Customer Rating:  
Summary: Dating Mr. Darcy: Captain Obvious
Comment: This was a really great book. The author had a lot to say, but I must say that it was a bit close-minded. She also repeated many obvious things that I already knew about, so... Really, half the book was a waste of money.
She did, though, make a very good parallel of Pride and Prejudice and the way you should date a man.
This book should be for Jr. Highers, not High School girls like me.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Dating Mr. Darcy is a Christian Book
Comment: I think that anyone reading these reviews shouldn't be set off by some of the lower ratings. It's understandable if you don't like her writing style, but not liking the book because it talks about faith is just silly. She wrote it to be a dating guide for christian teenage girls. That is her target audience (though others can still get something from it), and the idea that the way she presents it is silly and childish, is just ridiculous.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Couldn't get through it
Comment: My mom gave me this book and asked me to read it and give her my opinion of it. Next time I spoke to her I had to tell her, "I'm sorry, I just couldn't get through it." I slogged through the first chapter, but I grew increasingly fed up with Arthur's vapid writing style (to me, the book reads like the diary of a thirteen-year-old girl, and not a particularly clever thirteen-year-old girl at that). I also couldn't stomach her constant use of the editorial "we" in a decidedly non-scholarly work. She constantly talks about how "we feel" or what "we think" about Austen's characters, attempting to stamp me, the reader, with her own attitudes and beliefs in a way I found insulting. I wanted to shout, "Don't tell me what I think! Talk about what *you* think, if you think anyone cares, but don't insist that I follow sheeplike in your path and subordinate my own ideas to yours!" The final straw was her moralistic attitude. While it's only natural for the author's religious beliefs to inform her attitudes toward dating and relationships, I found her constant references to God and faith and moral character and God's plan for humanity to be oppressive. I might have been able to tolerate either the giggly schoolgirl style or the sententious moralism by itself, but the combination defeated me. If you're looking for a book that analyzes romantic relationships in the light of Jane Austen's novels, try _Jane Austen's Guide to Dating_ instead; it's not perfect by any means, but it's a much more enjoyable read than this one.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Fantastic!
Comment: What a shame that the last reviewer couldn't acknoweldge the gifted and creative writing style of Sarah Arthur. She is one of my all-time favorite writers and I wish this book had been around when I was a teen! There just aren't enough books out there that teach girls how to look honestly at themselves and that dashing "mr. right" that keeps them from seeing straight! Sarah is a master at reaching into the heart of literature and enlightening readers who love books and who seek to apply those lessons learned in their own lives. I cannot wait for the next book!!!
Customer Rating:
Summary: disappointed
Comment: I read this book expecting a combination literary analysis and "how to date" book, explaining the virtues and flaws of the characters in "Pride and Prejudice" and how they relate to our times. It was that, in part, but I found myself increasingly annoyed at her giggle-with-me style of writing, and downright furious by her assumption that anyone who admires or resembles Lizzie or Darcy is, of course, a good Christian. Some of us consider ourselves to be kind and decent people and aren't Christian at all. In the end,I found it beyond disappointing; I found it insulting.
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