Welcome to Mr Darcy Week with Sharon Lathan!

This week on Royal Reviews, we're dedicating an entire week to everyone's favourite literary hero, Mr Darcy and the wonderful Pride and Prejudice fiction that has become so popular these past few years.

This week promises to be very interactive and a lot of fun as Queen of Happy Endings hosts polls, giveaways (we love to give you free stuff here!) and an author interview in honour of Sharon Lathan's new novel Loving Mr Darcy.

So if you're a P & P fan and don't mind talented authors who expand upon the original, we promise we've got some fabulous recommended reads in store for you! Oh and how could I forget, plenty of pervy Darcy pics ;-)

To kick things off, I wanted to ask you what you think about the latest in P & P Rewrites/Sequels:

The Paranormal Janes

So many of us have a Pride and Prejudice story. We read it in High School, found it later in life or found it after falling in love with the movie or mini-series. But now, thanks to Seth Grahame-Smith a new breed of readers will be able to say they found Jane Austen through Zombies. That's right, Jane Austen has well and truly been bastardised modernised by Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, a tongue in cheek retelling of her most beloved classic.

As a Gen Y who loves the original version of this novel, previously I would've been considered a major nerd *shock/horror*. While on a personal level I may not be interested in reading about Zombies and my beloved Mr Darcy, I can appreciate what this book is doing for Classic Literature. Since the release of Seth Grahame-Smith's novel, Jane Austen has become strangely cool amoung my colleagues and friends (not because they have developed their own literature crush but because they simply think it's funny to read about Elizabeth Bennet the Zombie Slayer.) And although I'm not really sure how Jane would react to such a tale, anything that can get young men reading P & P can't be all bad!

In the wake of this runaway success a new trend has emerged - Paranormal Jane. When a book like P & P & Zombies comes along and completely smashes all the genre rules, the floodgates open for some pretty interesting literature. And I have to admit, some of this I may actually read!

Have you heard of:

Mr Darcy, Vampyre by Amanda Grange
Darcy is a secret member of the undead and has to hide his little *ahem* problem from his new wife. My favourite part? Lady Catherine's the one who turned him. I always knew she was an evil so and so! Amanda Grange also writes more normal type sequels to P & P which are highly recommended.

Darcy's Hunger by Regina Jeffers (Also titled Vampire Darcy's Desire??)
Mortal, Elizabeth Bennet has to overcome Mr Darcy's vampirism to find love and happiness. The super-vamp of this novel? The evil Mr Wickham!

Jane Bites Back by Michael Thomas Ford
Not too many details released about this one yet but I can tell you that the novel was the subject of a major bidding war recently. The concept? Jane Austen, the vampire!, has been suffering with writer's block for over 200 years. Now, sick of all these authors making some serious moolah off her work, she's back to kick some butt.

Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters by Ben H. Winters
From the blurb (because I can't do a better job): This masterful portrait of Regency England blends Jane Austen’s biting social commentary with ultraviolent depictions of sea monsters biting. It’s survival of the fittest—and only the swiftest swimmers will find true love!

Make of them what you will, it seems these Paranormal Janes aren't going to die easily (pun so intended). Do you think Jane would be turning in her grave at the thought of this or embracing the re-vamping of her classic (sorry, couldn't help it)? Are you an Austen-Purist or a Modern-Austen? Would you or have you read any of these books and did you enjoy them?

If the books blew your mind, did you know that they are making a Pride and Prejudice Sci-Fi Flick next year? I kid you not. Just given the greenlight for production was Pride and Predator. On that note, I leave you with the book trailer for Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

PS Who tried a Tim Tam Slam last week??? Come on, I know somebody sucked Tim Tam through a cup of tea other than me!