Emily is the manager of a New York City bookstore who after a string of bad dates is fed up with unchivalrous men. She decides no one can hold a candle to Pride and Prejudice's Mr Darcy and is in no mood to join her best friend in a trip Cancun where the plan is to meet men and party. To avoid this unappetizing trip, Emily hurriedly books a tour of Jane Austen country instead. Arriving in London and joining the tour, Emily finds herself surrounded by elderly ladies and one surly male journalist who is writing an article about Mr. Darcy, and through hallucination or magical circumstance (it's never quite explained), Emily also meets the actual Mr. Darcy. In truth she meets him in more ways than one.
I think that this is a contemporary romance/chick lit novel which would probably appeal to people who are fans of Pride and Prejudice (who aren't sick of re-tellings/ sequels/ spin-offs) and who are not expecting to find something like a re-write of a classic, but rather a fun homage. If you love that book (/movies/miniseries) you might get a kick out of the way Me and Mr Darcy parallels the story told there and also with the crossovers where Emily actually meets Mr. Darcy. I liked it. I felt like a P&P nerd for reading it and being amused. There are a few pop cultural references and references linked to the recent Pride and Prejudice movie and the Colin Firth version of the mini series, so more reason to be a P&P nut and then read this. Not that this was not a fun lighthearted novel without liking P&P – but it helps. This book also made me want to go on a nice bus tour of the English countryside and to go stop at museums and old mansions. The scenery and tourist destinations described here felt very realistically portrayed. Also the timeline of this book happening for a week around Christmas and New Years makes this a book to read now to start gearing up for a nice holiday, particularly if you happen to be going somewhere outside the country.
An aside: I'm looking forward to vacation… Probably 3-4 more days of work! I'm still trying to decide what to do with the one extra vacation day I got because management sent a note last week giving my department the 2nd of January off. Yaaaaay!
Stats for today: My TBR is @ 110. I've read 93 books this year. The goal was 100, so I have 2 weeks to read 7 books. I don't know if I will do it.
specficromantic 