The Story

From the back of the book:

Darcy’s as hot as he is talented…
Fast music, powerful beats, and wild reputations – on and off stage – have made virtuoso guitarist Fitzwilliam Darcy’s band into rock’s newest bad boys. But they’ve lost their latest opening act, and their red-hot summer tour is on the fast track to disaster. Now Darcy and bandmates Charles Bingley and Richard Fitzwilliam are about to meet their match…

But she’s about to rock his world…
Enter Elizabeth Bennet, fiercely independent star of girl-band Long Borne Suffering. Elizabeth, her sister Jane, and friend Charlotte Lucas have talen to spare and jump at the opening band slot. Elizabeth is sure she’s seen the worst the music industry has to offer. But as the days and nights heat up, it becomes clear that everyone is in for a summer to remember.

The Response

Okay. Okay okay okay. So you know when you’re looking for some fanfiction, and you stumble across some really bad stuff and then you find something that seems good in comparison to the really bad stuff, and it’s an AU fic, which you’re okay with because you really love these characters and would really love to see them in a totally different environment from where you fell in love with them originally? And you know when, as you start to read it, you realize that there really should have been more editing for the fic, but it’s still so much better than a lot of other fanfic that you’ve read and you still think the concept is really cool? And you know when you suddenly realize that every single female character in the fic is in actually a Mary Sue and you really don’t think Charlotte Lucas would really ever act like that, and you start wondering whether you should continue reading this? And you know when you finally realize that with everything that you dislike about this book, you simply CANNOT PUT IT DOWN because it’s gotten to the point where it’s actually so cheesy that it’s become actually rather really extremely wonderful and enjoyable to read?

Yeah. Welcome to Fitzwilliam Darcy, Rock Star.

Cheesy, oh so cheesy. But somewhere along the line it became so cheesy that it was good. I wouldn’t have read this if it wasn’t P&P related. Mind you, if I had read it and it wasn’t P&P related, I probably wouldn’t have enjoyed it as much. So there’s a bit of a catch 22 for you.

There were some items about the characters in this book (aside from the Mary Sue related characteristics they have) that bothered me – Charlotte Lucas in particular. I was happy, though, that certain things about the P&P story were changed. I had never enjoyed the fact that she ended up stuck with Mr. Collins, so the fact that she actually really fell in love with the person she ended up with in this book was a lot less frustrating to read. That was the biggest change from P&P in this book, however. The rest of the events remained mostly intact – oh wait, except for the whole Mr Wickham ending up with Lydia, thank goodness. Oh gods, his whole dark secret regarding Georgiana seemed a bit more disturbing in this one than it was in P&P. Ick.

Actually, this book reminds me a little bit of Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (aside from the P&P adaptation) in the random and insane hijinks that happen. Remember that whole Bridget being falsely accused of smuggling drugs from one country into the other? Oh yes. I do thoroughly love Bridget Jones and so that similarity gave me a bit of a soft spot for this book.

All in all, this ended up being a lot more enjoyable than I had expected from the first few pages. If you do pick it up, make sure you give it a good chance, even though it is rather cheesy. Remember, cheesy can be fun!

The Bottom Line

I wouldn’t have read this if it hadn’t been provided by the publisher. It’s not my favourite Austen adaptation, but it was fun enough. Would recommend to people who are huge chicklit fans.

Other Reviews

Have you reviewed this book on your blog? Let me know and I’ll add your link.

The Story

In an attempt to get over her husband cheating on her (with her T.A.), and an attempt to salvage her ruined career, Emma runs off to London, England. She is determined that she is going to find some undiscovered letters written by Jane Austen, and has been contacted by a woman who says she has some of these letters. Only, in order to even see the letters, Emma must accomplish certain tasks first.

Of course, it doesn’t help that her ex-best-friend (who happens to be a guy) also happens to be in town, and in some mix-up is visiting with the same friend. How convenient. Even more convenient is that they both still seem to have feeling for each other. Now, where do you suppose this is going?

The Response

Okay. I will admit that I went into this book expecting to get fed-up and angry. I went into this book knowing it was by a Christian author, published by a Christian publisher, etc. etc. etc. So I was on the lookout for over-the-top shoving-Christianity-down-your-throat stuff. Even for lesser intense “omg God rawks” throughout the book. And … I have to say that I’m both a little disappointed and hugely relieved that I did not find it.

This works as a good cross-over into mainstream fiction. The only real mentions of Christianity and God and such were when the main character was talking about her past – how her father is a pastor, and she grew up as the PK – and how she totally resents God for how her marriage didn’t end all happy and hunky dory. It’s not preachy, and quite frankly that surprised me.

It wasn’t a bad novel for chicklit either. Emma, the main character, wasn’t a flake. At all. She was a strong, educated woman who has just realized that she cannot depend on a man for her life. And she is able to be independent when she can be – which is slightly difficult when one doesn’t have a job, and spent all of one’s savings on an airplane ticket halfway across the world.

So, altogether, not a bad book at all. Got me out of my not-finishing-books slump, that’s for sure.

The Bottom Line

Not the best Jane Austen inspired book… I definitely would recommend Shannon Hale’s Austenland over this one, but it was good for what it was. Would, however, be interested to see if other books by Pattillo are as non-shoving-Christianity-in-your-face as this one is.

Other Reviews

Book Addiction, The Novel World, Alison’s Book Marks, One Literature Nut, Framed and Booked. Have you reviewed this book on your blog? Let me know and I’ll add your link.

The Story

At the age of 29, Lindsey is up for a MASSIVE promotion at work. But when a co-worker plays dirty, Lindsey makes a mistake that costs her career. Soon she is back to living with her parents, trying to fix her life. Along the way, she learns more about herself, her twin sister, and life in general. When she discovers that she was never exactly who she thought she was, she must completely reevaluate her life and exactly what she wants to make her happy.

The Reaction

I will totally admit that this book pleasantly surprised me. I was expecting some flakey fluff that I would read but wouldn’t really get in to. Boy was I wrong.

The characters were very realistic and enjoyable, not flakey at all. The main character, Lindsey, was both someone I could relate to, and didn’t want to strangle for making bad decision after bad decision after bad decision. Even those bad decisions she DID make, you could at least understand WHY she made them. I think a portion of the reason I could relate to Lindsey so well, was due to the fact that she was a graphic designer (as that’s what I am), so when she was talking work, I got what she was talking about. By the time things started to get a little rocky, I was already vested in her and what she was going through. And the way that she actually grew throughout the book, the way she really came in to herself, was so much fun to read.

This was a very funny book too – Pekkanen is a very humorous and witty writer. It’s surprising that this was her debut author, in all honesty. The characters were very well developed, none of them were flat and one-dimensional. The story itself wasn’t predictable – there were quite a few moments where I didn’t see the turn of events happening at all, which was refreshing. So many chicklit books are SO predictable. Plus, she conveyed so easily what the characters were feeling – when they were heartbroken, I was heartbroken as well.

I really wish I could go further and more in depth in this review, but I’m sick and really need to end this before it stops making sense due to being on cold medication and my brain being all muddled.

The Bottom Line

This was a very surprising read, and I would definitely recommend it. It’s a very good summer read, and I am definitely completely looking forward what Pekkanen will write in the future.

Other Reviews

Booking Mama, She is Too Fond of Books, Hey Lady! Whatcha Reading?, S. Krishna’s Books. Have you reviewed this book on your blog? Let me know and I’ll add your link.

The Story

Imagine, if you will, that you are Miss Elizabeth Bennett, second oldest of five daughters in regency England. You don’t have a lot of money, but are a smart girl. So you must do what any girl in your position would do – try to find a man to marry both for love and for money.

In Emma Campbell Webster’s Lost in Austen, you get to test out your luck and your smarts to see whether you can score the man who will provide you with both love and a secure future, or whether you will end up alone or unloved for your (perhaps very short) life.

The Review

I got to have a fling with Henry Crawford! And then Fanny Price kidnapped me and killed me! And then I went back and started again, only to slip on ice and die that way! And another time, gypsies killed me!

Best thing about Choose Your Own Adventure books is that it can end differently every single time.

Here’s the thing about the book though. If a person knows P&P, then it’s way too easy to follow the story exactly, and seriously, what’s the point in that? If you wanted to do that, you should just pick up a copy of Pride and Prejudice. When you start purposely picking the wrong choices, then things start to get fun. And if you don’t die at least once, then you would miss out on the author’s snarky comments about your death.

Comparing it to P&P though, and having the book optionally follow P&P so closely, isn’t a good thing because although the author’s comments are snarky, her writing isn’t nearly as eloquent as Austen’s. It might have worked out a lot better if the book had been about a random girl who meets all of these Austen characters

The Bottom Line

Kind of wish this book hadn’t been about Elizabeth Bennett. It’s too easy to try to make the book end in the same way as P&P otherwise. But it was still a lot of fun, and yay I’m happy I finally read this book! I would definitely read it again.

Other Reviews

Have you reviewed this book on your blog? Let me know and I’ll add your link.

Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy have gotten married. Instead of heading to the lake district as planned, their wedding tour takes them to the continent – first to France, then over the Alps, and on to Italy. And among all the new things for Elizabeth to see (as it turns out that Darcy has already been there numerous times, and actually owns real estate in all places), Elizabeth finds that there is danger at every turn. Not only do Darcy’s friends and family not completely approve of their marriage, but she soon finds that there is something dark and sinister out there – a being so evil and so ancient, one that she had laughed at the tales of when she was younger. Along with this evil threat, Elizabeth also learns that Darcy is not exactly who he has always said he was – he is, in fact, a vampyre.

I don’t like doing bad reviews for books that I get sent by the publishers… but in all honesty I was very indifferent to this book while reading it. I had heard that there were going to be about a half dozen vampire books set in the P&P universe coming out within a year’s time, so I was curious. Wanted to see what the appeal was, and I’m still not entirely sure what it is. P&P&Z was fabulous because it was hilarious and unexpected, but vampires…. well, vampires are just so overdone in general now, and we’ve already seen a P&P book with monsters of some sort in it. So the concept feels a little tired for me.

But I understand that the premise of something like this happening in the P&P universe would draw a whole bunch of readers. A plethora of readers, even. But… this book would’ve worked A LOT better for me if it wasn’t Elizabeth and Darcy in it. I found that the characters didn’t seem very true to themselves. Not just because half of them are vampires, but, well, some of the characteristics weren’t consistent with the original book. It would’ve come across so much better if I didn’t already have these specific images of the characters in my head. So maybe people who aren’t huge Jane Austen fans would love this. Maybe it’ll bring vampire lovers to get to know Austen… But I would’ve enjoyed this book much more if it had not been about Lizzy and Darcy.

So I spent the majority of the time reading it pretending that it wasn’t about those characters, that they just had the same names. And that made it more enjoyable for the most part. As said above, vampires are overdone. But this wasn’t the worst of vampire novels that I’ve read in the past few years – nothing really to make it stand out, but not horrible. There were some parts that were exciting, and it was cool to see Venice, Paris and other areas through the eyes of an era of elegance character. But it wasn’t enough to make it a must-read in my eyes.

The Bottom Line: It was alright, if you don’t mind the fact that it is so not the Elizabeth and Darcy that you love. Personally not one of my favourite books based on P&P. It’s not something I will read again, and I think I’ll be safe avoiding other vampire novels in the P&P ‘verse.

I read so many Jane Austen adaptations last year and the year before that I thought I was going to avoid them this year, but apparently not. (After this one, there are at least two others that I need/want to read soon!) Jane Austen in Scarsdale is a retelling of Persuasion. In this version, Anne Ehrlich is the head guidance counsellor of a high school in Scarsdale. She comes from a family that was at one point in time very wealthy, but the situation has changed drastically – she even has to sell the family home in order to cover her father’s debts. In walks Ben Cutler, Anne’s former boyfriend, who she broke up with many years ago at her grandmother’s urging. At that point in time he wasn’t wealthy, and was working at a local travel agent. Now, however, he is a best-selling travel guide author who is engaged to a beautiful Danish woman. Unfortunately for Anne, she still has feelings for him – he was the only man she ever loved, and is the only man she believes she ever will love…

I almost walked away from this book after the third chapter. I did not enjoy it at first. Thought it was too silly, a little boring, and the main characters didn’t seem very interesting… but I stuck it out, and goodness am I happy that I did. It turned out to be A LOT of fun. In fact, after the first few chapters I may have been giggling through the whole thing. I don’t know if I was supposed to, but I certainly was.

Let’s face it – I really hope that the author meant the narration to be cheesy. I really do. Because it’s hard to take it seriously when the book talks about how “the injuries of time had laid bare the beauty of their affection.” It was all quite corny, but it kept me giggling and that’s part of what made it so enjoyable. And enjoying it is what really counts, right?

The book also wasn’t without a few moments of well-placed irony, which seemed (to me) to poke a little bit of fun at the fact that this is a retelling of Persuasion:

Life isn’t a Jane Austen novel. It’s one thing to be long-suffering in a story, where the author can make it worth your while, but in real life, who’s going to make sure it ends happily?

And there were all of the secondary characters. The main ones themselves didn’t do too much for me – Anne was a tad bit boring and Ben just seemed like a faint echo of the wonderfulness that is Captain Wentworth… but the smaller bit-characters? Jonathan was a kindred spirit (in that he prefers books to the company of people that he doesn’t find interesting), Winnie was a darling grandmother, and the students that Anne works with every day provided endless entertainment. Even Anne’s father was so amusing in his ridiculousness. (I especially enjoyed his birthday speech.)

The Bottom Line: Definitely a good summer read. It’s quick, it’s fluffy, and there are some great moments to laugh over. I don’t know if I’m going to keep this or pass it on quite yet, and I don’t know if I’ll read Cohen’s other books, but I enjoyed this for what it was.

Jackie Harrison is a civilian working for the US Air Force Academy. She loves her job and her office, but then discovers that she will have to share her office as soon as the new history teacher starts at the Academy – a Lt Col Joseph Gallagher. Jackie is most annoyed by this new development, but both her annoyance at and her fascination with Joe grow as they spend more time in their office together.

When her anonymous blog gets mentioned on the news, Joe’s obsession with this blog (and the blog’s author) begins, and Jackie is worried that he’ll discover she’s the blogger behind The Cubicle Next Door.

The past two weeks have been absolutely insane, and I haven’t really had a chance to even read. Thursday evening I needed a quick read for escapism. As I remembered Rachel mentioning that she got through this in one sitting, and as it looked like complete fluff where I wouldn’t have to think about at all while reading, The Cubicle Next Door won out over all my other possible reads.

Yes, I did get through it in one evening. And I didn’t have to think while reading it. So it was a successful read. Though under different circumstances, I don’t know if I would’ve liked it.

As far as chicklit goes, it wasn’t too bad. The characters were all fairly likable. Jackie was relateable, and her grandmother and grandmother’s friends were completely charming – in fact, I would go so far as to say that the moments that made the book for me involved her grandmother and grandmother’s friends. The main guy, Joe, was alright, but he just seemed to be lacking a little bit of a spark for me. Also, for some reason he actually reminded me greatly of Lt Col Cameron Mitchell from SG-1 (which certainly was not a bad thing).

As far as premise of the book goes, it wasn’t exactly believable. I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why the main character’s blog was so popular or why it made it onto the local news. Even for a humanities story. It didn’t seem realistic, and goodness knows I wouldn’t read it if it were a real blog (though most of the blogs I all read are very topic-specific – books, graphic design or geek culture, so perhaps I’m not the best person to judge that). The blog entries were the weak point in the book and lacked the wit of the rest of the book.

Then there was a bit too much mention about God and religion for my liking. Some Christian books can pull it off well, in that it’s not too in-your-face (like Susan Meissner’s The Shape of Mercy), but in The Cubicle Next Door, it was mentioned so frequently, and characters automatically assumed that other characters were Christian, and it just so happened that they all were – which just came across as completely unrealistic to me.

But other than that, it wasn’t too bad as far as chicklit goes. It was predictable, but it was pure fluff, which is exactly what I needed.

The Bottom Line: It’s not something I’ll read again, and I don’t know if I’ll attempt any of Mitchell’s other books, but it was a good escape from a crazy week.

In B as in Beauty, B thinks that her weight is keeping her back in life – it’s keeping her from finding a man, and it’s keeping her from getting that promotion at work that she so obviously deserves. But soon, B meets a tax accountant who soon becomes a fairy godmother type character (or a pimp, depending on how you look at it) to her. Soon B is realizing that there are people out there that find her body so desirable, and are willing to pay a premium just to spend time with her. This new realization helps boost her confidence and helps her to realize that everything she had believed about her body before was completely wrong.

YES. Another chicklit book I thoroughly enjoyed. A chicklit book without flakey characters! A book about how we need to love ourselves and about how finding a man isn’t going to solve all of our problems! A book that shows how we can all love our bodies, no matter the shape or size!

(And yet, I have to admit that it strikes me as being a little odd that this chicklit book that I so thoroughly enjoyed is written by a man, and that he seemed to really get the voice of a woman down really well.)

This book reminded me very much of that awesome TV series, Secret Diary of a Call Girl. It had the same conversational thing going where it feels like the narrator is actually talking to you, as opposed to you reading or watching what the narrator was doing. And although in the tv series, Billie Piper’s character is an actual call girl, in this book B isn’t paid for sex, but she is paid as a “comfort provider.”

There were only two things that really bothered me about this book. First is that there is occasionally random dialogue thrown in in Spanish. A lot of times the next sentence gives a bit of a translation, but sometimes, you’re left to guess what it means on your own. As I live in Canada and never had to learn Spanish, when the text didn’t translate what was being said, I was left with no clue. A little annoying, but there were only a few instances where this happened.

The other was the last chapter. It read more like an epilogue than an actual part of the story. You know those epilogues that feel like those scenes in movie credits? “This person ended up going to prison for forty years blah blah blah while this person inspired all the children he/she knew to embrace the happy pink bunnies that had overpopulated their neighbourhood!” Well, not exactly like that, but you know what I mean…

Bottom Line: Definitely a cute read. Not something I would read again, but something I did so thoroughly enjoy. I’d be interested in seeing what else Ferreras writes in the future.

Alex Hill is one of the marketing execs for a very large sportswear company. Right in the middle of the preparations for the biggest product launch they’ve ever done, Alex’s mom (the Bean, a star from back in the day) has an accident and breaks her arm. The doctors don’t want her left alone while it’s healing, so Alex takes her in… but since she’s never home, decides to hire a “wife” – someone who will keep the house clean, shop for groceries, keep her mother company, etc.

What Alex doesn’t know, however, is that the girl she hired, Ella, doesn’t have any domestic capabilities whatsoever. When Ella gets offered a job at a radio station, her brother, Frankie, steps in to help at Alex’s place. Now, Frankie, Ella, Alex’s best friend Saffron, and the Bean are sneaking around Alex’s back trying to make her life easier for her while she finds her career hitting more snags than she had thought possible.

I liked this book. In fact, I really liked this book. The characters were NOT flakey. They were NOT obsessed with relationships. They were concerned with real-life issues, they had realistic lives, and they were completely relatable.

All of the main characters were wonderful – there wasn’t one that I didn’t like. Alex, the major main character, was very likable. She’s a career woman, and one of her sole concerns is her career, so she’s always super busy and never has time for herself – but she still finds a way to take her mother in after a bad accident. She’s very strong and motivated. Frankie, the hero of the book, was absolutely adorable. Saffron’s feeling of inadequacy was made totally believable. Ella was a darling, even though she was a pain in the butt at times. And the Bean; oh the Bean was fabulous! In fact, the Bean was definitely my favourite in the whole book – a retired star, used to the good life, but with serious debt problems; a woman who is lonely and misses her era. She can regale everyone with amusing tales of what life was like when she was the life of the party, but deep down she just really wants to be needed by her daughter.

One of the major things that I liked about this book is that it took the time to focus on all five of these characters – they didn’t just appear when Alex was interacting with them. Each of them had chapters solely about them and what was going on in their lives. It certainly made them more realistic, and made you care for them more.

My one complaint is that the plot was predictable. Before Alex even mentioned that she suspected someone was sabotaging her job (hence all the unexpected snags at work) I knew what was going on and who was doing it. It felt just a smidgeon obvious.

Bottom Line: This book was very enjoyable. Awesome characters with fun and yet touching story. Definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a quick and amusing read.

Cassie Boulton, marine biologist, spends her summers doing research in Woods Hole. One summer, the wealthy Calder Westing appears in her life, and to say that things don’t start well would be an understatement – he comes across as being extremely haughty, doesn’t enjoy folk dances and doesn’t inspire conversation. And yet there is no denying that there is some sort attraction between the two, though Cassie believes Calder’s only interested in a summer fling until he rewrites Pride and Prejudice with the two of them as the main characters.

The back of the book claims that this book is “Pride and Prejudice with sun, sand seafood, and surf,” but I think this is a little bit misleading. It’s not your typical retelling of a Jane Austen story. Most of the ones that I have read that claim to be a modern story in the style of Austen’s books follow her stories fairly closely, whereas with this one the characters are very similar to Darcy and Elizabeth and their situations are similar, but the plot itself differs quite a bit more than usual. In fact, if this book were following the storyline of P&P more, then the last third of this book wouldn’t be included in the book at all.

The last third all takes place after Cassie and Calder get together and is, imo, the best part of the book. What I really liked about this book was that as soon as they confessed their feelings for each other the book didn’t end – it went on to show how even after they get together there are still many problems regarding the relationship. It isn’t happy ever after and across as being a bit more realistic. Though, the problems weren’t surrounding Cassie and Calder, per se, but more surrounding people’s reactions and responses to the relationship. Still, it explores how there are still problems that any happy couple have to work through.

The narration was cheesy at times – but I always find love scenes a little cheesy, so maybe I’m not the best judge in that respect. Not cheesy to the point of distraction; it actually added to the fun I had while reading this book and gave me something to giggle about. But there was definitely a bit of cheese.

Overall, the book was fun. Smart characters, misunderstood male leads (one of my favourite sorts of fictional men), settings that I could vividly see in my head while reading, and talk of Jane Austen! Let’s face it – any book that even remotely praises Jane Austen is good in my books.

I’m definitely adding this book to my Jane-Austen-adaptations-that-I-thoroughly-enjoy section on my bookshelf.