Searching for Pemberley

Have you ever started a book that looked wonderful, only to have it fall rather flat?  That was my problem with Searching for Pemberley by Mary Simonsen.  The book had good reviews and seemed interesting at first. Its premise was that Jane Austen based Pride and Prejudice on people that lived in her neighborhood.  By changing a few names, etc., she didn't really make up the whole story, she retold it, or at least most of it.  The story involved a young woman with an interest in Jane Austen delving into letters written by local people that prove she used her neighbors to provide her story line.  A second thread to the book was the romance of the young woman and her friendship with two different guys.  A third thread was the family of one of the descendents of the Darcy (Lacey) family and their story.  I could accept the theory that Jane Austen got her stories from things she heard happening around her, but I didn't really need to read all the supporting letters to prove it.  Even when we got past the Jane Austen part of the story and moved to the story of the young woman, the book failed to really catch my interest.  Ah, well.  On to the next one. 

~Jane