Title: Mr. Darcy Vampyre
Author: Amanda Grange
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Source: Purchased
Parental Warning: violence

“He looked as though he was about to say something more and suddenly she felt a sense of dread, as though there were something dark lurking beneath the surface of her life, something which threatened her world, her security, her happiness.  But then he stroked her hair and everything was as it should be.  He relaxed, and she relaxed as well.”

Summary:
Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy are recently wed and embarking on their honeymoon.

Touring Europe should be a happy and exciting time for a young couple in love but theirs is filled with complications.  First, Lizzie is concerned by the fact that Mr. Darcy has not yet made any overtures of intimacy.  In fact he overtly declines and avoids them.  Further, his attempts to be a loving and supportive husband (in the non-physical sense) aside Lizzie finds his behavior as they travel to be quite odd.  Add to this the various family members and acquaintances they encounter through their trip and Lizzie is a muddled mess of confusion.

Wondering if she’s made a mistake, or worse that Mr. Darcy believes they have made a mistake, in getting married Lizzie writes letters to Jane in the hopes of feeling a miniscule of relief from the stress. Sending them via a maid and courier she believes to be personally vouched for by her husband and his close relations she doesn’t realize that perhaps more nefarious goings on are occurring. Only small clues and strange happenings here and there provide her any inkling about something being wrong.

On the last leg of their trip Mrs. Darcy is finally faced with answers to all of the questions she has and resolutions to all of the different situations she perceives to be filled with conflict.  Unfortunately she is quickly overcome with the reality of her situation.  Mr. Darcy is a vampyre.

Opinion:
This definitely wasn’t the book for me.  I’ve never been one who reads classics well but I’ve wanted to expand my reading in that area and thought that this book would provide me a happy medium — a classic with a twist.  While it did provide the latter it was still just too much for me. I’ve always liked a good combination of show and tell with perhaps a bit more on the telling side and this book was a lot more of the show.

The plot was interesting enough and honestly it’s what kept me from completely abandoning the book when I was struggling to keep going.  The history of how Darcy became a Vampyre was compelling and plausible given the supernatural circumstances.  The other item in the pro column was the setting.  Dark and mysterious there was a certain degree of gloom over the entirety of the story.  To me, this added to the creepy vibe that one would anticipate accompanies the focus on the vampirism.  Lastly, I’ll add that the location and time period also went a long way in setting a tone that was befitting a plot of this nature.

I will say the end, which I will not spoil here, seemed awfully qick and not as satisfying as I would have liked.  As a reader I went through all of this trial and tribulation for an extended period of time just to have it answered in a matter of pages.  It just seemed a bit off in timing for me personally.

Kudos to the author for infusing the elements of Austen’s characterizations into this story.  Both Mr. and Mrs. Darcy remained true to their original forms.

While I personally didn’t enjoy this book I don’t think it was a result of it being poorly written or plotted.  Perhaps it’s more an issue ofmaking a poor selection on my part.  If you like vampire books and are a fan of Austen’s work then definitely give this one a try.