Since I have to run, I bring another installment of To Buy or Not to Buy.
Book Description (From Amazon):
Meet Jane and Austen. First there's Jane—an impractical, starry-eyed wedding planner; if love can’t match what she’s read in a book, she doesn’t want it. And then there’s Austen—a pragmatic, logical-to-a-fault financial consultant; even if he were interested in someone, he wouldn’t know.
The two have one thing in common: they can’t leave each other alone. Jane believes that if Austen could just experience a fairy tale romance, he would secretly love it. And Austen’s pretty sure that if one of Jane’s beloved heroes escaped from the pages of her dog-eared novels, she’d run and hide.
Both are about to be proven right.
When the rivals are called on to help a friend plan the biggest wedding of the year, an entire resort full of colorful wedding guests descends upon them—many sharing uncanny similarities to characters in a Jane Austen novel. It doesn’t take long before Jane gets everything she thinks she wants. After all, too much of a good thing can’t be all that bad, right?
But when Jane’s life turns upside down, the only one she can turn to is Austen; though he’s got his own troubles of the heart…and she's afraid that he's enjoying them more than he should.
My First Impression:
Jane has won the coveted internship at the North Abbey a bed and breakfast turned into a successful resort. The problem with it is that the owner’s son, Austen, was leaving for Boston to work in the world of finance. She had fallen for him and he seemed oblivious to her feelings. As he is getting in the taxi, Jane stops him to say goodbye one final time. She asks him to text her, but doesn't understand why. She explains she’d like to keep in touch, but he says he’ll be busy with his new life and doesn’t anything to remind him of what he left behind.
Eight months later and Jane is an assistant to Taylor, the Events Planner. Taylor has been dating and Englishman named Charles Bigley and they are now engaged. After the wedding, Taylor will be moving to England with Charles, so she is looking for Jane to fill her shoes and the Events Planner. What that means is that Jane has to do almost all the work for Taylor’s wedding which will be the event of the century.
Jane is quite busy juggling guest accommodations, including making room for rock star Will Dancy who is a last minute guest addition, and dealing with the upper crust guests already starting to arrive. What she wasn't expecting was Austen to walk through the door.
On the one hand, the plot seems very contrived. Many of the characters and place names share names with people and places from Jane Austen’s novels. On the other hand, I am a sucker for Jane Austen and Austenesque stories.
Decision?
To buy…probably.
I vote no on this one, as it sounds too much like other Jane Austen-inspired books out there. In fact, didn't you write a review about a similar plot where guests re-enacted Jane's storylines? Or maybe that was a dream? lol
ReplyDeleteAnd yay for Ravenclaw! That's my house too!
There was the story about the Mr Darcy stripper and it took place at a Jane Austen convention. Not the same thing. Clearly. I ended up buying it. It wasn't only a couple dollars and seems like it will be an easy read.
DeleteIt was a fun party. The hosts made wands out of dowels and we all had to choose a wand sight unseen from a box, which we later used to play a card dueling kind of game. We had butter beer, Harry Potter was streaming on the telly and there were even floating candles above the dining table. Same couple that threw the Dr Who themed party last year.
The problem with Ravenclaw is that I have all this Gryffindor stuff. I had to buy a new scarf for crying out loud. And now I'll have to get some Ravenclaw paraphernalia. Can't be caught with so little house spirit again.