Helpful Score: 6
For anyone who's read Pride & Prejudice (or watched 1995's BBC version) and wished for their own personal Mr. Darcy, this is the book for you. Jane, a single 30-something from New York whose Darcy standards have been ruining her relationships for years, is given an opportunity to immerse herself in the Austen-era at a specialized vacation resort.
A modern woman, she struggles to stay in character and breaks a few rules with actors at the park. In the end, can she finally kick her Darcy obsession? Or will her three week trip result in something more?
Loved this book. Loved it! Such a fun, quick and light read. Hale wrote some great dialogue (Jane is snarky/sarcastic) that had me laughing out loud. Some of the flirting scenes tugged on the heartstrings. I enjoyed it so much that I stayed up ENTIRELY too late in order to finish it in one go!
A modern woman, she struggles to stay in character and breaks a few rules with actors at the park. In the end, can she finally kick her Darcy obsession? Or will her three week trip result in something more?
Loved this book. Loved it! Such a fun, quick and light read. Hale wrote some great dialogue (Jane is snarky/sarcastic) that had me laughing out loud. Some of the flirting scenes tugged on the heartstrings. I enjoyed it so much that I stayed up ENTIRELY too late in order to finish it in one go!
Helpful Score: 5
In her debut novel for adults, Shannon Hale pays homage to Jane Austen in Austenland, an exclusive fantasy retreat where Regency England awaits wealthy Austen-obsessed female guests. Jane, a New York graphic designer "not yet four and thirty" doesn't quite fit in with this set, but was bequeathed an "Experience" by a wealthy great-aunt who uncovers her obsession with Mr. Darcy, especially as played by Colin Firth in the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice. Could this be poisoning her relationships with modern-day men, and if so, would three weeks in Austenland be the cure?
The devoted Austen fan would relish Jane's immersion (therapy?) in Austenland, where she meets eligible Regency-era gentlemen as Jane Erstwhile, an escapist playground where it's hard to parse what is real and what is pretend for the client's paying pleasure. Those unfamiliar with Austen might have an occasional reference pass overhead, but the novel still serves up a delicious light sample of chick lit. Yet at times I wished there was more meat to Jane's character. While the reader learns more about her relationship history through italicized flashbacks at the beginning of the chapters that take place "on site," Jane begins as a rather one-dimensional girl, defined by her Darcy obsession, not necessarily the heroine for whom one would wholeheartedly root for a happy ending. Could a fear of physical intimacy be the root cause of both her failed relationships and Darcy obsession? If not for the Austen tie-in, Jane would need to be more psychological defined for the book to sustain interest. But as such, it was an enjoyable light read.
Helpful Score: 5
I've been put off by other tribute novels, but was pleasantly surprised by this novel. It has the right mix of chick lit and Gothic suspense. Hale avoids the pit falls of other tribute novels that try too hard to be Austen and successfully finds her own niche in the land of Austen.
The movie version would be a welcomed guilty pleasure!
The movie version would be a welcomed guilty pleasure!
Helpful Score: 4
Type: {Beach Read: fluffy, mindless, easy to read}
Rating: {An Unputdownable: couldnt eat or sleep until I finished this book}
Why Youre Reading It:
Youre an Austenite (lover of all things Jane Austen)
You love time travel type books
Youre a sucker for a good love story
What I thought:
First of all, Im a total Austenite. Plop me in front of any version of Pride and Prejudice and youve lost me for hours. I was hooked by the blurb on the front cover that told me of Jane Hayes, a single woman living in the city who is obsessed with Jane Austen. A wealthy relative gives her a trip to Austenland (an English resort that is set up as a Regency-era role play getaway). I had fun reading as Jane plunged herself into this new life (for three weeks) full of characters who are visiting and others who work there (ahem, cute men who of course become love interests). Austen fans will be tickled by the references to her books, and newcomers will enjoy a good chick-lit romp through time.
This is the type of book you could read in one gulp. Short, easy, sweet, with just enough romance to keep smiling.
Rating: {An Unputdownable: couldnt eat or sleep until I finished this book}
Why Youre Reading It:
Youre an Austenite (lover of all things Jane Austen)
You love time travel type books
Youre a sucker for a good love story
What I thought:
First of all, Im a total Austenite. Plop me in front of any version of Pride and Prejudice and youve lost me for hours. I was hooked by the blurb on the front cover that told me of Jane Hayes, a single woman living in the city who is obsessed with Jane Austen. A wealthy relative gives her a trip to Austenland (an English resort that is set up as a Regency-era role play getaway). I had fun reading as Jane plunged herself into this new life (for three weeks) full of characters who are visiting and others who work there (ahem, cute men who of course become love interests). Austen fans will be tickled by the references to her books, and newcomers will enjoy a good chick-lit romp through time.
This is the type of book you could read in one gulp. Short, easy, sweet, with just enough romance to keep smiling.
Helpful Score: 2
Good, fun, light read. Kept me guessing until the very end which guy she'd end up with.
Helpful Score: 1
Loved it! A Must Read!
Read me if you like...
Chick lit
Stories about love and self discovery
Easy reads
Jane is obsessed with finding her very own Mr. Darcy, but none of the men she dates can ever stack up. A wealthy relative leaves her an all expenses paid trip to Austenland where she can live out her fantasy of falling in love with Mr. Darcy. During her three week stay she struggles with reality and fantasy. Can she let go of her fantasy so she can find her Mr. Right?
This was such a cute book! It was a very easy read. I read it in a day. I could relate to the main character, Jane, being a single girl looking for Mr. Right and not having much luck! So I thought it was funny and enjoyable. If you enjoy chick lit, are an Austen fan, or someone who enjoys light hearted romance novels then I think you would enjoy this book. Definitely recommend.
Read me if you like...
Chick lit
Stories about love and self discovery
Easy reads
Jane is obsessed with finding her very own Mr. Darcy, but none of the men she dates can ever stack up. A wealthy relative leaves her an all expenses paid trip to Austenland where she can live out her fantasy of falling in love with Mr. Darcy. During her three week stay she struggles with reality and fantasy. Can she let go of her fantasy so she can find her Mr. Right?
This was such a cute book! It was a very easy read. I read it in a day. I could relate to the main character, Jane, being a single girl looking for Mr. Right and not having much luck! So I thought it was funny and enjoyable. If you enjoy chick lit, are an Austen fan, or someone who enjoys light hearted romance novels then I think you would enjoy this book. Definitely recommend.
Helpful Score: 1
I'm not into chicklit, but I love Shannon Hale, so I was very willing to give this book a try, my first taste of her writing for older adults rather than teens. Jane is a young thirty-something New Yorker whose love life has much to be desired, possibly because of her obsession with Mr. Darcy of Pride & Prejudice (the Colin Firth version), against whom every male she has met has been compared and found wanting. But when her great-aunt passes away she bequeaths to her a 3-week trip to an English resort where she is to be immersed in the Regency England of Jane Austen. Will she finally find true love or will she be able to let go of her fantasies at last? This book is an entertaining homage to Jane Austen, and will delight her fans as well as Hale's.
Helpful Score: 1
Pembrook Park, with its Victorian-era architecture, costumes, and mannerisms, may seem like a haven for those with lots of cash to spend and craving a departure from the modern world to live a romantic Austenian three-week getaway. For Jane Hayes, however, a thirty-something-year-old New Yorker whose obsession with Mr. Darcy has literally ruined her love life, Pembrook Park just might be her worst nightmare. The vacation was bequeathed her by a wealthy relative who figured out her unhealthy fantasties. Jane has no idea what the relative was thinking. Sticking her into a place where she will undoubtedly get her hopes up for a happy ending?
As Jane navigates the life of an early nineteenth-century British woman, she meets the acquaintances of actors and actresses who work at Pembrook, as well as some other women in her position, there to have a good time. And in spite of her determination to give up men altogether, she can't help but be interested in two: Martin, a tall and charming gardener who makes her feel real, and Mr. Nobley, a closed-off, mysterious gentleman in the household, whose arrogance she despises.
Living at Pembrook Park is a surreal experience, and yet Jane grows into her real-world self, something she couldn't do when she was living her regular old boring life. She begins to realize that it is not healthy for her to dwell on an impossibly perfect man anymore, and is determined to rid herself of that fantasy once and for all. That means rejecting Mr. Nobley's engagement proposal at the end of the three weeks, a proposal that sounds like it comes straight out of a script. Because that's what it is: an act...right? And rejecting it is the right thing to do...right?
What if Jane ends up getting everything just when she chooses to give it up?
AUSTENLAND is fantastic! It's a brand new spin on the old Austen obsession for fans of the novels and movies. Sometimes fabricated, other times completely original, AUSTENLAND was a delight for me to read.
As Jane navigates the life of an early nineteenth-century British woman, she meets the acquaintances of actors and actresses who work at Pembrook, as well as some other women in her position, there to have a good time. And in spite of her determination to give up men altogether, she can't help but be interested in two: Martin, a tall and charming gardener who makes her feel real, and Mr. Nobley, a closed-off, mysterious gentleman in the household, whose arrogance she despises.
Living at Pembrook Park is a surreal experience, and yet Jane grows into her real-world self, something she couldn't do when she was living her regular old boring life. She begins to realize that it is not healthy for her to dwell on an impossibly perfect man anymore, and is determined to rid herself of that fantasy once and for all. That means rejecting Mr. Nobley's engagement proposal at the end of the three weeks, a proposal that sounds like it comes straight out of a script. Because that's what it is: an act...right? And rejecting it is the right thing to do...right?
What if Jane ends up getting everything just when she chooses to give it up?
AUSTENLAND is fantastic! It's a brand new spin on the old Austen obsession for fans of the novels and movies. Sometimes fabricated, other times completely original, AUSTENLAND was a delight for me to read.
I enjoyed this book but I honestly think it would be better if you watched the BBC Pride and Prejudice mini-series with Colin Firth first. I've read the book many times but never saw the series and I think I missed some subtleties in the book because of that.
I also kind of didn't like any of the men she hooked up with but it was a good way to remind us that we probably wouldn't much like the "real" Mr. Darcy.
I also kind of didn't like any of the men she hooked up with but it was a good way to remind us that we probably wouldn't much like the "real" Mr. Darcy.
Great read for Jane Austen fans.
Hale has a nice, effortless style that makes this book a real page-turner. This book is light and entertaining, and short -- I read it by the pool during the summer and it was perfect for an escapist afternoon. The characters have substance (plenty for this type of book) and I thought this book did a great job tapping into the whole Jane Austen phenomenon. It played with the typical girl's familiarity with the subject in a manner that was compelling (even to a reader who love/hates Austen, like me) without completely falling into a swoon. So far I have enjoyed everything I've read by Hale (this and "The Princess Academy") and plan to read more.
Really enjoyable, fun book!
This was a quick, lighthearted read. I enjoyed it very much and recommend it to the Austen enthusiast who has always wanted to step back in time and experience her world in person.
A fun book to read for the Austen fan with a sense of humor. This book is for any fan of Mr Darcy or Colin Firth or Pride and Prejudice as the character is slightly obsessed with those characters and the movie.
As a huge Jane Austen fan, I cringed at the thought of reading yet another badly done psuedo-comparison, however, I was a big fan of Shannon Hale's "Goose Girl" and decided to give it a try. I was not at all disappointed. The story is light but entertaining and she mixes in enough "Austen" in a way that pays homage. Fun read!
Info from back of the book: Jane Hayes has a lot going for her-a good career in New York City, a decent apartment, really fabulous hair-but her love life leaves something to be desired. It might have something to do with her secret obsession with Pride and Prejudice, the BBC adaptation, the one with Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy. How could any real man compare? she might just give up men forever. But when a great-aunt bequeaths her a paid vacation to a special resort for Austen-obsessed women. Jane decides she deserves one last hurrah in fantasyland. Decked out in empire-waist gowns and flirting with obliging hired actors, Jane feels thrillingly like Elizabeth Bennett. Of course, it's all a game. Or maybe her fantasies of a real-life Darcy weren't so ridiculous after all. I enjoyed the book and had wanted to see the movie, however, it was not playing in our area. I was not disappointed I enjoyed it very much. I was going to see the movie with a teen girl if I had her read the book I would discuss some of the male/female interactions with her.
Reviewed by The Compulsive Reader for TeensReadToo.com
Jane Hayes has a serious problem. And that problem is an obsession -- an obsession with Mr. Darcy, the immortal hero of Jane Austen's PRIDE AND PREJUDICE.
When a well-off great-aunt gives Jane a vacation to a Regency-era resort in England, Jane hopes she can finally overcome this obsession of hers. But as she finds herself dressed to the nines in time period apparel and flirting in true Austen fashion with the ever-charming male actors, fantasy and reality blend together until the two are indistinguishable.
This novel, while at times a little unbelievable, was wholly enjoyable and amusing. Not lacking in wit or intelligence, AUSTENLAND is a carefree and lighthearted story that will delight even the most die-hard Austen fans.
Jane Hayes has a serious problem. And that problem is an obsession -- an obsession with Mr. Darcy, the immortal hero of Jane Austen's PRIDE AND PREJUDICE.
When a well-off great-aunt gives Jane a vacation to a Regency-era resort in England, Jane hopes she can finally overcome this obsession of hers. But as she finds herself dressed to the nines in time period apparel and flirting in true Austen fashion with the ever-charming male actors, fantasy and reality blend together until the two are indistinguishable.
This novel, while at times a little unbelievable, was wholly enjoyable and amusing. Not lacking in wit or intelligence, AUSTENLAND is a carefree and lighthearted story that will delight even the most die-hard Austen fans.
Loved it! Just a fun, relaxing, enjoyable read... I so wish I could go to Austenland myself!
