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A review by psellars11
Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife: Pride and Prejudice Continues by Linda Berdoll
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
I love a good historical romance but this was NOT IT. If you like depressing literature with big words you have to look up every other sentence: this book is for you!!! If you want all the characters you love to have misfortune!! By all means!!! READ!!!! But if you want a steamy lighthearted romance about Elizabeth and Darcy - DO NOT READ THIS.
This book took forever to read. Ugh. I almost DNF’d this book so many times. More than I could count… but I had to finish it so I could write this review. It took me almost 6 months though…. Not to mention the ridiculous prose used. I am an academic I love big words, but not strained together in the world’s most grammatically complex sentences that make the entire read a headache.
Initial thoughts - I picked this to read on kindle as I thought it had such promise. I love the idea of a book following the lives of Pride and Prejudice characters we all know and love. I am such a devoted fan to Jane Austen and I love all the movie adaptations…. That said this book does their story so much injustice.
Jane Austen would have never put these characters in situations such as these. That thought would be abhorrent. This author caustically butchers their integrity. Some of the events were funny in Part 1, like Elizabeth and Darcy having their horses, being playful, and racing or some of the anecdotes of their sex life were fine. I thought even the banter Lydia had with her sisters about Sex was somewhat funny and did seem in character for the Bennett women. Even wickham’s plot line is somewhat on brand for his character. But…. There were just so many plot holes and ridiculous cumbersome add ins, that it made the story hard to follow and also incredibly unpleasant.
But come on. Really? Part 2 is where it all starts to go downhill. Did we need to have Bingley cheat on Jane? Did Mr. Collins, the one consistent comic relief, need to die?? We all know Charlotte Lucas and Collin’s have a strained relationship, but did we have to imply that her child is already a social pariah and has issues? These aren’t the kinds of traumatic events one is expecting to read about when they pick up a book like this. The whole Tom Reed plot that resulted in a violent, sexual assault, and also the derogatory way that the author described this, and then we are just expected to move on and let Elizabeth have a miscarriage and be like, oh yeah this is great I can’t wait to keep reading. Did we also need to kill off Elizabeth’s second child and have it be a stillborn after she had a graphic miscarriage earlier on??
Yes this is true, it could be argued that SOME of these things happened in the 19th century but no one wanted to read this. If I did, I would pick up a medical treatise about childbirth. When you say it’s a steamy romance- I’m expecting frivolous ball scenes and sex like part 1. But Jane Austen would never explicitly write about her characters in such a manner.
The only redeeming part of the book, was part 3. Honestly, the author was able to turn things around enough that I can give this one star rather than zero. I was still extremely frustrated in part three because the author killed off John Christy after all this character growth. He was one of the most complex characters and you could genuinely feel sympathy for him. AND Mr Bennett? In the same freaking breathe we get Bennett dying after we want to celebrate wickham’s alleged death. Which we know he survives, the worst person to survive. Like give us one inkling of happiness in this plot. PLEASE.
The only good plot points were with Georgiana, Darcy, and Fitzwilliam in France during the wars with napoleon. It was the most interesting part, and it is tragic that it took nearly 400 pages to get there. I actually thought the author wrapped the book up nicely considering all the doom and gloom she forecasted this entire novel. That was the ONLY part somewhat reminiscent of a true Austen novel.
This book took forever to read. Ugh. I almost DNF’d this book so many times. More than I could count… but I had to finish it so I could write this review. It took me almost 6 months though…. Not to mention the ridiculous prose used. I am an academic I love big words, but not strained together in the world’s most grammatically complex sentences that make the entire read a headache.
Initial thoughts - I picked this to read on kindle as I thought it had such promise. I love the idea of a book following the lives of Pride and Prejudice characters we all know and love. I am such a devoted fan to Jane Austen and I love all the movie adaptations…. That said this book does their story so much injustice.
Jane Austen would have never put these characters in situations such as these. That thought would be abhorrent. This author caustically butchers their integrity. Some of the events were funny in Part 1, like Elizabeth and Darcy having their horses, being playful, and racing or some of the anecdotes of their sex life were fine. I thought even the banter Lydia had with her sisters about Sex was somewhat funny and did seem in character for the Bennett women. Even wickham’s plot line is somewhat on brand for his character. But…. There were just so many plot holes and ridiculous cumbersome add ins, that it made the story hard to follow and also incredibly unpleasant.
But come on. Really? Part 2 is where it all starts to go downhill. Did we need to have Bingley cheat on Jane? Did Mr. Collins, the one consistent comic relief, need to die?? We all know Charlotte Lucas and Collin’s have a strained relationship, but did we have to imply that her child is already a social pariah and has issues? These aren’t the kinds of traumatic events one is expecting to read about when they pick up a book like this. The whole Tom Reed plot that resulted in a violent, sexual assault, and also the derogatory way that the author described this, and then we are just expected to move on and let Elizabeth have a miscarriage and be like, oh yeah this is great I can’t wait to keep reading. Did we also need to kill off Elizabeth’s second child and have it be a stillborn after she had a graphic miscarriage earlier on??
Yes this is true, it could be argued that SOME of these things happened in the 19th century but no one wanted to read this. If I did, I would pick up a medical treatise about childbirth. When you say it’s a steamy romance- I’m expecting frivolous ball scenes and sex like part 1. But Jane Austen would never explicitly write about her characters in such a manner.
The only redeeming part of the book, was part 3. Honestly, the author was able to turn things around enough that I can give this one star rather than zero. I was still extremely frustrated in part three because the author killed off John Christy after all this character growth. He was one of the most complex characters and you could genuinely feel sympathy for him. AND Mr Bennett? In the same freaking breathe we get Bennett dying after we want to celebrate wickham’s alleged death. Which we know he survives, the worst person to survive. Like give us one inkling of happiness in this plot. PLEASE.
The only good plot points were with Georgiana, Darcy, and Fitzwilliam in France during the wars with napoleon. It was the most interesting part, and it is tragic that it took nearly 400 pages to get there. I actually thought the author wrapped the book up nicely considering all the doom and gloom she forecasted this entire novel. That was the ONLY part somewhat reminiscent of a true Austen novel.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, War