A Darcy Christmas is a Christmas collection of stories by Amanda Grange, Sharon Lathan, and Carolyn Eberhart involving our favorite Austen hero, Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth. I will review and summarize each story separately for a deeper look into the book.The first story is “Mr. Darcy’s Christmas Carol” by Carolyn Eberhart. After helping out Lydia Bennet, Mr. Darcy never proposed to Elizabeth in this take on the tale. Christmas has come and the spirits of Christmas past, present, and future visit Mr. Darcy to show him the error of his proud ways and what life will be like without Elizabeth. I thought this was a great and inventive combination of Pride and Prejudice with the holiday classic A Christmas Carol. I especially liked how Scrooge gets a special guest appearance at the end of the story. Carolyn Eberhart is a debut author and I look forward to reading future works by her!
The second story is “Christmas Present” by Amanda Grange. Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth are happily married and are expecting their first child. Jane and Mr. Bingley have moved nearby and have just had their first child, a son. Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth visit the Bingleys to celebrate Christmas with them and the Bennet family. Much hilarity also ensues when Lady Catherine and Mr. Collins make a guest appearance. Christmas Present was a great story and Amanda Grange did an excellent job of bringing all of my favorite P&P characters back to life in a way true to the original novel.
The final story is “A Darcy Christmas” by Sharon Lathan. “A Darcy Christmas” is a great concept. Each chapter in the story is a different stage in Darcy and Elizabeth’s relationship from before their marriage, to newlyweds, to the birth and growth of their children. I liked the concept, but didn’t really like the actual stories. They moved very slowly. Some were great and others were lackluster. While I had read the first two stories in this book quite fast, I seemed to get stuck on this story.
Overall A Darcy Christmas was a very enjoyable holiday book that will get you in the spirit with your favorite Pride and Prejudice characters.
A Darcy Christmas is my twelfth item in the Everything Austen Challenge II.
Book Source: Advance Review Copy from Sourcebooks. Thank-you!
This sounds like a great collection. I'm really curious about the story by Carolyn Eberhart. I read the first in Sharon Lathan's series of P&P books and found it slow. Her love for Darcy and Elizabeth is evident, though.
ReplyDeleteSounds a wonderful collection. I like the Jane Austen fan fiction stories.
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