A Darcy Christmas by Amanda Grange, Sharon Lathan, and Carolyn Eberhart

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!

In the Arms of Mr. Darcy by Sharon Lathan

I have read great reviews about Sharon Lathan’s Darcy Saga, a series of books that continues the story of Elizabeth and Darcy directly after their marriage. In the Arms of Mr. Darcy is the fourth novel in the series and the first novel in the series that I have read. My review therefore is on this novel as a standalone novel and not in comparison to the rest of the series.

In the Arms of Mr. Darcy encompasses approximately a year of the Darcy’s marriage, in particular the second year of their marriage. The novel starts with a gathering of Darcy and Elizabeth’s families for a Christmas celebration at Pemberly. Darcy and Elizabeth rejoice in the love of their infant son William and in their passion for each other. William’s christening is soon after the Christmas celebration. The year passes by slowly with Colonel Fitzwilliam, Kitty, Caroline Bingley, and Georgiana each experiencing a romance of their own.

In the Arms of Mr. Darcy moves at a leisurely place and each chapter seems to almost be a short story of its own. I didn’t think there was too much of an overall plot holding the novel together besides it just being a year in the life of the Darcys. Truthfully, the leisurely plot moved a little too slow for me and I longed for some more action. Colonel Fitzwilliam has a great romance and action scenes toward the end of the novel, but it seemed like more of an afterthought.

In the Arms of Mr. Darcy has a lot of hot and steamy love scenes between Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth. Truthfully, after just giving birth to an infant of my own, some of the love scenes after William’s birth seemed a little over the top and not quite what I would find romantic. But I don’t want to get into the details!

I love how Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth have a passionate and true love for each other in the novel. I thought the characterization of both of them as parents seemed a bit off. Their parenting techniques fit with our modern sensibilities of being a parent, but don’t really seem to fit into the regency equivalent of being a parent. I can’t imagine Mr. Darcy waking up for midnight feedings and whatnot.

Overall, In the Arms of Mr. Darcy was a leisurely look at life after marriage and a child for Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth, but moved at too slow of a pace for me.

In the Arms of Mr. Darcy is my sixth item for the Everything Austen Challenge II.

Book Source: Advance Review Copy from Sourcebooks. Thank-you!