This is a fun spin on Pride and Prejudice during the holidays! It is also kind of a gender swap with the main character as a female Darcy. It hits with a lot of the familial issues that plague austen as well as the will they/won't they of the romantic entaglements. I love that this is done over the holidays as it gives it a nice and festive feel. Good and fast read you don't have to think about too much!

Darcy Fitzwiliam is on top of New York City. As a partner in the second most successful hedge fund in the city and the third wealthiest woman under 29, she has it all. But one visit back home to Pemberley, Ohio, and all her self-confidence is threatened to wash away in just one conversation with her disappointed father. 

Although she hadn't been home in eight years, her mother's heart attack brought her back to her hometown just in time for her family's annual Christmas soiree. Darcy's mother is feeling better, but not quite well enough to attend, and she insists that Darcy buy herself dress and go to the party. 

Just a few minutes into the party, and Darcy is faced with not only several of the reasons she wanted to leave Ohio in the first place, but also some of the things that it pained her to walk away from. Seeing the man who was her first kiss brings back sweet memories until meeting his wife, pregnant with their fourth child, reminds her that one of the main reasons she left was her father's insistence that she get married and have babies. But then she sees her best friend from high school and college, Bingley Charles, and realizes that her loneliness in New York is a problem she needs to face. 

Also at the party are neighbors Jim Bennet and his infuriating brother Luke. And what's worse is that she met up with Luke under the mistletoe. And then, when their passionate bickering turned to a lingering kiss, Darcy looks up to see her on-again, off-again boyfriend and the man her father wants her to marry, Carl Donovan, judging her on that kiss. 

Do some of these names ring a bell in your memory? It's because Melissa de la Cruz has taken the classic Jane Austen novel Pride and Prejudice and turned it on its head. With a contemporary setting and an exchange of genders, we see the well-known story from a completely different perspective, literally. Told from the point of view of Darcy instead of Luke (Lizzie) Bennet, Pride and Prejudice and Mistletoe gives us the other half of the story than Ms. Austen did. And it's fantastic. 

Author de la Cruz gives us sparkling writing that honors the original story and offers genuine surprises and fun all along the way. If you need a novel to help you get into the Christmas spirit, then Pride and Prejudice and Mistletoe is the perfect read!



Galleys for Pride and Prejudice and Mistletoe were provided by St. Martin's Press through NetGalley.com, with many thanks.

Full disclosure: I love Pride and Prejudice. I love re-imaginings of it. Books, movies, you name it. My oldest daughter is named Bennet (after Elizabeth Bennet). Colin Firth, er, Mr. Darcy is my forever favorite English crush. I was excited to read this due to the gender swap- Darcy is a she! Plus- I was looking for something on the lighter side.

I read it over the course of a couple hours on a quiet, rainy Sunday morning. It was just ok. I felt that it had the potential to be so much more than what it was. It just needed more structure and depth. Both the story and characters felt empty.

There is a very good chance that I am not the target audience for this book. I’m sure a lot of readers will really enjoy it. It just wasn’t for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a chance to read an ARC and give an honest review

I tried. After about 30 pages I started skimming and then gave up at 120. It was just too vanilla. If you like bland Hallmark movies, you'll like this one. Unfortunately, I don't.

This is an inverted version of Pride and Prejudice. Eight years before the start of the book, Darcy Fitzwilliam left home to make her fortune. She has since become a wealthy partner of a hedge fund. The book begins with Darcy rushing back home to the town of Pemberly, Ohio where her mother is recovering from a heart attack. Her father wanted her to marry Carl. Since she didn't want to she left.

Her mother is recovering, but she insists on having their yearly Christmas party. anyway. The decorations include lots of mistletoe. The stage is set, and the reader is not disappointed. There is kissing under the mistletoe among other places. Luke Bennet is in attendance, as are other members of the Bennet family. I did enjoy this book. I enjoyed Bingley very much.

I loved the original Pride and Prejudice. I welcome adaptations, as this is. However, I was somewhat disappointed. This book has a potential that it doesn't live up to. References are made to the relationship Darcy and Luke had in high school, but this isn't enough development. I would have liked a little more interactive development of their relationship, so we experience it first hand. The story is definitely there, but needs to be fleshed out. It may get you in the mood for Christmas, but I wanted it to get me in the mood for love.

I received an ARC from St. Martin's Press for an honest review.

I liked this but I would get annoyed with Darcy. She swung from one extreme to the next too quickly. I also found it hard to believe the character we're presented with is as successful as she is supposed to when she goes to pieces immediately the second something makes her uncomfortable. The swings were just too much to buy, to the point where she was just really unlikable and annoying at times. Bingley, however, is delightful as Darcy's best friend and I liked his romance with Jim Bennet.

This is a very cute modern Christmas version of P & P. It's also a gender-swap, so Darcy Fitzwilliam is the female main character and Luke Bennet is her opposite. The story is light and fun and loosely follows the Pride and Prejudice theme.

Darcy is strong enough to say no to the family money and runaway to NYC to make money of her own. She becomes partner in a hedge fund company and is independently wealthy. After 8 years away, her mother has a heart attack and she must return home and face her father and the rest of her friends and family in Pemberley, Ohio.

Darcy starts out as a strong, take no prisoners type of person. She becomes a blithering idiot after she runs into Luke. Luke is an old rival and to be honest, I wasn’t real fond of him. He is not a nice person in the beginning. But, I do see the attraction of Darcy and Luke. There is a mild complication. Darcy has an on again off again flame. Plus, Luke is ENGAGED!!All of them become rivals and they being to cause some trouble, at Christmas no less!!

I enjoyed Darcy for the most part. I was not impressed with her character especially when Luke was around. And Luke was definitely not the match I would want for her. But, he grows on me as the novel moves along.

This is a simple, predictable, palate cleanser. All the mistletoe and the decorations create a scene from a Christmas movie. Pretty good book to get you in the Christmas spirit!

I received this novel from St. Martin’s Press for a honest review.

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND MISTLETOE by Melissa de la Cruz is a gender swap retelling of Pride and Prejudice. I wanted to read something by this author since my daughter is in love with the Descendants series. I really enjoyed this book and it was a solid fit for my guilty pleasure column. In my opinion, the romantic angst of the characters was captured appropriately. Even if you didn't like Darcy's over-emotional and manic response to things, we've all done it in some form in our lives. I really enjoyed the story line of this book and the nuances of family and friendships. I also loved the Christmas scene with her family - the references to years past was perfection. This book fit my need for a quick read that was just entertaining and made me start to think of the holidays. I think we all need a Bingley and a little honesty in our lives. Not every story has to change how you look at the world. This book was like comfort food - I wrapped myself up in a blanket with a glass of wine and just read it cover to cover in one sitting.

I received an ARC of this novel from St. Martin's Press and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Pride and Prejudice and Mistletoe is a light read with plenty of sweet banter, and miscued romance. Melissa gives her characters just the right amount of misread cues and over processed thoughts that keeps them together and apart. Darcy Fitzwilliam, a successful partner in a New York hedge fund company, discovers she’s in love with an old high school bully, Luke Bennet, while on a trip home, to see her sick mother, in Pemberley, Ohio. Her first clue is where she has imbibed to much alcohol, and ends up kissing him, under the mistletoe at her parents Christmas party. You can read the rest for yourself.

Darcy Fitzwilliam has not returned home for a number of years due to a rift between her relationship with her family. In the time since she left her home of Pemberly, Ohio Darcy has become a very powerful, wealthy woman on her own right and with that cushion surrounding her there really isn't a need to go home. Darcy doesn't need people. She lives that way until word is sent to her regarding the health of her mother, the most beloved of her family members, and in an instant Darcy is returning after 8 years away. It isn't until the car ride to her childhood home that she realizes what she might be walking back into.

But as it seems it always turns out to be, the Christmas season changes things. Can Darcy and her family be reconciled? And what has changed between her and Luke Bennet? The way that Darcy has viewed the world is incorrect and in this retelling of Pride and Prejudice we get to see how her perspective changes--for the better.

This was a great retelling of a Austen classic. It might just be because I love all things Austen that I read anything related but I haven't been let down so far--this book continues to deliver!

Darcy is successful women who moved out of her hometown Pemberly, Ohio to NYC and hasn't been back for a while. After a phone call about her mothers poor health she is back during christmas time to spend the holiday. She doesn't have time for relationships when shes working 24/7 but doesn't expect to fall in love during this short time.

You know what as a lover of Jane Austen books I knew I Just has to get my hands on this book and let me tell you this book doesn't disappoint. First off its gender swapped so its a whole new outlook, then there is plenty of things to seem very different but also got that main story line/plot of the book to make it clear its a Pride and Prejudice retelling (Yea I know its pretty clear in the title) . The reason I point that out there are plenty of books out there that advertise being a Pride and Prejudice retelling and clearly aren't and it seems like such a waste. Anyways I loved the characters, getting to know them and seeing the differences from which this book was inspired from. So a message for you Austin fans from one to another I recommend you lovely readers to check this book out especially during this holiday season.

I am sucker for any retelling of P&P and couldn't resist after seeing this one on NetGalley. The premise of gender reversal offered a unique spin on the classic. Despite my excitement, the book fell completely flat and didn't deliver the story anticipated.

Darcy, who is supposed to an successful businesswoman, was immature and unlikeable. Sadly, her character shows little growth throughout. Despite having known each for most of their lives, Darcy and Luke's romance felt insta-love. So much of their connection occurred in the past, but readers aren't really privy to those moments. Perhaps if the book had been longer and allowed first hand experience to their chemistry, it would have been more enjoyable.

I wouldn't discourage anyone from trying this one but would not recommend it either.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for my advanced review copy.

While I liked the idea of a gender-swapped Pride and Prejudice, and there were some things about this I liked, I don't think it had all the emotional depth or the romance of the original.

Darcy Fitzwilliam is a 29 year old partner at the second largest -- or was it second most-successful? Or both? -- hedge fund in Manhattan. She's the third wealthiest woman under the age of 29 in Manhattan. (Not sure who keeps track of that but okay....)

After her mother takes ill, she rushes home for the first time in years to spend Christmas as the family estate in Pemberley, Ohio. (These were a couple of my stumbling blocks. Nothing against Ohio, but it just didn't seem like a place you'd find an ancestral estate. And her "estrangement" from her family over the fact that she wanted a career rather than marriage seemed a bit flimsy.)

In any case, at a family Christmas party, she meets her longtime high school nemesis, Luke Bennet.

I thought it was fun that Lizzie Bennet's troublesome younger sisters, Kitty and Lydia, are turned into high school delinquents. And I liked that Jane Bennet was turned into a guy named Jim in a romance with Darcy's best guy friend, Bingley Charles.

But I also thought that having the story told from the richer/snobbier character's point of view didn't always work for me. A lot of the tension of the original revolves around Lizzie and Jane being poor and pressured to marry well. A lot of the romantic misunderstanding revolves around having Lizzie mistake Darcy's reserve as disdain.

Since we're actually in Darcy's head/POV for the whole book, we can see that she IS kind of snobby and materialistic, which didn't help me connect with her character. Also, this story had a sort-of love quadrangle, in which both Darcy and Luke are both actually engaged for a time to other people. (In the original, I'm pretty sure Darcy's possible relationship with Anne DeBourgh and Lizzie's proposal from Mr. Collins were possible betrothals, not actual engagements.)

In short: loved the gender-flip, but wished this had been a dual POV and that Darcy Fitzwilliam had been reserved and romantically awkward rather than rich and shallow.

I am a huge Pride & Prejudice/Austen fan, so I was anticipating a modern-day retelling of P&P - because I lap them up! Austen fans can be rabid and I consider myself fairly easy going in several ways [in regard to reading.] That being said, this book was disappointing.

I did expect more from this.

Darcy moved away from Pemberley, Ohio to New York City to make something of herself and to move out from under her overbearing father. She became a successful businesswoman, being part of the number one Hedge Fund companies and eight years later she still hasn't visited home. Except when her mother has a heart attack she rushes back home.

Immediately it is displayed that Darcy is rather shallow, mean-spirited and selfish. We are all open to interpret Darcy as we will, but as a die-hard fan, it seems rather blasphemous because these are all things Darcy wasn't.

There are more genderbent roles in this book, Lizzie is Luke Bennet. He's cocky, arrogant and his plot twist cheaped the relationship or would be relationship between Darcy and himself.

There were multiple instances where I just felt as though something was thrown into the book to shock the reader or something that was added in to just add more flare. It made it highly unrealistic, it lost its authentic feel along the way. Everyone is the richest or most famous.

I would give this read 2.8 savvy crowns.

I have been reading a lot of Christmas books lately, and this was another fun one.

Who?
Darcy Fitzwilliam, a super successful business woman, who had been estranged from her family for eight years after she decided to follow her own dreams. Luke Bennett, Darcy's failure-to-launch neighbor, who had always had a talent for getting on her nerves.

What?
After her mother's heart attack, Darcy returned to Pemberley, and her world was set upside down. The boy who was once her biggest foil, Luke, suddenly has her questioning her life of work and solitude and making her want to commit acts of kindness.

Why?
I am NOT an Austen-ite, therefore, I did not read this as a retelling, but read it simply as a contemporary romance, which I rather enjoyed it. I have a soft spot for enemies to lovers stories and this one had that extra plus of Luke and Darcy also having shared a lot of history. It's always fun to take a walk down memory lane with the characters and these two had some really fun shared memories. This book was quite fun too. Several characters really added a lot to the story, and there was quite a bit of great banter going on too.

I love that the book was set during the holidays, because there is just something about "the most wonderful time of the year" that makes a story just a little be better. The decorations, the presents, the festivities -- it all added to my enjoyment, and I thought de la Cruz utilized the holiday elements quite well.

I would classify this book as a romance, but it was a also very much a story of self-discovery for Darcy. She left Pemberley hurt, and this hurt drove her to achieve great career success. However, it also left her relationship shy, and missing out on many years with her family. It really warmed my heart to see her and her family heal, and they shared some really special moments with us too.

I constantly complain, that I do not get enough closure, so I was really excited to see an epilogue. I must say, there were many precious things in this epilogue. It filled in the gaps and pointed us towards the future, which is a pretty successful epilogue if you ask me.

Overall: A sweet and satisfying holiday romance, which made me smile, laugh, and cheer for this couple.

I dont really read classics but I love this author so much so I thought I would give it a go. I did like it but it wasn't all that and a box of crackers. The gender swap story was a great idea and it worked out well. I really didn't like Darcey at all and he is one character that in other retellings of this story I usually really like. The book blurb really sounded good but when you start reading the story it falls short of that expectation. I really haven't had a lot of luck with her retellings of late.

The challenges of a rich female finding a person who is not money grubbing are not very good. Also it is a general known premise that some men are intimidate by a rich, successful woman. So for these two to find each other and build such a great relationship is awesome

This modern, loosely based retelling of Pride and Prejudice is a fun and frothy romantic comedy

I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review. This book tells the story of Darcy Fitzwilliam, of Pemberley, Ohio. This information may sound familiar but that’s only because of the Darcy from Pride and Prejudice (who **spoiler** doesn’t live in Ohio). The Darcy in this story though is a woman, currently residing in New York City, but is currently home to visit her mother, who recently had a heart attack. While home she keeps running into Luke Bennet, a guy who made her life hell in high school. Add in some ups and downs, some misunderstandings, and a best friend named Bingley Charles and we’ve got a story!

Overall I didn’t like this book. I wanted to so very badly because the idea for the story line was such a great one. And I loved how creatively the author started out and how the story came together as its own story while also having so many fun parallels to the classic Pride and Prejudice story. I just had so much trouble with the character development in this novel, I couldn’t connect with any of the characters. The conversations were awkward and I thought that Darcy was wildly immature for such a successful 29-year old woman. I couldn’t picture a woman like that obsessing over whether a guy liked her or not. Overall the book felt more teen angst-y to me than I would have expected for an adult novel, but this may work for some readers. It wasn’t for me but it was a creative story and I can see how it would appeal to many.