Book Review: A Weekend with Mr. Darcy by Victoria Connelly
A Weekend With Mr. Darcy by Victoria Connelly. © 2011 Sourcebooks Landmark. ISBN 978402251320. Trade Paperback. Chick Lit / Romance. 352 pages. Source: ARC provided by the publishers.
Synopsis: Dr. Katherine Roberts is a Jane Austen lecturer at St Bridget’s College, Oxford, who secretly loves the racy Regency novels of Lorna Warwick. But Lorna is really a man who’s slowly been falling in love with Katherine. He’s hoping that the Jane Austen Addicts weekend will be the perfect opportunity to declare his feelings…
Review: Katherine Roberts works hard and likes her guilty pleasures in the form of racy Regency romance novels. Her favorites are those by Lorna Warwick and though expressing her admiration for the author via snail mail, the two become close friends, writing often to each other. Surrounded by crappy exes and annoying students, Katherine decides that the Jane Austen weekend retreat is just the thing she needs and poses the question to Lorna on if she’ll be there. Little does Katherine know, however, is that Lorna is the pen name of a man. A man who feels he is falling in love with Katherine.
We are also introduced to Robyn Love, an idealist Yorkshire receptionist, who carries her own romantic baggage to the Austen retreat in Hampshire. While Katherine deals with her ex, Robyn feels she is in a unfulfilled relationship. And both ladies find solace in Austen’s novels when real-life romance turns sour.
I thought this book was fantastically witty and makes a quick read (and it definitely put Connelly on my radar), but am I the only one who thinks we need less Darcy and more of Austen’s other heroes in these sequels? I feel like we are OD-ing on Darcy lately. I’m ready for ‘A Weekend with Captain Wentworth’ myself… ;) Either way, I urge Austen fans to check this one out! 4/5.
