Really liked this twist on Pride and Prejudice. The evolution of Darcy and her chemistry with Luke made this a fun book to read.

Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this Arc.
I felt that this story was cute in the traditional love holiday read. I enjoyed the strong woman aspect and how Darcy was always thinking about her well being before anything else.

Did not finish so I will not review. Thank you for the chance though!

This book was great fun! I really liked the modern day, gender swapping version of Pride and Prejudice. This was the perfect antidote to a long holiday week.

My Rating:

3.5

Favorite Quotes:

Wanting to be near family and actually being near family were two completely different things.

Actually, she had never had a favorite brother before; she had only disliked them all equally for different reasons.

They just want grandchildren, like all old people do… And you’re almost thirty. They don’t want to die before they have a chance for you to reproduce. Or worse, stay alive long enough to see you become infertile.


My Review:

I had considerable difficulty liking Darcy as throughout most of the story she was rather odious, self-involved, prickly, arrogant, thoughtless and insensitive, etc., all of which made her less than appealing and unpalatable, although I did rather pity her a bit as her father was even more toxic. She had few people skills but Darcy was an extremely wealthy and intelligent businesswoman so when her behavior became extremely erratic, impulsive, and unfocused, I decided she must be unraveling as it was inconsistent with her professional success. The narrative was lavishly and colorfully detailed with hits of clever humor and snark, although the story and several of the characters lost cohesion somewhere in the middle and nearly lost me in the process. I stayed the course and was pleasantly relieved once Darcy finally settled herself for an honest face-to-face conversation rather than her previous MO of irrational overreaction and/or flight. The ending was sweet deliverance for all parties and left me with a well-deserved sense of satisfaction and a smile.

The classic book Pride & Prejudice has already had all kinds of versions, both written and in theaters.
In this book here, what caught my attention was the exchange of names. SHE is Darcy Fitzwilliam. HE's the Bennet (Luke).
In addition, it has the purchasing power factor. She is rich. He is satisfied with the simpler life that the carpenter's job provides him.

Ambitious, Darcy goes years without going to visit her parents. And the situation got worse because she did not accept the man her father wanted her to marry.
But when her mother gets sick, Darcy visits for a few days, and this becomes the perfect opportunity for her to face her past. She would have to meet her father again, but also the boy with whom her past had crossed so many times, Luke.

Luke and Darcy had a story in the past, but their plans for the future were irreconcilable. Now they were together, and the attraction returned with full force.
In the past, it was Luke who wanted her. Now, Darcy begins to pressure Luke into a serious relationship.
Which one will win?

The plot is interesting and has several funny passages.
Comparing the original, by Jane Austen, with the current one is the fun part.
About the main characters, Luke is more captivating and more focused. He knows what He wants out of life. His family is more united, while Darcy conveys a "bitch" personality.
The reading has its ups and downs but it amuses.

4 stars

I’m giving “Pride and Prejudice and Mistletoe” a three because it’s cute – for someone on the younger end of the ya reading group. I’m not really sure how it got classified as adult romance, but it does not belong there. It’s a two at best when in that category. There really isn’t anything else for me to say about it. Not recommended.

This was a fun delightful book with references to Pride and prejudice, with notes of A Christmas Carol. This was an enjoyable fast read. At the beginning of the read I was a little put off, not with the gender swap (that was fun) it was more that this is one of my most favorite Jane Austen novels and the author was not following the book directly. Then as the story progressed, I really started to enjoy the characters and the different situations that they found themselves in. I say notes of A Christmas Carol, because of her true change of heart, and trying to do good unto others. In Austen's Pride and Prejudice we only see the Bennett's side of the story, the reader never knows more about Darcey's family that much. This is a nice turn around and it happens during Christmas. I do have to note that Christmas books are not my thing, so this was awesome.

I was looking forward to reading this book after being granted access to the eARC from Netgalley. I love stories that will put me in a seasonal mood, but I have to be honest and say that I didn’t like the novel very much. I gave this book 3 stars on Goodreads but I would probably say it’s more worthy of 2.5 stars for me. I thought the characters were flat and uninteresting and that Darcy’s story was too self centered. I will admit, I have never read Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, nor seen any screen/book adaptations and renditions of the story so I don’t know if I would like a different version better. But I felt like Darcy’s story really didn’t do it for me.
The book revolves around Darcy Fitzwilliam, and she is a very successful woman living in an amazing apartment and flinging money into necessary luxuries just because she can. But, apparently, that doesn’t mean she’s self-centered, just very sure of herself as a strong and independent woman. NOPE. Sorry, I’m not buying what shes selling there. Everything Darcy does in this book that she claims is for someone else, still harbors her own interests above hers. I would say the least self-centered action was her going home to see her mom after the heart attack because that’s the daughterly thing to do, but she still dreaded going because her father is bitter about how she left eight years prior. It all started because she wanted to move to NYC on her own and didn’t want to get married to her high school sweetheart Carl Donovan. Like whatever, who would get so butt-hurt over this that they would essentially disown their daughter… apparently the Fitzwilliams. Carl is still in Darcy’s life, though, because they have been having an on and off relationship in which they basically just sleep together whenever Carl is in New York. A bit immature really because Darcy knows the guy is totally in love with her but that she doesn’t return the feelings. She has been leading him on for years, and even accepts a marriage proposal during the course of this book. I would call this her most selfish action of the novel because she really did it to make Luke jealous since he had just gotten engaged and sped up the process by planning to get married a few weeks later. I have no idea if that description makes any sense, but what I’m really trying to say is POOR CARL! He is just trying his best to win over the woman he loves and Darcy is crapping on him at every turn. She calls off their engagement unceremoniously and runs into the arms of Luke.

Now, Luke’s character worked a bit more than Darcy for me because he was the man candy of the book. Everyone loves man candy am I right? He worked for me in the sense of a Rom-com character too because he’s handsome, says all the right things, sounds super smooth and sexy. But gosh Darcy ruined things over and over with him and therefore ruined the cuteness that could have been there at the end of the story. I could even rationalize his fear and crazy quick engagement to the insignificant other girl whose name escapes me. All of that made sense because his relationship with Darcy was so uncertain. How could he bank on this fickle woman who still doesn’t know what she wants from a relationship at 29?

Now, back to Darcy. Her one “redeeming” moment consisted of her throwing tons of money at the local high school because the two young Bennet twins get into huge criminal trouble and will be sent to the correctional school or something like that. Darcy pays off the principal to let the delinquents stay at school but get this: her motive really to make Luke like her. She can say all she wants that she did it out of the goodness of her heart because she loves her hometown and old family friends, but the whole time she’s thinking “boy I bet Luke will really love me if I save his brothers.” The whole second half of this book was a giant cringe fest…

Then there’s the ending in which Darcy and her family share a sappy gift exchange. They had been buying Darcy gifts for 8 years but hadn’t bothered to send them to her in New York. Not to mention that there was no gift shopping on Darcy’s part for her family members. The logic of them hoarding these present sentimentally because *one day* she would be back was so lame that I can’t even figure out what I disliked the most about that scene. Then lastly, we get an epilogue showing Darcy and Luke’s happy life together two years later. They get married, have a baby and live happily ever after. I feel like normally I would love this type of story but I didn’t like this one because there was absolutely nothing I liked about Darcy aside from our mutual love for Gilmore Girls. (That said, I am watching Gilmore Girls as I type this review.)

Overall, I think this book had some potential but missed the mark for me. I don’t recommend it very highly, but my opinion is just that of one person out of many that have read this book so far!

HO HO HO...ly Cow. I can't believe I didn't DNF this one.

This modern-day, gender-swapped version of the classic has about as much charm as Alvin & the Chipmunks singing "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" -- on repeat.

NOTHING about this story makes sense:
- Our 29 year old female protagonist (Darcy Fitzwilliam) is continually hounded by friends and family for not being married. Um, hello! This is 2017, not 1950.
- Darcy is supposed to be a mega multimillionarie hedge fund manager, but acts like a total ditz. No one could reach that level of professional success at such a young age and be so much of a mess.
- Darcy's act of valor to aid the Bennett twins is baffling (as the Bennett twins' behavior is abhorrent)
- The book contains silly editing mistakes. For example, the text referrs to Darcy going shopping at Bloomingdales while she's back home in Ohio. There are no Bloomingdales in Ohio (which an editor should have caught).

I could go on, but I need some eggnog to recover from this mess.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for a galley of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really did not care for this. The quality of the writing was poor, the characters were flat, and the timeline felt jumbled. I don't expect any Austen retelling to be as good as the original, but even taken as an independent work, this left me feeling dissatisfied.

I must confess something that might make me lose points as a bookworm: I've never read Pride and Prejudice. It's been on my list forever I just haven't gotten to it. Wanting to read the book first I've never really paid attention to the movie either, (well the one without the zombies).

Because of that I probably missed out on any nostalgia readers of the original might have experienced and definitely missed any references made.

Therefore this is a fresh-eyed review because any significance was lost on me.
I loved it overall but not so much how it was done

My one main complaint, and I'm hoping this was just because I was reading an ARC, there are a lot of confusing points with the timeline. It's night and suddenly it's morning, a couple of days have gone by then it's weeks, there's a point at the end when she mentions months then it's a year. Again I hope that was just an advance copy problem and the final copies were fixed.

I say that was my one main complaint but, now that I think of it, it might be my only complaint. Well that and a bit at the end where I felt explanations were not only rushed but open to more questions.
I'm going to let the romantic in me (not to mention my ignorance on the original) go with it though, because I love a character finding what they want and then getting it happily ever after.

As I said above I loved it but not how it was done, it felt rushed and like not too much thought was put into it. Having read many other books by Melissa de la Cruz I know she can do way better. As much as I enjoyed it I can't help but feel a little bit let down also.

Pride And Prejudice And Mistletoe by Melissa De La Cruz by all rights should probably be my favorite Christmas themed romance of the year. It has this gorgeous cover. The origin story is one that I know and love, only with Darcy and Elizabeth gender swapped. This book just fell kind of really short of my expectations.

This Christmas themed version of Pride And Prejudice really follows Darcy Fitzwilliam, a hedge fund manager as she comes home to Pemberley, Ohio following her mother’s heart attack. Darcy currently lives in NYC and has not really been home in years. Back home she butts heads with her next door neighbor, Luke Bennett. Luke is a carpenter and not exactly the same level of wealthy as Darcy. Still, there’s kind of a spark between the two. Meanwhile, Darcy tries to hook up her friend Bingley with Luke’s brother Jim which goes a whole lot better than Darcy’s current situation. Oh, and also Darcy’s on again and off again boyfriend Carl gives her an ultimatum. However, she can’t stop thinking about Luke.

Overall, there’s a reason why this book does not have the highest ratings right now. I will say that I went in optimistic and tried not to let that color my view. Unfortunately, this book was just not great. Pride And Prejudice And Mistletoe just really lacked that essence that the Austen original has. I never felt this crackle or tension between Darcy and Luke. There were not any great moments of banter or witty conversation. Probably the highlight of this whole book is the side romance between Jim and Bingley. And like, I felt like Darcy’s character was really softened and it just, wasn’t what I had expected. I probably would have liked it way more if it was its own thing without Pride And Prejudice in the name.

ON A SCALE OF ONE TO BUDDY THE ELF, HOW MUCH CHRISTMAS SPIRIT DOES THIS BOOK HAVE?
Pride And Prejudice And Mistletoe does indeed contain multiple scenes with mistletoe and kissing. There’s ice skating. There’s caroling. Also, there’s a big Christmas party. And presents! So, actually there are a ton of Christmas-y moments in this book which are slightly redeeming. So, even though it didn’t have the Austen feel I wanted at least it delivered on the mistletoe.

I love Melissa de la Cruz, but I found this novel to be a bit grating. I wanted to appreciate a gender swapped Pride and Prejudice, but found that it was hitting the wrong notes for me within the first few chapters.

I see I have similar feelings to many other reviewers. I like the premise of a gender swapped, modern retelling of Jane Austen's classic Pride and Prejudice, but this book left much to be desired.

The work in a big picture is light and fun, at times it makes good laughs and in others it makes the reader think about what really matters in their life. In addition, it was very interesting to see how the author approached the subjects of the original work and inserted them in a very current context.

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for my review. Although she comes from money, Darcy Fitzwilliam has become wildly successful and powerful in the business world on her own. Because of her business and social commitments, she hasn't been home in years, but that changes when her mom has a heart attack.

Luke Bennet is a carpenter who has no plans to ever leave home. He loves the quiet, simple life of furniture making and has no interest in big business. When Darcy and Luke meet under the mistletoe it is nothing but sparks for these opposites, but will they be able to last outside of the holiday?

I knew this story would be predictable, but I usually can set that aside if the characters are really engaging. Darcy was just annoying and if you didn't know she would end up with Luke you would have never predicted they would end up together. I like my holiday stories slightly cheesy, but this one is a pass for me.

When I was pitched this book, I was excited to read a modernized take of Pride and Prejudice. I liked that the heart of the story was similar but with some of the things turned upside down.

When I got into this book, I thought it was a women's fiction book with the characters being of an age where I read a lot of women's fiction I was excited, but this book just didn't hit the mark for me. Melissa de la Cruz is a YA author and I would say that the writing for this book felt like a YA book. If you like that sort of thing, then this book would be right on the mark for you, but for me I was ready for a fluffy adult women's fiction story.

I wished I had read Pride and Prejudice just before this one so I could have picked out all the little details that were repeated from the original to the remake.

Austen fans, if you are looking for a modernized retelling of Pride and Prejudice, be forewarned, Pride and Prejudice and Mistletoe by Melissa de la Cruz is not the book for you. The author would have been better off forsaking the classic and simply developing her own story without a nod to Elizabeth and Darcy.

A novel set in the contemporary Northeastern part of the United States, the book is full of cultural references to televisions, movies, and music which will be familiar to the average reader. Our main character Darcy Fitzwilliam is visiting her home in Pemberley, Ohio after an eight year hiatus as she built an empire as a business mogul (hedge funds) in New York City. Avoiding her disapproving dad who threatened to cut her off when she refused to marry the local boy from a good family, the 29 year old set out to prove herself. However, she was not too proud to come running home after her mother suffered a heart attack.

With Christmas just days away Darcy was forced to attend the family holiday party filled with acquaintances she'd just as soon never see again. Yet her best friend Bingley Charles shows up and when she introduces him to one of the Bennett boys (Jim), the two hit it off and a romance is in the happening. After drinking one too many of her mom's potent eggnogs, Darcy is heading back upstairs when she runs into Luke Bennett, her high school debate team adversary. Caught under the mistletoe they exchange a kiss which turns passionate, causing both their hearts to skip a beat. Taken aback they blame it in the booze, remembering their background as enemies. Still, Darcy keeps wondering "what if" even as she resumes a relationship with Carl Donovan, her on again, off again boyfriend from high school days, who is ready to make a commitment. Luke is also dating and girlfriend Charlotte Collins is more than willing to wear his ring. Miscommunications and missteps occur along the way with hurt feelings which must be smoothed out and explained before a happily ever after ending.

A simple narrative without a lot of action and barely tolerable dialogue, even the Christmas setting can't save this one. It was difficult to be sympathetic towards the main characters and Darcy was a real piece of work. I can't help but wonder if Cruz ever read the original, perhaps relying on a graphic novel version for her plot points. The best thing I can say about this book is that it is short. Two stars.

A thank you to Netgalley and St Martins Press for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A decent retelling. Quick fluffy read. Nice to have for traveling.