After being dragged to the 2005 movie Pride and Prejudice by her mother, sixteen-year-old Elizabeth’s life changes when Matthew Macfadyen’s Mr. Darcy appears on the screen. Lizzie falls hard and makes a promise to herself that she will settle for nothing less than her own Mr. Darcy. This ill-advised pledge threatens to ruin any chance of finding true love. During the six intervening years, she has refused to give any interested suitors a chance. They weren’t Mr. Darcy enough.Coerced by her roommate, Elizabeth agrees to give the next interested guy ten dates before she dumps him. That guy is Chad, a kind and thoughtful science teacher and swim coach. While she’s dating Chad, her dream comes true in the form of a wealthy bookstore owner named Matt Dawson, who looks and acts like her Mr. Darcy. Of course she has to follow her dream. But as Elizabeth simultaneously dates a regular guy and the dazzling Mr. Dawson, she’s forced to re-evaluate what it was she loved about Mr. Darcy in the first place.
Excerpt!
“Have you seen any good movies lately?” Chad asked.
“I haven’t gone to a movie in ages, but I watched part of Pride and Prejudice last night.”
“What is it about that movie? My mom and sister like it, too.”
“Probably because it’s one of the best movies ever made.”
“You really think so?”
“I love it.”
“Allison—that’s my sister—she says the best way to impress a girl is to watch Pride and Prejudice with her.”
Uh oh. I tried to hide my qualms with a laugh that sounded artificial to my ears. Long ago I’d decided my Pride and Prejudice was a hallowed movie—only to be shared with a chosen few. I knew it would be difficult, if not impossible, to hide my feelings about the movie. And about Mr. Darcy. How could I betray Mr. Darcy by watching him bare his soul while I sat beside another man?
“Let’s watch it.”
“I don’t know. You probably wouldn’t like it,” I said. “There’s no action. It’s all dialogue.”
“Should I be offended that you think I couldn’t handle a movie with dialogue?” Chad was teasing me and I should have teased back but I was too busy panicking.
“It’s not that I think you couldn’t handle it. I just don’t think you’d really like it. We could watch something else. Mission Impossible? Transformers?” Please. Anything but Pride and Prejudice.
“I’m afraid you’re only making me more curious to see what all the fuss is about. There’s a video store close to my house. Let’s go get it.”
I made other suggestions at the video store but in the end, we walked out with Pride and Prejudice and Chad’s thumb was covering Matthew Macfadyen’s face.
Author Karey White
Karey White grew up in Utah, Idaho, Oregon, and Missouri. She attended Ricks College and Brigham Young University. Her first novel, Gifted, was a Whitney Award Finalist.
She loves to travel, read, bake treats, and spend time with family and friends. She and her husband are the parents of four great children. She teaches summer creative writing courses to young people and is currently working on her next book.
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