was unusal for the things that I typically read, so not my favorite, for sure. I understand the language part because of Potter being a Brit, but it still wasn't fun to see and read over the F bomb a lot. The last thing that I thought could have been better, was the parts where Potter took the rejection scene and entered it into her book. I felt she did a pretty good job making it her own, but would have liked to see less of Austen's words.
The things I really liked about the book were the humor and how Potter really laid out the moral of P&P right up in your face. I think sometimes we all need to be reminded that prejudice and pride hinder us in our lives. It is so easy to judge people. Kinda makes me want to chill and figure people out before I decide whether or not I like them or not. Although Potter really harped on the moral, I think what she did worked.
Overall, I ended up really liking this book. I liked Potter's writing and I think she was very imaginative and funny.
Content: Strong language.(this was very unfortunate), and drugs.
As most know, Potter is English. At first, I thought Potter did a good job writing as an American. And overall, I don't think she did a very bad job. There were just some things where you could tell a Brit was trying to act American. After reading some reviews on the book, I think this fact bothered some readers. It didn't really bother me, but I can see their point.
The things that bothered me about the book were the language and the mention of smoking marijuana. While Potter incorporated smoking and made it funny, it was unusal for the things that I typically read, so not my favorite, for sure. I understand the language part because of Potter being a Brit, but it still wasn't fun to see and read over the F bomb a lot. The last thing that I thought could have been better, was the parts where Potter took the rejection scene and entered it into her book. I felt she did a pretty good job making it her own, but would have liked to see less of Austen's words.
The things I really liked about the book were the humor and how Potter really laid out the moral of P&P right up in your face. I think sometimes we all need to be reminded that prejudice and pride hinder us in our lives. It is so easy to judge people. Kinda makes me want to chill and figure people out before I decide whether or not I like them or not. Although Potter really harped on the moral, I think what she did worked.
Overall, I ended up really liking this book. I liked Potter's writing and I think she was very imaginative and funny.
Content: Strong language.(this was very unfortunate), and drugs.
February 9, 2016
June,2015
Guess what I bought yesterday.♥
July,2015
REVIEW:
Have I already told you how freaking much I love Alexandra Potter?She's awesome.This book was so fun to read!I loved the main character,the setting,the supporting characters(old ladies are gold♥),the ending.Alex's writing is fantastic as always-so many funny and awkward monologues and dialogues,so many unique situations,so many stories within one book.Also,a great message-people always want everything to be perfect,but sometimes beauty is in imperfections.
*** Reading this for Addicted to Ink's July #inkathon.
Theme: Standalones
Guess what I bought yesterday.♥
July,2015
REVIEW:
Have I already told you how freaking much I love Alexandra Potter?She's awesome.This book was so fun to read!I loved the main character,the setting,the supporting characters(old ladies are gold♥),the ending.Alex's writing is fantastic as always-so many funny and awkward monologues and dialogues,so many unique situations,so many stories within one book.Also,a great message-people always want everything to be perfect,but sometimes beauty is in imperfections.
*** Reading this for Addicted to Ink's July #inkathon.
Theme: Standalones
April 3, 2018
A cute fun read, plus you can't go wrong when the main character works in a bookstore or library!
March 11, 2010
I knew I wouldn't like this book the second I realized its goal was to convince me that Mr. Darcy is not all he's cracked up to be.
"The only problem is, how on earth do you break up with Mr. Darcy?" (p. 301)
You don't. And especially not to go out with a guy who calls you a "bitch" while you call him an "asshole" while you're drunk and high. Maybe this girl should start reading V.C. Andrews or something.
I just think that trying to convince women who are infatuated with Mr. Darcy that if they met him in real life he would be so repressed and brooding that it would be a turn off is a dumb plan. She's not attracted to Mr. Darcy because she can't eat like a pig around him... really? Isn't that part of his charm and the charm of the times? It's not just Mr. Darcy but the manners and the culture in Pride and Prejudice that attract women to the story.
Otherwise the way the story completely paralleled Pride and Prejudice and she didn't catch on until the end just seemed so contrived and silly. Really when the tour guide's name was an anagram for "Jane Austen" I just about lost it laughing at the endless cliches.
Also I felt the book didn't need to hit you over the head with all the pop culture references in order to seem relevant. Crackberries, LOST, Jerry McGuire, etc.
And Elizabeth Bennet had a lot of personality and that's what attracted Mr. Darcy to her. I have no idea what attracted Mr. Darcy or even Spike for that matter to Emily- she was always making a fool of herself and complaining. She always seemed to be portrayed in the worst light: her clothes, always drunk or high and always falling down or sticking her foot in her mouth. It was painful to read. I kept waiting for her to finally hold it together for a whole page.
"The only problem is, how on earth do you break up with Mr. Darcy?" (p. 301)
You don't. And especially not to go out with a guy who calls you a "bitch" while you call him an "asshole" while you're drunk and high. Maybe this girl should start reading V.C. Andrews or something.
I just think that trying to convince women who are infatuated with Mr. Darcy that if they met him in real life he would be so repressed and brooding that it would be a turn off is a dumb plan. She's not attracted to Mr. Darcy because she can't eat like a pig around him... really? Isn't that part of his charm and the charm of the times? It's not just Mr. Darcy but the manners and the culture in Pride and Prejudice that attract women to the story.
Otherwise the way the story completely paralleled Pride and Prejudice and she didn't catch on until the end just seemed so contrived and silly. Really when the tour guide's name was an anagram for "Jane Austen" I just about lost it laughing at the endless cliches.
Also I felt the book didn't need to hit you over the head with all the pop culture references in order to seem relevant. Crackberries, LOST, Jerry McGuire, etc.
And Elizabeth Bennet had a lot of personality and that's what attracted Mr. Darcy to her. I have no idea what attracted Mr. Darcy or even Spike for that matter to Emily- she was always making a fool of herself and complaining. She always seemed to be portrayed in the worst light: her clothes, always drunk or high and always falling down or sticking her foot in her mouth. It was painful to read. I kept waiting for her to finally hold it together for a whole page.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 4, 2011
Despite being against the strong majority, I found this book is an enjoyable read. Maybe because I'm neither a Brit or American as they called it. This is such an easy read, so much humour, and such a realistic approach even though it may sound unrealistic for the fact that Emily found her true love within a week time but who cares?
The novel revolved around Emily who was trying to make an escapade from being dragged by her friend Stella, and she went for a book tour instead. Despite the first part, where everything seemed a bit boring since most of her companions on the trip are the elderly, she established long lasting friendship with them. There are the yoga instructor, there's a lady who has a secret that was kept too long till it becomes unbearable, and then the star who's almost forgotten, and even a lawyer from a top performing firm. Life couldn't be more interesting with the inclusion of Spike on which Emily started hating on first sight.
There are magical elements (well, it's a fiction, so anyone can write anything) of Emily meeting Mr Darcy. For me, I would definitely fall head over heels with Mr Darcy, because he's a perfect man despite being arrogant sometimes. But...there's a romantic feeling of being courted by him with no attempt on sexual advances (no kissing what so ever). That's a gentleman through & through.
The author writes with such a flair that tickles me to the bone. It's funny!
Still, the annoying part would be Emily smoked a pot (I think this part could be forgone).
But still, it's a minor and doesn't impact the storyline.
The novel revolved around Emily who was trying to make an escapade from being dragged by her friend Stella, and she went for a book tour instead. Despite the first part, where everything seemed a bit boring since most of her companions on the trip are the elderly, she established long lasting friendship with them. There are the yoga instructor, there's a lady who has a secret that was kept too long till it becomes unbearable, and then the star who's almost forgotten, and even a lawyer from a top performing firm. Life couldn't be more interesting with the inclusion of Spike on which Emily started hating on first sight.
There are magical elements (well, it's a fiction, so anyone can write anything) of Emily meeting Mr Darcy. For me, I would definitely fall head over heels with Mr Darcy, because he's a perfect man despite being arrogant sometimes. But...there's a romantic feeling of being courted by him with no attempt on sexual advances (no kissing what so ever). That's a gentleman through & through.
The author writes with such a flair that tickles me to the bone. It's funny!
Still, the annoying part would be Emily smoked a pot (I think this part could be forgone).
But still, it's a minor and doesn't impact the storyline.
Read
July 8, 2008I was assigned to read this book for a class and I've tried more than once to finish it and can't get through the first 30 pages. I don't appreciate the foul language, feel it's really a shallow "chick lit" plot, and even the interesting characters don't provide enough redeeming value to make this worth my time to read it. I'd recommend choosing something else!
I'm happy to sell my copy, but don't really want to benefit from it or have anyone else waste their money either!
I'm happy to sell my copy, but don't really want to benefit from it or have anyone else waste their money either!
Read
January 5, 2010I read the awful reviews. And yet I wanted to read it anyway. Well, you know what they say about hindsight....[return][return]To be fair, I did read it with an open mind and expected a fluffy, funny story poking fun at the Darcy fantasy. Instead, the words "epic fail" flashed in my mind. I'm not even sure where to start. Let's try the plot, since there's at least a bit of that, although Potter has Jane Austen to thank for it, since her characters' actions somewhat mirror the literary legend's.[return][return]New Yorker Emily is a mild-mannered bookshop manager -- too mild-mannered according to her best friend Stella, who arranged for the two of them to go on a party vacation in Mexico. To deflect the horror of wet t-shirt contests, Emily flies off to England for a "Pride and Prejudice" book tour... and lands in the horror of being the only one on the bus not eligible for a senior citizen's discount. Well, the only one except for Spike, an arrogant journalist sentenced to write an article on why women are fascinated with Mr. Darcy. Emily and Spike clash from the start, but that suits her fine since she remarkably finds herself face-to-face with Mr. Darcy himself, yes THE fictional character come to life! In between meetings with her literary lover, Emily comes to learn that things are not at all what they seem: from the seniors with secret pasts to Spike himelf. Even Mr. Darcy comes to be not at all what Emily imagined. [return][return]Now if Potter's novel were as interesting as the above summary, I would have given it a few more stars. However, the author managed to muck it all up thanks to poor writing and a narrative style I'd like to call "first person self-concious." We are privy to every thought in Emily's head, and they are, for the most part, hideously inane and annoying. Dialogue is certainly not Potter's strong point, and it was embarrassingly awful to read Emily replying "awesome" to whatever was said by an unfased Darcy. Conversations were stilted, and Emily never sounded smart in any of them. For someone who supposedly read a lot, she was a pretty dim bulb.[return][return]The other characters, with a few exceptions, were terribly contrived as well. There's Stella who is so abrasive, self-centered, and mean in the first few chapters, that I wondered how this shrew got to be Emily's best friend? Well, she didn't seem to have any others, I guess. Then there's Spike, who's supposed to be Emily's real-life Mr. Darcy counterpart. Potter could just not stop describing how disgusting his hairy potbelly was in the beginning, that it ruined any chance to romanticize the character. It's just as well, since Emily is so poorly contrived that we're not missing out by having her romance fall flat.[return][return]As for Mr. Darcy... did Alexandra Potter and I read the same copy of "Pride and Prejudice"? Apparently, Potter's Darcy thinks nothing of unchaperoned ladies traipsing about hungover and stoned with skin exposed and dropping expletives and "awesome!" in conversation. And apparently he stares a lot, too. Oh, and Emily, a supposedly educated and voracious reader, is actually shocked when she learns that Mr. Darcy thinks only lower-class women work. I wanted to scream, "Do you know nothing about the time period of your favorite novel, you dunce?!" No, instead she tells off her fantasy fictional lover for having the audacity not to know about the Women's Rights Movement that doesn't exist in his world. Potter bungles the Darcy scenes so badly, that the conceit of him proposing to Emily only heightens the ridiculousness of it all. In the Internet world, this is what's known as a "Mary Sue" fanfic.[return][return]And a side note to Alexandra Potter: If you're going to make your character so intrinsicly American that the phrase "fish and chips" utterly befuddles her, then don't have her peppering her thoughts and speech with Brit slang. [return][return]So is there anything good about this book? Well, I enjoyed the characters of Emily's travel companions Maeve and Rose. Although the characters have to fight against Potter's awful dialogue, they are firmly the most interesting characters in the novel. Sadly, they do not redeem the novel enough to make it readable. And Spike's article on Mr. Darcy at the end is pretty good, but it's sad that he only get a personality right before the book is over. [return][return]This was a painful read, but I have this thing about having to finish books once I start them. However, I was sorely tempted to break this personal rule with each awful chapter. I know the book summary is certain to pique your curiosity, but be strong and stay away! The novel fails to follow through on anything interesting enough to make the reading worth it. How sad for the author that the only way she can lure potential readers in is to ride Jane Austen's coattails. But there are other novels that incorporate "Pride and Prejudice" into a modern setting that are much more worth your time. Since this is by far the worst I've read, I'd say any one of them would do better.
November 10, 2024
3,5 estrelas
October 1, 2014
Yuck. That's really how I felt about this book(I will do my nest to review with no spoilers). I enjoyed the first 80 or so pages (the ones before she left New York), but after that this book really fell flat. I felt as if this could have been a cute, if some what done, book. But Ms. Potter just made the characters so unlikeable (to me at least). The best friend Stella was so shallow that I really found noting to like about her except her marriage. The journalist, Spike, sounded nothing like an ideal man. I remember in the book he was at first described as having a "beer stomach" and later "love handles" with corduroy patched jacket and smoking a ton. He kept a string a French girlfriends and fighting with them because it was easier than having a real "feeling" relationship. Now later in the book it almost seems Potter decides to backtrack and make him better. She never mentions his smoking again. He starts to rescue the main character and he tells of how he & his family were wronged and he fixed it. I just had so many problems with this character. Now, the main character Emily. She was likable enough, but she seemed so stupid. What does "crickey" mean, what is topshop, maybe I can just move this barrier in a museum and sit down at a 200 year old desk. I just felt that she was too dumb, but then we were also supposed to believe she was a "strong, independent woman". She didn't really seem like she could be both to me. Overall very disappointing book!
June 7, 2010
I was horribly, HORRIBLY annoyed by the narrator (who was meant to be an American) speaking like an English girl. I get it, the author is British, but isn't that what editors are for? Why didn't someone step in and say that that just isn't how American's talk. Then she'd oh-so-wittily throw in an Oh, look, I've just called the sidewalk a pavement, I'm really learning how to speak like a Brit. Hehehe!!
She thought that she was so witty, so clever. But really? Not so much. At all. The Kate and Leopold reference (really, copying isn't made better when you mention your source), the fact that there was a joke about his middle name but no mention of the readers needing to take a romantic male lead called SPIKE seriously, and the closing in which the modern day Mr. Darcy proclaims himself as real... wait. What? Yeah. And the random unnecessary bits of parental drama, these things annoyed me, but not nearly as much as the American narrator's voice clearly not being American.
She thought that she was so witty, so clever. But really? Not so much. At all. The Kate and Leopold reference (really, copying isn't made better when you mention your source), the fact that there was a joke about his middle name but no mention of the readers needing to take a romantic male lead called SPIKE seriously, and the closing in which the modern day Mr. Darcy proclaims himself as real... wait. What? Yeah. And the random unnecessary bits of parental drama, these things annoyed me, but not nearly as much as the American narrator's voice clearly not being American.
August 20, 2022
Wieso werden bei "austenischen" Büchern stets die Handlungsstränge ihrer Bücher recyclet? Das macht die Bücher einfach so vorhersehbar! Warum kann man nicht einfach eine Jane Austen Leserin mal etwas neues erleben? Hier bei "Me and Mr. Darcy" werden wenigstens nicht alle genau gleich übernommen, aber dennoch das grobe Schema. Kleine Details lösten sich sogar anders auf, als ich gedacht hätte. Die Einbeziehung von den verschiedenen Austen Stätten fand ich am Besten. Eigentlich plante ich dem Buch drei Sterne zu geben, aber nach der die Sache mit Miss Steane konnte ich das beim besten Willen nicht. Das war einfach zu kitschig und unnötig.
September 5, 2019
this was really cute, a sweet retelling type thing about Mr Darcy and finding the perfect man ❤
July 14, 2025
A fun, adult fairytale that cleverly echoes an old classic.
January 16, 2026
main character: *gasp* what if what is happening to me on this book tour is an exact parallel of the events of Pride & Prejudice??
me, 300 pages ago: well done hun
me, 300 pages ago: well done hun
August 6, 2019
1,5 stars
I admit I bought this book because of Mr. Darcy. I was looking for a light, easy read to get my out of my slump and in a way it was just that. But when I say light and easy I DON'T mean predictable and dumb. And this book... Oh boy.
(just a quick warning: I am spoiling the whole book down below, so if you want to read it - please don't - you better stop reading after this paragraph. But to be honest, if you've read Pride and Prejudice then these aren't really spoilers anyway because this is basically just a trash modern-day version of Pride and Prejudice, sooooo...)
We start out with our main character, Emily, a hopeless romantic bookstore owner who decides after a string of bad dates to just swear off men in general. Her friends are going on a party trip over New year's and, desperately looking for an excuse not to go, Emily books a Jane Austen tour in England and travels there over New years instead.
She then meets Spike, a journalist who is forced on the trip by his editor and starts interviewing all of the tour participants on why they think Mr. Darcy is the perfect man. And (shocker) Emily and Spike hate each other. In fact, Emily overhears Spike talking about her on the tour bus and (shocker) it sounds something like Mr. Darcy's famous "barely tolerable" / "not enough to tempt me" remark about Elizabeth in Pride and Prejudice.
Then Emily (and this is the part where it goes from predictable to stupid) meets Mr. Darcy. No I am not kidding. Yes this really did happen. And then she keeps meeting him but only when she's alone, is drunk, has a concussion or smokes weed. And she goes on dates with him and everything. Ugh.
And of course, no romance novel can apparently exist without some kind of villain. Hence the bad copy of the whole Mr. Darcy and Mr. Wickham scenario. I get that the author wanted to create parallels between her book and Pride and Prejudice but it got to the point where it was too much. WAY TOO MUCH.
And then the ending... What? I thought that maybe there would be a smart explanation to the whole Emily meeting Mr Darcy thing but NO. He apparently was the real character come to life. And the whole ordeal was orchestrated by none other than Jane Austen herself (aka the tour guide). Which is like.... Come on. The MC herself states that some of the people on the tour are superfans. You'd think one of them would know what Jane Austen looked like. And if the tour guide bore such similarities, why did nobody tell her that? Why did nobody notice? And then, although all of this is incredibly strange, Emily decides that she doesn't care what was real and what wasn't because she learnt something from it.
What hurt me most is that the author painted such a black and white image of Mr
Darcy. In the end he was depicted to be an absolute ass. That is the only thing she didn't copy from the original and tbh... She could have spared us that. First she takes an incredibly popular and well-known fictional character to lure fans of the og into buying her book and then she takes such a beautifully complicated onion character and draws him the only way she can: a preschoolers stick figure. Offended. I am offended by this.
Emily is supposed to be such a well-educated woman, smart, loves books and yet she is infuriated by Mr. Darcy's worldview. I mean... What did you expect? He's from a DIFFERENT TIME YOU MORON. And what I also do not understand is the fact that Mr. Darcy was actually incredibly progressive for his time - if he weren't, he wouldn't have fallen in love with Elisabeth. So when the author of this book just lays worldviews into his mouth (because most people thought like that in the Austen-Era) I seriously doubted that Mr. Darcy really thought all of that. Imagine reading this book without knowing Pride and Prejudice. I would have such a twisted impression of Mr. Darcy's character. Because the fact is - the author didn't even come close to capturing his character. Which, in hindsight, doesn't surprise me. None of her own characters were remotely three dimensional, well written or original in any way. They did not intrigue me. Because it was obvious what was going to happen and how they were going to act.
This book pulled me out of my slump. And not in an "excited for the next book" - kind of way but more in an angry rage. I feel annoyed that I spent 12 euros on this (ahem) disaster of a book.
I admit I bought this book because of Mr. Darcy. I was looking for a light, easy read to get my out of my slump and in a way it was just that. But when I say light and easy I DON'T mean predictable and dumb. And this book... Oh boy.
(just a quick warning: I am spoiling the whole book down below, so if you want to read it - please don't - you better stop reading after this paragraph. But to be honest, if you've read Pride and Prejudice then these aren't really spoilers anyway because this is basically just a trash modern-day version of Pride and Prejudice, sooooo...)
We start out with our main character, Emily, a hopeless romantic bookstore owner who decides after a string of bad dates to just swear off men in general. Her friends are going on a party trip over New year's and, desperately looking for an excuse not to go, Emily books a Jane Austen tour in England and travels there over New years instead.
She then meets Spike, a journalist who is forced on the trip by his editor and starts interviewing all of the tour participants on why they think Mr. Darcy is the perfect man. And (shocker) Emily and Spike hate each other. In fact, Emily overhears Spike talking about her on the tour bus and (shocker) it sounds something like Mr. Darcy's famous "barely tolerable" / "not enough to tempt me" remark about Elizabeth in Pride and Prejudice.
Then Emily (and this is the part where it goes from predictable to stupid) meets Mr. Darcy. No I am not kidding. Yes this really did happen. And then she keeps meeting him but only when she's alone, is drunk, has a concussion or smokes weed. And she goes on dates with him and everything. Ugh.
And of course, no romance novel can apparently exist without some kind of villain. Hence the bad copy of the whole Mr. Darcy and Mr. Wickham scenario. I get that the author wanted to create parallels between her book and Pride and Prejudice but it got to the point where it was too much. WAY TOO MUCH.
And then the ending... What? I thought that maybe there would be a smart explanation to the whole Emily meeting Mr Darcy thing but NO. He apparently was the real character come to life. And the whole ordeal was orchestrated by none other than Jane Austen herself (aka the tour guide). Which is like.... Come on. The MC herself states that some of the people on the tour are superfans. You'd think one of them would know what Jane Austen looked like. And if the tour guide bore such similarities, why did nobody tell her that? Why did nobody notice? And then, although all of this is incredibly strange, Emily decides that she doesn't care what was real and what wasn't because she learnt something from it.
What hurt me most is that the author painted such a black and white image of Mr
Darcy. In the end he was depicted to be an absolute ass. That is the only thing she didn't copy from the original and tbh... She could have spared us that. First she takes an incredibly popular and well-known fictional character to lure fans of the og into buying her book and then she takes such a beautifully complicated onion character and draws him the only way she can: a preschoolers stick figure. Offended. I am offended by this.
Emily is supposed to be such a well-educated woman, smart, loves books and yet she is infuriated by Mr. Darcy's worldview. I mean... What did you expect? He's from a DIFFERENT TIME YOU MORON. And what I also do not understand is the fact that Mr. Darcy was actually incredibly progressive for his time - if he weren't, he wouldn't have fallen in love with Elisabeth. So when the author of this book just lays worldviews into his mouth (because most people thought like that in the Austen-Era) I seriously doubted that Mr. Darcy really thought all of that. Imagine reading this book without knowing Pride and Prejudice. I would have such a twisted impression of Mr. Darcy's character. Because the fact is - the author didn't even come close to capturing his character. Which, in hindsight, doesn't surprise me. None of her own characters were remotely three dimensional, well written or original in any way. They did not intrigue me. Because it was obvious what was going to happen and how they were going to act.
This book pulled me out of my slump. And not in an "excited for the next book" - kind of way but more in an angry rage. I feel annoyed that I spent 12 euros on this (ahem) disaster of a book.
September 25, 2009
Mr. Darcy is in our fantasy
"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single girl in possession of her right mind must be in want of a decent man."
Do you agree with that?
That makes sense, doen't it?
But...hang on... Doesn't it sound familiar?
How about comparing it with the following words?
"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife"
Quite similar...almost identical, aren't they?
The author of "Me and Mr. Darcy" must be a loyal fan of Jane Austen, who said the above words about a bachelor at the beginning of her renowned "Pride and Prejudice". And in fact, the story of "Me and Mr. Darcy" is just about how Emily Albright, who liked P&P and was anxious for a boyfriend like Mr. Darcy, stepped on a literature journey alone and found her true love at last. Finally, she came to realize that perfect as Mr. Darcy is, he is not real.
The following are some excerps from the book. Hope you, whoever you are, as long as you love Jane Austen or P&P, will find them interesting and instructive.
"Why aren't men today like the men in books?...Seriously, I've had enough of modern-day love. And I'm sick of modern-day men...Just imagine being in a world where men didn't steal your cab, cheat on you or have an addiction to Internet porn, but were chivalrous, devoted and honourable."
"The reality is always more disappointing than the fantasy."
"In Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen describes Mr. Darcy as 'brooding', which sounds so attractive, but in truth it turns out it just means he's sulky; 'proud', I've fast come to realize, means sexist, and as for him appearing 'arrogant', in reality, what it really means is he's actually quite snobbish.
And finally it hits me. I'm not in love with Mr. Darcy. Not even remotely. And you know what? I never was. I was in love with the idea of him and what he represented, but not the reality. Of course that doesn't mean I'm not attracted to him, who wouldn't be? As Stella said back in the bookstore, the man's a female wet dream. But how can anything live up to the airbrushed vision I've created in my head all these years? He can't. And he shouldn't be made to. Because that's the thing about Mr. Darcy-he's a female fantasy. But that's all he is, a fantasy. And that's what he should remain."
"Prejudice can be a terrible thing. As can pride. You know, Jane Austen always made her heroines feisty. They stuck by their principles, went after what they wanted, were not afraid to admit when they were wrong...Not doing anything can be worse than doing the wrong thing."
Deep in every young girl's heart there must be a Mr. Darcy. That's why Colin Firth becomes so popular with all English women. That's why the story of Bridget Jones and Mark Darcy came into being. That's why many girls like Emily in "Me and Mr. Darcy" are determined to stick to their beautiful dreams about their "Mr. Darcy" or "prince", or whatever you may call such an ideal man. What if they really encounter a Mr. Darcy? Probably they will be disappointed. At least those who are well-educated and self-esteemed won't tolerate the concept of staying at home being a good housewife. In the time when Mr Darcy lived, women were regarded as appendages of men, who are supposed to focus on daily chores at home, let alone have their own careers. After all, none of the modern-day women are the Elizabeth in Darcy's time. Just as we may hesitate to accept Mr. Darcy as our BF or HB, so will he take back when dealing with us. Anyway, the times are different.
"But that's the whole point. Mr. Darcy is a wonderful fantasy. The embodiment of everything hopeless romantics desire in the man of their dreams. He loves passionately. Is unimpressed by looks and clothes and charm. Is full of integrity. And, most importantly, didn't choose the prettiest girl but went for personality...In short he can do no wrong. He is the perfect man.
Therefore, in reality, while Mr. Darcy receives modern-day women's adoration or admiration, they date and marry modern-day men, for modern-day men are, according to Emily, real.
"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single girl in possession of her right mind must be in want of a decent man."
Do you agree with that?
That makes sense, doen't it?
But...hang on... Doesn't it sound familiar?
How about comparing it with the following words?
"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife"
Quite similar...almost identical, aren't they?
The author of "Me and Mr. Darcy" must be a loyal fan of Jane Austen, who said the above words about a bachelor at the beginning of her renowned "Pride and Prejudice". And in fact, the story of "Me and Mr. Darcy" is just about how Emily Albright, who liked P&P and was anxious for a boyfriend like Mr. Darcy, stepped on a literature journey alone and found her true love at last. Finally, she came to realize that perfect as Mr. Darcy is, he is not real.
The following are some excerps from the book. Hope you, whoever you are, as long as you love Jane Austen or P&P, will find them interesting and instructive.
"Why aren't men today like the men in books?...Seriously, I've had enough of modern-day love. And I'm sick of modern-day men...Just imagine being in a world where men didn't steal your cab, cheat on you or have an addiction to Internet porn, but were chivalrous, devoted and honourable."
"The reality is always more disappointing than the fantasy."
"In Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen describes Mr. Darcy as 'brooding', which sounds so attractive, but in truth it turns out it just means he's sulky; 'proud', I've fast come to realize, means sexist, and as for him appearing 'arrogant', in reality, what it really means is he's actually quite snobbish.
And finally it hits me. I'm not in love with Mr. Darcy. Not even remotely. And you know what? I never was. I was in love with the idea of him and what he represented, but not the reality. Of course that doesn't mean I'm not attracted to him, who wouldn't be? As Stella said back in the bookstore, the man's a female wet dream. But how can anything live up to the airbrushed vision I've created in my head all these years? He can't. And he shouldn't be made to. Because that's the thing about Mr. Darcy-he's a female fantasy. But that's all he is, a fantasy. And that's what he should remain."
"Prejudice can be a terrible thing. As can pride. You know, Jane Austen always made her heroines feisty. They stuck by their principles, went after what they wanted, were not afraid to admit when they were wrong...Not doing anything can be worse than doing the wrong thing."
Deep in every young girl's heart there must be a Mr. Darcy. That's why Colin Firth becomes so popular with all English women. That's why the story of Bridget Jones and Mark Darcy came into being. That's why many girls like Emily in "Me and Mr. Darcy" are determined to stick to their beautiful dreams about their "Mr. Darcy" or "prince", or whatever you may call such an ideal man. What if they really encounter a Mr. Darcy? Probably they will be disappointed. At least those who are well-educated and self-esteemed won't tolerate the concept of staying at home being a good housewife. In the time when Mr Darcy lived, women were regarded as appendages of men, who are supposed to focus on daily chores at home, let alone have their own careers. After all, none of the modern-day women are the Elizabeth in Darcy's time. Just as we may hesitate to accept Mr. Darcy as our BF or HB, so will he take back when dealing with us. Anyway, the times are different.
"But that's the whole point. Mr. Darcy is a wonderful fantasy. The embodiment of everything hopeless romantics desire in the man of their dreams. He loves passionately. Is unimpressed by looks and clothes and charm. Is full of integrity. And, most importantly, didn't choose the prettiest girl but went for personality...In short he can do no wrong. He is the perfect man.
Therefore, in reality, while Mr. Darcy receives modern-day women's adoration or admiration, they date and marry modern-day men, for modern-day men are, according to Emily, real.
November 10, 2013
My parents, a scientist and a career academic, both have a fondness for Regency (i.e., historical and relatively chaste) romance novels that might seem at odds with their characters. If I remember right, on separate occasions, both described a fascination with the combinatorial aspect of the genre: all the allowed variations of the genre playing out in slightly different combinations, like the colored glass chips tumbling in an old-school kaleidoscope: always different, always the same. Perhaps then, genetics help explain my ongoing fascination for the micro-genre of recent works directly inspired by Jane Austen's work.
Me and Mr. Darcy has a set up that's more than a bit like Shannon Hale's Austenland, not to mention Victoria Connelly's A Weekend with Mr. Darcy, with 21st-century Austenites playing dress-up, but the tone is quite different. I decided not to belabor the kaleidoscope metaphor, but it's lighter and less layered than Austenland, without the class consciousness that lends some heft to Hale's book. But it's considerably more serious (and a shade less formulaic) than Connelly's novel. It explores the question of why arrogant, snobbish Darcy is such an enduring romantic icon to contemporary women. Until the dénouement, Potter does a pretty good job of leaving it to the reader to decide whether the apparently "fantastic" events are really happening, or if they're unusually vivid dreams brought on by exhaustion, blows to the head, and the like. And likewise, until the big wrap up, I didn't quite know if it was the sort of novel where the protagonist would wind up contentedly paired, contentedly not paired, or sadder/wiser/a little more grown-up. I knew which way I'd bet, but I wasn't positive, and I could see them all being appropriate and to some degree satisfying resolutions. And perhaps the greatest compliment I can pay to this book is that after reading much of it on a westbound evening flight, it wasn't until after I learned the answer to that question that I really started to wonder if my hotel shuttle was ever going to show up.
Me and Mr. Darcy has a set up that's more than a bit like Shannon Hale's Austenland, not to mention Victoria Connelly's A Weekend with Mr. Darcy, with 21st-century Austenites playing dress-up, but the tone is quite different. I decided not to belabor the kaleidoscope metaphor, but it's lighter and less layered than Austenland, without the class consciousness that lends some heft to Hale's book. But it's considerably more serious (and a shade less formulaic) than Connelly's novel. It explores the question of why arrogant, snobbish Darcy is such an enduring romantic icon to contemporary women. Until the dénouement, Potter does a pretty good job of leaving it to the reader to decide whether the apparently "fantastic" events are really happening, or if they're unusually vivid dreams brought on by exhaustion, blows to the head, and the like. And likewise, until the big wrap up, I didn't quite know if it was the sort of novel where the protagonist would wind up contentedly paired, contentedly not paired, or sadder/wiser/a little more grown-up. I knew which way I'd bet, but I wasn't positive, and I could see them all being appropriate and to some degree satisfying resolutions. And perhaps the greatest compliment I can pay to this book is that after reading much of it on a westbound evening flight, it wasn't until after I learned the answer to that question that I really started to wonder if my hotel shuttle was ever going to show up.
January 29, 2008
Emily Albright is a 29 year old New Yorker managing a family-owned bookstore she adores and has had just about the worst dating life a woman could possibly have. And so she swears off of men, choosing instead to focus more on her love of literary heroes, Jane Austen's Mr. Darcy in particular.
He is the epitome of manhood with is proud and haughty manner, his chivalry, and is just plain dashing -- all attributes she wishes she could find in the real world, but has given it up for lost and discovers a great way to (a) spend the week between Christmas and New Years, (b) get away from her disastrous love life, and (c) her strained relationship between herself and her jet-setting parents:
A literary tour of the English countryside exploring the world of Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice
Despite the insistence (and absolutely correctness) of her best friend Stella, Emily is off to submerge herself in her literary fantasy with a tour bus full of "old people" and one journalist, Spike Hargreaves, who is doing a piece on why most women adore Mr. Darcy.
It's typical chick-lit in the vein of retelling P&P, except for one small twist: the real Mr. Darcy makes quite a few appearances throughout and Emily gets to date the one-and-only!
Cute but obvious; a good read overall. I bought this back on the 5th and before a week had passed, I found it on the new books shelf at work. Typical. Good thing I didn't buy the other book I was eyeing at the time, Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict, because we also have that title, and it saved me $23!
Thing is though, I'm kind of Darcy-ied out after reading this book. That's not to say they put the romantic hero in a bad light; I just feel I've had enough of him for a good while. I've only ever seen parts of the Colin Firth miniseries, but I adore the Kiera Knightly version and tend to watch it multiple times in a row. I don't think I can handle anymore Austen or Austen-related works right now, which means I need to cancel my hold on that other book and return The Jane Austen Book Club for another day.
He is the epitome of manhood with is proud and haughty manner, his chivalry, and is just plain dashing -- all attributes she wishes she could find in the real world, but has given it up for lost and discovers a great way to (a) spend the week between Christmas and New Years, (b) get away from her disastrous love life, and (c) her strained relationship between herself and her jet-setting parents:
A literary tour of the English countryside exploring the world of Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice
Despite the insistence (and absolutely correctness) of her best friend Stella, Emily is off to submerge herself in her literary fantasy with a tour bus full of "old people" and one journalist, Spike Hargreaves, who is doing a piece on why most women adore Mr. Darcy.
It's typical chick-lit in the vein of retelling P&P, except for one small twist: the real Mr. Darcy makes quite a few appearances throughout and Emily gets to date the one-and-only!
Cute but obvious; a good read overall. I bought this back on the 5th and before a week had passed, I found it on the new books shelf at work. Typical. Good thing I didn't buy the other book I was eyeing at the time, Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict, because we also have that title, and it saved me $23!
Thing is though, I'm kind of Darcy-ied out after reading this book. That's not to say they put the romantic hero in a bad light; I just feel I've had enough of him for a good while. I've only ever seen parts of the Colin Firth miniseries, but I adore the Kiera Knightly version and tend to watch it multiple times in a row. I don't think I can handle anymore Austen or Austen-related works right now, which means I need to cancel my hold on that other book and return The Jane Austen Book Club for another day.
November 21, 2013
New Yorker Emily is sick of dating unsatisfactory men and yearns romantically for a man like Mr Darcy. To avoid accompanying her friend on an 18-30 holiday to Mexico Emily impulsively books a Jane Austen tour to the UK. Most of the other people on the tour are quite a bit older than Emily aside from Spike, who is a journalist writing a piece on why women love Mr Darcy so much,
Emily and Spike get off on the wrong foot and she also misjudges a lot of the other people on the tour. She also has some rather bizarre run-ins with Mr Darcy which may or may not be real.
I found the author's style to be really readable and the book to be easy reading, but I struggled to keep the momentum going because the main characters are not really all that likeable, and I felt that most of the characters, Spike particularly, could have done with a bit more fleshing out. Relationships/friendships seemed to be formed almost instantaneously. The Mr Darcy sections were odd, Emily doesn't seem to question the reality of meeting a fictional character very much at all, or worry in any way that the pages of her Pride and Prejudice appear to have gone blank.
There are a number of parallels made with Pride and Prejudice, but I think the dialogue had too many similarities to the original to sound realistic as modern speech and for somebody who is a Jane Austen fan on a Jane Austen tour Emily seems slow to recognise any similarities between her situation and Pride and Prejudice. Also Emily judges Mr Darcy harshly, blaming him for not having modern standards and making no allowances for the fact that if he's really there he's 200 years out of his era and society is very different. The moral of this is what most people already know, that Mr Darcy is a book boyfriend who is better off left in his book.
Emily and Spike get off on the wrong foot and she also misjudges a lot of the other people on the tour. She also has some rather bizarre run-ins with Mr Darcy which may or may not be real.
I found the author's style to be really readable and the book to be easy reading, but I struggled to keep the momentum going because the main characters are not really all that likeable, and I felt that most of the characters, Spike particularly, could have done with a bit more fleshing out. Relationships/friendships seemed to be formed almost instantaneously. The Mr Darcy sections were odd, Emily doesn't seem to question the reality of meeting a fictional character very much at all, or worry in any way that the pages of her Pride and Prejudice appear to have gone blank.
There are a number of parallels made with Pride and Prejudice, but I think the dialogue had too many similarities to the original to sound realistic as modern speech and for somebody who is a Jane Austen fan on a Jane Austen tour Emily seems slow to recognise any similarities between her situation and Pride and Prejudice. Also Emily judges Mr Darcy harshly, blaming him for not having modern standards and making no allowances for the fact that if he's really there he's 200 years out of his era and society is very different. The moral of this is what most people already know, that Mr Darcy is a book boyfriend who is better off left in his book.
April 24, 2008
I've decided that life is too short for me to waste it on books that don't do anything for me... unfortunately this was one of them!
Dreams come true in this hilarious, feel-good fairy tale about life, love, and dating literature's most eligible bachelor!
After a string of disastrous dates, Emily Albright decides she's had it with modern-day love and would much rather curl up with Pride and Prejudice and spend her time with Mr. Darcy, the dashing, honourable, and passionate hero of Jane Austen's classic. So when her best friend suggests a wild week of margaritas and men in Mexico with the girls, Emily abruptly flees to England on a guided tour of Jane Austen country instead. Far from inspiring romance, the company aboard the bus consists of a gaggle of little old ladies and one single man, Spike Hargreaves, a foul-tempered journalist writing an article on why the fictional Mr. Darcy has earned the title of Man Most Women Would Love to Date.
The last thing Emily expects to find on her excursion is a broodingly handsome man striding across a field, his damp shirt clinging to his chest. But that's exactly what happens when she comes face-to-face with none other than Mr. Darcy himself. Suddenly, every woman's fantasy becomes one woman's reality. . .
I didn't much like the heroine, since the book is in the first person that was an immediate problem. But things were going more or less well till suddenly Mr Darcy appears out of the blue. THE Mr Darcy! And suddenly she is looking everywhere for him... Instead of bringing me into the story I found it too unbelievable...
Grade: DNF
Dreams come true in this hilarious, feel-good fairy tale about life, love, and dating literature's most eligible bachelor!
After a string of disastrous dates, Emily Albright decides she's had it with modern-day love and would much rather curl up with Pride and Prejudice and spend her time with Mr. Darcy, the dashing, honourable, and passionate hero of Jane Austen's classic. So when her best friend suggests a wild week of margaritas and men in Mexico with the girls, Emily abruptly flees to England on a guided tour of Jane Austen country instead. Far from inspiring romance, the company aboard the bus consists of a gaggle of little old ladies and one single man, Spike Hargreaves, a foul-tempered journalist writing an article on why the fictional Mr. Darcy has earned the title of Man Most Women Would Love to Date.
The last thing Emily expects to find on her excursion is a broodingly handsome man striding across a field, his damp shirt clinging to his chest. But that's exactly what happens when she comes face-to-face with none other than Mr. Darcy himself. Suddenly, every woman's fantasy becomes one woman's reality. . .
I didn't much like the heroine, since the book is in the first person that was an immediate problem. But things were going more or less well till suddenly Mr Darcy appears out of the blue. THE Mr Darcy! And suddenly she is looking everywhere for him... Instead of bringing me into the story I found it too unbelievable...
Grade: DNF
July 14, 2013
My rating is probably more 3 1/2 than a straight 3. I know this is criminal but I have not read the original Pride and Prejudice (before you throw stones, it is on my Kindle waiting to be read), so had nothing to judge the fictional version of Mr Darcy on. So while lovers of the original probably cringed at Ms Potter's version of their beloved hero, I actually really enjoyed the tale. I'm all for a bit of cross generational romance, especially if it involves a portal into a whole other time. That's why I loved books like The Time Traveler's Wife, Kate and Leopold, and The Paradise War. An easy read with a feel good theme and yeah, a bit of a warning to women that real life, even if it's messy and not what we dreamt of, is better than a fantasy we cannot really have.
October 20, 2025
Dit boek krijgt geen vijf sterren van me, omdat het de Nobelprijs voor de literatuur had moeten winnen. Maar ik geef ze toch. Je zou zelfs kunnen zeggen dat het een doodgewone fijne romantische komedie is… maar wat voor één.
Waarom vijf sterren? Misschien wel omdat het boek aanhaakt op mijn all time favorite: Pride and Prejudice. Misschien wel omdat de hoofdpersoon in een New Yorkse boekenwinkel werkt en ik nu eenmaal een zwak heb voor verhalen die zich tussen boeken afspelen. Misschien wel omdat ze naar Engeland vertrekt om daar een Jane Austen book tour te volgen en ik mezelf daar zo in zag rondlopen, met een kop thee in de hand. Misschien wel omdat ze daar natuurlijk verliefd wordt, zowel onverwachts, als op precies de manier die je verwacht, maar waar je toch van smelt.
Maar misschien vooral wel omdat het boek precies de juiste toon raakt: grappig zonder flauw te zijn, romantisch zonder zoetsappig te worden, en herkenbaar door de dromerige setting. Het leest als comfort food voor de ziel. En elke keer als ik het herlees, voelt het alsof ik even mee mag op vakantie. En daar krijgt het boek alle sterren voor!
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Waarom vijf sterren? Misschien wel omdat het boek aanhaakt op mijn all time favorite: Pride and Prejudice. Misschien wel omdat de hoofdpersoon in een New Yorkse boekenwinkel werkt en ik nu eenmaal een zwak heb voor verhalen die zich tussen boeken afspelen. Misschien wel omdat ze naar Engeland vertrekt om daar een Jane Austen book tour te volgen en ik mezelf daar zo in zag rondlopen, met een kop thee in de hand. Misschien wel omdat ze daar natuurlijk verliefd wordt, zowel onverwachts, als op precies de manier die je verwacht, maar waar je toch van smelt.
Maar misschien vooral wel omdat het boek precies de juiste toon raakt: grappig zonder flauw te zijn, romantisch zonder zoetsappig te worden, en herkenbaar door de dromerige setting. Het leest als comfort food voor de ziel. En elke keer als ik het herlees, voelt het alsof ik even mee mag op vakantie. En daar krijgt het boek alle sterren voor!
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March 20, 2018
Със сигурност , както и на Александра Потър, така и на повечето жени им се е искало да срещнат в реалността някой мъж , който да прилича на любим герой от книга.
Мистър Дарси е един от най-харесваните , това е ясно.
Но дали просто не сме влюбени в представата ни за някой мъж ?
Това ще открие за себе си Емили, героинята в този роман, след много и не леки перипетии .
На всички останали ,които ходим по тази земя остава да търсим отговорите.
Мистър Дарси е един от най-харесваните , това е ясно.
Но дали просто не сме влюбени в представата ни за някой мъж ?
Това ще открие за себе си Емили, героинята в този роман, след много и не леки перипетии .
На всички останали ,които ходим по тази земя остава да търсим отговорите.
April 4, 2021
I know a lot of people trash this book but I personally love it because honestly sometimes the world is a trash fire and everything is bad and you just want to curl up with a silly light read with okay enough characters and just enough twists to keep you going. I picked this one up out of nostalgia for when I first found it randomly at the library back in high school and I regret nothing.
July 30, 2009
Clever & intriguing idea, and I appreciate the attempt - I do - but the writing was awful.
Another one of my must-read-everything-pertaining-to-Jane-Austen reads. Yikes.
Another one of my must-read-everything-pertaining-to-Jane-Austen reads. Yikes.
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