First Impression - Debra White Smith (The Jane Austen Series)

Small town lawyer, Eddi Boswick calls London, Texas home. She needs to get to know the people a little better so auditions for the local theater group's production of Pride and Prejudice. Super excited to land the role of Elizabeth Bennet, the exuberance ebbs quickly when she meets the arrogant rancher who is to play the Darcy.

Dave Davidson moved to London, Texas to live a quiet and peaceful life – away from a previous life that he was reluctant for people to know of. His aunt, Madelynne DeBloom, runs the local theater and he attended a meeting to appease her. He’s not particularly happy about getting the part of Mr. Darcy. Especially when he has to spend the summer with Eddi, who ‘clearly despises him’. He knows why. She overheard him talking to his good friend Calvin Barclay. Overheard him when he said that he thought Eddie short and prissy.

Making assumptions about her without knowing her, riled Eddi. However, she would be professional and she wouldn’t let the infuriating comments interfere with her performance and/or the rehearsals.
Each time the two meet though, ‘sparks fly’. They both deny an attraction to each other, so spending so much time with each other is difficult. When Dave disappears into a mystery shed type building on his ranch, Eddie’s curiosity gets the better of her.

What she discovers the secret Dave rather no-one knew, it makes Eddie view him in a different light. But then any favorable thoughts are dismissed when Eddie realizes that he discouraged his friend Calvin from dating her sister Jenny. To compound the dislike, her younger sister Linda heads off on an ill-advised trip with the cad Rick Wallace. Coupled with the news of Linda being pregnant, Eddi berates herself for not listening to the warning from Dave.

Overall it was a nice read. However, I just felt that I was constantly comparing it to the Austen classic. For example, how was the author going to portray Mr. Collins (Connor Boswick). Although a good contemporary version, it seemed to be trying too hard to fit all the pertinent components of the original book. As the books falls under the ‘Christian Fiction’ category, I could understand Linda’s escapades (I won’t divulge further) as sinful, but living in 2018, how many people would be shocked to find she’s sleeps with men out of wedlock? Regardless, it was a good re-telling just didn’t quite hit the mark for me.

I received a complimentary copy of this book to review from Bethany House Publishers as part of their Blogger Review Program. The opinions expressed are my own and I am not required to give a positive critique.