What would happen if you could suddenly appear in one of your favorite novels? That’s the interesting premise of Seducing Mr. Darcy, a mix of chick lit, time travel, and alternate reality. Unfortunately, a weak hero left me with mixed feelings about the book. Flip, our heroine, is a research ornithologist at a university in…
Within the space of a month, two chick lit novels appeared in which a modern young woman with Mr. Darcy as her romantic ideal goes on a trip to England inspired by Jane Austen’s novels and is made to test her ideals. Having enjoyed Austenland by Shannon Hale, I turned to Me and Mr. Darcy…
What if Jane Austen wrote an advice column a la Dear Abby? That’s the premise of Dear Jane Austen: A Heroine’s Guide to Life and Love and if you are a Janeite, you will love this book. My Jane Austen novels, which were well read and well loved in the past, have been collecting dust…
When I first read about Shannon Hale’s Austenland, I was intrigued: An American travels to an English holiday resort where one can completely immerse oneself in the world of the Regency for a number of weeks. Being very fond of dressing up myself, and having some experience in Medieval-type role-playing, I was wholly in favor…
I confess, I’m a Janeite. My copy of Pride and Prejudice has seen better days, and I’ve watched the mini-series with Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth many times. I enjoyed the movie with Keira Knighley and bought it for my DVD collection and just recently I watched the Elizabeth Garvey and David Rintoul min-series from…
Jennifer Crusie spends her editorial prologue in Flirting with Pride and Prejudice talking about how she didn’t have the time edit the collection. What with deadlines, her “real” life, and other obligations, she simply didn’t need the extra project. But she couldn’t turn it down. I felt the same way. I have enough ARCs to…
How well you enjoy this read is largely dependent on how you shop. Do you buy the brand names or the cheaper store brands? Do you try to duplicate the gourmet recipes of cooking shows using similar ingredients, like dry basil instead of fresh? If you do, you’ll find this an amazing story, just the…