Mr. Darcy's Diary Review

Mr. Darcy's Diary
by Amanda Grange
From Goodreads:

Monday 9th September
""I left London today and met Bingley at Netherfield Park. I had forgotten what good company he is; always ready to be pleased and always cheerful. After my difficult summer, it is good to be with him again. ...""

The only place Darcy could share his innermost feelings was in the private pages of his diary...

Torn between his sense of duty to his family name and his growing passion for Elizabeth Bennet, all he can do is struggle not to fall in love.

Mr. Darcy's Diary presents the story of the unlikely courtship of Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy from Darcy's point of view. This graceful imagining and sequel to Pride and Prejudice explains Darcy's moodiness and the difficulties of his reluctant relationship as he struggles to avoid falling in love with Miss Bennet. Though seemingly stiff and stubborn at times, Darcy's words prove him also to be quite devoted and endearing - qualities that eventually win over Miss Bennet's heart. This continuation of a classic romantic novel is charming and elegant, much like Darcy himself.

Pride and Prejudice has inspired a large number of modern day sequels, the most successful of which focus on the rich, proud Mr. Darcy.

My Thoughts: So sometimes at work I like to read aloud to my clients, who are elderly and usually suffering from cognitive impairment.  At a certain point, tv isn't really something they can enjoy, but music and talking is almost always good.  Of course this means that I can't really read any books that deal with violence, sex or death. Which is pretty much how I like my books.

Last year I got a bunch of Jane Austen inspired books on my Kindle- some huge sale they were having, and so I chose Mr. Darcy's Diary out of all the books I had downloaded simply because it sounded the closest to Pride and Prejudice.

I was immediately sucked into the book, and I continued to read it even after I got off work.  I pretty much only put it down when I absolutely had to!

Is there a reading woman out there who doesn't love Mr. Darcy?  Anyone?

Bueller?

So in Mr. Darcy's Diary we get: Mr Darcy!  Before the Bennets enter his life, before Elizabeth steals his heart and ruins my hope of literary time travel in order to get to him first.  The book opens right before Darcy rescues his sister from the slimy clutches of Mr. Wickham. Darcy spends his time with business affairs and helping his friend Bingley find a country home to let.  We are given a glimpse into much of the events that have shaped Darcy's character before his well-ordered life is upturned by Lizzie Bennet.

What I love most about Darcy and Elizabeth's romance is that it is not a love at first sight.  They both come to love each other despite and, in truth, because of each other's faults and differences.  Reading Darcy's diary of how Lizzie pretty much burrows into his heart, and experiencing his feelings over their encounters had me swooning.  His jealousy of his arch-enemy Wickham, the pompous little Mr. Collins, and even his own cousin Colonel Fitzwilliam, and his inability to recognize just how deeply he has already sunk into love with Elizabeth was amusing. 

I really think the author did  a wonderful job of capturing Darcy.  It was a fast, fun read, mostly due to the diary format.  My only complaint, and it's a tiny, pretty one, was the overuse of the word "satirical".  It appears easily a dozen times... but then don't we all have words we overuse?  Like "like" or "random" or "amazeballs"?  Regardless, I will definitely be checking out Amanda Grange's other books!

Mr. Darcy's Diary gets a Midnight Book Rating of:

 

The cover gets a Midnight Book Cover Rating of:

I love this cover mostly because it looks a bit like Matthew MacFayden's face, and he's my favorite Darcy.

 

Anna Dressed In Blood Review

I'm currently away at BEA, so I thought I'd share some of my favorite reads so far this year that I haven't reviewed yet. 

Anna Dressed in Blood
by Kendare Blake
From Goodreads:

Just your average boy-meets-girl, girl-kills-people story...

Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead.

So did his father before him, until his gruesome murder by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father’s mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. Together they follow legends and local lore, trying to keep up with the murderous dead—keeping pesky things like the future and friends at bay.

When they arrive in a new town in search of a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas doesn’t expect anything outside of the ordinary: move, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he’s never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, but now stained red and dripping blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home.

And she, for whatever reason, spares his life.

My Thoughts:  This is what happens when I have too many books on my tbr shelves!  It takes me forever to get to the books I was once super excited about reading.  Which is a shame, because this is not the first awesome book that's gathered some dust on my (in this case, Kindle's) shelf.  I really need to stop putting certain books off.  Maybe I need to rate my tbr books by what stars I think they'll get, and tackle them that way... Hmmm..

So I loved this book.  It was like the awesomeness of Supernatural with only one hot ghost hunter dude so that I don't have to pick which hot guy to crush on (although it would be Dean.  Which is how, despite how he's described as looking, I pictured Cas.  Don't judge me.). And here be ghosts!

I loved how obsessed Cas became with Anna before he even met her.  How her image stayed with him, always at the top of his thoughts even when he was hanging out with the beautiful Queen Bee Carmel Jones. 

This book reminded me of good times I've had with friends and family, telling ghost stories, and how much I wish we still gathered around the campfire or living room table to scare the snot out of each other.  Lots of people grow up and move away from ghost stories, but readers like me never let go.

I realize  from the title that I should have realized that Anna was going to be of the violent ghost persuasion, but I was a bit unprepared for how bad ass she was.  Less than a quarter of the way through the book, she put me in my place by ripping a wrestler dude in half.  I was both sickened and just a wee bit impressed.  Skills like that could come in handy. 

I think part of the reason it took me so long to read Anna Dressed in Blood was that maybe I was afraid it wouldn't live up to it's title.  That maybe because it was YA it'd be all watered down like watching a horror movie on Lifetime, all the actually scariness and blood edited out, but it's not.  Anna is as fierce as her title. 

Should you read this book?  Hells, yeah!

Should you send me a copy of second book ARC?  Yes, immediately.  :)

It's Quote Time!

They have rationalized their fears away.  People shouldn't do that.

I'm no superhero.  If anything I'm Rorschach from Watchmen.  I'm Grendel. I'm the survivor in Silent Hill.

God, living people are irritating.

Anna Dressed In Blood gets a Midnight Book Rating of:

The cover gets a Midnight Book Cover Rating of: