Pride and Prejudice and Mistletoe

by Melissa de la Cruz

Darcy Fitzwilliam is 29, beautiful, successful, and brilliant. She dates hedge funders and basketball stars and is never without her three cellphones-one for work, one for play, and one to throw at her assistant. Darcy's never fallen in love, never has time for anyone else's drama, and never goes home for Christmas if she can help it. But when her mother falls ill, she comes home to Pemberley, Ohio, to spend the season with her family. Her parents throw their annual Christmas bash, where she meets one Luke Bennet, the smart, sardonic slacker son of their neighbor. Luke is 32-years-old and has never left home. He's a carpenter and makes beautiful furniture, and is content with his simple life. He comes from a family of five brothers, each one less ambitious than the other. When Darcy and Luke fall into bed after too many eggnogs, Darcy thinks it's just another one night stand. But why can't she stop thinking of Luke? What is it about him? And can she fall in love, or will her pride and his prejudice against big-city girls stand in their way?

• ISBN10: 1250141397
• ISBN13: 9781250141392
• Publish Date: 17 October 2017
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 27 May 2022
• Imprint: St. Martin's Press
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 240
• Language: English

Reviews

[Liz (Bent Bookworm)]

I loved the blurb for this book, and almost ordered it instantly...but I decided to be good and wait, and then I saw it at my library! Of course I picked it up...and I was shocked by how small it was. "How does anyone fit a retelling of P&P in a book this size?" I thought...but I gave it a try anyway. The answer is...eh...they don't. Or at least not very well.

Seriously...where's the rest of it?

Yes, it read just as rushed as I expected. The characters are flat and not very interesting. Darcy (female type here, remember) is done better than any of the rest. Even Luke, her "Lizzy," who is supposed to be this amazing artisan who creates fantastic wood furniture...which is mentioned like twice...and then forgotten all about. At the end he even randomly picks up a new career (WTF?).

The writing is boring. The adults feel like teenagers. The plot of P&P is condensed from well over a year down to less than 2 weeks. Uggggh.

However, I did really like the Darcy/Bingley combination going on here. I loved that they totally stepped outside the expected m/f relationships there. Bingley was just adorable (if somewhat stereotypical in his own way). He is what saves this from being a 2-star read.

If you know P&P, there are no surprises here. Which is fine! However, I felt like the stakes were not as high as in the original, or even as in a better retelling - which, by the way, would be [b:Eligible|25852870|Eligible (The Austen Project, #4)|Curtis Sittenfeld|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1460477855s/25852870.jpg|26428236] by Curtis Sittenfeld - and besides all the lackluster writing, that just made it very bland and overall disappointing.

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[Sam@WLABB]

Rating: 3.5 Stars

I have been reading a lot of Christmas books lately, and this was another fun one.

Who?
Darcy Fitzwilliam, a super successful business woman, who had been estranged from her family for eight years after she decided to follow her own dreams. Luke Bennett, Darcy's failure-to-launch neighbor, who had always had a talent for getting on her nerves.

What?
After her mother's heart attack, Darcy returned to Pemberley, and her world was set upside down. The boy who was once her biggest foil, Luke, suddenly has her questioning her life of work and solitude and making her want to commit acts of kindness.

Why?
I am NOT an Austen-ite, therefore, I did not read this as a retelling, but read it simply as a contemporary romance, which I rather enjoyed it. I have a soft spot for enemies to lovers stories and this one had that extra plus of Luke and Darcy also having shared a lot of history. It's always fun to take a walk down memory lane with the characters and these two had some really fun shared memories. This book was quite fun too. Several characters really added a lot to the story, and there was quite a bit of great banter going on too.

I love that the book was set during the holidays, because there is just something about "the most wonderful time of the year" that makes a story just a little be better. The decorations, the presents, the festivities -- it all added to my enjoyment, and I thought de la Cruz utilized the holiday elements quite well.

I would classify this book as a romance, but it was a also very much a story of self-discovery for Darcy. She left Pemberley hurt, and this hurt drove her to achieve great career success. However, it also left her relationship shy, and missing out on many years with her family. It really warmed my heart to see her and her family heal, and they shared some really special moments with us too.

I constantly complain, that I do not get enough closure, so I was really excited to see an epilogue. I must say, there were many precious things in this epilogue. It filled in the gaps and pointed us towards the future, which is a pretty successful epilogue if you ask me.



Overall: A sweet and satisfying holiday romance, which made me smile, laugh, and cheer for this couple.