President Darcy by Victoria Kincaid – Review

 

President William Darcy has it all: wealth, intelligence, and the most powerful job in the country.  Despite what his friends say, he is not lonely in the White House.  He’s not.   And he has vowed not to date while he’s in office.  Nor is he interested in Elizabeth Bennet.   She might be pretty and funny and smart, but her family is nouveau riche and unbearable.  Unfortunately, he encounters her everywhere in Washington, D.C.—making her harder and harder to ignore.  Why can’t he get her out of his mind?

Elizabeth Bennet enjoys her job with the Red Cross and loves her family, despite their tendency to embarrass her.  At a White House state dinner, they cause her to make an unfavorable impression on the president, who labels her unattractive and uninteresting.  Those words are immediately broadcast on Twitter, so the whole world now knows the president insulted her.  Elizabeth just wants to avoid the man—who, let’s admit it, is proud and difficult.  For some reason he acts all friendly when they keep running into each other, but she knows he’s judging her. 

Eventually, circumstances force Darcy and Elizabeth to confront their true feelings for each other, with explosive results.  But even if they can find common ground, Mr. Darcy is still the president—with limited privacy and unlimited responsibilities—and his enemies won’t hesitate to use his feelings for Elizabeth against him. 

Can President Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet find their way to happily ever after?

*****

Victoria Kincaid is in my top 3 JAFF authors, and she can’t write fast enough to satisfy my appetite for her stories. She has recently released her first modern Pride and Prejudice inspired novel: President Darcy. I love that it’s so much more than just a “simple” or “another” Pride and Prejudice variation; it has it’s saying on humiliation, bullying, media, publicity, third world, charity work, politics etc.
Darcy’s and Elizabeth’s first encounter is funny, passionate, embarrassing and electrifying at the same time. Within a few minutes, all things happen to Elizabeth which you might call a “bad day” (in the word’s “everyday” meaning).   Like we have seen in her previous books (Mr Darcy to the Rescue, Chaos Comes to Longbourn, Darcy’s Honor, When Mary met the Colonel, A Very Darcy Christmas, Darcy vs Bennet, Pride and Proposal, The Secrets of Elizabeth and Darcy) Ms Kincaid mixes comedy with drama. Usually, she starts with the comedy part and when you are almost convinced that it’s going to be a comedy; she works her magic and with some twists and turns, she shakes you and wakes you up from your utopia. How could I be so silly to think (even for a moment) there is a story of Elizabeth and Darcy without drama, heartbreak, and crying…
I am almost sure the author had lots of fun furnishing the Bennet residence, not to mention writing Mr and Mrs Bennet. A match made in heaven. At the same time, I also hope she was in “pain” when she wrote Lydia’s part, especially her involvement in the climax of the story. I’m not sure I would have been as forgiving as she was, though.
Ms Kincaid has not fallen into the trap of forcing the original plot when she modernized the story. She kept the essential parts like the insult, parties [balls], Lydia and Wickham messing up everything, the letter, even Jane’s illness, but she transformed it into a credible, modern scene. She had great ideas how to throw Elizabeth and Darcy together.
Fantastic job with the scenes where Darcy and Elizabeth physically suffer: heavy breathing, tense muscles, crying, wallowing, etc.
Bill Collins, Aunt Madeline, and Lady Catherine are as funny as always. Loved Lady Catherine’s ramblings about her view on writing Bennet with one “t”, and then there is Her Ladyship using abbreviations. Capital!
It’s the sort of book where your heart skips a beat in some scenes, in other scenes, it beats faster, then you have tears in your eyes either because of laughing or crying. It stirred me up, especially at the scene where Elizabeth was publicly humiliated. The scene in the book reminded me of the Bill Clinton- Monika Lewinsky scandal.  A couple of months ago I watched “Monica Lewinsky – The price of shame” Ted Talk (on Youtube) where she talks about public humiliation. Watch it! I would call the scene in the book, the most heart-breaking scene in a modern variation. I can’t imagine how Ms Kincaid managed to write it and stay sane.
BTW, I started in the afternoon and went to bed at 2.30am when I finished it. Make sure, you can read it in one sitting.

President Darcy – Victoria Kincaid – Amazon US

President Darcy – Victoria Kincaid – Amazon UK