Mr. Darcy, Vampyre Review

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My hand is trembling as I write this letter. My nerves are in tatters and I am so altered that I believe you would not recognize me. The past two months have been a nightmarish whirl of strange and disturbing circumstances, and the future... I am afraid. If anything happens to me, remember that I love you and that my spirit will always be with you, though we may never see each other again. The world is a cold and frightening place where nothing is as it seems.
Taken from the back of the book.

Now, I know I've told plenty of you that I'm over vampires, but when I saw the name Darcy on the cover, I simply couldn't resist. I might just have a thing for Jane Austen. Ok, so Mr. Darcy, Vampyre picks up the classic tale of Pride and Prejudice on Elizabeth and Darcy's wedding day. Elizabeth and Jane, her sister, are to be married on the same day to Darcy and Bingley, respectively. From the moment Elizabeth steps into the church though, she feels a sense of foreboding, and soon notices that Darcy never wants to spend time alone. Diverting their wedding tour to ask "advice" of his distant uncle, the Count Polidori, Elizabeth learns her husband is not who she thought and must decided what she truly wants from her life - can she still love Darcy?

First off - the cover is simple, but sweet. I like the clever positioning of the necklace with two little puncture wounds. I enjoy how clean it is, I guess, though it isn't necessarily my favourite cover in the world. As for the story, I have to say that I generally like seeing classics reworked, but this definitely wasn't my favourite. I think Amanda Grange has a very fluid and smooth writing style, but I feel like this re-imagining of their story just didn't work for me.

If I had to be nitpicky and decided what, specifically, didn't work for me, I'd have to say 1) Elizabeth's keen sense of foreboding...I loathe heavy foreshadowing; I think it ruins the flow of the story 2) Elizabeth's sudden desire to be completely fashionable...wasn't half the point of Pride & Prejudice that Elizabeth didn't deviate from her true self? 3) There are a lot, and I mean A LOT of descriptions of scenery...it's great in moderation, but not when it's 2 pages long.

All in all, it's not a bad story, and it's a decent read. I would recommend it mostly to those who specifically enjoy historical fiction though. I give it a 3 out of 5.