Book Review - Undressing Mr. Darcy by Karen Doornebos

So, let's just pretend like I have been posting regularly and I won't make lame excuses for why I have been inattentive. And we'll go from there.

I will say, though, that hockey season, for me at least, is now over with the defeat of my Pittsburgh Penguins in Round 2 of the Stanley Cup play-offs. They may be out of the race for the Stanley Cup which saddens me, but I can say that I now have time to do more. And to all of my Canadian friends, Go Habs! I'm rooting for you.

So, I thought Jane Austen had been played out, for a time at least. I kind of ran Austenland into the ground, both in video and book format and I thought, that's it! I'm done with it for a while. And then I bought the Blu Ray of Northanger Abbey which stars J.J. Feild as Mr. Tilney, J.J. Feild playing Mr. Nobley in Austenland. (Of course, I then come to find that I actually already owned the DVD, but I looked for it before I bought the Blu Ray. I swear I did and didn't see it!) So, I had to play that as a broken record.

Then I thought to myself that I should read Northanger Abbey as I do not believe I ever read it. And I thought, well this has got to be it. And then I remembered I had some Austen inspired books by Amanda Grange in the attic, so I had to go searching for them. I have her entire Diary series of books, told from the perspective of the male lead and she just happened to write one called Mr. Tilney's Diary. Why not? I just read Northanger Abbey from Miss Morland's perspective, so why not give Mr. Tilney the opportunity to tell his side of the story. Could not put it down. But this is not about either of those books.

I have an entire collection, probably larger than I think, of books that are inspired by Jane Austen and her characters. I picked up Undressing Mr. Darcy because, quite frankly, who doesn't want to undress Mr. Darcy? But this was a refreshing take as it was not Jane Austen's character's or the Regency era. It's just about a man. In modern day. In Regency garb. Taking it all off. To save his home. And we learn some stuff about Jane Austen on the way. Win-win!

Book Description:
Publication Date: December 3, 2013

Taking it off in the name of history…

Thirty-five-year-old American social media master Vanessa Roberts lives her thoroughly modern life with aplomb. So when her elderly Jane Austen–centric aunt needs her to take on the public relations for Julian Chancellor, a very private man from England who’s written a book called My Year as Mr. Darcy, Vanessa agrees. But she’s not “excessively diverted,” as Jane Austen would say.

Hardbound books, teacups, and quill pens fly in the face of her e-reader, coffee, and smartphone…

…Until she sees Julian take his tight breeches off for his Undressing Mr. Darcy show, an educational “striptease” down to his drawers to promote his book and help save his crumbling estate. The public relations expert suddenly realizes things have gotten…personal. But can this old-fashioned man claim her heart without so much as a GPS? It will take three festivals filled with Austen fans, a trip to England, an old frenemy, and a flirtatious pirate re-enactor to find out…

My Review:
This is not your mama’s Mr. Darcy. This Mr. Darcy does a strip down to his undergarments while giving a lecture about regency attire for men. His name is not actually Mr. Darcy. It is Julian Chancellor, but he spent a year living the life of a regency gentleman and then wrote a book about it, with a quill pen no less. He has eschewed all things modern and doesn't like to use technology, but he has an ancestral home that is crumbling down around him.

Being invited to speak at the Jane Austen Society of North America’s annual conference, he hops a plane to Chicago. The proceeds of his book sales will go towards the restoration of his estate. Being the niece of Ella Morgan, the conference organizer, Vanessa Roberts has taken him on as a client pro bono to help him save his home.

Vanessa is a brilliant PR exec who is more comfortable living in a virtual world of social media than in the real world. She also has no love for Jane Austen and is not a great reader of leisure books. She has no time for leisure or dating and her only family, Aunt Ella, has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, so she helps her aunt out as much as she can. Which is one of the reasons why Vanessa took on Mr. Darcy as a client for no pay.

What she didn’t expect was how sexy a man could look in a pair of breeches. But she is doing a job and keeps reminding herself that he is a client and to keep it professional. Which is just so darn difficult to do when he is stripping off the layers of clothing. She begins to think of the possibilities and to question if her virtual life is enough.

Now enter Captain Jack Sparrow. Because if it wasn’t bad enough to have a convention full of Janeites in their regency attire, the hotel is also hosting a comic book / science fiction conference called Hero Con. While Vanessa is out in the hall taking a phone call from the doctor about her aunt’s condition, she walks into Chase MacLean, who makes a really convincing Captain Jack Sparrow.

The funny thing about Chase is he just keeps turning up and seems to be around just when Vanessa needs help the most. While not a professional pirate, he does moonlight on the side at kid’s parties and such, but his full time job is an auctioneer. He works with Aunt Ella’s sweetheart, Paul, so he knows Aunt Ella and he knows Vanessa as well from way back although she doesn’t remember him.

The trouble with Chase? He doesn’t have a British accent. While he is trying to get Vanessa to step away from the media devices, she is thinking that maybe she could allow herself to fall for a guy and it doesn’t seem to be him.

From Chicago, Vanessa drives Julian to a Jane Austen festival in Kentucky and back to Chicago. She is really hoping that they might spend some quality time together during the short trip, but alone time is not what they get as they are accompanied by a self-proclaimed Mrs. Darcy (and she’s got the shirt to prove it – real name Sherry) and an ex-friend of Vanessa’s named Lexi who tags along as part of a bribe.

When Julian flies back to England, Vanessa figures that would be that, but she can’t get him out of her head. She does the only thing she can think of, she follows him across the pond. He is going to be a guest speaker at the Jane Austen festival in Bath, so onto Bath.

As part of her Conference package, she has been entered into a Mr. Darcy scavenger hunt, the winner of which gets a dinner with Julian at his estate. Vanessa just has to win that race. So she embarks on a mad dash to find the clues and secure the required items with the help of Lexi, who she has somewhat reconciled with, and Sherry. It is a trip through Bath and London as she is directed to places from the life or books of Jane Austen. At every turn, she is expecting to find Julian, but he proves evasive.

It is a classic case of being in the right place at the wrong time and time seems to be running out. As she searches for clues, she discovers a passion for Jane Austen, but will she find her Mr. Darcy?