Other Mister Darcy
| Title: | The Other Mr. Darcy |
| Author: | Monica Fairview |
| Genre: | Historical, Romance |
| Copyright: | 2009 |
| Ranking: | Okay |
| LibraryThing: | Title:Other Mister Darcy ISBN:978-1-4022-2513-0 (Add Book) |
When Caroline Bingley collapses to the floor and sobs at Mr. Darcy's wedding, imagine her humiliation to discover that a stranger has witnessed her emotional display. Miss Bingley, understandably, resents this unknown gentleman very much, even if he is Mr. Darcy's American cousin. Mr Robert Darcy is as charming as Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy is proud, and he is stunned to find a beautiful young woman weeping brokenheartedly at his cousin's wedding. Such depth of love, he thinks, is rare and precious. For him, it's love at first sight. Alas, regaining her good graces seems an impossible mission, and he is left to hope that someday their paths will cross again.
Thoughts
This is billed as a sequel to Pride and Prejudice, but it isn't really. There are two ways that it isn't a sequel. The first is clear from the blurb: this isn't a straight sequel because it focuses on Caroline Bingley rather than on Elizabeth Darcy. That's fair enough. I was willing to give it a go, since, judging from her characterisation in "Lost in Austen", Caroline Bingley has the potential to be an interesting character. Unfortunately, this leads into the second way that this isn't a sequel: the heroine of this tale may be called Caroline Bingley, but she bears little resemblance to the woman we met in Pride and Prejudice. This isn't just a matter of a change of perspective; the author has shuffled things around such that all of Caroline's faults have transferred to her sister Louisa. Sorry, but Caroline was just as catty as her sister. The book also starts with the premise that Caroline was really in love with Darcy. Now, I'd be willing to be persuaded of that, but I wouldn't take it as a given, which, unfortunately, this story does.
All that being said, I might have been willing to read this story on its own terms, as if it were a standalone novel, and it might well have been good... but I couldn't be bothered. What I did read of it wasn't badly written, so I'm giving this a ranking of "Okay" rather than "Poor".