*I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.*

I am a giant Pride and Prejudice fan, so when I saw that this book was inspired by one of my favorite books I was excited! I did go into it knowing that it was not going to be as good as the original, but I was very curious to see how Lozada would translate Regency-era England to modern-day America in the basketball world. It was certainly an intriguing premise. 

First, I did like Hara. I thought she was a fairly good Elizabeth Bennet-esque character without trying to be exactly like her. She was independent and witty, as well as quite a bit prejudiced. I enjoyed that she had a diverse background, being half Japanese American and half African American. Also, the fact that her father was in prison for sports betting was an interesting way to incorporate the original storyline of the family being in financial stress and a little looked-down-upon. Derek Darcy was an interesting character. I could see how she was trying to tie in Mr. Darcy to his character, but I actually found him a little more unlikeable than the original. 

The fact that Hara didn't have any sisters was a little too far from the original for me. We missed out on those close relationships, especially with Jane, and it made Hara feel a little more distant than I was hoping for. 

Now, for the storyline. It was an intriguing premise...but one that I don't feel delivered super well. The beginning gave me high hopes with the setup of Hara meeting Darcy and Charles (who I didn't realize was supposed to be the Wickham character until about halfway through the book, I thought he was supposed to be Bingley...maybe she did this on purpose, but I didn't enjoy it). Once the big storm happened though, I felt like the book went a little off the rails. It felt so out of the blue and out of place. It didn't really help the story along, apart from throwing Hara and Darcy together for the night. I felt like this could have been achieved in a far less clunky way. 

*Lightly Spoiler-y: Beware!*

Then, we start getting this storyline where not only is Hara being threatened, but also Charles and Darcy. This was weird to me, in relation to the original story, but at this point the original story had basically been thrown out of the window. She continued to tie it in with some strategically placed famous lines from the original book, but it just felt a little contrived by the end of the book. 

Overall, I think this is a fun, contemporary romance if you go into it not expecting Pride and Prejudice. I thought the romance was a little rushed, but it was still cute, apart from some of the weird plot choices. If you enjoy sports romances, this is a cute little read, but don't expect anything of the Austen style. 




My Rating:

⭐️⭐️⭐️

I gave The Wrong Mr. Darcy 3 STARS!

The Wrong Mr. Darcy wasn't the book I wanted it to be. Despite the nod to Pride and Prejudice in the title, it is fair to say it is only "lightly inspired" by Austen. There were clever references and twists, and the book did well when it focused on main character Hara Isari's personal growth. But her situation and the plot developments bounced between compelling and outlandish.

The story is driven by Hara's career ambitions and her enemies-to-lovers romance with Derek Darcy. I found the romance engaging, and I was cheering for Hara and Derek to get over their misconceptions of each other even though the circumstances were... implausible. I was also drawn in by Hara's friendship with Naomi. But I was not as invested in the other relationships. Charles felt more like a caricature than a character, and I had a hard time caring about his friendship with Derek. Without naming names (you'll recognize it when you see it), the story's antagonist felt like a moustache-twirling cartoon villain.

I appreciate that this novel took on real issues, most notably blatant sexism in sports reporting, but it felt heavy-handed in its treatment and I wanted more. That sums up my feelings on the book overall: it drew me in, but I wanted more.

Title: The Wrong Mr. Darcy
Author: Evelyn Lozada, Holly Lörincz
Genre: fiction
Rating: 2 out of 5

Hara Isari has big ambitions and they won’t be sidetracked by her mother’s insisting that she settle down soon. She dreams of leaving her small-town newspaper behind, as well as her felon father, and building a career as a sports writer, so when she is chosen to exclusively interview a basketball superstar, she jumps at the chance. It’s time to show the bigwigs what she’s truly made of.
At the same time, she meets a rookie on the rise, Derek Darcy. Darcy is incredibly handsome, obnoxiously proud, and has a major chip on his shoulder. Hara can’t think of a man more arrogant and infuriating. However, fate keeps bringing them together—from locker rooms to elegant parties, to the storm of the century—and what begins as a clash might just be more complicated than Hara anticipated. When she begins to see Darcy in a new light, Hara is not quite sure if she should drop the ball or play the love game.
Comparing this in any way to Pride and Prejudice is a travesty. None of the characters in this book are likable: they are all horrible people. Comparing Derek to Mr. Darcy because he’s awkward around people is ridiculous. Hara is nothing at all like Elizabeth, she knows nothing at about her cultural/family history, and all she cares about is making a name for herself. Everything was so overdone and melodramatic, making this like watching a bad telenovela.
Evelyn Lozada is a TV personality. The Wrong Mr. Darcy is her new novel.
(Galley courtesy of St. Martin’s Griffin in exchange for an honest review.)

To say the least, the story was interesting. However, I feel like the romance was quite infatuated. The whole attraction between Derek and Hara seemed to be only based on their physical appearances. But romance was the only issue. Everything else was quite intriguing. There was a major plot twist at the end, where Charles ends up backstabbing his best friend? Also, the whole scandal of "throwing games" and colleges paying families to send their athletic kids to their schools represents the university scandals that are happening today in the world. That real-life connection itself makes it a strong story to read today.

The premise of this book was fun; however it was really hard to read. I stopped a few chapters in for a few days and told myself to go back to it. The writing and enjoyability did not change. As a chick lit romance, it would have been tolerable to finish, though nothing great. But knowing it was to be a modern Pride and Prejudice made it that much harder to get through. I liked Hara as a sports reporter, however she was clueless about sports. Possibly needed another role for the female lead? Tolerable but not great.

The Wrong Mr Darcy was an ok read for me. It had a lot of drama but an interesting storyline. I really wasn't a fan of Hara for most of the book but I did like Derek. I would have liked to see more of Hara and Derek together though.

A thrilling modern adaptation of Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" with just the right balance between following the journey of the original story and throwing in some new twists. Hara Isari is a young sports writer trying to advance her career while battling sexism, racism and prejudices, and her one-track minded mother - but finally she gets her big break. She lands an exclusive interview with one of the biggest stars in basketball, but along with the chance of a lifetime come some run ins with the arrogant, stand-offish Derek Darcy. Unlike Austen's version however, the perspective shifts between Hara and Darcy, so we are able to see more into his side of the story even before Hara does. But there seems to be more going on than what is on the surface, and questions about who to trust, family, and respect come to the foreground. Both Hara and Darcy have to accept aspects of their past and work hard for what they want.

Mixing the original's romance, wit and charm with more modern conventions and issues, this story is fresh and exciting while also feeling like you're reconnecting with an old friend. Like Elizabeth, Hara is smart, witty charming and making her place in the world. And this Darcy is such a perfect depiction of what Austen's Darcy would be like in this century. Fun, empowering, romantic, and funny - definitely recommend!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are all my own.

THE WRONG MR. DARCY – Evelyn Lozada, with Holly Lorincz
St. Martin’s Griffin
ISBN: 9781250622143
August 25, 2020
Romantic Comedy

Boston – Present Day

Hara Isari is a reporter for a small newspaper in Oregon, but her goal is to be a sportswriter at a bigtime newspaper. She enters a contest to for a chance to interview pro-basketball superstar Charles Butler, a player who is normally media shy. She hopes to use the published interview to be noticed by major publications. Hara flies to Boston to attend a game, and then afterward, she will have an opportunity to be alone with Charles to interview him. One of the first players she encounters is Derek Darcy, who is not only teammates with Charles but also his best friend. Derek isn’t friendly at all with Hara, which annoys her. Why should she care?

Derek recently learned something about Charles that would be a huge scandal if it comes out. He is afraid that Hara is looking for something juicier than a simple interview with his best friend, so he tries to warn her off. However, one thing after another has Hara digging her heels in. Derek and Hara continue to do battle, which takes their love-hate relationship to another level. Will she find out what is going on, or will the truth continue to be hidden? Or, is there something else going on that neither is aware of?

THE WRONG MR. DARCY is more of a dramedy than straight comedy because there are underlying elements of danger that lurks in the background. Hara didn’t go to Boston to be an investigative reporter; her plan was to complete the interview with Charles and hope it goes viral enough to capture the attention of editors. But after accidentally overhearing a conversation that really isn’t what she thinks it is, she is soon on a mission to find out what is going on. Derek only wants to protect his friend, yet he may not have much of an option because the owner of the team is putting additional pressure on him in other ways. What is going on?

Readers get an inside look at the sport of basketball and sports journalism in THE WRONG MR. DARCY. Hara has a complicated relationship with her parents: her father is in prison and her mother wants her to forget journalism and marry a rich man. Her mother thinks hanging out with the rich in Boston is just the way to do it. Hara has her own goals—and marriage is not one of them. As she delves into trying to find out what is going on, danger lurks on the horizon. Hara becomes friends with a woman who is in love with Charles, and after a historic Nor’easter hits Boston and delays her flight out, it is her new friend that offers her a place to stay. Things then really begin to spiral out of her control and this tale takes off.

If you love a good sports romance that is part comedy and part drama, then don’t miss THE WRONG MR. DARCY.

Patti Fischer
Romance Reviews Today
http://romrevtoday.com/

Okay so I've definitely learned my lesson about picking books based only on their title. I requested this one because of the Mr. Darcy connection but I really should've read reviews before I snagged this one. Because they're all very, very true. Pride & Prejudice, this book is not. And, well, good it is not either.

I have a lot of problems with this book but if you select basically any other Goodreads review about it, it will cover most of this. The story is completely implausible. It's very clunky and doesn't flow and just goes from one idiotic scenario to the next.

The characters aren't particularly well developed and none of them are likable. The male dialogue sounds like it was written by someone who has neither met nor ever interacted with a human male before. But, then again, a lot of this book had really cringey writing. And the author really should've googled some of the big words before using them because they were used incorrectly.

So I don't know. I didn't enjoy this book. For a romcom, it wasn't funny. It actually had a lot of really heavy material that wasn't even handled well??? And the romance? I honestly didn't care if those characters got together or not. I didn't really care about anyone in this book. I just wanted to be finished and was really glad it was short.

Also probably do some research about an ethnicity other than your own if you're planning to writing about it. Because this whole book read like one big ole stereotype. I think this whole book could've done with a lot of research. And editing. And a thesaurus.

So. I'm just glad to be done and that I can mark this as read and move on to other things. Because this definitely took me a lot longer to read than it should've and I also fell asleep a few times while reading. If you're looking for something that's similar to Pride & Prejudice, the only thing you'll find here (aside from a few names) are the quotes at the beginning of each chapter. If that's what you're after, do yourself a favor and go read Pride & Prejudice instead.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for allowing me to read this in exchange for an honest review.

I am obsessed with anything and everything Pride and Prejudice - I always jump at the opportunity to read a reimagining or adaptation. Naturally, I was very excited when the folks over at St. Martin's Griffin reached out to me about The Wrong Mr. Darcy. The book was described to be a romantic comedy inspired by Pride and Prejudice about a sports reporter and a cocky professional basketball player. Unfortunately, The Wrong Mr. Darcy didn't just fall short of being a good Pride and Prejudice inspired book, it failed at being a decent book at all.

The worst part of The Wrong Mr. Darcy was the writing itself - it lacked entirely in quality. This poor quality took me by surprise - this book was written by a reality star, but it also had a ghost writer attached to presumably tune up the book as necessary. The writing was rough - it lacked flow and seemed to veer on tangents frequently. It also reads more like a first (very rough) draft than a final copy. Also, it's worth noting that the authors frequently tossed large words into the mix for no apparent reason - they were sometimes misused and often felt like the authors were abusing their thesauruses. It was a classic case of purple prose. 

The plot was a rambling, directionless mess that didn't even make sense at times. Why would an NBA team choose a reporter from a tiny town’s newspaper to do a puff piece on one of hottest basketball players? Surely, they would want a puff piece to be widely read (and therefore in a major paper)? And why did the main character aspire to be a sportswriter when she seemingly knew very little about sports? Instead of answering these questions, the authors just kept adding more and more elements to the plot. As other reviewers have noted, there was simply too much going on at once – which meant that none of the individual plot events got properly explored and resolved. Also, on a semantics level, this book was described as a Pride and Prejudice inspired rom-com. Apart from the names lifted from the classic, this book really was nothing like Pride and Prejudice in terms of plot or characters. It's definitely a stretch to say this was in any way related to P&P.

Hara was a pretty ‘meh’ main character - she was very two dimensional throughout the book. I kept waiting for her to have some sort of growth as a character, but it never came. She was also laughably bad at her job, which really made the book hard to believe and therefore hard to get immersed in. She was definitely no Elizabeth Bennet. Derek, Hara's love interest, also suffered from being very two dimensional - even though part of the book is in his POV, I never felt as though I understood who he was as a character outside of just being a bit of a jerk. Outside of the poor writing quality, the most damning aspect of The Wrong Mr. Darcy was how lifeless the romance between Hara and Derek was. They had very little chemistry together - not great for a rom-com book.

I'm pretty disappointed about how The Wrong Mr. Darcy turned out - the concept sounded great, but the authors entirely failed to deliver a readable book. Between the terrible writing, the casual sexism, and the clunky dialog, I recommend fans of Pride and Prejudice and rom-coms alike steer clear of this one. If you're looking for a fun Pride and Prejudice inspired rom-com, check out Austenland by Shannon Hale. 1/5

Sadly I did not enjoy this book like I originally anticipated. The title drew me in since I am a big Pride and Prejudice fan. The first part was okay but I didn't like the twist in the end of the book. I did finish it but could not in right mind give it over 3 stars. It dragged in the beginning but went to fast in the end. Maybe I will stick to other Pride and Prejudice stories.

Read this as a diverse romance with spots, not as Pride and Prejudice fan fiction. This is one which coulda shoulda been better given the set up. Hara is a sports reporter who doesn't seem to understand sports. Derek is the basketball player she interviews and falls for. I'm not sure how it went wrong (and I'm sure some will enjoy it) but I found it less than satisfying. Another hard read through and edit would have helped. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. A rare pass from me.

I was so excited when I found out that I have this book by Evelyn Lozada and Holly Lorincz. I was too excited to finally get my hands on something good, or so I thought. I love the P&P quotes, and I heard a lot of the P&P, and modern times, are all mixed into this book. I am not going to lie; I was loving it in the beginning and the it flopped.

I was expecting it to be something GREAT! A great romance novel with depth and more details, I most def. hated Derek and Charles and even Hara’s father and mother, even Hara herself I started not to like towards the middle. The book moved really fast, and it was such a confusing book, the characters were off, all of them were off, I don’t like reading a romance novel where I also don’t fall in love with any of the characters.

And don’t get me wrong I love Evelyn, she’s amazing I followed her entire career and I am a huge fan of her, I just feel like this book fell a little short, it moved as fast as a Basketball Wives episode, except for the heavy drama, even though I saw a little bit of Evelyn in the character named Tina.

This was a decent P&P remix, but not my favorite. Too many unrealistic plot points. The women in relationships with the players seemed excessively negative. The romance portrayal btwn Darcy and Hara at the end was quite sweet.

I received an ARC from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I have read many disappointing, and even anger-inducing, books over the years. But in every case, even when I feel like exploding from anger at every mention of it, I could rationalize that it’s just not my thing. However, The Wrong Mr. Darcy is the big exception to the rule.

I, like many people, I imagine, was taken in by the Darcy name-drop and the cover that appeared at least vaguely to suggest it was a P&P retelling about people of color, and given the success of those in the last few years, I was curious to read another take to see what it might add to the Austen fic world.

But even before picking this book up, I was hit in the face with numerous red flags. I picked up and almost just as quickly put down Lozada and Lorincz’s previous St. Martin’s title, The Perfect Date, where the characters were not endearing in the slightest. I tried not to let it deter me from looking at this one with an open mind.

Then, I found out about Lozada’s status as an “influencer” and reality star, and while I don’t think being those things prevents you from being a person of depth or from producing good books, especially with the help of a ghostwriter (I unapologetically enjoyed the Kardashian novel, Dollhouse), it still worried me that, even with help from a professional writer, the final product didn’t turn out well (in the case of book one), and what that could indicate for this book. It also didn’t help that at least one reader friend had also read the book, and found it horribly lacking.

All that to say I really dreaded having to pick up this book, but I tried to keep an open mind regardless of the bad vibes, in hopes that maybe this would surprise me in a good way. And unfortunately, it did not.

One of the things that bothered me almost immediately was the biracial rep, and how little research was done. Hara is half-Black, half-Japanese…with blue eyes. How does that make any sense? That’s like one of the top racist tropes for describing biracial characters! Not to mention her full name, Hara Isari, means “belly fishing” in Japanese, so it’s like her name was picked from a list of “popular Japanese names” or something. And the sad part is that they didn’t even need to do this to write a diverse retelling. I saw a few other reviewers questioning why the protagonist wasn’t Puerto Rican, mirroring Lozada’s background, and I absolutely concur. That would have mitigated at least one issue many seem to have with this book.

And the story overall just feels so vapid and shallow, lacking the soul of what made Austen’s original story and some of the more successful retellings work. I didn’t feel anything for the characters, least of all Hara, a sports writer who doesn’t even care about sports.

And while pitched as a rom-com, there was this weird attempt to inject serious topics, like miscarriage and abortion, into the narrative, but doing so in the most disrespectful way.

So, definitely avoid this book. It’s racist and problematic in other ways and has nothing resembling Austen in it, other than the quotes at the beginning of each chapter and a few character names sprinkled in. As I noted prior, there are other P&P retellings by BIPOC that are much more worth your time.

Hará is a strong female character. She has a lot going on in her life but is determined to succeed despite the odds against her. Working in a male dominated field is just one of those things. She is also very beautiful. Derek is from a moneyed family but wants to do things on his terms. The story is a romance with the drama and intrigue of the underlying issues that bring these two people together. They have to untangle the mess of the good guys from the bad and uncover the schemes to see what is the truth to discover their love.

Although we are expecting a Jane Austen tie in, the signs of that faded after a few chapters of this angsty, high-glitz NBA basketball wives and girlfriends story.

Hara Isari is an aspiring kick-ass sports journalist with a troubled past. Derek Darcy is a rookie NBA player in Boston with a troubled family. I liked these characters a lot, and stuck with them right up to the denouement, when, with a whole lot of telling, and not showing, the authors tied up all of the loose ends in a happy package with a moral worthy of Aesop’s fables.


I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I tried, I really did, but this was just offensively bad. As in, both main characters have some pretty offensive thoughts and the writing is kinda terrible. I finish my ARCs 99% of the time, but it was obvious that this was going downhill fast. Rather than wasting a day finishing and writing a (very) negative review, I chose to DNF and will not be posting about it.

I really wanted to like this book. Pride and Prejudice is one of my all time favorite books, so I looked forward to a story with a modern twist on it. I figured the pitch meeting for this book was “Imagine crossing Pride and Prejudice with Basketball Wives and throw in some bad soap opera twists. That’s a best seller!” Bottom line, I didn’t feel much for the main characters, and the plot line was contrived. I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley for my honest review.

Thank you St Martins Press and NetGalley for this gifted copy. All opinions are my own.

Unfortunately I had to DNF this around 30% due to language issues. I am okay with a messy plot or writing but I have a hard time supporting a book with such careless phrases. I don't know if the authors are trying to be funny but if so, it severely missed the mark. Here is one example - "He told himself she was probably bulimic. Or bitchy." It's hard to continue reading and support a character that can utter a phrase like that.