Wednesday 27 June 2012

COMPULSIVELY MR. DARCY BY NINA BENNETON - BOOK REVIEW


It is always the same old story between them.  At first glance things never work properly between Darcy and Elizabeth. They never hit it off in fact, neither when he is a wealthy British philanthropist and she is an  idealist American doctor volunteering in a poor country like Vietnam.
In Nina Benneton's story, Elizabeth can’t understand the reason for the reverence Darcy gets from all the people around him:
 “It ‘s hard to be intimidated by a guy who faints at the sight of blood” ,  she thinks at first, after their awkward, catastrophic meeting in the emergency room  of the hospital where she’s been asked to treat injured Charles Bingley, Darcy’s best friend .
Furthermore, why is this Darcy so hysterically worried for his friend? And why are the two men  keenly supporting Mr and Mrs Hurst’s application for an adoption, when the married couple themselves don’t seem so truly interested ? 
Elizabeth has her own suspicions. All funnily wrong, actually. Nonetheless,  that is what gives start to an amusing series of misconceptions,  misunderstandings and misadventures which will lead the reader, fatally as well as predictably,  to the highly longed for  rewarding happy ending.

A new modern romance inspired to Pride and Prejudice from Sourcebooks publishers: light, amusing, fast paced, sexy and romantic at the same time. Elizabeth and Darcy are caught in a spicy love affair. So beware of some  adult content and get ready to live very hot moments.
Nina Benneton has depicted a new Jane Bennet  and different Charles Bingley, and hasn't neglected cousin Fitzwilliam, Mr Collins, George Wickham, Lady Catherine de Bourgh , Anne or Georgiana. However, she does not simply follow their steps and relationships as in Pride and Prejudice but creates surprising twists and turns as well as quirky hilarious moments with them.
If you let me be totally honest, though I think it was fun and relaxing  to read  this modernization of  Pride and Prejudice,  I also have to recognize that there is very little Miss Austen  in it and  even less of her well-mannered world -  as you might have already inferred from what I’ve  written above.
I must confess: I’ve stopped looking for Jane Austen reading Austen-inspired fan-fiction,  that’s the only way you can enjoy it fully. If you insist  in the quest for her voice, wit and world in modern retellings or sequels,   you may face constant frustration.  Of course, some sequels, prequels, spin-offs or modernizations are better than others but, you know, Austen is unique, inimitable, unbeatable.   
In conclusion,  I’d recommend Compulsively Mr Darcy  mainly to adult readers in search for a spicy, irreverent,  light and delightful story to enjoy in these summer holidays. But first, an invitation to all daring Janeite:  forget prim and proper dashing Darcy and start dreaming of a complex and sensitive hero who is gorgeous, hot but definitely  contemporary.

2 comments:

Lidia said...

This one i've always wanted to read but never actually had enough time
this summer i believe i'll finally buy it. thank you so much for the article!

Super Fan Evie Cotton said...

Loved this one. When my husband asked me what I was reading, he exploded with "YOU are compulsive!"