Sandy M’s review of Seducing Mr. Darcy by Gwyn Cready
Contemporary Paranormal Romance published by Pocket 29 Jul 08
I like the idea of this book. I mean, think about it. What would you do if you were thrown into your favorite book, suddenly face to face with that hero you’ve drooled over and dreamt about for quite sometime now? I know I’d probably be doing what the heroine of this book did. Several times, in fact. But, of course, things don’t go all that smoothly for her after the deed is done and that’s where the book hits a bump in the road even amidst all the fun goings-on.
Flip Allison is truly an every-girl. She’s divorced from a selfish jerk of a husband, has girlfriends she has fun with, has a job she loves and wants to advance in, is attracted to the new English professor at the university where she works and bumbles her first encounter with him, is just one of those regular gals just like you and me.
Things change for her when she goes for a massage and meets Madam K. When told she can imagine herself in her favorite book during the massage, Flip takes a sharp left and ends up with a starring role in the pages of Austen’s Pride and Prejudice when she was supposed to be cavorting with a Venetian. She meets all the major characters except one, the one that matters to the hero of the book, which is probably just as well since she and Darcy end up doing the nasty for all to see. And several do see.
But it’s not until Flip awakens from her massage nap and gets a glimpse of the book first at her book club and then of a first edition that the ramifications of her actions hit her between the eyes. The only person she knows of who can help her is the man she’d like to make a connection with, but she bungled even that.
Magnus Knightly knows anything and everything about Pride and Prejudice, so when he discovers his second edition has scenes that appear out of the blue, he’s out to get his hands around Flip’s neck until she rights this incredulous wrong. But to his amazement the story she tells him is true because the next thing he knows he’s playing pool with Darcy and finds himself and Flip in the middle of tragedy in this beautiful Austen book.
I really liked Magnus. He’s actually the best part of the book for me. I especially enjoyed the scene when he runs Flip’s ex in circles and ends it all by kissing Flip, along with a searing touch, that scorches them both. He comes to Flip’s rescue several times throughout the story and each time I fell harder and harder for him.
The only thing I have a bone to pick with is Flip’s ex and his flavor of the moment. There’s just too much of them. I know why they’re there to begin with, but I could have done with a little less of them, especially when they end up running around the same pages of the same book as Flip and Magnus, with the ending of that journey being way too abrupt, making it seem like maybe they shouldn’t have been there in the first place. But overall I enjoyed the storyline and the characters, especially Flip’s girlfriends.
You don’t have to have read Pride and Prejudice to enjoy this book, to know what’s happening at any given time. I’ve never even picked up the book to look at it and still had fun with this unusual and fun jaunt through its pages.
Grade: B
Summary:
Mr. Darcy just isn’t Flip Allison’s style. She prefers novels that include hot sex on the bathroom sink to the mannerly high-tension longing of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. That is, until she pays a visit to Madame K, who promises a therapeutic massage with an opportunity to “Imagine Yourself in Your Favorite Book.” Somehow on the way to a sizzling sink top session with a Venetian Adonis, Flip lands right in the middle of Regency England–and dangerously close to handsome Mr. Darcy. So close, in fact, that she discovers you can’t always judge a book by its cover.
Read an excerpt.
