Other Mr. Darcy: Did You Know Mr. Darcy Had An American Cousin? (2014) - Plot & Excerpts
I was prepared to dislike this book, but actually, I kind of liked it. However, it kind of felt like an original romance novel, rather than a Jane Austen Spinoff.This book is about Caroline Bingley: a Caroline Bingley who was horribly infatuated with Mr. Darcy. That's why she was jealous of Elizabeth in P&P and treated her so badly. She is portrayed as a cautious and guarded person, not snobby and pretentious. It is interesting to see Caroline turning into a nice person who is just misunderstood. I really like her in this book, but I don't know if she is believable from the first book. She's not redeemed from her bad behaviour, she just wasn't as she was portrayed in P&P.Anyway, the main guy is Mr. Darcy's American cousin who is funny and honest and charming. He doesn't like how stiff and unfeeling the British are. He's like a more approachable Darcy. I actually liked Mr. Robert Darcy very much :)One thing I didn't like about this book was the unfortunate characterizations of Colonel Fitzwilliam. I quite like the Colonel and think he should get together with Georgianna, but he is kind of grumpy and stiff in this book and always interested in all the other ladies. Also, the plot of this book is just kind of everywhere. It's ostensibly a character study romance, but tons of things happen. Some of them come out of nowhere and you are like what the heck just happened.And we learn a little about what happens next for all the Bennets. Is this a good book? Yeah it was fun and I enjoyed reading it. Do I recommend it for other people? Not necessarily unless you absolutely love reading Jane Austen spinoffs. Then this is definitely one of the better ones. For what is essentially published Jane Austen fanfic, this one wasn't too bad. I liked that the author tried to stay true to the time period and didn't write her characters' thoughts too modernly, and I also liked that it didn't go the direction some writers take and just use it as an excuse to write really badly written and completely out of character PWP using familiar Austen characters. What this book did do was rehabilitate the previously unlikeable Caroline Bingley and give her a story of her own, post-Pride and Prejudice.
What do You think about Other Mr. Darcy: Did You Know Mr. Darcy Had An American Cousin? (2014)?
Not as good as Jane herself, but she can't write any more books, now can she? Fun characters.
—jess
Certainly no Jane Austen, but a fun read if you want a little Austen story line fix.
—china_ask
I love sence and sensibility so this was a good fit for me.
—Swenny
