4 out of 5 stars

This was a quick , fun read right before Christmas is officially here. I love everything by Melissa de la Cruz and I really enjoyed this book as well. Plus any retelling of one of my favorite classics is always a bonus.

Darcy is a 29 year old multimillionaire living by herself in New York when she gets the call she never wanted to receive, her mom is in the hospital after having a heart attack. Darcy hasn’t been back to her hometown in Ohio for 8 years but knows she has no choice. When her parents throw their annual Christmas party Darcy reconnects with a high school friend Luke Bennett and after too many glasses of eggnog finds herself under a mistletoe with him. She has no time or want for love and even though she couldn’t stand him in high school, they end up kissing. Trying to forget about her one, or two, moments of weakness Darcy returns to New York after breaking off an engagement with the guy she’s been dating on and off for years. But yet she finds herself constantly thinking about Luke and what could happen.

This was a very sweet, cute story but I didn’t care for the character Darcy much. She’s almost 30 years old but at times in the book I felt like I was reading about an 18 year old character, she had that level of immaturity. She’s basically stringing Carl along for years and agrees to marry him only to make him and her parents happy even though she doesn’t truly love him. And all her talk about never wanting to be vulnerable and completely fall in love so she basically agrees to a marriage for status and to make everyone else happy. I’m very glad she decided to call it off with him but then the scene where she’s having her “hormonal” episode while out at a restaurant with Luke irritated me too. She’s completely holding back the feelings she had about what Luke called her before she fled for New York and instead of acknowledging them and talking about them, she just bolts and says they have no future together. I don’t know if I’m really that happy she ended up with Luke or not because I feel like she wasn’t “grown up” enough to decide she wanted a lifelong commitment with him.

Giving this book 4 stars because I did like the storyline even if I didn’t like the character Darcy all that much. She seemed like a very self-righteous, independent woman which normally I would applaud but she took it a little too far. Still a pretty good book and I’m glad I got to read it during the holidays.