Sunday, March 28, 2010

Review-Mr Darcy Broke My Heart by Beth Pattillo

Surprised to see me reviewing a Jane Austen themed book? I am too! After the Everything Jane Austen Challenge last summer I thought that I totally burned myself out on this genre. However, this book was calling my name when I saw it sitting on the shelf at the library. I'm really glad I picked it up.


Title: Mr. Darcy Broke My Heart
Author: Beth Pattillo
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Sub Genre: Jane Austen themed book





My Synopsis: 
Claire Prescott jumps at the chance to take her sisters place to present a paper on Jane Austen at a seminar that is designed for amateur fans of Jane Austen at Oxford College in London.  Claire's really nervous to present her sisters paper-she's never been to college, just got fired from her office manager's job, and has a boyfriend who she's not sure even heard her tell him that she was leaving the country to present her sisters paper.  She's not even a Mr. Darcy fan-girl, how did she let her sister talk her into this trip? Once in England, she finds herself having a good time-even if she does tell a little lie about her profession, finds a guy who reminds her an awful lot like Mr. Darcy and meets a mysterious women who just happens to have the first draft of Pride and Prejudice that is vastly different then the book we know today. Reading the first draft makes Claire realize that love sometimes means having to make some hard choices and a hero isn't always what one is expecting.


My Thoughts: 
I had a hard time putting down this book-it was just a nice change of pace from the other Jane Austen themed books I've read in the past and I can't quite put my finger on why it's different, but it just was...does that make any sense? I didn't think so. The main probably I had with the book that came before this one, Jane Austen Ruined my Life was that the female lead was super whiny, and by the time she figures out that she ruined her own life I thought that revelation could have come a lot earlier on in the book.  I really liked Claire-she's headstrong and not about to be bossed around by anyone.

While this book does have romance in it, I thought it was much more about finding ones self -which is why the ending confused me a bit-the romance, which wasn't a big part of the book all of a sudden came into play. I thought that the two guys who were the romance portion of the book could have been developed a lot more as characters, because at the end I found myself not really caring about who she ended up with-I liked the missing manuscript part of the story much more.  That being said, out of all the Jane Austen themed books I've read, this one has been my favorites, and if you like this type of book then you have to read this book! :)

Sigh Meter: Low
Swoon Meter: Low
Sleep Meter: Medium-this is not an all nighter, but I couldn't put this book down!
TV Meter: High: This means I actually turned off the TV in order to read this book!
Sizzle Meter: Low




3/10 read










10/25 read




 This counts for the Title word count challenge. I went to random.org and put in the numbers one-five. I, of course got 5. So I had to read a book that had 5 words in the title, and luckily this one did! 



4/12 read