Books & Audiobooks
Every year when September rolls around and the kids head back to school, I find my reading taste switching away from light beach reads to weightier literature. This year though, as the last day of summer approaches (September 21st), I found I was not quite ready to go there yet. I needed one last fun, romantic read, and it came in the form of Most Ardently Yours by Freya Sampson. This is a rom-com novel with its heart set on Pride and Prejudice.
Of course, there have been many takes and homages to the famous Jane Austen novel…Bridget Jones’s Diary, Austenland, The Other Bennet Sister, even Pride and Prejudice and Zombies… just to name a few. While exploring many of your favourite Austen characters, Sampson’s take is to ask what would happen if you could magically read Mr. Darcy out of the novel? Could a “book boyfriend” really come to life? What does early 1800s Mr. Darcy look like living in 2026 London? All such fun ideas to explore in the capable hands of Sampson, author of other charming book inspired tales including The Last Chance Library and The Busybody Book Club.
In Most Ardently Yours, we are introduced to Zoe Knight, a failed writer lacking in love and self-confidence and Nick Baskerville, an angry, feisty bookseller of “dick lit” – manly stories of macho male characters. A battle of wills about the validity of the romance genre ends with Zoe reading Mr. Darcy out of an old copy of Pride and Prejudice. She must then figure out what to do with him. Should she try and get him back into the book, or could she keep her longtime book love for herself?
Filled with romantic tropes like an enemy to lovers narrative, a Bridgerton-style bedroom scene, and of course, a climactic moment in the rain, this is a romance fan’s dream. There are Easter eggs aplenty, as Sampson references romance authors, books and characters throughout the story. This is the type of book for which I would suggest that you don’t think too deeply or try too hard to connect all the dots as the holes in the story will become apparent. Instead, just go along for the ride, as it’s definitely a delicious read for lovers of love.