What If Mr. Darcy Was a Powerful Vampyre Who Could Sense Your Feelings?
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Source: Review Copy from Publisher
TYPE OF NOVEL: Pride and Prejudice Variation, Paranormal
TIME FRAME: (Outside of Canon) Begins with the Meryton Assembly which takes place a few years later
SYNOPSIS: Fitzwilliam Darcy is a couple centuries old and Master of a great House of vampyres. For years he has been in pursuit of his half-brother, George Wickham, who is guilty of countless nefarious sins including murder. But while hunting for this vicious vampyre in the village of Hertfordshire, Mr. Darcy comes across Elizabeth Bennet and is stunned. He is inordinately attracted to everything about her, yet she remains immune to his powers. Even though he is in need of a wife and an heir, Darcy denies his feelings for Elizabeth Bennet – his true nature and the world he lives in would be too much for her to understand and accept. But then a dangerous threat to Elizabeth is made and Mr. Darcy is forced to act…
WHAT I LOVED:
- This Vampyre World: The vampyre world Julie Cooper creates is exhilarating and accessible. She creates and reveals abilities, history, and established rules seamlessly and timely. The reader can quickly understand what type of vampyre Mr. Darcy is, what are his strengths and limitations, and his position as master of Darcy House. I really enjoyed stepping into this vampyre world Ms. Cooper crafted – I found it intriguing and riveting. I appreciated that it was complex enough and didn’t deviate feel forced for this time period and characters.
- Dripping with Danger and Drama: Oh my! Poor Mr. Darcy gets very few moments of peace in this story! Between battling dangerous vampyres and working through the continuous challenges of his relationship with Elizabeth, Mr. Darcy is in constant turmoil and hardship. With this steady pace of action, new developments, and unexpected conflicts Julie Cooper establishes a most gripping and consuming plot. I thoroughly enjoyed the high level of tension and copious amounts of threatening situations these characters faced – most of which felt natural and not needlessly manufactured.
- Villainy Abounds: Oooh! The villains in this story are numerous and have many devious schemes agains the Darcy House! And while these characters are familiar and typically in the role of antagonist, their new abilities and more extreme machinations made for a more compelling and suspenseful story. Since there were multiple villains and more than one double cross, I was in heightened anticipation to see which villain would come out ahead and what would happen when their sinister schemes were revealed.
- Mr. Darcy: I have only read a handful of stories where Mr. Darcy is a vampyre, but this one might be my definitive favorite. I particularly loved seeing this portrayal of Mr. Darcy as a vampyre because of the struggles he faces – both past and present. I thought Julie Cooper gave thoughtful depth to Mr. Darcy’s character as a vampyre. She didn’t just make him need blood to live and was done. She took what was already established in his character – his honor, duty, responsibility, strict regulation, selfish disdain, and arrogance – and applied those traits in fascinating and clever ways with her vampyre Darcy.
- Bonding and the Inner Beast: While it is great that Mr. Darcy is talented, immortal, and powerful, the vampyric traits I most enjoyed witnessing were his vampyre-bonding and the inner beast (which often put me in mind of either The Incredible Hulk or Mr. Hyde). I loved how Ms. Cooper highlighted these prominent and complex elements to Mr. Darcy’s vampyrism and the skillful ways she implemented each in her story.
- Relationship: I loved seeing the relationship between Darcy and Elizabeth develop in this story – without their typical pride, prejudice, and misunderstandings. Instead the importance of trust and openness are explored. And I really enjoyed the important lessons both Darcy and Elizabeth learn about what it means to place your full trust in someone, and how the best relationships are those where each person is completely open with the other.
WHAT I WASN’T TOO FOND OF:
- Maybe the only thing I could ask for was perhaps just a little bit more time with the ending and conclusion.
NOTE: This story does have some violence, blood-taking, and blood-shed.
CONCLUSION:
Tempt Me is a mesmerizing paranormal Pride and Prejudice variation brimming with enigmatic vampyres, threatening peril, compelling challenges, and a bewitching romance! I exceedingly loved the tempting Regency vampyre world Julie Cooper brilliantly crafted in this story and the epic drama she created with these characters! I highly recommend!
Oh! This sounds like a thoroughly entertaining read, Meredith! Thanks so much for you review. Off to add to my Amazon wish list.
I’m so excited that you are considering!
It is entertaining and enthralling! I hope you love it, Lori!
What a great review Meredith! I have this book on my list already.
I do agree with you in that my favourite books usually have plenty of ‘happy ever after’ time at the end. I’m not as fond of books that finally get to togetherness for ODC then end!
However this book doesn’t seem to consist of Darcy and Elizabeth misunderstanding each other until the last moment so that’s ok with me!
You are very correct Glynis! D&E get together early in this book and don’t spend the whole time in misunderstandings. It is more like the challenges of a two people from entirely different cultures, struggling to understand each other and cope with their new realities. But all from a foundation of love and commitment. And, ok, fangs.
Thank you, Glynis! SO lovely of you to say!
Actually…you will love the amount of HEA in this story…and that is all I will say about that!
This one sounds so good. It’s on my TBR! Great review, as always, Meredith!
Meredith is so awesome, isn’t she? I’m so pleased to be on your TBR list!
Thank you!! I thought it was excellent and I hope you do too!
I have read and thoroughly enjoyed this story.
Thank you for reading, Sheila!
So glad to hear that, Sheila!
I read this book as soon as it was released and then quickly read it again. I highly recommend it, but don’t start it late at night if you want to get a good night’s sleep! The action starts to really kick in early in the story and keeps building from there right until the end. And what an ending! Yowza!
You are a speedy reader, my friend…I know there’s over 152,000 words in there! I’m so happy you enjoyed.
Oh so true, Jan! I played the “one more chapter” game many times with this book! So glad to hear you loved it as much as I did!
Not a fan of the paranormal but having loved Julie Cooper’s Perfect Gentleman, I have been torn about getting this book.
In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will no longer be repressed. After reading your review, resistance is clearly futile. Tempt me (as the title says) no longer; I’m buying.
Bahahaha! I tried to limit the “world building” nature of a lot of paranormals and take care to keep this story planted firmly in the Regency era. I totally understand and appreciate your concern and hope you see a whole lot of what we love most in P&P within it if you give it a try!
LOL! I love this comment, Beatrice! I don’t think you will regret it…please let me know how you make out!
I absolutely love this book & would adore a sequel. However at some points it got so intense that I had to put it aside for an hour before I could face all that danger again.
Great review, Meredith! I have always held off reading vampyre novels but this one intrigued me, along with the amazing cover, that I bought it. I hope to be reading it in the near future…maybe after Halloween!
Oh I hope you do enjoy it Carole! Thank you for your support!
Thank you, my friend! So glad you went for this one…and I think you will be really glad too! Like you, I am not particularly drawn to vampire stories…but I love Julie’s writing so it was a no-brainer! Happy reading!!
Great review, Meredith! I have seen 5 star rating all over. This book is on my TRP. I recently watched a video of Julie Cooper reading excerpts from her book. It was great.
Very kind of you to watch the video! My dog was jumping up on me while I was trying to read (I did 3 of those videos with 3 different excerpts) and was determined to have his share of the conversation. By the third one, he was in my lap. I don’t think professional narrators have these problems. I do hope you enjoy the book!
Thank you, Shelley! I am so happy to hear that others are giving praise and high ratings for this book! It is all very well-deserved!
this book may get me to read vampire books again.
denise
I hope you’ll take a chance Denise!
Do it! lol 😉
In all serious, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!
Thank you Meredith for not only reading, but for understanding. You have the most wonderful way of seeing, and helping others see, assisting us in finding good stories to indulge our unique JA obsession. I so appreciate your kind review and the time you took to read!
Thank YOU, Julie for your incredibly kind words about my review! I am so appreciative of YOU for writing such remarkable and entertaining stories and for sharing them with us all!! It brings us all such happiness!
This book was excellent. Lots of depth to the world. Definitely one where sequels could follow. In my top 5 easily of c175 variations. I did feel a slight disappointment at a fairly quick ending but more so that it ended at all. Outstanding
I appreciate this encouragement so much Kathryn! I’m working on getting an epilogue up on AHA. Thank you again.
I agree with you about possible sequels, Kathryn! Wouldn’t that be fantastic?! It is the kind of story world you want to return to again and again!