Book: Pride and Prejudice and Mistletoe
Author: Melissa de la Cruz
Pages: 225
Publisher: Hodder
Published: 16th November, 2017
Synopsis:
As partner at a major New York hedge fund, Darcy’s only serious relationship is with her work cellphone. The truth is, she’s too busy being successful and making money to have time for Christmas… let alone to allow romance into her life.
But this year Darcy is coming home to Pemberley, Ohio, for the holidays. There, she runs into her old neighbour and high-school foe Luke Bennet – the oldest of five wayward brothers. When Darcy’s enmity with Luke is re-opened, along with a hefty dollop of sexual chemistry… well, sparks are sure to fly. Can Darcy fall in love – or will her pride, and Luke’s prejudice against big-city girls, stand in their way?
Source: Goodreads
My opinion:
When I went to the book shop I noticed a table full of christmassy books. I decided to get Pride and Prejudice and Mistletoe (to which I will refer as PPM) because I was in the mood for christmas and I love Pride and Prejudice to the moon and back. So, naturally a retelling is the best choice, right?
Well… apparently this is not correct. Because so much about this book just felt off and weird and just too fast. I mean, PPM has only 225 pages and honestly, it had so much potential to make more of it. In only a few days, the main character Darcy manages to realize she is not in love, fall in love, get into hospital, get in and out of an engagement and and and. It was just too much and too fast for just a few days and just a few pages. I mean, I understand that it is supposed to be a christmas book but no, please. Don’t do it like this.
While it was supposed to be a Pride& Prejudice retelling, the only thing PPM has in common with it is the story (at least kind of) and the character names (kind of). But at some points I just couldn’t really find out which character was which, because they acted different or were someone else completely. And to be honest, I could not connect to any of the characters. Because everything went so fast, there was no time for real character development. I’m not saying there is no character development, but it is unrealistic. Nobody changes their character like this in a matter of a few days. And the biggest problem was, that even though the book focuses on Darcy, there are too many other characters to truly define them, to really describe them and bring them to life. They just seem mostly flat.
And reading sentences like “You’re such a girl” (page 64) when a man talks about love and romance and their softer sides is not exactly something I want to read. To be honest, the whole dynamic of Darcy and her best (gay) friend, Bingley, seems strange and not really like they are best friends. Which might be because they haven’t seen each other in 8 years. But ok, they pick up right where they left off. I mean, really? Same with everyone else. Darcy hasn’t seen any of these people (except for her mother) in 8 years. Eight! But nobody really bats an eyelash, none of Darcy’s relationships have changed. I don’t think that is really possible but hey, it’s christmas and probably that’s a christmas wonder or something.
Anyways, besides the characters, I wasn’t the biggest fan of the writing. It was a bit superficial and boring, which contributed to me not really liking this book. All in all, it seemed like a “oh my god I have to write this damn christmas book and I just want to be done with it” kind of book.
I really wish I would have liked that book. But I just didn’t.
Rating:
★★/5
