The Man Who Loved Pride & Prejudice: A Modern Love Story with a Jane Austen Twist (The Woods Hole Quartet #1) in Austen Variations

Oct 06, 2016 Sheila Majczan rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I read this book shortly after it was first published in 2008 and loved it. It is a modern take off and is a stand alone book although there are to be 3 in the series. Many elements from Pride and Prejudice are there: misunderstandings, Cassie Boulton's poor background and connections. But the heat turns on when she meets Calder Westing III. He has a conniving father who wants his son to follow him into politics and it is not beneath him to use "persuasion" to direct his wife's and his son's liv ...more

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Aug 30, 2013 Ceri rated it really liked it

Shelves: austen-inspired, contemporary, austenesque-different-era

I've read quite a few books by Abigail Reynolds; she's written a number of variations on Pride and Prejudice, changing certain elements and exploring how it could have affected the path of the story. However, this was the first thing I've read by her that is set in modern times and I wasn't quite sure what to expect. This is is modern day version of Pride and Prejudice. Cassie, who is a marine biologist, meets Calder, who is the rich son of a congressman through a friend of hers starting a relat I've read quite a few books by Abigail Reynolds; she's written a number of variations on Pride and Prejudice, changing certain elements and exploring how it could have affected the path of the story. However, this was the first thing I've read by her that is set in modern times and I wasn't quite sure what to expect. This is is modern day version of Pride and Prejudice. Cassie, who is a marine biologist, meets Calder, who is the rich son of a congressman through a friend of hers starting a relationship with a friend of his.

Cassie and Calder's relationship starts off badly when he refuses to dance with her (sound familiar?!) but it's not only that which prejudices her against him. Firstly, she has been badly hurt by a previous relationship breakup, and doesn't really have much trust in men, she has a few secrets that she's been keeping from everybody and she also doesn't think it's within the realms of possibility that somebody from Calder's background would be interested in her for anything other than a quick fling. Calder's father is a Republican senator for whom image is everything, and the senator is also pretty anti-science, so when Calder finds himself interested in Cassie he fights it, knowing that she would be completely unacceptable to his family.

Obviously, since this is a modern update of P&P we know that Calder feels more for Cassie than she realises but the penny doesn't drop for a long time. In P&P, Lizzy feels sorry for Darcy's feelings once she's digested his letter, and she has unwittingly led him to have feelings for her, whereas Cassie has both given active encouragement to Calder and been very cold towards him to preserve her own feelings without any thought for his, so she has more to feel bad about. Plus Calder's version of the letter spells eloquently how much he cared, and how she's basically ripped out his heart and trampled all over it. One thing I think Abigail Reynolds generally does well is the type of pain which has you gripped to your kindle, and you feel bad for both Calder and Cassie. But even when things begin to look hopeful they will have some family obstacles to overcome.

I thought this was an interesting update. A lot of the modern versions of Pride and Prejudice that I've read have very young protagonists but I liked them being a little bit older, and I also thought it was clever that instead of both being misled by vanity, instead they were misled because they both saw themselves as unworthy in some way - Cassie can't see a rich man staying interested and Calder has never felt loved by anybody. I thought him being part of such a ruthless, image-conscious senator's family gave an understandable reason for Calder to fight his attraction to Cassie. I liked the insights into the mechanics of Cassie's work too. On the flipside, I found it frustrating that neither of them would talk to each other about how they felt for so long. There is a lot lacking in Mr Darcy's courtship of Lizzy but at least at Hunsford she knew what she was turning down; at this couple's Hunsford moment it's not at all clear what Calder wants from her. Also, Darcy gets the letter straight to her, Calder's 'letter' is delivered in a much more roundabout fashion and leaves a good deal to chance. It's understandable because he has so much less self-belief than Darcy, but it's still frustrating. It's good that by the end of the book we see these two work through some of their baggage and family issues, particularly Calder.

I enjoyed this book and I'd recommend it. There is another book in this series, 'Morning Light' which I believe is influenced by Jane Austen's 'Persuasion', which I'll try and read soon. ...more

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Sep 14, 2015 Patricia rated it it was amazing

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. reviewer note
*I read this in 2013 and posted a review on my facebook page. I hope to get a chance to re read this again this year.*

This is a good book to read in summer time since it takes place by the beach.

I have read previous books by Abigail Reynolds and could not wait to review this for the Bicentenary challenge. This book had combinations of my favorite things, author, Jane Austen related, and takes place by the sea to name a few. I always feel if I had been better when it came to scien reviewer note
*I read this in 2013 and posted a review on my facebook page. I hope to get a chance to re read this again this year.*

This is a good book to read in summer time since it takes place by the beach.

I have read previous books by Abigail Reynolds and could not wait to review this for the Bicentenary challenge. This book had combinations of my favorite things, author, Jane Austen related, and takes place by the sea to name a few. I always feel if I had been better when it came to sciences and math I would have been a Marine Biologist like Cassie is. This book made me more aware of how a Marine biologist field is like and enjoyed this part tremendously.

SPOILERS (for those who haven't read it)

One of my favorite parts of the book was halfway through when Cassie finds out Calder's new book, Pride and Presumption was released and you read, through her point his novel and the parallels between what happened between them and the characters in his book. You can get a sense of the changes taking shape in the upcoming chapters for the two of them. Another one of my favorite parts was when She finds out his pseudonym and she had talked to the author himself about one of his books without realizing it.

One of the ways I liked how the author modernized Pride and Prejudice was with Calder's father; Joe. In a lot of ways Joe, reminded me of a male version of Lady Catherine de Bourgh how they seem to try to use their wealth and positions in society, at least in Joe, to cause problems for those around them, especially if it is beneath their status in life, ranging from marrying beneath them (both Joe and Lady Catherine de Bourgh) or working outside of the political field. (Joe) He was not accepting to his sons wishes and interests when it came to jobs and marriage and tried to cause hardships for Cassie personally. And Caro, I loved her character. I loved how she became her own person and her character development by the end of the novel. She is someone to admire for overcoming the obstacles she had to overcome when it came to her and Joe.

I had originally got this book through my local library and enjoyed it so much i got a copy for my nook! ( I even got Morning Light to read) :) I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to read a modern adaptation of Pride and Prejudice.
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Sep 10, 2014 Staciel rated it really liked it

Shelves: jane-austen-inspired

A modern variation of P&P.. and there is sex here, so if you don't like that in your variations now you know.

In this story, the Elizabeth Bennet character is a hard-core Democrat, and Mr Darcy comes from a powerful Republican family.. there might have been 1 star awarded for that angle alone! :-)

Otherwise, I enjoyed that this story seemed 'real'-- there were some less than 'suitable' events that happened (just like in real life), and I felt that it was done pretty well. ...more

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