Customer Reviews

First Impressions (The Austen Series, Book 1)

5 star:		(41)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

This book was so hard for me to put down. I enjoyed it so much. It is my favorite Pride and Prejudice modern adaption, better than Vanity and Vexation and Bridge Jones's Diary. I will issue a copule of warnings for those of you, who might not enjoy this book to the extent I did. I could rant and rave about it all day, but I figured this might be more helpful!

1. Not in Jane Austen's style of writing
2. The story is very close to the book, but not exact
3. There are three Bennet sisters (Jane, Elizabeth and Lydia)
4. The names of the characters are different but similar to their originals (i.e. Elizabeth Bennet and Eddi Boswick)
5. A lot of religious undertones
6. The events that happen in the original P&P are slightly altered becuase the time periods are different. (i.e. Mr. Darcy uses email instead of writing letters and Lydia doesn't go to Brighton she goes to Hawaii)

Now if you can get past all that, you will enjoy the book and not be able to put it down. Eddi Boswick (Lizzy) is such a strong character, there is so much to love and admire about her. She is a laywer. The verbal sparing that goes on between her and Dave (Darcy) is so amusing. You will feel the heat, the passion, the hatred, and the attraction.

The Scenario: In a small town called London, TX lives a single lawyer(Eddi) who decides to particapte in a re-enactment of one of her favorite novels, Pride and Prejudice. She doesn't care to much for her co-star, yet she finds him so attractive. She spends half the time trying to figure him out and the other half insulting him, avoiding him, and despising him. Little does she know he is struggling too, he tries not to think about her yet he does. He misses her when she is gone, yet he enjoys prvoking her. Eddi's sister, Lydia gets into some trouble and you will be suprised by who got her in trouble and who will get her out of trouble.

Such exciting twists and turns!

I wanted to like this book, Honestly, I did. I have read enough books "loosely based" on Jane Austen's works to be able to judge each book on it's own merits and not expect them to be as good as the originals. In this case, I was hoping for an original story with aspects of P&P cleverly included. I was horribly disappointed. I do not dislike this book because it was a poor modernization of Pride and Prejudice. I dislike this book because the writing is terrible. The story meanders. For example:

The characters are putting together a community theater production of Pride and Prejudice...the casting is accomplished... rehearsals begin...TORNADO!!!... rehearsals continue (though in a different location).

The characterization is simply absurd. There is no depth to them at all. Some of the situations the characters are written into are so contrived they are simply forced and unbelieveable. The author, Ms. Smith, must realize that who her characters are based on is not easily recognizeable, as she includes a "cast list" at the beginning of the book naming each of the characters, and who from P&P they are supposed to be. It seems to me that the reader should be able to tell who each of the characters is supposed to be simply by reading the story. If a cast list is necessary, the author has not done a very good job fleshing out her characters. If you feel you must read this book, I would suggest checking it out from a library or borrowing it from a friend - purchasing it would be a waste of money.

I confess to having an addiction to everything related to 'Pride and Prejudice', and have devoured/endured a number of spin-offs inspired by it. 'First Impressions' stands out as one of the worst offerings I have witnessed to date. The unnecessarily predictable plot is slow to unfold and painfully improbable. To my mind, the writing style is clumsy.

When Eddi and Dave first meet, it is instant dislike between the two. Both rub each other wrong and despite a minor attraction for the other, both will do their best to keep their distance. However, circumstances throw them together when Eddi and Dave volunteer for an reenactment of the play `Pride and Prejudice' their town is putting on. Because of their mutual stubbornness preventing either from withdrawing, they find themselves having to work together as Eddi is given the part Elizabeth and Dave the part of Mr. Darcy.

First Impressions, a modern retelling of Jane Austin's classic novel 'Pride and Prejudice', is the first book in The Austin Series by Debra White Smith. While I love them all so far, this one is absolute favorite. She captured exactly how I imagine the story would have gone if it truly had been written in this period of history instead.

I purchased the first two books in the Jane Austen Series: "First Impressions" and "Reason and Romance" and have thoroughly enjoyed them. Number One in this new series is based on the Jane Austen novel, "Pride and Prejudice", and the second book is based on "Sense and Sensibility". One of my favorite books is "Pride and Prejudice", so I was excited to read a book with the same theme, yet written in a contemporary setting. "First Impressions" is a humorous and refreshing book that teaches the same lessons as "Pride and Prejudice", yet readers can learn so much more from the depth of character and portrayal of characters from Ms. Smith's book. But most importantly this book is Christian, you do not have to worry about bad language, or graphic descriptions of sin. Ms. Smith honors the Lord with her writing, and I hope she writes more in this series!
May you be as blessed by this book as I was.

I found this to be one of the worst "spin-offs" of Pride and Prejudice I have read. By the way, it wasn't all that great as a modern romance novel either. The characters were cardboard and the writing merely mediocre. I couldn't even bring myself to finish the book.

The story itself is very enjoyable. I knocked a star off only because I was expecting it to follow the Pride and Prejudice characterizations and storyline more closely. I guess my problem is that I started this series with Central Park, which sticks to the heart of the Jane Austin story much more closely than First Impressions does. After I was about 50 pages into this book, I thought, "This isn't really Pride and Prejudice..." About the only things in common are two main characters who have injured each other's pride (one of whom is very rich); a sister and friend of those two falling into love quite quickly; and a younger sister who's a flirt. This book never leaves any doubt that the hero and heroine will overcome their pride, grow into better people, and fall in love...because they start out in love. It is a good story, though, if I forget it's supposed to be a modernized P&P.

As an admirer of Jane Austen's genius, it disturbs me that writers like to take her stories and "modernise" them, or, in this case "christianize" them. Jane would be appalled. Firstly, she herself was a devout Christian woman, whose father was a minister in their parish. To say that Miss Austen's books are "non-Christian" and do not convey "christian values" is simply absurd. Please, do yourself a favor and read the originals before resorting to Ms. White's series. This series is, at its worst, plagiarism, and at its best, nothing more than fanfiction.

First Impressions was the first out of the Austen series that I read, and it was impressive. I loved it. The book kept me moving, I literally couldn't put the book down until I was finished with it. I then went out and bought the rest of the Austen series that were in print. I just love getting lost in these books. It is nice to have romance books that arn't sleezy and that focus on God and his love for us. I am a huge fan of Debra White Smith and would encourage all my friends and family to read her works of art!

I am a fan of Debra White Smith and thought this book was awesome. I've read Jane Austin's books -- I'm a fan of her writing but I found this modern version of Debra Smiths to be a refreshing look at a classic.

I think she is a wonderful author and just because someone wants to pick on petty things does change what I think about her. She has a God given talent and I think she's putting it to great work!

Keep writing like you are Debra -- there are a lot of people praying for you and backing your ministry! God Bless!!