Friday 17 February 2012

Persuade Me by Juliet Archer


  • Paperback: 368 pages
  • Publisher: Choc Lit (15 Sep 2011)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1906931216
  • ISBN-13: 978-1906931216
The second in Juliet Archer's Darcy & Friends series. When do you let your heart rule your head? As far as men are concerned, Anna Elliot is stuck in the past. No one can compare to Rick Wentworth, the man she was persuaded to give up ten years ago. Meanwhile, Rick's moved on - and up. He's got a successful career and a carefully controlled love life where his heart doesn't get a look in. The words 'forgive and forget' aren't in Rick's vocabulary. The word 'regret' is definitely in Anna's. When they meet again, can she persuade him that their lost love is worth a second chance?


Cover: I am a big fan of this cover!  Not only is it a gorgeous shade of purple but the woman on the cover is a perfect Anna- beautiful yet haunted.


4.5/5 stars!  Persuasion is my favourite Austen novel but there are not enough adaptations or re-tellings- there are hundreds of Pride and Prejudice adaptations.  So when I saw this modern Persuasion I pounced.  
I have to be honest- I wasn't totally convinced a modernisation of Persuasion could work and just bought it because it was Persuasion related (sad but true) but I'm so glad that I did because Juliet Archer has successfully updated it to contemporary chick-lit (which I have to say I am really fussy with-not a HUGE chick-lit reader).  
This is book 2 in Archer's Darcy and friends series but Persuade Me works perfectly fine by itself.  I have not read book 1 in the series 'The Importance of Being Emma' but now I definitely want to check it out and soon!  As soon as I can hunt down a copy!
I loved Persuade Me.  Anne and Frederick are both brought up to date wonderfully in Anna and Rick, and I particularly appreciated that the story was told in both Anna and Rick's perspective.  I really felt both characters anguish and Rick's mixed emotions.  And Anna's family are just as infuriating as they should be- I wanted to reach through the pages and give Walter, Lisa and Mona (genius name for that character by the way) a good seeing to!!!
I would definitely recommend this book (in fact I already have to a friend).  Of course not all Austen fans love adaptations- BUT if you do you can't miss out on this one.
You don't have to be be an Austen fan to enjoy this either as it stands as a chick lit novel in its own right but you may get more out of the book if you know Austen's original.

3 comments:

  1. That is such a gorgeous cover! Wow, you've been reading a lot! Julie Kagawa's whole series is awesome. Make sure you get the two in between stories as well Winter's Passage and Summer's Passage. (I think)

    Have fun reading! Oh, I'm commenting on your IMM Vlog!

    Heather

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  2. Thank you for this wonderful review, Erin!
    Juliet

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    Replies
    1. Thank you for writing such an amazing modernization of Persuasion! I haven't gotten around to getting The Importance of Being Emma yet, but I hope to soon :)
      -Erin

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