Blurb:
This
hilarious Southern retelling of Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice
"tells the story of two hard-headed Civil war historians who find that
first impressions can be deceiving. Shelby Roswell, a Civil War historian and
professor, is on the fast track to tenure--that is, until her new book is
roasted by the famous historian Ransom Fielding in a national review. With her
career stalled by a man she's never met, Shelby struggles to maintain her
composure when she discovers that Fielding has taken a visiting professorship
at her small Southern college. Ransom Fielding is still struggling with his
role in his wife's accidental death six years ago and is hoping that a year at
Shelby's small college near his hometown of Oxford, Mississippi, will be a
respite from the pressures of Ivy League academia. He never bargained for
falling in love with the one woman whose career--and pride--he injured, and who
would do anything to make him leave. When these two hot-headed southerners find
themselves fighting over the centuries-old history of local battles and
antebellum mansions, their small college is about to become a battlefield of
Civil War proportions. With familiar and relatable characters and wit to spare,
"Pride, Prejudice and Cheese Grits "shows you that love can conquer
all...especially when pride, prejudice, love, and cheese grits are involved!
Review:
This book is supposedly based on Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice (but that could be just a marketing ploy). In some places it has elements from P&P but it is nothing like the aforementioned book. Equally there are quotes from P&P at the beginning of each chapter. And that is where the similarities end.
Unfortunately unlike P&P these characters are very light weight lacking any real substance. I did not really understand their actions or motivation. The main female lead was constantly winging one particular incident throughout the entire book which got tedious very fast. Likewise the minor characters were one dimensional. The methods of contact between the two main characters did not ring true either. It was all too simplistic and unbelievable.
The hero eventually capitulated about the thing the heroine was winging about but this reader felt that she forgave him far too easily. This reader felt that there was no tension between the hero and heroine and the author gave them little personality with nothing for the reader to hang on to. In short this reader thought that the characters were nothing like wonderfully written characters in Pride and Prejudice.
This interesting element of the book, namely the university politics was briefly mentioned and squashed by the lackadaisical read. This is a good clean book with some bawdy humour. Unfortunately, this reader found it all a bit too cartoony for her liking. It was her first novel by this author and unfortunately it will be their last.
Full Disclosure: ARC received from Netgalley for an honest review.
I rated this 2 stas on Netgalley and 'It was OK' on Goodreads (2 stars) and Amazon (3 stars).
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