I received this book via the author, Karey White. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of this review.
My Own Mr. Darcy by Karey WhitePublished by Self Publish on 2013-11-21
Length: 288 pages
Reviewing eARC Rating:
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.
Karey White is after my heart! This book is adorable, funny, and a tribute to all Pride & Prejudice fans (specifically the movie with the extremely handsome Matthew MacFayden in it)
My Own Mr. Darcy begins with a trip to the theater. Lizzie and her best friend Janessa are dragged to the theater by Lizzie’s mother to see the 2005 movie Pride & Prejudice. Skeptical and not wanting to see the movie, Lizzie reluctantly agrees to go as she has the book as an English assignment. Then magic happens in the form of Matthew MacFayden.
I was enchanted. I ached for it to go on and on and dreaded the moment it would end. Every time Mr. Darcy was on the screen, I melted. When he looked at Elizabeth, I couldn’t breathe. When he helped her into the carriage, I gripped the armrest a little tighter. When he danced with her my heart stopped beating for a second. He was the most intriguing man I’d ever seen.
Yes, Lizzie…every girl and woman who saw this movie as you did felt exactly the same way 😀 And so begins the obsession that spurns the title…
That night a dream was born. I’d discovered what I wanted, what I knew someday I must have. I knew I could never be satisfied until I found it. I wanted my own Mr. Darcy.
Flash-forward six years, Lizzie is now a college-educated adult working as a bank teller because unfortunately for her the economy sucks and no one needs/can afford an interior designer. She’s smart, funny, and a bit naive, but that’s what makes her character so lovable. Her obsession with Mr. Darcy is one I can relate to, however she takes it a bit too far and it is really unhealthy, which makes for a great read 😀
When I say her obsession is unhealthy, I mean that she doesn’t give guys a second glance unless they look like Matthew MacFayden AND carry his persona as Mr. Darcy. This makes for a very uninteresting love life for our poor lead character as in the six years since the movie she’s gone on multiple first dates knowing full well she will not give the guy a second. In a moment of weakness she tells her BFF Janessa about her dream guy and now at twenty-two after another dead end date her friend (who I truly love) gives her a challenge. Lizzie must give the next guy ten dates before deciding he’s not the one.
That guy is the incredibly, super-sweet and nice looking Chad, who puts himself out there by asking Lizzie on a date at a supermarket after striking up a conversation. I have to say I fell in love with Chad before Lizzie was forced by Janessa with the challenge to date him. He’s funny and seems so in sync with Lizzie. Not to mention he’s just an all-around good guy. He genuinely cares about Lizzie, something that as the reader I picked up way before Lizzie did.
Unfortunately for Chad after their second date, Mr. Darcy…oops I mean Matt Dawson walks in to Lizzie’s bank. He’s perfect, or at least he is to Lizzie. He looks just like Matthew MacFayden, he’s arrogant, and he’s got money too. Not that Lizzie cares about the money 🙄 I must say I didn’t care for Matt Dawson much. He was cold, conceited, and very much what Mr. Darcy was in the beginning of the movie and never warmed up.
The author does a fantastic job of setting up this story and its characters. Told in first-person from Lizzie’s perspective, the reader has a good understanding of her “dream” and can easily pick up on the other character’s feelings based on their actions (verbal and nonverbal). It’s truly written well as I could see through Lizzie’s eyes what a perfect match Chad was for her starting with their second date. It was obvious she was attracted to him, but fought it because of her dream. Then there was Matt Dawson who was the picture perfect guy until she started to get to know him.
How long do you fight for your dream though? And when is it time to say enough? These are the questions addressed in the book along with this important question: When is it time to admit that sometimes what you have planned for yourself isn’t always what you need?
So as a huge Pride & Prejudice fan, and not just the 2005 movie, I like how the author incorporated the story into Lizzie. Her pride, or rather stubbornness, with her obsession and her prejudice against any man who didn’t fit the Mr. Darcy mold made for an entertaining, light-hearted read. Remember the Hallmark movie kick I’ve been on recently…this book fits that description and I’d love to see on my small screen but only if Matthew MacFayden would play Matt Dawson 😉 If you like clean contemporary romance, I highly suggest you check out this book. It’s a wonderful, easy read!
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