Review: My Own Mr. Darcy by Karey White

(Blurb): 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.

Book Information:

Published: July 15th 2013 by Orange Door Press 

Length: 220 pg

Version: eBook, paperback

Age Group: New Adult
Genre: Contemporary, Romance

 Review: 


I waited a while before purchasing My Own Mr. Darcy. I first heard about it's release date early in 2013 and anticipated it's summer release. Then I got caught up in work and life and forgot about it! Finally, in December I was going through my Goodreads TBR list and ran across it - and I am so glad that I did!

My Own Mr. Darcy is not a retelling of Pride and Prejudice. It is a contemporary take on the idea of a "perfect" Mr. Darcy. Elizabeth has had an obsession with Mr. Darcy's persona/looks since she witnessed the glory of Matthew MacFadyen in the 2005 movie version of Pride and Prejudice. Since then, she's only looked for men that fit certain "Mr. Darcy" qualities.

On the surface, it's kind of a silly concept. At least to me. But, as I'm personally able to relate to the total swoon factor as MacFadyen has in the movie, I can see why one might go to such extremes ;-)

The book is very well written and has bits of Jane Austenesque style/humor throughout it. Though done in a very contemporary fashion. My favorite parts about the book are when author, White, takes classic scenes/wording from Jane Austen's novel and adds her own twist to it - making those classic scenes come to life in a whole different way than in Austen's work.

There are a lot of contemporary and historical based takes on Jane Austen's work. While I have not read a lot of them, I have read a few. And I will say that this one is my favorite so far. Some books try too hard to emulate Austen, thus losing not only originality, but losing the reader. Because no one can be Jane Austen. White nails it by simply keeping to her writing style and plot, while using Austen's ideas for inspiration.


 Rating:

While I thought this was a great book and I would highly recommend it to any Austen/classic romance fan, it is not one I would call a 5 rating. I would have liked to have seen a little more character interaction between Elizabeth and Chad. Though, I guess by writing it the way that White did, the story emulates the character interaction in Pride and Prejudice. I spent too much time frustrated with the Elizabeth/Matt relationship. I think that more of an emotional connection with the reader could have been gained had the Elizabeth/Chad relationship been expanded on.