I will read pretty much read anything that is an adaptation of Pride & Prejudice, and I have never come across one with a gender reversal on the main characters, so I was excited to come across this one. This adaptation was a modern version of the novel, with Darcy Fitzwilliam being a successful businesswoman. Somehow this Darcy was not as endearing as Austen's Darcy, who was downright swoonworthy by the end of the novel, but this Dary also was more likeable by the end. It definitely read like chick lit and I enjoyed the lighthearted feel of it, and thought it was a great read to get amped up for the upcoming holiday season. I would recommend this to any Jane Austen fan, or anyone who enjoys a light women's fiction novel.

This was both confusing and interesting. Take everything you know about Pride and Prejudice and just flip it upside-down. The characters are there in theory but you find yourself almost confused by the language of yesteryears mixed in with today's society. This is a book you really need to buckle down and concentrate on, not just an afternoon tea read.

Good for anyone who enjoys adaptions and rewrites brought into our century. But be aware the writing seems old fashioned.

No. My answer to this review is no. You combine two things that are universally acknowledged as good and enjoyable and turned them to unenjoyable and not good. So my answer is just NO. Stop. So not publish this book. NO!

Ok so, where to start - oh how do I hate this book. Well. First this is a retelling of P&P with not one but two gimmicks. It's at Christmas and it is a gender swap (mostly). Also set in modern times, so 3 gimmicks if you count that. Too many gimmicks! I was down for a modern retelling at Christmas or a gender swap but both? But ok, whatevs , I'm in it so let's ride with it, I thought. But no. These are not our beloved characters, they barely have personalities. They are stereotypes. The story almost makes no sense, and there are added characters and people who don't need to even exist in the book. Case in point Edward the driver. I suspect he is only there to make Darcy seem more likeable but it doesn't work. She's unlikeable. So is Like for that matter (which by the way - Luke? Eliza could better be turned into Eli, and in that note Jane to James but ok whatever, author's choice).

Darcy is someone who will sleep with her ex boyfriend just to shut him up. She gets drunk often, although the author keeps writing dialogue for her to state she doesn't get drunk often. She spends more than half the book drunk but states she's not normally like that. She treats her ex Carl like poop but oh I guess that is ok because he cheated in her once? Yes it is totally fine to ruin years of someone's life because they made a bad mistake. And what is with all the sudden kissing? There's no chemistry, no build up. People are just animals. And why does Darcy have a full family and tons of brothers? And one is named William Fitzwilliam? Really?!

All the Christmas stuff is tacked on by the way. A Christmas party, caroling, opening presents. It could just as easily be left out. A Christmas book or movie needs to have that feeling or "spirit" of Christmas.

So again, I say, no. Just...no.

3.75 stars

ARC was provided by the publisher via Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

I used to read a lot more of Melissa's books back in the day, so it was nice to return to her third person POV writing style. This novel was sweet and cute, but sorta lost me towards the end where it seemed like the drama was injected into the story unnecessarily. However, I did like how the roles of Darcy and Lizzie were reversed, and I had a fun time figuring out who was who. I just LOVED seeing all of the familiar-yet-different faces and watching them fall in love with their respective beaus was divine.

Luke (our resident Lizzie) was such a snarky a**hole, and I absolutely loved him. He came off as confident and self-assured, even though he saw himself as unworthy of someone as beautiful and successful as Darcy. Darcy kinda surprised me with her deep ponderings at the beginning of the novel. She acknowledged that even though she came off as uncaring and holier-than-thou, she really was just waiting for the right person to sweep her off her feet. And I felt connected with her more because of this--what woman (or man) doesn't want to be swept off her feet??

However, I lost some of my feelings of sympathy for Darcy when she experienced her psychotic break. She was irrational, knew she was being irrational to Luke at the restaurant, yet she couldn't stop herself. Her explanation later on repaired some of my feelings towards her, but then I (along with Darcy and Bingley) turned on Luke because of his nasty words towards her! He verbally attacked her, and his explanation was less effective at getting me to forgive him than Darcy's was.

Overall, I did enjoy this remake. I love the original and its characters, so any time that I get revisit my old friends is [usually] nice. I am kinda sad that we didn't get to see the Bennett parents, Mr. Wickham or Mr. Collins, but I would still recommend this short and sweet novel.

On a side note, seeing as I received an ARC, there were some inconsistencies with the storyline--Luke's eyes were first described as dark brown then later green--and some grammatical/spelling errors that I came across while reading. But I did not factor this in when rating the novel.

MY REVIEW OF "PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND MISTLETOE" by Melissa de la Cruz
 
"Pride and Prejudice and Mistletoe" by Melissa de la Cruz is based on a gender-switching re-telling of the original classic.  This story takes place in America, and the timeline is in the present. The genres for this novel are Fiction and Women's Fiction.
 
The author describes the characters as shallow, dysfunctional,materialistic, and unlikeable. Darcy Fitzwilliam is 29, extremely wealthy and has been successful in New York. She returns to her hometown in Pemberly, Ohio, when her mother is recovering from a heart attack. Darcy hasn't been home in 8 years, and has left home after her father threatened to financially cut her off because she didn't marry  Carl,the man her parents wanted her to.
 
When Darcy is home to visit her mother, the family makes a huge Christmas party. Many of Darcy's former classmates are there. Some are married.  Darcy has been seeing the same Carl on and off for 8 years and he is at the party as well.  The setting is festive, alcohol is being served, and mistletoe is hung in several places. Somehow, Darcy finds herself under the mistletoe, with Luke, who was a former classmate, and now is a carpenter. Luke and Darcy were constantly arguing in high school. Somehow, being under the mistletoe , when the two kiss,  there are sparks between them. Luke feels that Darcy is a snob.
 
I do appreciate that the author brings up the subject of homosexuality, and friendship. The author also does mention family, and eventually mentions how important it is. She also brings up love.  I think that this story has tremendous potential. Somehow, I found this confusing.  On the one hand Darcy is shown to be independent, and on the other hand, left her family because she wouldn't be dependent. Now Darcy doesn't want to be alone, but vacillates who she will be with. I also have a problem understanding the dysfunctional aspects of Darcy's family. Who throws a Christmas party when someone is recovering from a heart attack? First being materialistic and wealthy is important in this story and then all of a sudden it's not.  How could her family cause her to leave 8 years before, because she wasn't ready to get married? Now they are upset that she hasn't come home?
 
I received a copy of this ARC for my honest review.  Not every book is for everybody. I am sure some people would enjoy this. Happy Reading!

Pride and Prejudice and Mistletoe by Melissa De La Cruz is a hilarious yet sweet tale. The pages were very entertaining. I couldn't get enough of Darcy and her nemesis Luke. Real relationship struggles, friendship, and love. A family that has been close grew apart. Now, after so many years they might find some closure. Then, there's Darcy who doesn't think she needs a relationship, is highly successful, works like crazy, and only wants to marry for love (if she does marry). Melissa De La Cruz brought a lot of humor to life, here. The banter between best friends and between potential lovers were amusing to follow. At first Darcy seems stand-offish but after exploring her backstory, I can understand her attitude. It seems that coming back home for her mom has set off a lot of events from the past that will now collide with her future. Watching her transform through the pages was exciting. Everything felt real. I got sucked up into the plot instantly. The other characters only added more depth to the story. Sending sweet emotions to sweep over me. Overall, it was a great read. I recommend it to others.

I did not enjoy this book, but I'm going to try to provide enough detail here so that you can decide for yourself if it's a book you want to read. And it might be! The Goodreads reviews at the moment are largely positive, so this could easily just be a me thing! So absolutely no judgment if this book is amazing in your opinion. I'll be happy for you.

Issue #1: The Writing Style

I felt like for the most part the writing style in this book was juvenile and repetitive when it didn't need to be and had some weird continuity issues that I hope for the book's sake are resolved before it goes to print. The example I chose to use in my Goodreads review involves a repeated line describing four men that gets built upon four chapters in a row. The first chapter introduces a man by saying something along the lines of Person X is catalog handsome and goes on to explain that he looks like he could be a model in fashion catalogs. The next chapter that introduces a man says, If Person X was catalog handsome, Person Y was movie-star handsome. And then it adds in the next chapter, If Person X was catalog handsome, Person Y was movie-star handsome, the Person Z was real-life handsome. This happens four times. Something about this line bothered me immensely.

I felt like the writing was heavy handed in spots where it seemed wildly unnecessary. For example, Darcy is a self-made rich woman and to make sure that we're all clear on her being rich, it's established that her luggage is Louis Vuitton and her shoes are Steve Madden or manalo blahnik. I just do not care. I'm also convinced that there had to be a more seamless, less name-drop sounding way of writing in brand names periodically to remind us that DARCY IS EXTREMELY WEALTHY.

These issues feel petty and small in a lot of ways, but even when I read paragraphs out loud to Sarah in the car, she was similarly baffled as to why the language was so juvenile. In one paragraph she got annoyed because of how often the word 'she' was used. But that's enough griping about the writing style.

Issue #2: Darcy

I think that having unlikable women as heroines is extremely important, even if the character then is not my personal favorite. I tend to think this is true more when the heroine is unlikable because she portrays typically masculine traits or engages in morally grey behavior. So I always try not to dock points for an unlikable heroine and am actually likely to pick up a book if someone describes the heroine as unlikable. I say all of that to say that I hated Darcy's character.

In the book, Darcy was cut off financially from her parents (for the dumbest reason) and then took NYC by storm and has become a very successful financier. She's partner at a hedge fund or something, but she just... Nothing about the way that Darcy was portrayed gave me any impression of her overall competence. Not a thing. She's in her head constantly and despite claiming to be extremely confident, came across as very insecure. Darcy is an extreme workaholic whose first vacation in eight years comes only because her mother had a heart attack. Being a workaholic is a totally fine trait if anything else about the character is consistent with such a characterization, but it was really just repeatedly stated that she was a workaholic. I think she takes three maybe four work calls the entire book?

Then there's the fact that she's apparently very close with the staff from her childhood home, but has made no effort to get to know her assistant, Millie, at her work. This too struck me as a huge inconsistency. What am I supposed to takeaway from these overall characterizations? I haven't the slightest.

Issue #3: The Relationship

I don't buy it. The relationship between Luke and Darcy is as unbelievable as Darcy's overall characterization. Also somehow Luke goes from working on furniture (making it?) to being a chef randomly in the epilogue? That's not a spoiler, unless you consider a throwaway line a spoiler. If you do, so sorry.

The two apparently didn't like one another in high school, which is stated repeatedly, but never shown in any real way. It's hardly even stated in any real way. They reconnect at Darcy's parents Christmas party when they wind up under the mistletoe together. This isn't Harry Potter fanfic with mistletoe that's enchanted so you're trapped until you kiss. If you don't want to kiss someone, you're an adult and no one else has noticed that you're under the mistletoe together. But no, they kiss, actually they make out. This plot device happens at least twice? And also, this feels like the extent of their relationship development. They go caroling in between the two incidents and squabble without any sexual tension in between those two things.

You know how in the 2005 Pride and Prejudice movie with Kiera Knightley, the first proposal from Mr. Darcy seemingly comes out of nowhere? This is like that, but instead of happening in the 1800s when people got married for all kinds of stupid reasons, this book takes place in the present day and I have the (apparently unrealistic) expectation that my books (especially those marketed as a romance) are going to show actual relationship (and character) development. Not to mention, we're in Darcy's head! Which means that at the very least, we should have an understanding of why Darcy's opinions on Luke have changed. If I'm seriously expected to believe that two make out sessions is all it takes, then I must not be the intended audience.

Issue #4: Nonsensical Conflict

Legitimately every conflict in this book is ridiculous and unrealistic. It made little to no sense and I can't figure out why it was included? At least four of the plot devices never happened in Pride and Prejudice, so that's annoying. There was no Mr. Wickham nefarious character (unless that's who Charlotte was supposed to be, but that's not really how this worked??). We'll start with the least spoiler-y of these and I'll just leave it at that.

Darcy hasn't been home in eight years because her dad cut her off financially eight years ago because she wouldn't marry Carl Donovan. If your eyes are also really huge and wide because WHAT THE HECK? Same. I couldn't handle this concept because it defies logic to me. Also, the book is written so happy go lucky style, which does not match the concept of having a father so awful that he would cut you off because you won't marry the person you want. AND THEN he explains his reasoning and... Y'all. It's so dumb. I won't spoil it, in case you want to read it, but, just, nope. All the nopes.

Issue #5: Utterly irrelevant girl hate?

I don't even know if I would classify this as girl hate, so much as an extension of the nonsensical conflict with Charlotte being portrayed as a "crazy" ex-girlfriend. First, that trope should be beneath all women authors. Just genuinely. Are there really odd ex-girlfriend's in the world who lie and manipulate to get what they want? Yes, absolutely. However, please focus on that instead of throwing it in as a quick explanation as to why the hero was a jerk to the heroine. If you're not going to flesh out the "crazy" ex-girlfriend, just don't do it. It feels cheap and demeaning, especially when you don't really have any other female side characters.

Seriously, there are three women in the entire book, who get more than a quick paragraph of "plot". There's Darcy's mother, who is both great and terrible simultaneously. She seems like a good mom, but at the same time, she's let this utterly absurd conflict fester between her daughter and her husband without trying to do anything about it. I don't know about you, but there is no matriarch in my family who would let that fly. If my dad ever tried to cut me off financially because I wouldn't marry the person he chose, my mom would have that sorted before I even heard about it. If my grandpa had tried to do that to any of my aunts, Nanny would have put her foot down and Papa would have been sleeping on the couch until he figured out that he was not ruining his relationship with any of them over something so nonsensically stupid. (Not to mention, WHO DOES THAT? I know we already covered this, but seriously, who does that?!)

The third woman in the book is Millie, Darcy's assistant, who is not at all fleshed out. We discover she likes to knit and has made Darcy scarves every year for Christmas, but Darcy didn't know because she didn't open her gifts. (Also, who doesn't open their gifts? This is baffling. Like... I love presents.) Somehow, despite the fact that Darcy has made no effort to get to know Millie she (spoiler alert) names her child after Millie in the epilogue. But wait, it gets worse. Her reasoning for doing this is because she doesn't know any other girl names. Like, what? I can't.

Okay, I need to stop ranting because I could go on and on about this for days. And maybe I'm missing something, like maybe this book is meant to be satire? Or something? I have no idea. If you like this book, please come back and explain your feelings to me, because either I'm missing something, or this is actually not a good book.

In the spirit of fairness, I should mention that I did enjoy the addition of a m/m relationship based on Jane/Bingley. That was the highlight for me and yet was still almost ruined because Darcy is absurd. And Bingley shouldn't have listened to her. (This obviously happens in the book too, but... Y'all.)

A personal bias: I read a lot of books inspired by Austen novels. So, I couldn't resist. I got a chance to read an early copy through NetGalley.

This story gives a modern twist to Pride and Prejudice. In this story, Darcy is an independently wealthy woman. The Bennet character is male.

Darcy goes home to Pemberley for the holidays when her mom gets sick. She hasn't been home for 8 years, since her dad practically disowned her.

Being home is awkward but she reconnects with her best friend Bingley (male). When she sees Luke Bennet at a Christmas party, she starts thinking about love.

Cute story. I liked the switch up of the characters' genders and I liked that Darcy was the wealthy one.

I chose not to finish this book and, therefore, will not be posting a review on my blog. My problem with this book is fairly straightforward. I have read countless (upwards of 50+) retellings of P&P. I have never ever read one that got Darcy so wrong. Darcy would never wear a Herve Leger dress. While I agree that Darcy in the real P&P was probably filled with insecurities, something about the Darcy in this book did not feel authentic. If you really want a good gender bender re-telling, I would recommend Prejudice & Pride by Lynn Messina. Pride and Prejudice and Mistletoe is unfortunately worth skipping no matter how tempting.

This book was cute but really not my taste. The story is gimmicky and the main character is a little obnoxious.

I will be honest. I did not love this book, but then again I did not hate it. I liked the overall storyline but I struggled to find Darcy as a realistic character. I also thought there were too many sub-plots (Jim and Bingley, Carl, Darcy's family), which led the overall storyline to be superficial. Sadly, I just couldn't love the book.

I did not not like Pride and Prejudice and Mistletoe. I just didn't really like it. With the exception of the Bingley character, the book's characters were not only not enough like the original Pride and Prejudice characters but not enough like 3 dimensional characters. There was too much action in Darcy's head and not enough interaction with other characters. The book is not bad. It just isn't good enough.

In this gender-swapped retelling of Jane Austen’s classic romance, Darcy Fitzwilliam is a 29-year-old hedge fund manager. Luke Bennet is her neighbor and fierce childhood rival. To all outward appearances, Darcy and Luke have hated each other for years. Back home after an eight-year absence, Darcy and Luke share a heated (albeit drunken) kiss under the mistletoe at her family’s annual Christmas party. Unfortunately, their pride and a number of circumstances well within their control conspire to keep them apart.

I haven’t read a lot of books by Melissa de la Cruz, but I did really enjoy her YA retelling of Alexander Hamilton’s love life, Alex & Eliza. While I felt like that retelling was really well-written, well-researched, and generally well-done, I didn’t get the same feeling here. It’s been a good decade since I last read Pride and Prejudice, but I do not remember Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet being quite this petty. Let me get into this in more detail.

Darcy is, at 29 years old, a self-made multimillionaire. Though she comes from a very wealthy family, her father cut her off when she didn’t want to marry the man of his choosing. Darcy is an intelligent, beautiful, confident woman who absolutely crumbles to pieces when Luke accuses her of being self-centered. To prove him wrong, she buys his brothers’ way out of juvie -- which, to me, just reinforces the fact that she only does good deeds when she gets something out of it.

I think it’s also important to mention the “other woman” / “other man” aspect of this story. Early reviews are only just starting to roll in, but I haven’t seen this come up yet. Both Darcy and Luke are in on-again-off-again relationships when they begin their series of mistletoe kisses. They both further commit to these relationships to -- what -- really prove to each other that the kisses meant nothing? It’s so contrived. Not only are they dating other people, but then they throw themselves into those relationships with such fervor that it’s not fair to anybody. They get zero sympathy from me.

The story is cute and easy to read -- I read the majority of it in one sitting, stopping only because it was nearly midnight and I couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer -- but overall, disappointing. I don’t think that this retelling contributed much to the original story, and while the gender swap is a nice twist on the idea, the sheer pettiness of these characters made it hard to love.

A cute and entertaining romance especially considering it is Pride and Prejudice with a twist! I thought this twist was remarkable, and I felt enchanted in the story. The only thing that held me back from falling head over heels with the story is the fact that I had a bit of a hard time connecting with Darcy- she is simply her own person and has no shame!

Pride and Prejudice is probably one of my favorite novels ever written. So, when I heard about Pride and Prejudice and Mistletoe, I was excited to get my hands on it and see how this author would adapt this story. I thought Pride and Prejudice and Mistletoe was a lot of fun. I loved the idea of swapping genders and putting this story to a contemporary background. 

Overall, I found this book to be a fun, sweet and easy read. I easily finished this book in just one sitting. This is my first book by this author and I look forward to checking out more from her in the future.

I'm a fan of Jane Austen and enjoy modern re-tellings of her books, especially of Pride and Prejudice. This particular one was not a favorite, though. I did like that it was unique in gender-swapping the characters and having Darcy be the female protagonist. It was also interesting to read it from the Darcy perspective. These things really set it apart and are what prompted me to bump my rating to 3 stars versus the 2 I was initially thinking. The story was overly fluffy and shallow, though. I felt a bit like the book was mocking Jane Austen rather than paying homage to it. It was true to the themes of the original, but it was just done in a way that went too far perhaps. The "excessive pride" aspect was just too overdone or something. Darcy here comes off as far more prideful, arrogant, etc. than Mr. Darcy ever did, but it might be because we are reading the story from the Darcy perspective and getting a bigger taste of it. I just have always found Mr. Darcy to be more likable and misunderstood somewhat, where I just wasn't finding that here. I found it hard to like her and root for her, and that took a lot away from it for me. I am anxious to see what others have to say as more reviews are posted and the book nears publication. I would still recommend to those who are Austen fans, as the unique aspects are worth a read and set it apart as something different.

This is a sweet book with the author stretching to pull out similarities to PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, which might work for an unsophisticated reader, but not for me.

I think it is appropriate for a much younger demographic which can appreciate the romance while getting a tiny glimpse of the wonders that are P and P. If it encourages any of them to pick up the original or even watch the A AND E version, then it is a good pick. I simply couldn't find the value or entertainment.

How does Darcy know what the Bennet siblings are up to if she hasn't been home in eight years and hardly talks to her family? Why on earth would anyone think it was a good idea to turn Lizzie Bennet into a boy character who would snap a girl's bra and torment her because he "likes" her and doesn't know how to say so? Why is this still a thing that's seen as acceptable both in fiction and in real life? Does anything get edited anymore? These are the questions that keep me up at night.