Search - Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife: Pride and Prejudice Continues

Austen lovers beware. This is NOTHING like Jane Austen. In fact, there's no story in this story. If you like reading about sexual encounters in every way, shape and form this book's for you.

Don't get me wrong - I like a good juicy sex scene in a book. Maybe two or three. However, the characters in this book are nothing like our beloved Darcy and Elizabeth. They've been reduced to characters in a soft porn film. Let me give you an example: Shortly before a ball during which Elizabeth is to be introduced as the wife of Darcy at Pemberly, Darcy enters her dressing room and gives Elizabeth a fine diamond necklace. Immediately after her expression of gratitude, he picks her up by the armpits, plops her on the dressing table and has his quickie. His sweet nothing in her ear is something to the effect of "Do not bath yourself. I want to know that when I look at you, my seed is trickling down your leg." Her only thought is to wonder how sticky the dancing will be.

I got about 1/4 of the way through the book, before giving up on it (I had hoped for improvement). If I took the time to count the sexual encounters between the Darcy's within those few pages it would probably add up to about 15. (Her second after her wedding night has Elizabeth straddling him like a horse in their private carriage on the way to Pemberly. Not bloody likely in Austen's world!)

Lastly, I would like to comment on the vocabulary throughout the book. If I were paid a dollar for every "herwith" and "betwixt" I'd be rich. The authur said it took her four years to research this book. I imagine it took her one year to write it in modern English and three years of scouring through dictionaries and thesaurus' to convert 99 percent of the words to 18th Century English. How's this one for you - "devirginate." According to Rogert's, its main word association is "rape" meaning "assualt." According to Dictionary.com it is c.1470 - a little to early for Austen's time. This was used to describe the recently wedded "devirginated females" Jane and Elizabeth.

Shame on Berdoll. She should stick to bodice rippers in the cheapest sense and leave literature to the truly talented.

Oh how I wish that somebody had torn the first 200 pages out of this book! They were just trash and should have been tossed directly into the recycle bin. It really is such a shame, because the rest of the book was (mostly) well written and very enjoyable! How many people gave up (and rightly so!) too soon and did not get to enjoy the rest of Berdoll's tale? I almost did! But I finished the darn thing. It's not that I'm against sexy stories... in fact I want to see Elizabeth and Darcy have a wonderful and loving marriage... it's just that I don't want Elizabeth turned into a whore, and Darcy a sex maniac! Within the first 24 hours of their marriage, the couple have 7 (!) sexual encounters, one of them with Elizabeth mounting her new husband in the carriage as they drive home. Come on! The author finds in necessary to say that Darcy kindly offers Elizabeth a pillow for her tender rear-end after the 6th encounter... but really she would need more than a pillow, she would need chap-stick! It was WAY over the top!

This book was hideous!!! The characters are nothing like the originals. The writing is awful... the grammer and vocabulary suck. It sounds like someone got ahold of theasaurus and just went to town without regard to rhythm or flow. I've read reviews on here saying that it is "written in the style" of Jane Austen... I assure you, she is spinning in her grave at that. The style of this book is smut using big words with no regard for character or plot development. Whether you are looking at the characters, conversation, or environment, there is NO beauty in this book. Jane Austen knew what it was to draw the reader in and make them want to learn more about her characters and see them develop. Berdoll only knows how to make you keep turning the pages to see how many more times your favorite characters can be turned into sex-craved idiots. Or worse, simple-minded women (like she turns Jane into) and cheating husbands (as she does to Bingley). AWFUL!!!

*EDIT: Okay, I just picked this book up again after 6 months of being distracted by other books. Every single page I read, I felt like saying to the author, "Lady, step AWAY from the thesaurus!" To wit:

"Even as her umbrageous aunt, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, had suffered a rather vociferous conniption (one that was but partially vented by throwing both shoes and an empty pint of Geneva at the parlour-maid) over teh match, to Georgiana, her brother and his opinions were infallible. Above and beyond that, Elizabeth's obvious adoration of Darcy was reason enough to inflate Georgiana's esteem of her to the seraphic." (p. 175)

Honestly, it's like Mr. Collins took up a quill and tried to vent an ongoing crush on cousin Lizzy by writing a romance novel about her married life.

I'd like to think Jane Austen would have giggled, then said something appropriately witty and cutting about this book.

One star for effort, and amusement factor.

After finishing Pride & Prejudice, I was very nearly depressed that there was no more of the wonderful story to be told. Jane Austen had succeeded in drawing me in so deeply that no other book could measure up. Of all the sequels out there, this one had received the most positive reviews, and in researching the author, I found that I've passed her home and family's business at least a hundred times over the years, so if I was going to read any of the sequels, it should be the one written by my neighbor.
The first few pages made me miss P&P, as this was definitely no Jane Austen book. But then I wasn't expecting it to be. I simply wanted to know more about Darcy & Elizabeth's happily ever after, and I was not disappointed. I do not agree that the characters are mere caricatures of the originals. In fact, I found Elizabeth & Darcy exhibited all the traits Austen gave them, and Berdoll simply expanded upon their complexities. If anything, she added both the realistic and romantic elements of life after "I do," and provided a satisfying end to the captivating story Austen began.
And now I can give the book the best compliment I know, as this is one of the few modern books I will allow to stay on my bookshelves, otherwise filled with nothing but the most well-regarded classic literature.

I'm a little shocked that anyone would describe this book as 'sophmoric', but did read that in a review. I found it more along the lines of "Gone With The Wind". Take Austen's style and add sex and high drama. All intimacy is handled under enough flowery vocabulary to assure the reader has to check twice to understand what really happened!! It was quite a ride and certainly a romp by the time I got through this book but I have to say it made me laugh outloud in various places. It was also extremely poignant and sad. This story will be hard to stomach for any true Austen-ite but it's a good read. Her attention to detail is phenomenal and she breathes more life into the characters with far more literary license!

Though parts of it were hysterical, it wasn't consistent enough for me to wade through the entire 465 pages.

This book tries to follow Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice". Aside from a preoccupation with the Darcy's sex life, the story does follow the characters faithfully.

If you loved Austen's Elizabeth and Darcy and didn't want the story to end, here's your chance for it to continue! Wonderfully written, I loved this series - Berdoll does justice to Austen's characters!

This is one of the few books that I have not finished reading. Not because I didn't have time or that it was too difficult for me to read. But it was just horrid. It's not difficult to read, but it's difficult to follow through the many characters in the book. There were so many minor characters it got very confusing. It also had more bodice ripping than actual story. So, I give props to those who have actually finished the book because I didn't, and had no intention of doing so.

This continues Pride And Prejudice perfectly. Darcy and Elizabeth continue to have that same love they did in Jane Austin's classic. You will fall in love with Darcy all over again.

That's pretty much it. A fairly decent story got lost in the bedroom antics of the newlyweds. So you read for a while and skip the gratuitous sex, read for a while and skip the gratuitous sex. I felt the author had read too many of those bodice rippers and not enough Austen.

I liked the treatment of the other personalities, and they all have strong personalities, but even for a woman as healthy and accepting as I am, I would have prefered a little less in the bedroom and more in the drawing room.

I appreciate the informative reviews as to content. It saved me from wasting a credit on a trashy book I would never read. Thank you.

This book & the sequel Darcy & Elizabeth...have brought many happy reading hours. Linda Berdoll excellently keeps my attention, the reading is effortless and the additional characters are very interesting. It's nice to have an intelligent sequel to Pride & Prejudice - so many of the Jane Austen "fan fiction" is sooooo insipid!! THIS ONE IS NOT!

Really enjoyed this one.

Racy!

The writing in this book is horrible! I could not get through it. I only skimmed the rest of the book. Admittedly, I read parts aloud to my husband....so we could laugh hysterically!

excellent. This novel felt like Jane Austen could have written it.

well, its like R-rated knock-off Jane Austen, but not nearly as well written as I'm making it sound.

This book is alright- it sort of is great in the beginning and then dies somewhere in the middle-