Sunday, April 26, 2009

Review: What Would Jane Austen Do? by Laurie Brown

Costume designer Eleanor Pottinger is thrilled to be attending The Jane Austen Society's conference at Twixton Manor where she can indulge in the world of her favorite author while promoting her line of Regency dresses.

After a long flight Eleanor arrives, weary and rumpled, only to find that there is no record of her reservation. So she is given the only room left, the haunted Tower Suite. Since she doesn't believe in ghosts and only wants a place to sleep, it seems to be the perfect solution.

Resident ghosts Mina and Deirdre have their own plans. For centuries they have been trying to figure out what has been keeping them at Twixton Manor. They have decided that they need to stop the death of their half-brother, who dies in a duel with Lord Shermont. The duel was over the girls' honor and they hope they can change the outcome by sending someone back that can intervene. And here is Eleanor, dropped into their laps and perfect for the job. She even has her own outfits!

Of course, when the ghosts wake Eleanor and outline their plan, she doesn't believe them. She thinks they are a product of her travel-weary brain and goes back to sleep. When she wakes up it is in Regency England at a very different Twixton Manor. Here she finds the real Mina and Deirdre and meets the devilishly handsome Lord Shermont, who immediately captures her interest. How is she ever going to manage to fit into the complicated world of an 1814 manor house? By asking herself the same question each time she is in doubt: What would Jane Austen do?

This is a great book for the summer and would make a perfect travel or beach read. I read it on the plane to London! It is fun and light, it made my six hour flight zip by. If you like time travel romance novels, this one is for you!

What Would Jane Austen Do? is published by Sourcebooks. ISBN 978-1-4022-1831-6 (My thanks to Danielle at Sourcebooks for sending me the review copy!)

You will find a great guest post by the author at Romance Junkies and Laurie's website is here.

Here are a few other reviews:

Genre Go Round
Novel Thoughts
All About Romance

8 comments:

Ladytink_534 said...

Ghosts and time travel? Sounds like it's right up my alley even though I've never read anything by Austen before and know little about her. It doesn't seem like it's that important to the story though so I may give this one a chance. Thanks!

The Tome Traveller said...

It is a fun book, no prior Jane Austen knowledge required!

S. Krishna said...

This book sounds fun. Nice review!

Unknown said...

This books sounds so good! I'll see if it turns up at the local library.

Great review!

Dottie :)

Zibilee said...

I read another good review of this, and think it does sound like something that would be perfect for those beach days. One thing I really enjoy about your reviews is your excellent plot summary. You give me just enough information to decide if I want to read the book without too many spoilers, so thanks!

The Tome Traveller said...

Thanks, Zibilee! I do try to put together an accurate summary without spoilers (I hate those)! I'm forever trying to decide if a review is the right length. It is nice to have positive feedback!

teabird said...

I'm mad for Jane Austen and dual-time books -- how could this be bad? Add ghost stories and you have me...


teabird 17 AT yahoo dot com

Shanyn said...

I have been noticing a lot going on with Jane Austen but never really knew why everyone was doing reading challenges associated with her... this book seems interesting but I guess I'm not much into time travel in books. I have been widening my horizons by getting recommendations from blogs but I probably won't be into the Jane Austen thing (at least for awhile).


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About Me

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New Hampshire, United States
Bibliophile, Anglophile, Traveller... I have been an avid reader all of my life, since I took the Dr. Seuss Dictionary away from my Mom when I was less than a year old because I wanted to read it myself. In college, where I earned my degree in English Literature, I was often asked "What are you going to do with it?" Now I finally have the answer to that question!!! Being employed as a Flight Attendant for twenty years has given me a lot of life experience and, better still, a lot of time to read. I love to travel for fun, too.