Source: Publisher
Description: Phaedra Brighton is perfectly content with her life of lecturing college students, gossiping with her best friends, and dreaming of Mr. Darcy. As a young, respected (if somewhat peculiar) English professor, her expertise lies in all things Jane Austen--but she knows that the closest she'll ever get to being a real-life Elizabeth Bennet is in her dreams.
When Who Wants to Marry Mr. Darcy, a new reality TV show, starts filming at her best friend Charlene's estate, Phaedra is intrigued. And when the producer asks her to lend her Austenian knowledge as a consultant on the show, she's over the moon. But on the first day of filming, when Charlene's new husband is found electrocuted and Charlene herself is accused of the crime, Phaedra comes crashing back to reality.
With murder on the syllabus and her best friend in dire straits, there's no Mr. Darcy around to help Phaedra--she'll have to get to the bottom of this mystery herself.
Genre: Mystery - Cozy
Why I Picked This Book: I love a literary cozy and I'm always interested in new cozy series and this was definitely a unique premise.
My Impression: I read a lot of cozy mysteries and was really intrigued to see a premise I hadn't come across before. I really like that the main character is an English professor specializing in Austen and I also really loved the reality show angle. Unfortunately, this one just didn't quite work for me.
I had two main issues with this mystery. The first one was the number of characters. We have Phaedra, her coworkers and friends and family as well as all the people associated with the reality show both as contestents and in production. It's a lot of people to be introduced to and since this is the first book in the series I felt a bit like I was scrambling to figure out who was who and where they fit in. I think this made it hard for me to connect with any of the characters which made me struggle to get invested in the story.
My second issue was the pacing. This isn't an uncommon problem with first books in the series as there's so much world building that has to be done. Unfortunately, this combined with the first issue kept me from being able to be pulled in to the mystery and really enjoying the story. I also found it hard to believe that Phaedra was an established professor as her actions frequently came across immature and naive.
I think this series has some potential. There are some interesting side characters and I enjoy the fact that the main character specializes in Austen on an academic level. Unfortunately, at this point this isn't a series I plan on continuing with.
Would I Read More of this Series/Author? If the next book in the series sounds really interesting I might give it another try but it's not one I'll be keeping an eye on.
Would I Recommend this Book? Potentially. If you really love Austen you may get more out of this then I did and really enjooy it.
* I received this book in exchange for an honest review. As always my opinions and impressions are completely my own. *
Would I Recommend this Book? Potentially. If you really love Austen you may get more out of this then I did and really enjooy it.
* I received this book in exchange for an honest review. As always my opinions and impressions are completely my own. *
I had some hopes for this one when I saw you reading it. But sometimes an author just doesn't quite get it right and it doesn't work.
ReplyDeleteI have this one on my Kindle. I thought the premise sounded interesting. Eventually I will get to it.
ReplyDeleteSorry this one fell short, I can see why you struggled. I do love the premise.
ReplyDeleteOh bummer, I like Austen inspired cozies and was hoping this would be a good one but I don't understand why they have to do first cozy in a series with a reality tv show as you haven't gotten to know anyone and then you have a ton of characters as well. :(
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