Mr. Darcy, Vampire ....SPOILERS AHEAD
Yeah, you read that right. I recently purchased, and devoured (hehe) a book by the title of Mr. Darcy, Vampire by Amanda Grange. Said author had previously written Mr. Darcy's Diary.
The book, while better than expected, was remarkably similar to Twilight in certain aspects. That being said, it still kicked Twilight's ass.
What can I say? Darcy is the superior vampire to Edward Cullen and Elizabeth Bennett is a bigger badass than Bella Swan.
The story starts with Elizabeth's wedding day and follows their relationship from there. Elizabeth notices a strange, tormented, look on Darcy's face soon after the wedding, while he is reading her the telegrams that the people who couldn't come to the wedding have sent. She chalks it up to a play of the light, since he doesn't tell her why he is upset, and she puts the incident in the back of her mind.
It reasserts itself later when Darcy fails to come to her on their wedding night. Or any night after that. Elizabeth speaks to a woman during their travels that notices that Elizabeth is upset about something even though Darcy looks at Elizabeth with obvious love and affection. The woman tells Elizabeth (in an extremely Victorian fashion) to go to Darcy and tempt him. Elizabeth attempts to do so, but even though Darcy really...enjoys...their brief romantic encounter, he storms off when he begins to "lose" control. This confuses Elizabeth, but when she is met with affection in the morning, she is confused, but decides to wait to voice her concerns. (Which, to be perfectly honest, is probably behavior that is common for that time).
Skipping right along, they continue their honeymoon tour, and visit a great deal of Darcy's friends, all of which are surprised that he has settled down and are delighted by Elizabeth. There are a few women that try to tempt him away from her at a party, but he does nothing to encourage them and goes over to Elizabeth instead.
There are a few incidents where Elizabeth notices that he talks about a certain even in history as though he had really been there, or one of his friends mentions knowing someone from a hundred years ago. In the case of Darcy, she notices it, but believes that he is just telling her a family story, since this mostly occurs when he is explaining the history of an area. In the case of Darcy's friends, one woman just tells Elizabeth that her English isn't good and that she sometimes makes errors.
It is in Italy that Elizabeth becomes more concerned with Darcy not attempting a conjugal visit, until she meets a friend of hers from England. The woman has become pregnant while traveling and is forced to stay in Italy until the baby is born since travel is too dangerous in her state. Elizabeth convinces herself that Darcy is just trying to allow Elizabeth to see the most of the world while she is able, and decides not to try and talk to him about it.
There are a few times when Elizabeth, during the length of the book, attempts to confront Darcy, but is either put off by circumstances (villagers attacking and the like) or is interrupted by their hosts. She is a smart heroine however, and only faints once during the entire book.
While they are visiting a count they met during their travels, Elizabeth explores his library and is confronted by a man she has seen once or twice at the parties in the area. He manages to get her partly in his thrall (she tells him no, but her body walks toward him, he grabs her and she says she wants her husband) and before he can bite her, Darcy interrupts and attacks the man, fangs out. Elizabeth faints.
When she comes to, she has no memory of the event and Darcy is gone. Her host convinces her that Darcy does not love her and that she must leave. She packs her things, gives her maid a note to mail to Jane (her sister) and writes Darcy a note. As she is leaving, she realizes that the men taking her are up to no good and tries to get away. The carriage pulls off to a clearing and the man that tried to attack her earlier is waiting. The memory of the library comes back to Elizabeth and before he can do her any harm, Darcy, who was told by Elizabeth's maid where she was, opens up a can of whoop ass and then grabs Elizabeth and hightails it out of there to a hunting lodge he owns.
God bless Victorian women and the British stiff upper lip. Elizabeth takes in the news that Darcy is a vampire, he tells her how he was turned, and she tells him that she isn't going to leave him. She loves him. He tells her that the only reason he hadn't come to her at night was because he received word on the wedding day that if he slept with her, he could have passed on his curse to her. The leader of the tiny village in the middle of nowhere comes to the Darcys and says that he has heard rumor of a way to break the curse, he just hadn't told Darcy since the man has such obvious power that he uses for good (like a superhero) and didn't think that any vampire wanted to become human again.
Elizabeth goes with Darcy, despite his saying he doesn't want her to. They break the curse and then have sex. Happy endings all around.
Honestly, the book reads in such a way that the reader is able to put two and two together well before Elizabeth does, but Elizabeth, being a smart, but Victorian woman, has reason for disbelief. As it is, her attempting to leave Darcy is the only dumb thing she does in the entire book. She picks up on a lot of the hints and has pretty good instincts.
Grange's vampires have fangs. They do, however, have varied weaknesses. Darcy's "uncle" has no reflection. Darcy becomes transparent (think of those old ghost illustrations, where you could see through them) in the sunset and the sunrise.
None of the vampires really like garlic or crosses. Darcy wears a crucifix, however, since Elizabeth bought it for him and wouldn't take no for an answer. It apparently only causes him minor discomfort, since he is badass.
The book, while better than expected, was remarkably similar to Twilight in certain aspects. That being said, it still kicked Twilight's ass.
What can I say? Darcy is the superior vampire to Edward Cullen and Elizabeth Bennett is a bigger badass than Bella Swan.
The story starts with Elizabeth's wedding day and follows their relationship from there. Elizabeth notices a strange, tormented, look on Darcy's face soon after the wedding, while he is reading her the telegrams that the people who couldn't come to the wedding have sent. She chalks it up to a play of the light, since he doesn't tell her why he is upset, and she puts the incident in the back of her mind.
It reasserts itself later when Darcy fails to come to her on their wedding night. Or any night after that. Elizabeth speaks to a woman during their travels that notices that Elizabeth is upset about something even though Darcy looks at Elizabeth with obvious love and affection. The woman tells Elizabeth (in an extremely Victorian fashion) to go to Darcy and tempt him. Elizabeth attempts to do so, but even though Darcy really...enjoys...their brief romantic encounter, he storms off when he begins to "lose" control. This confuses Elizabeth, but when she is met with affection in the morning, she is confused, but decides to wait to voice her concerns. (Which, to be perfectly honest, is probably behavior that is common for that time).
Skipping right along, they continue their honeymoon tour, and visit a great deal of Darcy's friends, all of which are surprised that he has settled down and are delighted by Elizabeth. There are a few women that try to tempt him away from her at a party, but he does nothing to encourage them and goes over to Elizabeth instead.
There are a few incidents where Elizabeth notices that he talks about a certain even in history as though he had really been there, or one of his friends mentions knowing someone from a hundred years ago. In the case of Darcy, she notices it, but believes that he is just telling her a family story, since this mostly occurs when he is explaining the history of an area. In the case of Darcy's friends, one woman just tells Elizabeth that her English isn't good and that she sometimes makes errors.
It is in Italy that Elizabeth becomes more concerned with Darcy not attempting a conjugal visit, until she meets a friend of hers from England. The woman has become pregnant while traveling and is forced to stay in Italy until the baby is born since travel is too dangerous in her state. Elizabeth convinces herself that Darcy is just trying to allow Elizabeth to see the most of the world while she is able, and decides not to try and talk to him about it.
There are a few times when Elizabeth, during the length of the book, attempts to confront Darcy, but is either put off by circumstances (villagers attacking and the like) or is interrupted by their hosts. She is a smart heroine however, and only faints once during the entire book.
While they are visiting a count they met during their travels, Elizabeth explores his library and is confronted by a man she has seen once or twice at the parties in the area. He manages to get her partly in his thrall (she tells him no, but her body walks toward him, he grabs her and she says she wants her husband) and before he can bite her, Darcy interrupts and attacks the man, fangs out. Elizabeth faints.
When she comes to, she has no memory of the event and Darcy is gone. Her host convinces her that Darcy does not love her and that she must leave. She packs her things, gives her maid a note to mail to Jane (her sister) and writes Darcy a note. As she is leaving, she realizes that the men taking her are up to no good and tries to get away. The carriage pulls off to a clearing and the man that tried to attack her earlier is waiting. The memory of the library comes back to Elizabeth and before he can do her any harm, Darcy, who was told by Elizabeth's maid where she was, opens up a can of whoop ass and then grabs Elizabeth and hightails it out of there to a hunting lodge he owns.
God bless Victorian women and the British stiff upper lip. Elizabeth takes in the news that Darcy is a vampire, he tells her how he was turned, and she tells him that she isn't going to leave him. She loves him. He tells her that the only reason he hadn't come to her at night was because he received word on the wedding day that if he slept with her, he could have passed on his curse to her. The leader of the tiny village in the middle of nowhere comes to the Darcys and says that he has heard rumor of a way to break the curse, he just hadn't told Darcy since the man has such obvious power that he uses for good (like a superhero) and didn't think that any vampire wanted to become human again.
Elizabeth goes with Darcy, despite his saying he doesn't want her to. They break the curse and then have sex. Happy endings all around.
Honestly, the book reads in such a way that the reader is able to put two and two together well before Elizabeth does, but Elizabeth, being a smart, but Victorian woman, has reason for disbelief. As it is, her attempting to leave Darcy is the only dumb thing she does in the entire book. She picks up on a lot of the hints and has pretty good instincts.
Grange's vampires have fangs. They do, however, have varied weaknesses. Darcy's "uncle" has no reflection. Darcy becomes transparent (think of those old ghost illustrations, where you could see through them) in the sunset and the sunrise.
None of the vampires really like garlic or crosses. Darcy wears a crucifix, however, since Elizabeth bought it for him and wouldn't take no for an answer. It apparently only causes him minor discomfort, since he is badass.