Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Griffin for the advance reader copy of The Wrong Mr. Darcy a modern Pride and Prejudice retelling by Evelyn Lozada and Holly Lorincz. This story releases on August 25th.

I jumped at the chance to review this after St. Martin’s Griffin because I am a classic Pride and Prejudice stan. But I would not really say it is an amazing retelling. In actuality, this was not good. I only found out after I finished that it was written by someone who has dated NBA players and was on Basketball Wives but I really feel like this was her attempt to take shots at WAGS and instead all she did was show a lack of basketball knowledge. The main character is biracial as well, but it was kinda ignored by saying that she had been raised to act as white as possible so why even bother with the representation if you are gonna half-ass it like this.

Check out the Goodreads synopsis…

“In this lightly inspired Pride and Prejudice romantic comedy, two unlikely people discover the error of judging by first impressions and the beauty of family, friendship and love. This book will entice you through the last page.

Hara Isari has big ambitions and they won’t be sidetracked by her mother’s insisting that she settle down soon. She dreams of leaving her small-town newspaper behind, as well as her felon father, and building a career as a sports writer, so when she is chosen to exclusively interview a basketball superstar, she jumps at the chance. It’s time to show the bigwigs what she’s truly made of.

At the same time, she meets a rookie on the rise, Derek Darcy. Darcy is incredibly handsome, obnoxiously proud, and has a major chip on his shoulder. Hara can’t think of a man more arrogant and infuriating. However, fate keeps bringing them together—from locker rooms to elegant parties, to the storm of the century—and what begins as a clash might just be more complicated than Hara anticipated. When she begins to see Darcy in a new light, Hara is not quite sure if she should drop the ball or play the love game.”

Check out my more detailed thoughts below…

• Characters: Hara and Derek are the Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy of this Pride and Prejudice retelling. Hara is a Japanese American on her father’s side and African American on her mother’s side. Her life choices and character was very much shaped by her father being sent to jail for his role in fixing sports betting. Now she is a struggling sports reporter trying to make it big. She gets an opportunity to do so, kinda a far fetched one at that and that is where she meets Derek. Dereck plays in the NBA and I swear that is all we know about him. I think the author was trying to write his as an African American basketball player Mr. Darcy, but what she ended up with was a very one-dimensional male love interest that we know barely anything about.
• Setting: Boston is the setting and there were a few callouts but really nothing special.
• Pacing: The pacing was so wack, the closer we got to the end the more off the rails the book got. It kept me still reading but I definitely was not sad when the story was over.
• Romance: The romance was weird because it felt like it took a long time for the two of them to realize they had feelings for each other. There is basically the events of one night that really bring them together. But even with that, I did not feel connected to them at all, I did not ever cheer for them to get together.

The Wrong Mr. Darcy receives two out of five stars.

Thank you again to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the review opportunity. Thank you for reading and supporting my blog!