Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict Book Review
Written by Olivia Richardson: 20-May-2010
advertisement ^
Courtney Stone - sassy, smart and suddenly single - has always felt she might have been better suited to life in Jane Austen's England.
She senses she would have found soul mates in Emma and Elinor, and through good times and bad Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice have been her secret under-the-duvet pleasures.
One evening, having drifted off to sleep after self-medicating with pizza, Absolut, and Elizabeth and Darcy, Courtney wakes up in nineteenth-century England, in the bed (not to mention the slim and svelte body) of a girl called Jane Mansfield.
At first she thinks this has to be some sort of weird dream, but slowly she becomes used to the absence of toothpaste and fat-free food, and finds herself actually enjoying Jane's life. Perhaps she could do without her wicked new 'mother' who wants to marry Jane off as soon as possible to the nearest wealthy man... although this may not be such a bad thing, as the nearest wealthy man just happens to be the very dishy Charles Edgeworth.
But, in becoming Jane, Courtney has left some important unfinished business behind, and she soon realises that in order to return to the present day she needs not only to solve the riddle of Jane and Charles but to get to grips with her own twentyfirst-century relationship phobias along the way.
Review
3/5. This book was really fun and well-written but the ending was so abrupt and random. I felt confused and I'm still not sure what happened really. There's a sequel, so maybe that will give some answers.
Also, it was confusing when the main character called characters by their politically correct names (e.g. "Mr Edgeworth") but then later with their first names (e.g. "Charles"), as there were often more than one Mr or Mrs x anyway! So that was confusing but other than that and the last 20-odd pages, I loved it (and I don't read Jane Austen novels so Jane Austen fans will probably go nuts)!