In Lady Bridget’s Diary by Maya Rodale, American heiress Bridget Cavendish and the infuriatingly irresistible Lord Darcy clash, kiss, and ultimately fall in love in this witty Pride and Prejudice meets Bridget Jones’s Diary romp. You’ll be charmed and laughing all the way!

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Bridget Cavendish never expected to be Lady Bridget Cavendish, but after her brother inherits a Dukedom, that’s exactly who she becomes. Only…she doesn’t quite know how Lady Bridget Cavendish ought to behave, she always seems to be getting it all wrong. And Lord Darcy always seems to be their to witness it. Lord Darcy, the perfect English gentleman, with impeccable manners and a superior attitude that never fails to leave Bridget angry, unsure…and ever since she saw him emerge wet from that lake, she may have accidentally tumbled him in to, he also leaves her feeling hot and bothered in an entirely different way.

How could I resist a book based on Pride and Prejudice and Bridge Jones Diary? I couldn’t, and thank goodness for that.  Retellings are always popular and although I don’t go out my way to find them I think, if done well, they can add something to a story. I enjoyed both Pride and Prejudice and Bridget Jones Diary and I loved it when I saw the parallels in this book, I am more familiar with P&P so I saw the most similarities there, including a very insulting marriage proposal, a few choice lines and of course Darcy. I also enjoyed Maya Rodale’s rendition of the “Lake” scene; seeing Darcy emerge gloriously wet is always a treat.

As you can imagine from the title, this is a fairly light-hearted and funny romance, readers who like Julia Quinn’s style (such as myself!) will also enjoy Lady Bridget’s Diary as they have a similar type of humour. Rodale’s characters were also very likable, Bridget has three other siblings, her two sister of which she is the middle child and their older brother, the new duke. I hope all of the Cavendish’s get their own book, as each one from what we saw of them have their own quirks and that would seem to make an interesting read. As for Bridget, her unsuccessful attempts at trying to fit into the ton although  amusing, make her seem very relateable, and I very much liked her.

Then we come to Darcy, it was a brave move using not only the “Darcy Template” as a hero but his name as well, he is such a beloved and well known romantic hero from literature that their will inevitably be high expectations. Now, I did enjoy Lord Darcy in this book, I do like an arrogant stuffy hero, which I think stems from my love of Mr Darcy ironically enough; however, he wasn’t THE Darcy of my imagination, so I didn’t really fall in love with him. Would it have made a difference if she didn’t use the Darcy name, thus putting him up for comparison? Maybe.

Lady Bridget’s Diary was a great read, funny, romantic and packed full of characters that I can’t wait to read more about, the next book in this series is one I am highly anticipating and will be pouncing on as soon as I can.

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