Love and Loathing

by Gigi Blume

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IT’S NOT EASY TO HATE THE HOTTEST STAR IN HOLLYWOOD BUT SOMEBODY’S GOT TO DO IT

★ BETH

Why do I hate Will Darcy? How much time do you have?

There was that day he basically insulted my acting. And then there’s the way he… exists. Plus, he’s infuriatingly arrogant, wholly unbearable, and drop-dead gorgeous.

I mean, the magazines think he’s gorgeous. Not me. Definitely not me. I hate his pretty face, his action hero arms, and his annoying kisses.

Oh. Did I forget to mention that? Don’t get too hot and bothered, it’s just for the stage. He’s cast as The Pirate King and I’m the unlucky maiden who he flings over his muscular shoulder.

It’s a tough job.

But even through Will hates my guts, his eyes tell another story. The way he looks at me sends a warm flutter down my belly. And since I swore to loathe him for all eternity, falling for him would be an extreme inconvenience.

What’s a girl to do?

★ WILL

I’m only doing this musical as a favor to a friend, and I certainly could do without the distraction from Beth Bennet—even if she invades my daydreams like an over-zealous photo bomber.

The way she spars with me and gets under my skin… it’s dangerous. I need to keep my head down, finish this play, and get back to my action movies.

Except I’m starting to wonder if that’s what I really want.

Not only has this sassy pixie taken residence in my head, she redecorated and I can’t find anything.

What is this torment? Even my dog prefers her.

I wonder what would happen if I stop fighting this attraction brewing inside me? And when the curtain falls and the lights dim, how will I know if this on-stage romance is nothing more than just a fantastic performance?

♥ Love and Loathing is chock full of off the charts hate to love chemistry, witty banter, and whip-smart humor.

♥ If you’re here for a slow burn, closed door, laugh-out-loud romantic comedy with sizzling kisses, mild language, and snappy innuendo (and singing pirates) without explicit content, you’ll love Gigi Blume’s hilarious retelling of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.

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Book Details

Genre

Romantic Comedy

Subgenre

Celebrity / Rockstar

Series

Backstage Romance • Book 1

Audience

Adult

Bell Peppers

🫑🫑

Profanity

1 None

Violence

2 Mild

Drugs, Alcohol, Tobacco

3 Moderate

Publication Date

February 19, 2019

Language Versions

English

Fiction Form

Novel

Sensitive Themes

Addiction or recovery themes, Kidnapping or abduction

Editorial Reviews

Don't miss out on this gem!

This was one of my favorite P&P retellings I've read!

An awesome combination of sass, laughs, and sweet romance.

Pretty Good P&P Reimagining

This was a pretty good book. I didn't enjoy the female lead character, Beth Bennet, very much. She was definitely a glass half empty kind of person ...just a little too snarky, cynical, grumbly, narcissist/self-centered, and judgmental of a character for me to like her very much. She does redeem herself in the end of the book, of course, but she was pretty unpleasant for the first 3 /4ths of the book. I did enjoy the Lydia character alot in this P&P reimagining. Much more than Austen's original Lydia.

It was fun to see how the author chose to weave various elements and characters from the original P&P book into this modern version of the story. It was also alot of fun to see the behind the scenes look at a professional theatre production. I've never seen the "Pirates of Penzance" play before, but now my interest has been piqued and I would love to see it someday. I would recommend this book to Jane Austen fans. I don't know if a non-fan would still enjoy it or not without understanding the references to Austen's books.

Modern variation of P&P which follows the outline well

This is a modern variation set in the world of theater. I think what I enjoyed most in reading this was how inventive (or creative) the author was in how she was able to use both the basic outline of canon and also Jane Austen's words although at times the latter are paraphrased. Yes, other authors have used JA's words but in a modern setting it was just a little more of a stretch to make them fit the time and the situation.

This Beth does not have four sisters. The one sister she does have is Mary who has an almost cameo role herein. But her roommate at the onset is Jane and, of course, with Jane comes Bing who is another actor at the beginning of his career. Later Beth rescues a fellow actress who is living out of her car...Lydia. Lydia has much the same behaviors as in canon, flirting and impulsive and naïve, but her fate in the modern world...well, I don't go there but know it reflects present day...sadly.

Later (and here I am smiling) Beth names her heart "Kitty" as she tells us how that organ is feeling about certain situations. Mrs. Bennet does apply some pressure for Elizabeth to find a husband the few times we read of Elizabeth visiting home but as E. doesn't live at home it is not a daily occurrence.

I found this story to be a page-turner even though I knew where we were headed. As in canon we have that insult and Beth overhears it. Loved her in-your-face retort to him...“Mr. Darcy, you dropped something. Oh, it’s just your tact. Never mind.” I won't relate all the parts similar to canon which gave me pleasure in this variation but know that I do recommend this story. The author also gives you a free book to download even if you are borrowing this from KU.

Darcy keeps calling Beth a pixie due to her petite size and she wows him with her stage performances. Will has already made a name for himself in films while Beth is just starting out. She waits tables for a steady income as she is not as assured that her acting career will take off. We do have a Wickham so that is also nothing new.

Beth makes a habit of using names or songs or words from movies or plays as her substitutions for curse words. That was interesting although there are some movies or plays with which I was not familiar.

There is a short epilogue but it doesn't go far into the future.

5 stars -- snarky and sweet

I just adore books in which Elizabeth (or, in this case, "Beth") really backs up her reputation for cleverness with sparkling wordplay. So many authors are content to simply tell the reader how smart their characters are, maybe list off a few books/writers that they really like (spoiler alert: it's almost always Shakespeare, Byron or Wordsworth) to prove it, and then just let them do and say stupid stuff for the rest of the story. Not so here! Beth -- and, to a lesser extent, Will -- is always ready with a quip, kinda like Spider-Man, but with a passion for musical theatre. Also, her tendency to replace swear words with names from musicals is adorable. More adorable is when Will picks up the habit without meaning to. And when she had to start calling him "Your Majesty" and he followed up with "dilly, dilly" like an idiot...well, the lol became real and not just shorthand.

I like a steamy story (prefer them, really), but this one kept everything pretty much PG. There were instances of physical attraction (and how), so it wasn't prudish, but I wouldn't dissuade my grandmother from reading it (or cringe if I found out she did). It was cute, sweet and even gave me the feels.

I thought that more specific background information about Beth's past terrible relationship and Will's evil stepmother would have been nice. It didn't bother me enough to deduct a star, but I'm a little confused as to how this Brett guy humiliated Beth. Something to do with a viral video that apparently few of the other characters know about (how viral could it be?), but I don't know what was so terrible about it. As for Will, more of his feelings about what happened between his father and stepmother would have been helpful. Is that why he's so mistrustful of others? Again, not really necessary to the plot, I just wanna know.

Btw, if you like this story (and you should), you'll also like "Sparks Fly, Tires Skid" by Ari Rouge. It's similarly modern with clever, snarky characters, though different otherwise. It's one of my favorites and reminds me of this book in tone/quality.

Loved it. I'm having trouble getting my free book to download into my Kindle, but I'm working on it. Can't wait to read her Emma variation once I'm successful.

Wow! Great comedy!

I loved loved loved this story. I had read the prequel to this series a couple of months ago, which I loved so much as well. But sometimes you wonder is it just a fluke, can the author do it again? Well, she certainly did. The book exceeded my expectations.
First of all, the comedy part of it was spot on. The one liners, the film references, everything was just so funny. There were so many comedic scenes that I could picture vividly due to the funny descriptions given. I felt like a teenager giggling at some of the lighthearted comedy.
Second, I don’t think I have read a better modern adaptation of an Austen novel. Mind you I have read some really really good ones, but they have not gone into as much detail and stayed so true to the situations and comments of the original storyline as this book has. Reading this book was like me taking a “sick day” to binge watch the 5-1/2 hour BBC version of Pride and Prejudice. Yes it had the full story of details, only presented in with comedy in a truly endearing way.
Third, the romance aspect with Beth and Will falling in love was perfect. The carnival scenes, ooohhh, I just loved them. Their story was told in such a sweet way. I would call this a clean romance with a PG rating. Definitely family friendly.
I normally shy away from books this long because I prefer to binge read my books straight thru. This being that I firmly believe that in a good book there is no such thing as a good stopping point. Unfortunately I did have to stop many times in reading this book just to finish it. But it was a fantastic story. Very clever and unexpected. Just leaves one to wonder, what story will be next? Asking for a friend.....

it was quite charming

This is a modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice -- and I thought it was quite well done. The language was clever, though there were occasional unusual phrasings and a few typos. But it didn't distract me -- it mostly seemed very well written. This book was (in some ways) an almost verbatim reconstruction of many of the major parts of Pride and Prejudice -- set in a modern (local) theater production in California. A number of the names were taken verbatim from P & P as well -- and it works. Gigi Blume did some real thinking here; her settings and situations were not at all the same as those of P & P, but they seem (often) like truly good representations of what was happening a couple centuries before in a very different community. I DID feel that the truly sparkling language of P & P -- between Elizabeth and...almost anyone...was not really as well done in THIS version. The BOOK was quite entertaining and witty, but I didn't think there was always as much marvelous dialogue. But there was some. Also, on quibbles, one of the true pleasures for me in reading P & P (which I have, several times) is that these people (the heroine(s) and hero) are TRULY MORAL. I didn't see that (nearly) as much in THESE characters. They are "good" -- by modern standards -- but to me they didn't seem as thoughtful or ethical to their very cores as the REAL Miss Bennett or Mr. Darcy. So...it was good. Very good. But not perfect. I was given a copy by the author, which I read, but then I did purchase this one and scanned it some more.