Pulse and Prejudice – Colette Saucier

October 30, 2012 • Reviews • 8 Comments

Mr. Darcy Vants to Drink Your Blood!

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Source: Review Copy from Author

We all know that Mr. Darcy is fastidious, aloof, and private, but according to Colette Saucier, he has every reason to exhibit these traits. In Pulse and Prejudice, Mr. Darcy is…a vampire. That’s right, he is no longer human – he is immortal and cursed! Mr. Darcy needs to be fastidious because with his blood cravings, extremely cold skin, and abhorrence of human food – Darcy fears others may become suspicious of his unusual habits. Mr. Darcy has to remain aloof because he firmly believes that, due to his condition, marriage, family, love are no longer in his future. Mr. Darcy must guard his privacy because his secret nature, if discovered, would ruin his reputation and his sister’s future…

In Colette Saucier’s vampiric retelling of Pride and Prejudice, readers are able to witness how much stronger Darcy’s attraction to Elizabeth is and how much harder he tries to resist her…

While this isn’t the first vampire Darcy to appear on the scene (Mr. Darcy, Vampyre by Amanda Grange, Vampire Darcy’s Desires by Regina Jeffers, Blood and Prejudice by Susan Krinard in Bespelling Jane Austen), it is one written almost entirely from Mr. Darcy’s perspective. So here’s your chance to get into vampire Darcy’s head!

My favorite scenes in this novel were when Darcy’s vampirism took over. His unguarded moments, filled with longing, battling for control…

“Overcome by craving, he moved behind her, holding her against his chest. He tightened his arms around her, their faces touching cheek to cheek…he need only untie her bonnet to reveal her throat and take that for which he hungered. He loosened the ribbon to expose her pulse and held his open mouth against it, allowing his tongue to lathe along the beating flush. His body trembled with desire. He sucked gently and pressed his teeth into her neck without breaking the skin…”

*swoon* Doesn’t that just make you melt?

In addition, I found Ms. Saucier’s new characters Comtesse de Calmet, Lord Calmet, and Amadeus to be very intriguing and invigorating additions! I enjoyed seeing Darcy get jealous of another man paying attention to Elizabeth and I like how the Comtesse was looking out for Darcy and expressing her concerns. I feel like that there might be more to her than we were told…I’m not sure though, since her story ended without any other clues…Perhaps she will make an appearance in the next book?

My one main quibble for this novel is that I sometimes felt the vampire aspect too tame. I don’t think it needed more blood and gore, I’m not a fan of graphic violence. It’s just that Darcy’s vampirism was just a little too well-controlled for my taste. He is a relatively “new” vampire, and yet he already seems resigned and used to his affliction. He was a very human vampire, I think I would have enjoyed the story more if we got to see a little bit more of the out-of-control, dangerous, and mysterious sort. In addition, I felt the history about Darcy becoming a vampire a little too thin and lacking in detail. I was very interested in learning more about the circumstances regarding Darcy becoming a vampire.

Thoughtfully blended and reverently portrayed – Pulse and Prejudice is a paranormal retelling that, first and foremost, remains true to Jane Austen’s novel. It will make your pulse race a little, but not give you fainting fits! While this Darcy isn’t as intoxicating and daring as Damon Salvatore– he nonetheless makes a very yummy vampire!

Note: Because there are two brief intimate love scenes within the last thirty pages, I’d recommend this novel for Mature Audiences.   

**Is it just me, or would Ian Somerhalder make an excellent Darcy? 😉

~~~

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8 comments

  2. I swear I’m gonna read this soon. Every time I try to sit down and dig into it, something interrupts me. Maybe when the sequel is published it will shed some light on what you felt was vague.

    One can never have too many photos of Ian Somerhalder, so thanks for that! As much as I love Damon, I don’t think I could envision Darcy’s character behaving like him. It is fun to think about, though, as well as Ian in Regency get-up. Yes please!

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    1. LOL! I know how that can be, Monica! Glad you enjoyed the photo of Mr. Somerhalder! To me, he looks very Darcy-like in that photo. Oh no, I wouldn’t want Darcy to act like Damon – that wouldn’t be right, but I would have liked to see him act more like a vampire than he did.

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  3. This one is on my TBR-list, but the PO Dixon books I won here have just arrived, so now it’s even harder to choose which one will be read first! Thanks again, the books arrived safely and in 9 days after you posted them, so that’s neat, I think, considering they had to cross a lot of miles to get to the Netherlands!

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  5. Ok, so I finally read it and I really liked it. At first I did kind of laugh at Darcy’s unvampirelike way of getting food, but then I figured it fit with his wealthy gentleman lifestyle – why exert himself? Lol I didn’t feel like there may be more to Lady Calmet (not that I would be disappointed if there was), but I did feel that way about Rivens. I loved the “new” Darcy at the end and can’t wait for the sequel. It’s like there was two Darcys, the same with canon P&P.

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  6. Ok, so rivens is a vampire (lord ruthven) and hence a valuable font of wisdom for FD :).
    I’m guessing the count de calmet was a vampire too, but since he was guillotined he is now officially dead rather than undead. Perhaps then the countess de calmet is lizzi’s counterpart?? I’m thinking there is a backstory here…

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