Dreaming of Mr. Darcy [Paperback]

Just give me a hint of the book "Persuasion" being part of a book and I'm in. Sometimes I'm disappointed but with this book I was not.
This book primarily tells the story of Kay, who inherits some money and decides to open a B&B in Lyme and work on her book, The Illustrated Mr. Darcy. Shortly after her arrival, a movie company comes to film a new version of Jane Austen's Persuasion and most of them end up in Kay's B&B. The actors include Gemma, who is somewhat insecure about her abilities; Beth, who is a major shrew; Teresa, the woman director and Oli, the handsome leading man. Also added to the mix is Adam the scriptwriter who develops a tender for Kay.
Kay fancies herself in love with Oli who is happy to play along. She decides to be matchmaker with Adam and Gemma, being totally oblivious to Adam's feelings. There is a secret relationship that comes to light in the end of the book and is hinted at earlier. Gemma's mother, an overbearing has been actress, shows up to add turmoil to the situation. It is quite the cast of interesting characters, all of whom are realistic and well written.
I found this to be a very enjoyable read. It was interesting and well-paced, something that you don't always find with Brit-lit. I had read Ms. Connelly's earlier book in the trilogy "A Weekend with Mr. Darcy" so I knew I would enjoy this book. This book was previously published in the UK as "The Perfect Hero". There is a third book called "Mr. Darcy Forever" which will come out in April. It's definitely on my to-buy list.

(Originally posted on my blog, That Artsy Reader Girl. I received my copy free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.)

Kay lives in landlocked Hertforshire, and dreams of living by the sea. When a close friend dies, and leaves Kay everything, with the instruction to "follow her dreams," she quits her job and buys a bed and breakfast in Lyme Regis. Her first guests are part of the cast of the upcoming movie, Persuasion, who are there filming on scene. Kay makes close friends with a few of the actresses, falls head over heels for the leading man, and is completely clueless that someone else has fallen for her.

I liked this book, but I didn't love it. I loved the little town of Lyme. It sounds breathtaking, and I have always thought it would be fun to own a B&B by the sea. Kay's sounds very cute and old-fashioned, with lots of character and charm. I liked the two actresses, Sophie and Gemma. They are very sweet and caring, and end up being great friends to Kay. I like Adam a lot, and think he's a saint for putting up with Kay's antics. He's hopelessly in love with her, while she is trying to set him up with someone else (like Emma Woodhouse would). She's completely clueless! The smartest person in this book is Adam's eccentric Nana, who tells it like it is. She totally knows what's going on, and is perfectly willing to voice her opinions. I liked her!

I had a hard time with the insta-love. Everyone falls in love with everyone really fast! With Adam, it's love at first sight. He falls for Kay, the girl with the "toffee-colored hair" before he even knows her name. (By the way, you'll get really tired of the phrase "toffee-colored hair". It is used a LOT in this book.) Kay falls in love with Oli (the male lead in the movie) really fast. She's planning their wedding and naming their children, and he hasn't even kissed her yet. He hasn't even told her he likes her yet! Gemma's love interest takes a little more time, but again it's love at first sight for him and love at first realization that he loves her for her. This is just not realistic! These characters are not junior high schoolers who think they are in love because they've never felt it before! And why is everyone so clueless? Kay is clueless about everything, Adam is spineless and won't tell Kay that he likes her and not the girl she's trying to match him with, Gemma is clueless and can't figure out why a guy is being nice to her. People are not this dumb! Really, it felt like high school and all the he-said-she-said drama. These people are too old for this. I think this is the reason that I didn't really connect with any of them. I just kept wanting to smack them.

Kay has conversations with herself, which are just weird to me. I don't sit and actually have a conversation with myself, especially out loud. I guess I just don't like it when characters have conversations with themselves, because I've had the same complaint with other books. Also... the title led me to believe I was going to be reading a Pride and Prejudice spin-off. This book is all centered around Persuasion, though, so you'll be hearing much more about Captain Wentworth than Mr. Darcy. I'm not complaining or anything, and I really enjoyed reading about the romantic story of Persuasion. I just thought it was worth mentioning for those who are on the look-out for P&P retellings or spin-offs. This isn't one.

My favorite part was when two characters get completely drenched in a downpour and have to make due with borrowed clothes. The guy has no pants, a bright yellow raincoat, and a t-shirt. The girl is wearing granny clothes that are too big. That was funny. And I really enjoyed the descriptions of the Cobb and the surrounding area. I've always really wanted to go to England, so any book that describes it to me is a book I appreciate. I really liked the idea of the novel as well. There were just a few parts that kept me from liking it as much as I could have, and expected to.

I'm glad I read Dreaming of Mr. Darcy. I just had higher expectations. Like all romances, everyone ends up with who you want/expect them to. I still plan to read the other stories in this series, and hope to connect with them more. :)

I found the first of Victoria Connelly's "Darcy" books (Weekend with Mr. Darcy) to be cute, and the characters relatively enjoyable. So I went ahead and bought the second and third books. The second one is unfortunately not as well done as the first. It's not horrible, but it's definitely not as well done. Much like the first, there are three main characters we follow, Kay, Adam, and Gemma with others thrown in for flavor. All three of them are Jane Austen fans, and they all end up involved in the filming of a new version of Persuasion.

The story starts out with Kay, and she seems a promising character at first, but quickly becomes very hard to like much. For a woman who is likely in her 30s (I don't remember her exact age being given, but the details of her life would lead me to think she's at least 30), she acts more like she's 14 or 15. She is constantly having slightly ridiculous daydreams about her and the leading man from the movie, Oli. Even when things seem to be rather obviously not what she's hoping for and dreaming about, she'll still convince herself with yet another daydream. Sure, everyone daydreams, but the extend of Kay's start to seem foolish. And between those daydreams and the way she flutters about seeming a bit brainless at times, I'm felt like she should be a lot younger than she really is.

Adam is more enjoyable, though for him it's love at first sight with Kay and her "toffee-colored hair". And trust me, you will eventually be tired of Kay's "toffee-colored hair". My primary annoyance with him is probably the same one his grandmother has - just tell the girl! She's fluttering around like a fool over the movie star and trying to hook Adam up with Gemma, but he can't seem to get it out that he likes Kay, not Gemma. Of course, his inability to tell her might not seem as slightly ridiculous as it does if it wasn't for her fluttering all over and barely noticing him at all.

Gemma is the one I wish had been more of a focus than Kay. She's just a bit more interesting, and her personality is a lot less annoying than Kay's. She still has her own flaws, as she's so timid through most of the book that it's not funny, but she's still more enjoyable. She's the leading lady in the movie, but not sure if movies are what she really wants to do, and is the daughter of a formerly famous actress who has spent her life pressuring Gemma. Frankly, I'd rather have heard more about Gemma and her life than constantly watched Kay make a fool of herself. Plus, while Gemma of course ends up with her own romance, romantic interest, and happy ending, we don't get to find out what she finally ends up doing other than the vague information given towards the end, which was a disappointment. At least with the main characters in the previous "Darcy" book we got a sort of epilogue for them all.

So again, it's not awful, and it's an okay read, and you could argue it's a modern attempt at Jane Austen's Emma, but it's just not as well done as Emma. And frankly, I don't remember finding Emma to be quite such an airhead. The speed with which people fall in love in this book seems a bit abrupt as well. I'd recommend this as a library book or on sale, as I don't think it's quite worth what I paid for it. And I'd definitely recommend Weekend with Mr. Darcy over this one. This one just falls a bit flat compared to the first book this "trilogy" and could have been done so much better than it was. I had higher expectations after the first book. It's okay, but it's nothing fabulous.