Julia Reviews Austenland by Shannon Hale

Title/Author: Austenland by Shannon Hale
Publisher/Year Published: 2007 by Bloomsbury
How I got this book: I got this from the library
Why I read this book: This is another one for the Smart Bitches, Trashy Books bookclub. The book discussion is this Thursday and it's a really fun time if you care to join :)
Rating: 3.5 stars

Summary: via Goodreads

Jane Hayes is a seemingly normal young New Yorker, but she has a secret. Her obsession with Mr. Darcy, as played by Colin Firth in the BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, is ruining her love life: no real man can compare. But when a wealthy relative bequeaths her a trip to an English resort catering to Austen-crazed women, Jane's fantasies of meeting the perfect Regency-era gentleman suddenly become realer than she ever could have imagined.  

Decked out in empire-waist gowns, Jane struggles to master Regency etiquette and flirts with gardeners and gentlemen;or maybe even, she suspects, with the actors who are playing them. It's all a game, Jane knows. And yet the longer she stays, the more her insecurities seem to fall away, and the more she wonders: Is she about to kick the Austen obsession for good, or could all her dreams actually culminate in a Mr. Darcy of her own?

Review:

What is a post about Mr. Darcy and P&P without wet Colin Firth?

First I am going to come out and say it. I still have yet to read Pride and Prejudice. Or really any Austen. What I know about her and her books consists of what my professor and I chatted about walking around on the Roman Forum on a high school trip to Italy, the movieThe Jane Austen Book Club, some Jane Austen TV movie that I feel like I may have seen but can't remember the title, and of course the Pride and Prejudice movie and BBC mini series. So I mean I have a lot of secondary sources, but I have yet to read her words and have them wash over me to take me to a time where men were gentlemen and women were future wives.

I'll put this here, too. 

That said, I thought Austenland was a cute book, but I am not in love with it. Maybe it's because of all the things mentioned in the previous paragraph.

Jane, our heroine, is a women in her early thirties who has had the worst luck we relationships. Each chapter actually opens with a small paragraph outlining them. They are really the pits. She partly blames her lack of luck with her secret obsession with Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy. Nothing can compare to that, can it?

Well she gets the opportunity through a series of events to go to this rich people Disneyland called Austenland. They take your oodles and oodles of money and in trade you get three weeks of the full pre-air conditioned, corseted, sewing all day Regency experience. She opts to go to get rid of her silly obsession once and for all. Most of the book chronicles her time there.

Most of the people there in the house she is staying at are paid actors there to give the experience authenticity, but there are at least two other women who paid for the experience and are also guests.

Now that I summarize it the plot is rather dull, as I suppose country life would have been at that time. She gets herself two "love interests" and is all in a tizzy about her life for most of the book. It is interesting to see how much the people playing this world take it seriously. Like it is a Big Deal when anachronistic things happen. They are Regency down to the underpants or lack of them.

The romance itself was nice, I guess. Nothing super steamy and nothing super dull. I enjoyed the paralels in all of the characters to what I know of P&P. I didn't get any other references to things like Emma if there were any.

Overall it was a quick, light jaunt into the world of one woman as she tries to find out who she is and stumbles into a strange scenario in the process... trying to figure out what is real and all that.

If you like light romantic romps into the past, this would probably be right up your alley. There is some fun twists and I did get caught up in the story a bit. I definitely don't regret reading it, but I don't think I'll be reading the sequel.

There is one more thing. It has absolutely nothing to do with the plot or the characters but one itsy bitsy line near the end that talks about kissing on an airplane all the way from London to New York. In Coach. On a plane that is rather crowded. As a frequent airline traveler, I only have one thing to say.

PS: Jana has also reviewed Austenland and gave it five stars. Check out her review from July 2010!

Lori Reviews All the Summer Girls

Title: All the Summer Girls

Author:  Meg Donohue

Published:  William Morrow, 2013

Where I Got It:  I received this book from the publishers.

Summary from Goodreads: In Philadelphia, good girl Kate is dumped by her fiance the day she learns she is pregnant with his child. In New York City, beautiful stay-at-home mom Vanessa is obsessively searching the Internet for news of an old flame. And in San Francisco, Dani, the aspiring writer who can't seem to put down a book--or a cocktail--long enough to open her laptop, has just been fired...again.

In an effort to regroup, Kate, Vanessa, and Dani retreat to the New Jersey beach town where they once spent their summers. Emboldened by the seductive cadences of the shore, the women being to realize how much their lives, and friendships, have been shaped by the choices they made one fateful night on the beach eight years earlier--and the secrets that only now threaten to surface.

My thoughts:  I LOVED THIS!  A month or so ago, I signed up to receive this book thinking that it would be a nice, relaxing read.  I saw that it was coming out on the 21st, so I really wanted to read it before then.  And I waited and waited for the book to arrive.  I began to worry that it wouldn't get here in time for me to review before it came out.  It came a few days ago, just in time for me to make a lot of progress during Bout of Books.  But I still wasn't overly optimistic about finishing by the 21st.  As you can see, this review is coming out on the 19th.  Apparently, I didn't really need to worry because I couldn't put it down.

I found myself relating to something in each of the three friends' personalities and I think that most readers of this novel would do the same.  I couldn't help but sympathize with the characters and their struggles.  Despite being practically inseparable growing up, each of the characters carries a deep (usually dark) secret about their current lives and one about the fateful night alluded to in the summary.  Donohue does a great job of letting these secrets come out in the narrative.  Each chapter follows the interior thoughts of one of the main characters, giving the reader a variety of perspectives.

This book was definitely the ultimate beach read.  I really wish I had been sitting poolside--if not seaside--as I read this.  I felt myself completely relax and get caught up in the story, wondering what would happen next, how things would play out.  I came to really care about the characters and what happened to them.  Donohue leaves the rest of the story to the readers' imagination, but you get the sense that they will each turn out to be happy.

Bottom line--this was a really fun read that I think many of our readers would really enjoy.

Jana Reviews "Me and Mr. Darcy" by Alexandra Potter

Title and Author: Me and Mr. Darcy, by Alexandra Potter

Publishing Info: June 12, 2007, by Ballantine Books

How I Got this Book: Birthday present.

Why I Read It: A dear friend of mine, who recommended Austenland to me, told me that if I loved Austenland, I'd love this one.

Stars: 3




Have you ever read a book that was cute and well written, but left you feeling “meh”? That’s kind of what happened to me with this book. Now, many of you know how much I loved Austenland, by Shannon Hale. It was actually my first review here at The Broke and the Bookish! You should go check it out, especially since the companion novel, Midnight in Austenland, is coming out in January! I’m so excited! Anyway, on to this book. I was looking for something along the same lines as Austenland. As per the recommendation of a friend, as well as a few Goodreads reviews, I figured I’d give it a shot!

“Dreams come true in this hilarious, feel-good fairy tale about life, love, and dating literature’s most eligible bachelor!

After a string of disastrous dates, Emily Albright decides she’s had it with modern-day love and would much rather curl up with Pride and Prejudice and spend her time with Mr. Darcy, the dashing, honorable, and passionate hero of Jane Austen’s classic. So when her best friend suggests a wild week of margaritas and men in Mexico with the girls, Emily abruptly flees to England on a guided tour of Jane Austen country instead. Far from inspiring romance, the company aboard the bus consists of a gaggle of little old ladies and one single man, Spike Hargreaves, a foul-tempered journalist writing an article on why the fictional Mr. Darcy has earned the title of Man Most Women Would Love to Date.

The last thing Emily expects to find on her excursion is a broodingly handsome man striding across a field, his damp shirt clinging to his chest. But that’s exactly what happens when she comes face-to-face with none other than Mr. Darcy himself. Suddenly, every woman’s fantasy becomes one woman’s reality. . . .”

Ok, so the writer of that back-of-the-book summary did an amazing job, and I really can’t come up with anything else to say about the plot.  It was a slow, basic, fluffy plot that was perfect for a leisurely day of summer reading. It was very easy to follow Emily and her gaggle of old lady friends through their little bouts of drama as they toured the English countryside.  Some of these women were cute and hilarious, and some of them bugged me. They formed a pretty strong bond with Emily in the short amount of time they had, though, so I got to really like them at about the same pace that Emily did. They were always concerned about her, and kind of took her under their wing as she discovered things about herself.

Mr. Darcy does make an appearance in the book a few times, but it was weird. I’m not sure if it was a cut in the fabric of time, Emily’s mindless daydreams, or visions from a higher power, but the two of them had innocent encounters throughout the course of the book. Nobody saw him but Emily, so she was viewed as being a bit crazy whenever she mentioned seeing him. Mr. Darcy bugged me. He was weird, and came off as selfish and cocky. I think that’s why this book left me feeling “meh”. I love Mr. Darcy, and I think the author of this book decided that people like Mr. Darcy too much. I don’t have skewed views about men because of Mr. Darcy, but I do appreciate him and enjoy thinking about finding someone similar (thank you, BBC).  I left this book not liking Mr. Darcy, and I was not happy about that.

The writing was done well, and the story idea was cute. I was just not extremely fond of the execution or the characterization. It’s taken me quite a few days to review this book, just because I’m not used to being so lost for words. I have reviewer’s block. Does this ever happen to anyone? Do any of you read a book that leaves you ready to be finished with it, and ready to move on to something else? Do you only review books you love or hate, and leave the “meh” books to be reviewed by someone else?

Daisy's Review of Can You Keep A Secret? by Sophie Kinsella

Title/Author: Can You Keep a Secret? by Sophie Kinsella
Publisher/Date published: the House of Books B.V., first published in 2003
How I got this book: bought it cause I couldn't resist the nice shiny cover
Why I read this book: I reread it for a challenge

I've read this book for the second time and I loved it again. I first read it in 2006 or 2007, back when I read a load of chicklit on a regular basis. A lot of them haven't really stayed with me, but this one has. I must say that besides her Shopaholic series, I've loved every one of Sophie Kinsella's (or Madeleine Wickham's) books. They all have really likeable heroines, cute guys and great plots and are just relaxing reads. I always feel like I'm hanging out with one of my friends when I read one of her books and I think that's what chicklit is supposed to do. She and Jill Mansell are among my instant-buys when it comes to this genre. I'd totally recommend them, especially as beachreads.

But onto this one: Emma is a girl who keeps a little secrets like every other girl. There are those things you think about but never ever tell anyone else, except maybe your best girl friend and maybe not even her. Until she panicks on an airplane ride, thinking the plane will crash, and tells all to the man sitting next to her. Every emberassing little detail about her life. After she can't believe herself, but luckily he's a total stranger and she'll never have to look him in the eye again.
Except she's dead wrong about this and he turns out to be her new boss, who flew in from America to see to the English office. And he remembers. Everything.
How will she ever live this down?

This book is just hilarious. I had so much fun rereading it! I've been so caught up in romance books and YA and the occasional classic or Oprah-approved book that I forgot how much fun chicklit can be! Granted, there are lesser ones, but Kinsella is really good at what she does.

Emma is a really likeable character, she is so human with all her little secrets and the mortification she feels at facing the man who know every last one of them. I love that she takes her anger on one of her colleagues out on her plant, feeding him orange juice. And that she thinks her boyfriend looks like Ken, from Barbie.
And then she has the ones that are real, like the fact that she never told her parents she thinks they love her cousin, who lived with them since she was 13, more than her and that she feels intimidated by said cousin's success.

And she has the most amazing chemistry with Jack, her boss, who seems like a really good guy. He does make some major mistakes, but how can you help falling in love with a guy who pays the busdriver 500 dollars to drop you off in front of your house in a street where the bus doesn't ever normally go through? He's totally adorable and though their first couple of dates were less than great, I was rooting for them the whole time.

All in all, this book was just such a relaxing, funny read and I loved it. I bow down to Sophie Kinsella as one of the reigning queens of this genre.

My rating: 4,5 stars

Stephany Read P.s. I Love You by Cecilia Ahern

Title/Author: P.s. I Love You by Cecilia Ahern
Publisher/Year: Hyperion/December 2005
How I Got It: Public library
Why I read it: I just learned it was a book, so I wanted to read it seems like I watched the movie!
Rating: 5 Stars



Let me first start off by mentioning that this is the book to the popular movie, P.s. I love you! I didn't realize that the movie was a book, until just recently and I wanted to check it out. For those of you who haven't seen the movie yet, or read the book, let me tell you what it's about.

This story line consists of two main characters by the names of Holly and Gerry. They are married, and have been together for a very long time. They have the kind of love/relationship that everyone envies. It's what most people call falling in love with your best friend, soul mate, and finding your first true love. Unfortunately, at the young age of 30, Gerry is diagnosed with a terrible illness that causes him to lose his life. Gerry has left Holly a series of letters, that are instructing her to do things that she wouldn't normally do without having Gerry right beside her. Hes made these letters for her so she can move on with her life after he's gone and so she's able to live again.

This story is funny, heartwarming, sad, heartbreaking, and teaches all a lesson. I can sort of relate to this book. Not in the aspect of losing someone I love dearly due to death, but in the aspect that I did go through a break up about a year or so ago, with my first true love, my best friend, who I was with for 7 years. This books shows us how challenging it is to lose someone that has been your everything for quite some time, whether it's through death, or just because you've separated into your own lives. It shows us that even when you think that you just can not go on living without this person, you really can. It's all about grieving, and eventually finding that inner strength inside of you to take a deep breath, say "I will be okay!" and start living your life to the fullest again. You pick yourself back up after hitting the ground, and you LIVE! Because sadly, the world doesn't stop for a broken heart.

I can also relate to this book as in the fact that Holly did everything with, and for Gerry. She wasn't her own person, she couldn't go anywhere without having him right there besides her, she wanted him there always. She wanted to experience every single thing with him, or not at all. That's how I was when I was with my boyfriend for 7 years. I didn't know how to live my life as an individual. Once you lose that person who was literally your everything, you learn how to be independent, do things on your own, and be happy again! And let me tell you, it's the most amazing feeling ever when you finally realize this.

While Holly is going through this rough time in her life, she's able to get through it with the help of her two best friends, and her family. Holly is faced with troubling times when she is still grieving and has to watch her two best friends get married, and the other one is having a baby. Holly know that's suppose to be her and Gerry having the baby, so she goes through a selfish period where luckily, her friends understand that she's just having a rough time. While Holly is faced with all of these emotions, ups and downs, times of success and triumph, she has to realize that it's what Gerry wanted, which takes her a long time to realize. She feels as if she can't move on, fall in love again, or be happy without Gerry. That's why he wrote the letters to her, to show her that he wants her to move on, and live life.

I absolutely loved this book. As I said, it's funny, happy, sad, heartwarming, heartbreaking, but all in all, it's a fantastic book that teaches all of us how to move on, be happy and to live life to the fullest, no matter what.

I highly recommend this book to everyone. And of course, watch the movie as well if you haven't already!

Julia reviews "My Name is Memory" by Ann Brashares

Title/Author: My Name Is Memory by Ann Brashares
Publisher/Year Published: 2010 by Riverhead Hardcover
How I got this book:An inter library loan
Why I read this book: I saw the book listed as a Goodreads giveaway and liked the premise
Rating: 3.5 stars

My Name is Memory is the latest book by author Ann Brashares, most known for her books about traveling legwear. I have never read any of the Pants books and thus this was my first experience with Brashares. This book is about Daniel and Lucy. Daniel is an old soul; he has lived many lives and remembers them all. Lucy is his, for lack of a better word, soul mate, but every time she dies the memory of him dies with her. He has made it his lives goal to reunite them and finally get them the happily ever after they deserve.

Sounds like the making of an epic love story right? The book is broken into sections told in 3rd person, usually featuring the annoyingly perfect protagonist, Lucy, and sections about the past lives told via Daniel and his memory. Early on in the book I lived for these scenes. The seemed like they were written for a different book, initially because the of the contrast between Daniel and living live in ancient Africa and Lucy annoyed that she cooks so well (or something to that effect). But eventually Lucy began to grow a character and I liked her more and thus liked the story more. It's hard to like a story when the character it's centering around is unlikable.

But like I said things started to move. I was on my way to a new favorite. Life was grand. Then the climax came. Ooo nice build up. But wait, Julia says to herself. There are only 30 more pages left. How could this wrap up even remotely well? As I read the last page I was quite dumbfounded. A little investigation found that she is planning on making this a trilogy.

I was quite chagrined. I felt like it was quite possible to wrap it up in one book. It would have been an epic love story. I can't think of any love stories that effectively span a trilogy. But since I want to know what happens I'll read on.

So overall this was a decent story. Sometimes the characters bordered on "too stupid to live" and occasionally the writing felt kind of forced, but mostly I was enjoying finding out what came next and rooting for these two to find their happily ever after.

3.5 stars for this transcendent love.

Stephany Read: Not My Daughter by Barbara Delinsky

Book Title/Author: Not My Daughter by Barbara Delinsky
Publisher/Year Published: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group/January 2010
How I Got This Book: From the public library.
Why I read this book: Once I read one book by an author, and if I like it a lot, I try to read ALL of his/her books. So, as I said, I heard this one was going to be great, so I decided to read it!
Rating: 3 stars-- It was an OKAY book, not great.

Basically the book is following "trends" that actually do happen with the world nowadays. It's about three teenage girls who make a pregnancy pact while in their senior year of high school.

When I first started reading the book, I was bored. I don't know if any of you have seen the lifetime movie called The Pregnancy Pact, but I felt as if Barbara (the author) watched the movie, and/or heard about this event that actually happened and decided to do a story on it. I felt as if her book wasn't original enough. It just seemed too planned or maybe too played out.

So, these three girls decide to do a pregnancy pact while in their senior year of high school, and their parents are totally against it. The book is about trial and error, loving unconditionally, and working as a family through the rough times, rather than just the good times. I felt as if the Mothers in the book were being very selfish about the whole situation, as well as the town the book takes place in. One of the teenage girls mom, is the High School Principal and her fellow staff, school board and faculty members, as well as town members are pointing fingers and saying she could prevent it.

Honestly, I would recommend this book to either other Barbara Delinsky fans because it is an okay book. But, it's definitely not a favorite that I've ever read. As I said, it seems too played out, too planned, too much like the actual story that happened not too long ago. I feel like this particular author and/or story shows that they (the author) couldn't find anything better to write.

Maybe I'm being too honest, or too outspoken, or too harsh, but I'm not really sure how else to explain.. basically, the book was just too stereotype-ish and dry.

Regarding Jana and "Austenland"

Title and Author: Austenland by Shannon Hale

Publishing Info : Published by Bloomsbury USA, 2007.

How I got this book: It was under the tree Christmas of 2009.

Why I read this book: A very good friend recommended this book to me when she learned that I'm that hopeless romantic who wishes she lived in the good old days of Jane Austen's romances.

Stars: I give this book 5 heart-shaped stars because it was so cute and I got to live vicariously through the main character!

Austenland is like Disneyland for women who secretly wish they had a Mr. Darcy of their own. I think BBC’s version of Pride and Prejudice instilled a little bit of that longing in all of us. This problem is exactly what Jane Hayes suffers with. After dating a ton of losers, this single, 33-year-old, New Yorker has come to the conclusion that no man can compare to the sexy, debonair, and utterly romantic Mr. Darcy. She has given up on the male gender completely. One day when her mother and great-aunt Carolyn come over for a visit, they inadvertently discover her copy of the movie as it shifts and falls from its hiding place in Jane’s potted plant. Jane, of course, was mortified—as if they had discovered her drawer of scandalous underwear.

Six months later, Great-Aunt Carolyn passes away and leaves one thing for Jane in her will: a non-refundable, all-inclusive, three-week vacation to Pembrook Park in England where she will strip herself of modern conveniences and live just as Elizabeth Bennett did. After some panicked girl talk with her friend, she decides to humor her late aunt and go on the trip as one last fling before giving up on ever finding her Mr. Darcy. She’ll play out her fantasy and then throw her DVDs away.

She arrives at Pembrook Park and is given a new name, a new age (in Regency times, a woman her age would be considered a spinster and unmarriageable), a pamphlet on how to speak and act, a regency wardrobe (even her purple bra is confiscated and replaced with Regency undies), and is scurried off to teatime with her cell phone hidden illegally in the bottom of her trunk. She feels a little silly at first, but soon embraces this new way of life. She even enjoys it a little! Even though it’s all a game, her confidence improves and she’s convinced she can finally kick this Mr. Darcy obsession to the curb. However, these dreams of hers seem to be more attainable than she thought. With all the humor, charm, and sweet romance you could expect from a Jane Austen novel, Jane Hayes is well on her way to finding everything she hoped for.

This book had me before it even started when I read the dedication page: “For Colin Firth: You’re a really great guy, but I’m married, so I think we should just be friends.” I knew I was in for a fun read. I think part of the reason I enjoyed this book so much is because I identify so much with Jane Hayes. I’ve had my share of frogs in the proverbial dating pond, and understand her frustrations. However… I don’t hide my Pride and Prejudice DVD in a flowerpot. Hahaha. This was a fun, light-hearted read. It was very clean, obviously (since it’s modeled after a clean book), and I enjoyed watching the romance unfold. Jane got herself into some funny situations and was a bit rebellious at times—sneaking out to enjoy modern technology (sounds like something I’d do). I also love that each chapter started out with a story of one of Jane's romances-gone-bad. They were very humorous and made me feel a little better about my experiences! I enjoyed the characters, the detailed descriptions, and the storyline. I laughed, I got annoyed, I chewed characters out when they were being dumb, I turned the pages in anticipation, and I closed the book with a smile on my face. Most importantly, this book helped me remember that sometimes what you need is much different than what you want or what you’re looking for.

Happy reading! I’m off to pop some popcorn and watch Pride and Prejudice! (Colin, feel free to join me. I’m not married.)