Review: Trouble Maker

Trouble Maker by Susie Tate
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Four and a half stars.

Lily Summerfield is a preschool teacher, she works with Clara the FMC from Law Maker. Originally from Yorkshire, her family moved to London to be close to her. Her father is a kindly sort, but her mother wants all her daughters to get married, preferably to men with money. Lily has two sisters: Lydia, a teenage aspiring influencer, and Mary, an ardent fan of amateur dramatics.

Lord Darcy Fitzwilliam is a billionaire Hedge Fund owner/manager, he is one of Clara's fiancé's groomsmen. His parents have barely brought him and his sister Imogen up, first farming them out to a nanny, then sending them to boarding school at a young age, despite their pleas to stay at home and attend Molton Prep school (incidentally where Clara and Lily now work). Darcy finds it difficult to talk small talk, particularly with people he doesn't know well, which has given him a reputation as the coldest man in London. Darcy's two nieces attend Molton Prep, although his parents are forcefully arguing that they should both be sent to Pemberley, the private boarding school that the entire family has always attended.

Is any of this sounding familiar? What about if I tell you Darcy's best friend is called Charlie and he has a mean sister called Caroline?

Yes, it's a re-imagining of Pride and Prejudice, but it isn't a rehash, its a start with the same basic concept and characters, bringing them into modern life and then twisting things.

Darcy and Lily have a one night stand - then Darcy fumbles the morning after talk (think about the 'liking you despite my better judgement' speech from the Jane Austen book) leaving Lily fuming, and as it later transpires, pregnant. Can this Master of the Universe persuade a chaotic, laugh-snorting, preschool teacher that he can't live without her? That he cares about more than just his baby?

I squealed when I saw this ARC on NetGalley. I have read every single one of Susie's books (some several times) and I love her feisty heroines. Lily definitely gives me Kira vibes, even down to the wankpuffin epitaphs. This is right up there for me, a homage not a rip-off of one of my favourite novels with a grovelling MMC and a FMC that sees him for who he truly is. Also, Lily's family are nowhere near as bad as Elizabeth Bennett's family.

View all my reviews