A Weekend with Mr. Darcy

Connelly%E2%80%99s meta-Austenian romance has little substance of its own. Katherine Roberts, an Oxford professor presenting at a conference, meets Warwick Lawton, but is unaware that he is also Lorna Warwick, a popular author of gothic romances and Katherine%E2%80%99s pen pal. Warwick knows who Katherine is, though, and he sets out to make her fall in love with him between sessions where conference attendees quote snippets of Austen%E2%80%99s novels. Meanwhile, Katherine%E2%80%99s friend Robyn Love is torn between a longtime boyfriend who finds Austen boring and a new love interest who%E2%80%98s willing to read Pride and Prejudice. Connelly%E2%80%99s characters gush endlessly and tiresomely over Austen but have no substance of their own; Katherine and Warwick%E2%80%99s romance would be far more believable if they talked less about Lizzy and Darcy and more about themselves. (July)