Tuesday, June 27, 2017

Book Review: Jane of Austin, Great Beach Read

Jane of Austin by Hillary Manton Lodge is a retelling of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility set in Austin, Texas. And though this novel a romantic retelling and I don’t usually read romance, I’m a huge fan of Austen and couldn’t resist this book.

As a retelling, the book was fun. It updated the tropes and effortlessly set the novel in a modern world without any awkwardness or injury to the story and characters. I loved the inclusion of the tea shop as part of the setting. And as someone who also reviews cookbooks, I’m eager to make some of the recipes that the author has included in the novel—the cranberry-vanilla scones sound wonderful.

It’s important to note, that this novel is not a literary exploration of Austen’s novel, nor does it explore and expose social conventions in the way that Austen’s novels do. But this novel doesn’t set out to do those things. This book is a summer, beach-read version of Sense and Sensibility and on that level, it fulfills its expectations and is addictively readable.

Definitely four stars!

One more note, this novel is a “sweet romance,” i.e., no cursing, no sex, etc.
I received this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for a review.