Undressing Mr. Darcy

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?

Fast reading and funny situations. The writer lets you "be the driver" so you kind of guess what is going on, but you still want to read it anyhow to find out. I'm from Chicago and the first half of the book is in Chicago so it is fun reading about the different places the characters go to. Only thing I didn't like was the graphic sexual scenes which spoilt it for me. I prefer just romance. I understand that would draw some people to the book. It is a different kind of book to the writer's first book "Definitely Not Mr. Darcy," which I have read twice and loved it. However, I think it is interesting.

I would give this 3.5 stars. One reason is because Vanessa seemed to go from hating Austen (because of an issue with her parents) and then overnight being a major Austen lover, it did not seem like it was a smooth change. And there were some sex scenes in it that did not add to the story at all, and to end with one was poor taste in my opinion. It is not a bad book but not one that I will read again and it makes me skeptical about reading any future books which is sad because I loved her "Definitely Not Mr. Darcy" book.

I actually skipped the middle. Horrible story line. I was so excited after reading some of the reviews and hello! Anything to do with Me Darcy-swoon. I did like that they plugged Colin Firth as Mr Darcy! He's the best. This book 👎

I thoroughly enjoyed Karen's latest novel. It had twists and turns and kept me guessing until the last. My favourite parts were the descriptions of Bath, because they made me reminisce about my visit there and also made me take note of many things I want to do when I go back. Love the last paragraph too!

The title says a lot about the goings-on in this delicious ramble which centers itself on a Jane Austen Society Annual General meeting in Chicago. Just to clarify matters, there actually exists such a presentation as described - but I will say no more - it's too much fun to read about it.

I must say I enjoyed doornebos's first novel better, however this was a fun read. Historical information was a great addition. Surprising snippets kept the story line interesting. Excited to see what doornebos has for us next...

Enjoyed the first book and this sequel. fun, quick, summer read - but long enough not to be too quick. I enjoy reading 'fluff' like this for fun in between my more 'serious' books...

I'm not really sure how I feel about this one... I'd like to give it a 3.5.It was a little over-the-top for my tastes (like who gets together with someone and then in the same day proposes? Might be romantic to some but it's more fool-hardy than romantic to me!), and the sex scene was a little cringe-worthy! While the premise (and the movie) are quite cute, and some of the characters (e.g. Grant!) are great add-ins, it wasn't my favourite variation (also wasn't the worst I've read).

I found this really long and it switched gears so fast at the end I couldn't realistically accept the switch. It was well written but I skipped a lot of filler to finally get to the end where I rolled my eyes.