Pride and Prejudice and Mistletoe by Melissa De La Cruz

I can't say Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen is my most favorite book ever, but I definitely have a soft spot for it, and of course I love the BBC series version with Colin Firth.  So much so, that I bought it on VHS tape years and years ago.  And, Colin Firth remains the only Darcy in my heart.  

I thought this would be a fun read-a modern version of P&P with the roles reversed:  Darcy is a 29 year old super smart woman who has risen to partnership in her hedge fund financial corporation in New York City.  From the town of Pemberly, OH, she's avoided going home for eight years after a falling out with her father over her refusal to marry Carl, who looked good on paper, but whom Darcy just didn't love.  Instead, she left for New York City and became a very rich woman working on Wall Street.  Her life is fairly empty except for work; she can buy anything she wants, but just isn't very happy.  A family health crisis sends her flying home just before Christmas.  She's uncomfortable in her family's very plush home (Dad is a very successful businessman) and running into old family friends-namely, the Bennets, a family of men who Darcy's known all her life.  There's Jim, who makes an immediate connection with Darcy's actor friend Bingley, and there's Luke.  He's annoyed Darcy all through high school, and their drunken make out session under the mistletoe at her family's Christmas party is a shock to Darcy.  A shock, you say?  Yes, because she realizes she's got feelings for Luke.  

There are all sorts of complications, and the path to true love for Darcy and Luke isn't smooth.  I got tired of trying to compare P&P to this story, and I wish De La Cruz hadn't even tried to make this a modern version.  It would have been a perfectly good story without trying to force it into the P&P mold.  It strayed enough away that I just got annoyed, and the flimsy pivot in the plot (two Bennet boys are juvenile delinquents, and Darcy basically pays off the high school principal to let them stay in school) was lame-o.  This novel would have been heaps better if it was just about two people who discover they don't dislike each other, but actually quite like each other-without all the extra junk that mucked up the story.  I also found the nonchalant way Darcy talked about money a bit off-putting.  It was a Hallmark movie gone wrong, I'm afraid. 

Oh well.  It's a quick read, and enjoyable enough, just disappointing for me. 

Rating:  2/6 for a plot that tries to force itself into a clever, modern twist of Pride and Prejudice, but fell short for me.  I didn't much like Darcy, either.  

Available in hardcover, and ebook.  

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