Jane Austen Birthday Celebration Week continues with Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler

Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict

by Laurie Viera Rigler

Reading all those Jane Austen Novels really helps when you travel back in time...

After nursing a broken engagement with Jane Austen novels and Absolut, Courtney Stone wakes up and finds herself not in her Los Angeles bedroom or even in her own body, but inside the bedchamber of a woman in Regency England. Who but an Austen addict like herself could concoct such a fantasy?

Not only is Courtney stuck in another woman’s life, she is forced to pretend she actually is that woman; and despite knowing nothing about her, she manages to fool even the most astute observer. But not even her level of Austen mania has prepared Courtney for the chamber pots and filthy coaching inns of nineteenth-century England, let alone the realities of being a single woman who must fend off suffocating chaperones, condom-less seducers, and marriages of convenience.

This looking-glass Austen world is not without its charms, however. There are journeys to Bath and London, balls in the Assembly Rooms, and the enigmatic Mr. Edgeworth, who may not be a familiar species of philanderer after all. But when Courtney’s borrowed brain serves up memories that are not her own, the ultimate identity crisis ensues. Will she ever get her real life back, and does she even want to?

As we wrap up the Jane Austen Birthday Celebration week, here's another book that looks to be a fun read! I like time traveling and this is what our heroine in Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict does. I look forward to reading how author Laurie Viera Rigler handles the story line... Author Laurie Viera Rigler also has a great website with lots of Austen trivia, links and other fun stuff. You can visit HERE, and when there don't forget to take her "addiction" quiz and see how bad your Jane Austen Addiction is, such as "Your friends carry pictures of their children or significant others in their wallets. You carry on your cellphone a screen shot of Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy (or Matthew MacFadyen, depending on your personal taste)." (Amazon also has the paperback version of this book at a Bargain Price of under $6.00!) Have you read this book yet? And if so, what did you think?! I hope you enjoyed the Jane Austen inspired "books with buzz" this week! Let me know what your favorite Austen inspired books are!

*P.S. This book is Kindle Ready!

The Jane Austen Birthday Celebration Week continues with The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler

A Fictional Book Club that loves Jane Austen!

In California’s central valley, five women and one man join to discuss Jane Austen’s novels. Over the six months they get together, marriages are tested, affairs begin, unsuitable arrangements become suitable, and love happens. With her eye for the frailties of human behavior and her ear for the absurdities of social intercourse, Karen Joy Fowler has never been wittier nor her characters more appealing. The result is a delicious dissection of modern relationships. Dedicated Austenites will delight in unearthing the echoes of Austen that run through the novel, but most readers will simply enjoy the vision and voice that, despite two centuries of separation, unite two great writers of brilliant social comedy.

A few years back The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler was all the rage! It was a favorite among book clubs (it's always fun to read about other book clubs!) and it still gets a lot of great buzz today. It's been on my TBR list for a long time, so what better time then Jane Austen's Birthday Celebration Week to finally pull it out and start reading! Karen Joy Fowler is known for her wonderfully developed characters and her great writing. In The Jane Austen Book Club each chapter focuses on a particular Austen novel and the character that is hosting the discussion of that book- slowly unfolding the lives of each of the book club members little by little as you read the book. The book club members also come up with their own discussion questions (which is interesting to read!), but here is a LINK to the discussion questions from the publisher for your book group! I also think that it's nice to look through a reading group guide after you've read a book yourself- sometimes the questions posed can add an interesting viewpoint you may not have considered. So check it out even if you're reading this on your own! Would you like to read an excerpt? Here is a link to Chapter One. The cover shot that I used is the first PB cover, now the cover is the movie tie-in image. (I prefer non-movie tie in covers!) So, if you're looking for it, keep your eye out for a different cover....

As we continue Jane Austen Birthday Week Celebration, this is one book that is more chick-lit than vampire & sea monsters, and should satisfy the reader who doesn't really get into Mr. Darcy with fangs. It should also be a fun read and one I'm looking forward to finally starting! Have you read this one yet? What did you think!? And if you have a review, I'd love to put a link here so we can all check it out!

*P.S. This Book is Kindle Ready!

Searching for Pemberley by Mary Lydon Simonsen... A Review

Could Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice have been Inspired by a Real Love Story...

Join Maggie Joyce as she searches for the answers...

Searching for Pemberly by Mary Lydon Simonsen is wonderful historical fiction! Filled with romance, history and the mystery behind the real life characters of Pride & Prejudice. Instead of reinventing Pride & Prejudice into a different story, Mary Lydon Simonsen gives us Maggie Joyce, a girl who loves Jane Austen, who happens to be working in London and has "stumbled upon a rumor that Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice was based on the lives of a real couple."

What could be more fun then solving the age old question of who the real Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy are?! Just after World War II, a young Maggie Joyce, a Jane Austen fan, has just graduated from business school and leaves her coal town in Pennsylvania for office work in Washington, DC. The time just after the war was a dark and dreary time, similar in some respects to the world that Jane Austen writes about in her novel Pride & Prejudice, and we can see the connection that Maggie Joyce has with Jane's work. When it's time to move on, we see a little spark of adventure in Maggie as she travels to work first in Germany and then finally in London, England, home to her heroine Jane Austen! It's here where the story really begins... With a tour of what is thought to be Pemberly and the rumors of the real life love story that Pride & Prejudice was based on!

Although this is fiction, you just can't stop yourself from wishing that all that Maggie uncovers is the truth behind the actual romance between "Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy". The story is so well thought out that it is quite believable. Through correspondence and long forgotten diaries & letters Maggie finds, we are propelled into the mystery ourselves! The writing is good, the research done to stay true to the times is evident, and of course the characters are likable and believable. A very unique take in what is a large number of Jane Austen inspired books, Searching for Pemberley is a wonderful story. I so enjoyed this book! And if you are a Jane fan, you will enjoy it too! Mary Lydon Simonsen treats us to a leisurely paced story! Like enjoying a steeping cup of tea, you slowly breathe it all in. Maggie doesn't uncover anything earth shattering, but what Mary Lydon Simonsen uncovers is a story that will keep your interest! A wonderful mystery, a nice heap of romance, and this all adds up to a book well worth any Jane Austen fans' time. Thank you to Danielle of Sourcebooks for this wonderful review copy! The story was more than I could have hoped for!

Happy Birthday Jane Austen!

Happy Birthday Jane Austen!

Dec 16, 1775 - July 18, 1817

Thank you Jane for Mansfield Park, Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Persuasion, Sense and Sensability, and Northanger Abbey! Hope you are enjoying Jane Austen week, with a bit of Jane inspired books. I will link up all the reviews this week here at the end of the week, and in the meantime enjoy more contemporary books inspired by Jane Austen's popularity! And don't be shy, share your favorite Jane Austen book here! Tell me what other Jane inspired book you've read and liked! And of course you can always share your Birthday wishes with Jane!

Happy reading! And Happy Birthday Jane!

Mr. Darcy, Vampyre by Amanda Grange... A Review

A legendary and immortal love story ...

for a legendary and immortal couple...

a test of love that will take them to hell and back...

Girl loves Boy... Boy loves girl... Boy has BIG secret... and FANGS! I know what your thinking, but I'm talking about... Mr. Darcy, Vampyre by Amanda Grange! It is a wonderful gothic adventure! If you love Jane Austen, you will already feel right at home as the story opens on the morning of the wedding of Elizabeth Bennet and the brooding Mr. Darcy. It is to be a joint wedding, the sister she is closest with, Jane, is marrying her Mr. Bingley...

But things seem a bit off after the vows... Elizabeth writes to her sister, "...Tell me, Jane, is marriage what you thought it would be?" Elizabeth is perplexed by her new husbands "quirks"... First he doesn't seem happy, has he regrets so soon? Secondly, he doesn't seem to want to "consummate" the marriage, actually seeming to avoid her! (That certainly doesn't seem too normal!). And finally, there seems to be something on his mind... Something BIG! Hmmm, wonder if it has anything to do with those fangs? Mr. Darcy thus whisks his new wife off to unexpected places, visiting strange relations...

My dearest Jane,

My hand is trembling as I write this letter. My nerves are in tatters and I am so altered that I believe you would not recognise me. The past two months have been a nightmarish whirl of strange and disturbing circumstances, and the future . . .

Jane, I am afraid. If anything happens to me, remember that I love you and that my spirit will always be with you, though we may never see each other again. The world is a cold and frightening place where nothing is as it seems. It was all so different a few short months ago. When I awoke on my wedding morning, I thought myself the happiest woman alive . . .

Unlike a lot of the Jane Austen "Vampire" inspired spin-offs, this book is not just written as a humorous take on Pride & Prejudice, although it was a fun book to read! It is a wonderfully written alternative take on Mr. Darcy and why he is such a dark, handsome, brooding character! Written in a style similar to Jane Austen's writing, it is a well written page turner that you will truly enjoy! The characters come alive and so does the scenery around them! Ms. Austen would definitely have a smile on her face as she read this book! I know I did! If you love Jane Austen and the occasional vampyre, pick up Mr. Darcy, Vampyre! You won't be sorry! Thank you to Danielle of Sourcebooks for sending me this wonderful book to review! Mr. Darcy was never a more interesting character!

*P.S. This Book is Kindle Ready!