Patricia D. (eclipsedwonder) reviewed on 12/7/2011 + 2 more book reviews

So I heard that the reviews for this book were not good and I can clearly see why. The beginning isn't bad, it just follows Darcy as he prepares for Christmas at Pemberly with Georgianna and how changed she is when he arrives there. From the beginning, I knew Aidan was a Christian by how many Religious reference she made and how affected Darcy was by some sermons. Being a person of faith myself, I had no issues with Georgianna's... Radicalism. It seemed to suit her, in my opinion, and the relative goodness that seems to surround her in P&P. After Darcy leaves Pemberly, it all goes down hill. I don't want to ruin the book, so I'll try to go without too many spoilers.

Aidan's smart move was basically stating that Darcy needed to get married so he would forget Eliza. Makes sense to me for a "spin off". So he agrees to spend a week with some old College buddies and possible women. It's in this Gothic castle (which was a nice reference to Northanger Abbey, but really has no place in P&P.) Basically, she follows this Gothic theme and throws Darcy into a weird, Gothic, bloody weirdness that seriously has no place with the rest of the series. I had to stop reading about 3/4s of the way through. I understand the author was attempting to bring in that Gothic feel that Austen experimented with in Northanger Abbey, but they are two COMPLETELY different books and don't mesh well.

My recommendation? Don't buy it, just get it through PBS, read the first half and then once Darcy goes to the castle STOP and buy These Three Remain. The story remains the same, classic P&P tale so missing parts of the spin-off won't matter.

One last thing that really bothers me about this entire series: the nicknames. I couldn't, under any circumstances, see my Darcy AKA Colin Firth call another man "Dy" or put up with be called "Fitz". It's just weird.

~ciao

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