The first is Austenland by Shannon Hale. It's a fun, finding romance, kind of story about Jane
Hayes who seems to be a normal working girl, but is secretly slightly obsessed with Colin Firth's Mr. Darcy in the Pride and Prejudice miniseries. (If any of you have not seen that miniseries, I'm telling you now to see it! It is SOOOO good.) So anyway, Jane has a wealthy great aunt who learns of her little obsession. When Aunt Carolyn (or Caroline, it's spelled both ways in the book - hee hee hee) dies, she leaves Jane a three week vacation to Pembrook Park. There Jane gets to live life as if she were Elizabeth Bennet or any of Jane Austen's other heroines. Love could possibly be found at Pembrook Park, but when and with whom? Or maybe Jane will finally be done with men altogether. You'll have to see.
Hayes who seems to be a normal working girl, but is secretly slightly obsessed with Colin Firth's Mr. Darcy in the Pride and Prejudice miniseries. (If any of you have not seen that miniseries, I'm telling you now to see it! It is SOOOO good.) So anyway, Jane has a wealthy great aunt who learns of her little obsession. When Aunt Carolyn (or Caroline, it's spelled both ways in the book - hee hee hee) dies, she leaves Jane a three week vacation to Pembrook Park. There Jane gets to live life as if she were Elizabeth Bennet or any of Jane Austen's other heroines. Love could possibly be found at Pembrook Park, but when and with whom? Or maybe Jane will finally be done with men altogether. You'll have to see.
The second book I've read recently is called An Assembly Such as This, A Novel of Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman by Pamela Aidan. It is actually the first of three books. It is basically the story of Pride and Prejudice told from the point of view of Mr. Darcy. To some Jane Austen purists, this book may be a bit too much, but I really enjoyed it. I liked reading Mr. Darcy's thoughts and feelings. I still think he was being too prideful, (oh those society rules really bug me sometimes) but he is much more human in this story. I was afraid that this book was going to be a little boring since it takes 246 pages just to tell the first third of the story, but that was not the case at all. It was a quick read for me and I am anxious to read the other two books. 
2 comments:
I just love Jane Austen. I've never heard of these books, so I'm glad you reviewed them!
Have you read Colleen McCullough's book about Mary Bennet?
I was browsing the other day and came across a site dedicated to all things Jane Austen. I think it was called the "Pemberly Academy". You'll have to google it sometime. It seemed kind of fun. I didn't have a lot of time to get into it but maybe it might interest you.
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