Yours Affectionately, Jane Austen by Sally Smith O’Rourke

Posted on by Wendi Sotis

I was very happy to find out what happened to Eliza Knight and Fitzwilliam Darcy in Yours Affectionately, Jane Austen, the delightful sequel to The Man Who Loved Jane Austen. Again, Sally Smith O’Rourke makes the whole idea of time travel believable. In the beginning, I was a little worried that Sally would have Jane pass through the portal and into the future and then relieved when instead it was her brother’s stable hand, Simmons. Simmons’ reactions to many changes in the future were fun to read. Yes, poor Eliza spends quite a bit of time worrying about whether Darcy could actually be in love with her, but who wouldn’t be jealous of his relationship with Jane? Almost as fun to read as the first, I definitely recommend Yours Affectionately, Jane Austen.

Blurb: Was Mr. Darcy real? Is time travel really possible? For pragmatic Manhattan artist Eliza Knight the answer to both questions is absolutely, Yes! And Fitzwilliam Darcy of Pemberley Farms, Virginia is the reason why!

His tale of love and romance in Regency England leaves Eliza in no doubt that Fitz Darcy is the embodiment of Jane Austen’s legendary hero. And she’s falling in love with him. But can the man who loved the inimitable Jane Austen ever love average, ordinary Eliza Knight?

Eliza’s doubts grow, perhaps out of proportion, when things start to happen in the quiet hamlet of Chawton, England; events that could change everything. Will the beloved author become the wedge that divides Fitz and Eliza or the tie that binds them?

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I won this book as part of a promotion for AustenAdmirers.com – a smartphone application designed to bring together authors, bloggers and fans of Austen in one

easy-to-use RSS application.

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This review is part of my commitment towards

The Pride and Prejudice Bicentenary Challenge

hosted by AustenProse.com.

The Man Who Loved Jane Austen by Sally Smith O’Rourke

Posted on by Wendi Sotis

Wow! I knew this was going to be good, but what I found in the pages of The Man Who Loved Jane Austen was not what I expected – in an Oh-So-Delicious way! Did I ever tell you I adore time travel stories? How could I not love a novel that includes a sweet, contemporary Austenesque-type romance, a Regency romance including Jane Austen herself, AND time travel, all wrapped up into one? Sally has a beautiful way of describing scenes; I saw what the characters were seeing.

If it weren’t for a lack of commas, which every once in a while made me stop reading and start editing the text in my head so I was able to understand what was meant by the sentence, I’d say this was perfect! In the end,  I was able to accept them. Putting that aside, I LOVED this book.

Once I got started, I had trouble putting it down and read it within a 24-hour period.

Off I go to begin reading “Yours Affectionately, Jane Austen” the sequel! Can’t wait!

Official Blurb:

When New York artist Eliza Knight buys an old vanity table one lazy Sunday afternoon, she has no idea of its history. Tucked away behind the mirror are two letters. One is sealed; the other, dated May 1810, is addressed to “Dearest Jane” from “F. Darcy”–as in Fitzwilliam Darcy, the fictional hero of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Could one of literature’s most compelling characters been a real person? More intriguing still, scientific testing proves that the second, sealed letter was written by Jane herself.

Caught between the routine of her present life and these incredible discoveries from the past, Eliza decides to look deeper and is drawn to a majestic, 200-year-old estate in Virginia’s breathtaking Shenandoah Valley. There she meets the man who may hold the answer to this extraordinary puzzle. Now, as the real story of Fitzwilliam Darcy unfolds, Eliza finds her life has become a modern-day romance, one that perhaps only Jane herself could have written. . .

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This review is part of my commitment towards

The Pride and Prejudice Bicentenary Challenge

hosted by AustenProse.com.

Attempting Elizabeth by Jessica Grey

Posted on by Wendi Sotis

Have you ever become so involved with a story that you didn’t even want to stop reading long enough to eat or sleep?  Yep, that’s what happened while I was reading Jessica Grey’s new release:

Attempting Elizabeth

Janeites everywhere will love this story! It’s been a long time since I’ve laughed this hard or this often while reading a book. The characters were alive, and I couldn’t help but connect with Kelsey on so many levels.

I had written up a description for Attempting Elizabeth, and even chose a couple of quotes that I absolutely loved, but I decided not to use them when I realized they gave away too much of the plot. The official description tells the perfect amount:

“Kelsey Edmundson is a geek and proud of it. She makes no secret of her love for TV, movies, and, most especially, books. After a bad breakup, she retreats into her favorite novel, Pride and Prejudice, wishing she had some of the wit and spirit of Elizabeth Bennett.

One night at a party Kelsey meets handsome Australian bartender Mark Barnes. From then on, she always seems to run into him when she least expects it. No matter how Kelsey tries, she always seems to say the wrong thing.

After a particularly gaffe-filled evening around Mark, Kelsey is in desperate need of inspiration from Jane Austen. She falls asleep reading Darcy’s letter to Lizzy and awakens to find herself in an unfamiliar place that looks and sounds suspiciously like her favorite book. Has she somehow been transported into Pride and Prejudice, or is it just a dream?

As Kelsey tries to discover what’s happening to her, she must also discover her own heart. Is Mark Barnes destined to be her Mr. Darcy? In the end, she must decide whether attempting to become Elizabeth is worth the risk or if being Kelsey Edmundson is enough.”

I was left with one question at the end, but I was able to answer it myself by opening my copy of Pride and Prejudice. I’m relieved to declare that all is still as it should be!

I’m sure I’ll be reading this again soon!

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I’m counting this book toward the Pride and Prejudice Bicentenary Challenge (austenprose.com)