Bookish Reviews

Pride & Prejudice & Mistletoe by Melissa de la Cruz

Pride and Prejudice and Mistletoe

by Melissa de la Cruz

Published by St. Martin's Press on October 17, 2017
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance, Retelling, Holiday
Pages: 240
Format: eARC
Source: Kindly provided by publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Summary from Goodreads:

Darcy Fitzwilliam is 29, beautiful, successful, and brilliant. She dates hedge funders and basketball stars and is never without her three cellphones—one for work, one for play, and one to throw at her assistant (just kidding). Darcy's never fallen in love, never has time for anyone else's drama, and never goes home for Christmas if she can help it. But when her mother falls ill, she comes home to Pemberley, Ohio, to spend the season with her dad and little brother.

Her parents throw their annual Christmas bash, where she meets one Luke Bennet, the smart, sardonic slacker son of their neighbor. Luke is 32 and has never left home. He's a carpenter and makes beautiful furniture, and is content with his simple life. He comes from a family of five brothers, each one less ambitious than the other. When Darcy and Luke fall into bed after too many eggnogs, Darcy thinks it's just another one night stand. But why can't she stop thinking of Luke? What is it about him? And can she fall in love, or will her pride and his prejudice against big-city girls stand in their way?

A charming book for the holiday season, PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND MISTLETOE will delight Jan Austen fans and Melissa de la Cruz devotees alike with its new and modern spin on a classic tale. The film adaptation is currently in development with Brad Krevoy Television, with de la Cruz writing the screenplay. Buy Links:Amazon│Barnes & Noble│Indigo

Review:

Pride and Prejudice and Mistletoe is a modern day retelling of Pride and Prejudice with a twist.

I am an absolute fan of the Pride and Prejudice, so when I first heard about this book I was definitely interested in reading it to see what it was like. The flip of characters and general gender swap was so unique and well developed. Reading the role reversals, Darcy Fitwilliam is the woman and Luke Bennet is the male, was intriguing to say the least. It was something that drew me towards this book and brings a classic into modern society. Having read previous books based on Pride and Prejudice, this story has to be my favourite retelling of the classic.

A lot happens when Darcy returns home for the holidays. Dealing with a strained relationship with her father, her mother's illness, and attending her parent's yearly Christmas party, Darcy has her work cut out for her. But what will happen when Darcy's world crashes in Luke Bennent's?

The story was engaging, the characters were written so captivatingly, and there was some twists to keep readers (like myself) wanting to find out more about Darcy and Luke and what ultimately happens to them in the end. The lives of both Darcy and Luke were so satisfying to read. I only wished that the book was a little longer. I couldn't get enough of the characters. Especially the friendship between Darcy and Bingley Charles.
Pride and Prejudice and Mistletoe is filled with self discovery, second chances, and beautifully woven moments. This is a book you definitely have to read this holiday season, especially if you're a fan of romance and Jane Austen.

Rating:
★★★★

About The Author:
Melissa de la Cruz is the #1 New York Times, #1 Publisher's Weekly and #1 IndieBound bestselling author of many critically acclaimed and award-winning novels for readers of all ages. Her more than thirty books have also topped the USA Today, Wall Street Journal and Los Angeles Times bestseller lists and have been published in over twenty countries.

De la Cruz's novel, The Isle of the Lost, the prequel to the Disney Channel Original Movie Descendants, spent more than fifty weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, fifteen at #1, and has over a million copies in print. Descendants starring Kristen Chenoweth and Dove Cameron is the #1 cable TV movie of 2015, and #5 of all time, and its soundtrack is the #1 bestselling album on iTunes. The Isle of the Lost's sequel, Return to the Isle of the Lost, also hit #1 on the New York Times bestseller list, and the third book in the series, Rise of the Isle of the Lost, will publish on May 23, 2017 in advance of the Disney Channel's Descendants2 movie, which premieres July 21, 2017.

De la Cruz is also best-known for the Blue Bloods series (with three million copies in print), and the Witches of East End series, which was turned into a two-season drama series starring Julia Ormond, Jenna Dewan-Tatum, Rachel Boston and Mädchen Amick on Lifetime Television. Most recently, HarlequinTEEN's Seventeen magazine imprint published her young adult novel, Something in Between, based on her own experiences with being an immigrant. Alex & Eliza, about the love story of a young Alexander Hamilton and Elizabeth Schuyler, debuted at #2 on the New York Times bestseller list.

Melissa is also the co-director of YALLFEST (Charleston, SC) and the co-founder of YALLWEST (Santa Monica CA), the two largest and most vibrant young adult book festivals in the country, that attract more than 30,000 readers every year.


A former fashion and beauty editor, Melissa has written for The New York Times, Marie Claire, Harper's Bazaar, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Allure, The San Francisco Chronicle, McSweeney's, Teen Vogue, CosmoGirl! and Seventeen. She has also appeared as an expert on fashion, trends and fame for CNN, E! and FoxNews.

She grew up in Manila and moved to San Francisco with her family, where she graduated high school salutatorian from The Convent of the Sacred Heart. At Columbia University, she majored in art history and English.

Melissa de la Cruz lives in West Hollywood with her husband and daughter.