Mundie Moms

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Definitely, Maybe in Love by Ophelia London; Book Review



By: Ophelia London
Published by: Entangled/Embrace
Released on: 10.28.13
Source: e-arc from publisher to review
4.5 Stars: I Really Enjoyd It
Get the book from Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Her theory of attraction is about to get a new angle.
Spring Honeycutt wants two things: to ace her sustainable living thesis and to save the environment. Both seem hopelessly unobtainable until her college professor suggests that with a new angle, her paper could be published. Spring swears she’ll do whatever it takes to ensure that happens.
“Whatever it takes,” however, means forming a partnership with the very hot, very privileged, very conceited Henry Knightly.
Henry is Spring's only hope at publication, but he's also the über-rich son of a land developer and cash-strapped Spring’s polar opposite. Too bad she can't help being attracted to the way he pushes her buttons, both politically and physically.  As they work on her thesis, Spring finds there's more to Henry than his old money and argyle sweaters…but can she drop the loud-and-proud act long enough to let him in? Suddenly, choosing between what she wants and what she needs puts Spring at odds with everything she believes in.
Definitely, Maybe in Love is a modern take on Pride and Prejudice that proves true love is worth risking a little pride.


A delicious blend of sizzling character chemistry, pent up sexual tension, and plenty of do they or don't they love each other. Definitely, Maybe in Love is a fabulous new adult read. I enjoyed every moment I spent reading it.

I am a huge fan of well written retelling, and this book is definitely a well written modern day retelling of Pride & Prejudice all the way. Much like that beloved classic and the movie version staring our favorite Mr Darcy, Colin Firth, I found myself wanting to shove Ophelia's characters together as much as I wanted to shove Jane Austen's characters together and have them make out and do whatever to get their pent up tension out of the way and move on to being together. Only if things could be that simple. With stubborn, prideful characters, things could never go that easy.

I loved Spring and Henry. They are perfect for each other in every way. Sure they seem like opposites, and all know how opposites attract, but once the layers start to get pulled back little by little, I realized just how much these two are alike. Much like Darcy and Elizabeth, these two have that love/hate, but mostly love relationship. Like Darcy, Henry loves to push Spring's buttons, and like Elizabeth, Spring flies off the handle when he does. It's comical to say the least. There's also so much more to the two of them. I loved watching what I already knew from the moment they meant, their falling for each other, though neither of them will admit it for quite some time.

Spring is a fabulous character. She's independent, strong willed, doesn't waiver on what her views and stance on things are for anyone, and she's smart. I love that she's brave and is not afraid to speak her mind, even if it goes against what everyone thinks and would say. She's also incredibly loyal, grows a lot over the course of the book, learns to admit when she's wrong, can say she's sorry, and I loved that she's a beautiful girl who doesn't let it go to her head. Not only that, she's responsible. She works three jobs to make ends meet in order for her to attend Stanford. At first she seems completely opposite of everything that Henry seems to be. 

Henry is this fabulously written character whom the author allowed me to realize there's more than what Spring first sees in his hotter than hot, rich boy looks. Henry has this out of the league kind of vibe coming from him, though he's really not. He's down to earth, incredibly intelligent, responsible, comes from money, and in many ways would seem Spring's opposite. What I loved about Henry is how unfazed he is by her. Sure he can rattle her, but she doesn't see the effect she has on him, and Henry for his part, is completely taken off guard by Spring, and her stand her ground ways. I love that he loved that trait about her. I'd almost venture to say I love this modern day Darcy more than I do the Colin Firth one.... shhhh, don't tell Sophie that. ;) The other thing I love about Henry, is much like Spring, he's also loyal and very protective of those he loves, including his younger sister, who's story does play a role in the over all story arch as well. Seriously, what's not to love about this guy. 

Spring and Henry by all standards are opposites in most every way. Spring is the "green" person, and Henry comes from a family of lawyers who would be just the kind of person Spring should stay away from. I have to say, I love the way Ophelia inserted the environmental issues into this story, because it totally worked. She didn't just do it to make a point about saving the earth, Spring has a lot of passion with this. I felt that the author researched and knew what she was talking about, and made it fit perfectly into the story so that it never once felt preachy. She showed all sides of the issues. For his part, Henry states his position on the issues many times. Though it gets into heated battles between the two, because they seem to be on opposite ends of each other's view points, I loved how over time the other started to see the other's point of view.

You know when characters butt heads a lot that it often proves that they have a lot of pent up sexual tension. Let me just say these two have a sizzling character chemistry! It was hot, and clean. I know, shocking. Trust me, this book made me swoon so many times. Sometimes the hottest sexy times books involve plenty of make out scenes, and stuff without actually doing the deed, and this book has all that! Trust me, it's fabulous! My favorite scene between these two involves cranberries! I'll just say a food fight in the kitchen while baking a Thanksgiving feast has never been so hot. Oh did I mention there's a scene that involves being out at Henry's barn? Yes there's that too, and one under the stars... and.... Yeah, you'll definitely need to pick this one up to read about the other scenes.

This is a fabulous read! I thoroughly enjoyed it. I left me light headed at times, had me swooning numerous times, laughing at other times, and left me wanting at other moments. There's a great cast of lively characters in this book, but my favorites are of course Henry and Spring. I couldn't get enough of these two. I will say, there were a few minor things that I needed a little bit of to really LOVE the book like I wanted to, but it wasn't anything too big, as I still really enjoyed this book. Had a few loose ends been wrapped up and a few things explained better this would have been a solid 5 stars. Aside from those things, this is still a fabulous read! It's one I really hope they publish in physical book form so that I can add it to my book shelf. YES, I highly recommend reading this one if you're a Mr Darcy & Elizabeth Bennett fan. This is one guilty pleasure I'll be reading again!

*Review originally posted on the Mundie Moms Guilty Pleasures Book Review Site (warning: site for 18 years & older).

2 comments:

  1. Really enjoyed this one too...probably one of the best P&P retellings I've read, Henry was so amazing :) Didn't particularly care for Spring though,

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    Replies
    1. I totally agree! It was one of the best retellings. I LOVED Henry too!

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