Emily Albright is a manager in an independent bookshop in New York who has recently had some bad luck in the dating department. Modern men are nothing like the romantic heroes in the books she loves to read.
When her best friend, Stella, tells her she has plans for them to spend the week between Christmas and New Year in Mexico drinking, Emily quickly says that she can’t. She has booked up to go to England. Speedily, she joins a Jane Austen book tour and sets about packing all the books she thinks she might need.
But what has she signed up for exactly? A non-stop sightseeing trip across the breadth of the country with a coach load of pensioners with whom she has nothing in common, and a rude, bad-tempered journalist named Spike Hargreaves. Spike is writing an article for his newspaper on why women love Mr Darcy so much. What better place to research it than on a Jane Austen book tour.
But Emily, it seems, is destined to cross paths with someone else, someone who’s not supposed to exist outside of the pages of her favourite book…Mr Darcy. But is he as she imagined him? Or is the reality of his intense and brooding personality for which he is famous, not quite as romantic as she had once thought…And what will he think of her and her modern ways?
If you are a regular visitor to Sammi Loves Books, you will know that this isn’t usually the type of book that I read. However, as an enthusiastic reader of Jane Austen’s books, I thought it might be interesting to read some of the books inspired by her works.
Me and Mr Darcy is Pride and Prejudice meets a modern-day fairytale. The places visited were all places important in Jane Austen’s life or her books, and the characters were well-thought out and engaging. The idea of setting the story on a book tour was very interesting and ensured a good pace was kept throughout, with a changing scenery that captured the imagination. All-in-all, this was a surprisingly enjoyable and entertaining read. Although I wouldn’t usually read this genre of book, I would consider reading more from this author in the future.
At the end of the book was a copy of Spike’s article on why women love Mr Darcy, which I thought was a nice touch.
If you are a fan of Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice and, of course, Mr Darcy, I recommend this book to you.
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