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Dreaming of Mr. Darcy by Victoria Connelly
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Dreaming of Mr. Darcy (edition 2012)

by Victoria Connelly (Author)

Series: Austen Addicts (2)

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
8314320,975 (3.19)2
Fiction. Literature. Romance. HTML:

A romance worthy of Jane Austen herself

Praise for A Weekend with Mr. Darcy:

"Sunshine on a rainy day. A charmingly written slice of warmhearted escapism."

- Lisa Jewell, bestselling author of Roommates Wanted

"Lively, funny characters ... the romances of this novel brilliantly reveal one thing that Miss Austen always knew: true love is often a complicated, but beautiful, mess."

- Luxury Reading Fledging illustrator and Darcy fanatic Kay Ashton settles in the seaside town of Lyme to finish her book, The Illustrated Darcy, when a film company arrives to make a new adaptation of Jane Austen's Persuasion. Kay is soon falling for the handsome bad boy actor playing Captain Wentworth, but it's the quiet screenwriter Adam Craig who has more in common with her beloved Mr. Darcy. Though still healing from a broken heart, Adam finds himself unexpectedly in love with Kay. But it will take more than good intentions to convince her that her real happy ending is with him.

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… (more)
Member:MHanover10
Title:Dreaming of Mr. Darcy
Authors:Victoria Connelly (Author)
Info:Sourcebooks Landmark (2012), 368 pages
Collections:Your library, Currently reading, Wishlist, To read, Read but unowned, Favorites
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Dreaming of Mr. Darcy by Victoria Connelly

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» See also 2 mentions

English (13)  Hungarian (1)  All languages (14)
Showing 1-5 of 13 (next | show all)
Welp. Sometimes you find some great books in the bargain bin, and sometimes you don't. I bought this book a few years back and never got around to reading it because the first few chapters dragged. Since one of my personal goals this year is to clean up my electronic and physical shelves I decided to check this one of the list since I decided to start reading Persuasion this week.

Besides a few callbacks to Austen novels (Sense and Sensibility, Emma, and Persuasion) there was not a lot here left to really recommend this book to others.

Told in the third person, "Dreaming of Mr. Darcy" follows recent bed and breakfast owner Kay, screenwriter/produced Adam, and actress Gemma.

I would say for the most part, Kay is the main character that the story revolves, with little side roads taken here and there to focus on Adam and Gemma.

For me, the biggest problem I had (thought I had issues with all three characters) was with Kay.

Kay is a die-hard Jane Austen fan and a lover of all things Mr. Darcy. After losing her mother and a close friend at a retirement home that her mother used to work at, Kay is left a house and some money. She realizes that she can now use the house and money to move to Lyme Regis where Jane Austen set most of Persuasion. With that little bit right there, I did like Kim. But it seemed that she did a quick 180 with the character, because soon after reaching Lyme Regis readers are given a glimpse of a new Kim. A Kim that is obsessed with the local actors/actresses she is housing in her newly bought bed and breakfast. With her falling in love at first sight with the actor playing Captain Wentworth, Oli. I was actually having flashbacks to the Shopaholic series at certain points with Kay because she reminded me so much of Becky Bloomwood. Every five seconds Kay would imagine some off the wall scenario with Oli and even though she is warned by everyone around her she ignores them and decides that love conquers all and she is going to marry and be with Oli.

Kay for me was a mixture of Marianne Dashwood and Emma Woodhouse with their worst parts amplified. For example, after knowing Gemma for five seconds and Adam for five minutes, Kay decides that they are in love with one another and they need her help in realizing that. I just couldn't get over her presumption to know what other people needed. What really gets me though is that the author doesn't set up this side of Kay enough. All we initially know of Kay is that she paints and she loves to read Austen. She doesn't seem to have many friends. All of a sudden she's moved away to Lyme Regis and she's decided she knows what everyone around her really needs. I wanted to shake her.

Gemma is not given much to do in this book besides knit and hide how nervous she is when acting. Growing up with a famous mother, Gemma is pushed into acting and is starting to realize that she's not really enjoying it. I really wish we had gotten more of Gemma in this story. We don't spend enough time with her in my opinion and then we also have her having a crush/falling in love with Oli though she has enough sense to realize that he's not worth her time. I though that Gemma was Elinor Dashwood through and through.

Adam is similar to Gemma that he is not really given much to do in this book besides fall in love at first sight with Kay and act awkward and shy. I felt sorry for him initially, but he started to bug me too because he kept going around trying to warn Kay about Oli. I was of the mindset to just let her fall on her face and be done with it. I honestly saw a lot of Colonel Brandon in Adam's character. A good man who doesn't think he deserves someone as vibrant as Kay (blech).

There are secondary characters here such as Adam's grandmother (who I enjoyed more than anyone else), Oli, and a few of the other actors on set as well as the director of the movie. Funnily enough I did end up liking Oli in the end just because he was very much a modern day version of Frank Churchill.

The writing was okay, but nothing really special to me. After the umpteenth daydream of Kay's I was kind of over it. What really ended up messing up the book to me was the flow. The transition from Kay to Gemma to Adam and back and forth really didn't work well. I can see why Kay and Adam's story worked better, but Gemma's stood out like a sore thumb. Gemma's story really needed to be told in a standalone format.

The setting of Lyme Regis was described very well and I could picture the shops, the stone steps where Captain Wenworth missed Louisa and the seaside where many walks apparently took place.

The ending fell seriously flat to me because the big takeaway I got was that everyone having not gotten their first choice, was quite happy to run away with their second. ( )
  ObsidianBlue | Jul 1, 2020 |
This is a superficial irritating little book. I liked her first book Weekend with Mr Darcy and I was hoping for the same kind of fun. Instead you get Kay, the main character who is a stupid twit. She thinks she's going to marry the most famous actor in England just because he winks at her. I wanted to reach in and throttle her. I didn't like her character at all. I know there are women out there like that but please, it was irritating. I'm not sure if I want to read the next one. Maybe I need to read the Jane Austen books over and over and see what all the fuss is about. ( )
  MHanover10 | Jul 10, 2016 |
This was a bit different from my usual JA stuff, but it still deals with the love of Austen. Kay, our heroine, truly loves Jane Austen. Truly loves is the word. But then our hero loves JA too, talk about a match made in heaven...or not.

This was a bit of an Emma novel. Kay is clueless (but in a good way) that Adam likes her. Because she is oogling hottie actor Oli who is playing Captain Wentworth. And this is where the Emma story comes in. She is smitten by someone who is just playing with her. And she is trying to hook up a friend with Adam. Not a good matchmaker, and neither was Emma. But it does make for a delightful story. She is dreaming about her actor, and poor poor Adam can't do anything about it.

I liked Kay, cos she was not clueless in a bad way. Come one, if Colin Firth hang around my house then of course I would stare at him and not the shy nerd who tries to talk to me. So it was understandable that she did not notice. I also liked who silly she was and how her mind went to babies and weddings at once. She was such a daydreamer. While our hero was a lovely shy guy who, aww, hugs. I do like a good shy guy.

Conclusion:
It was a cute story about not seeing that which is right in front of you. But true love always win. ( )
  blodeuedd | Mar 2, 2016 |
I love Jane Austen, but I I had a hard time identifying with the main characters. A good romance is always fun, but falling in love has got to be more than what was portrayed here. Two people who don't know each other can't be in love. Otherwise this was a light and easy read. ( )
  tjsjohanna | Dec 4, 2015 |
I really enjoyed this book! Once I started reading I couldn't stop. Kay seems like a well known friend that I had to find out what was going to happen to her. Left alone and unsettled but independently wealthy with the recent deaths of her mother and a close elderly friend Kay decides to make a change from her current life by quitting her job, moving and buying a B&B. Kay is an avid Jane Austen fan and is thrilled when a filming crew arrives and her nearly renovated B&B demanding they be allowed to stay while they finished filming, as their previous rooms were unusable. Kay eagerly opens up her new home and her heart to the actors. Soon enough she finds that the leading man may just be the leading man for her life but there is another in the wings that wants a chance at the spotlight in Kay's life. This story is rife with intrigue, miscommunications, blunders, love, mishaps as well as with joy, happiness and bliss. I can't wait to get my hands on more stories by Victoria Connelly as well as revisit some Jane Austen classics! ( )
  slsmitty25 | Feb 11, 2015 |
Showing 1-5 of 13 (next | show all)
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Fiction. Literature. Romance. HTML:

A romance worthy of Jane Austen herself

Praise for A Weekend with Mr. Darcy:

"Sunshine on a rainy day. A charmingly written slice of warmhearted escapism."

- Lisa Jewell, bestselling author of Roommates Wanted

"Lively, funny characters ... the romances of this novel brilliantly reveal one thing that Miss Austen always knew: true love is often a complicated, but beautiful, mess."

- Luxury Reading Fledging illustrator and Darcy fanatic Kay Ashton settles in the seaside town of Lyme to finish her book, The Illustrated Darcy, when a film company arrives to make a new adaptation of Jane Austen's Persuasion. Kay is soon falling for the handsome bad boy actor playing Captain Wentworth, but it's the quiet screenwriter Adam Craig who has more in common with her beloved Mr. Darcy. Though still healing from a broken heart, Adam finds himself unexpectedly in love with Kay. But it will take more than good intentions to convince her that her real happy ending is with him.

.

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