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  <title><![CDATA[The Family Fortune: A Novel]]></title>
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  <description><![CDATA[<p> Jane Fortune's fortunes have taken a downturn. Thanks to the profligate habits of her father and older sister, the family's money has evaporated and Jane has to move out of the only home she's ever known: a stately brick town house on Boston's prestigious Beacon Hill. Thirty-eight and terminally single, Jane has never pursued idle pleasures like her sibling and father. Instead, she has devoted her time to running the Fortune Family Foundation, a revered philanthropic institution that has helped spark the careers of many a budding writer, including Max Wellman, Jane's first&#8212;and only&#8212;love. </p> <p> Now Jane has lost her luster. Max, meanwhile, has become a bestselling novelist and a renowned literary lothario. But change is afoot. And in the process of saving her family and reigniting the flames of true love, Jane might just find herself becoming the woman she was always meant to be. </p>]]></description>
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    <![CDATA[The Family Fortune: A Novel]]>
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    <![CDATA[<p> Jane Fortune's fortunes have taken a downturn. Thanks to the profligate habits of her father and older sister, the family's money has evaporated and Jane has to move out of the only home she's ever known: a stately brick town house on Boston's prestigious Beacon Hill. Thirty-eight and terminally single, Jane has never pursued idle pleasures like her sibling and father. Instead, she has devoted her time to running the Fortune Family Foundation, a revered philanthropic institution that has helped spark the careers of many a budding writer, including Max Wellman, Jane's first&#8212;and only&#8212;love. </p> <p> Now Jane has lost her luster. Max, meanwhile, has become a bestselling novelist and a renowned literary lothario. But change is afoot. And in the process of saving her family and reigniting the flames of true love, Jane might just find herself becoming the woman she was always meant to be. </p>]]>
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    <body><![CDATA[A modern day version of Persuasion taking place in Boston and Cape Cod. I can't praise this book enough. I loved the modern adaptation to Austen. A good read!]]></body>
    
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      <review>
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    <![CDATA[The Family Fortune: A Novel]]>
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    <![CDATA[<p> Jane Fortune's fortunes have taken a downturn. Thanks to the profligate habits of her father and older sister, the family's money has evaporated and Jane has to move out of the only home she's ever known: a stately brick town house on Boston's prestigious Beacon Hill. Thirty-eight and terminally single, Jane has never pursued idle pleasures like her sibling and father. Instead, she has devoted her time to running the Fortune Family Foundation, a revered philanthropic institution that has helped spark the careers of many a budding writer, including Max Wellman, Jane's first&#8212;and only&#8212;love. </p> <p> Now Jane has lost her luster. Max, meanwhile, has become a bestselling novelist and a renowned literary lothario. But change is afoot. And in the process of saving her family and reigniting the flames of true love, Jane might just find herself becoming the woman she was always meant to be. </p>]]>
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  <date_added>Tue Apr 21 00:01:38 -0700 2009</date_added>
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  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Laurie Horowitz’s brilliant debut novel began as an exercise, as Horowitz, a Jane Austen enthusiast, thought she needed more practice writing the dialogue of mean people. The result is a witty social commentary on the old rich, interwoven with a love story that will make readers sigh.<br/><br/>Tec...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/53437433">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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      <review>
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  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Family Fortune: A Novel]]>
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    <![CDATA[<p> Jane Fortune's fortunes have taken a downturn. Thanks to the profligate habits of her father and older sister, the family's money has evaporated and Jane has to move out of the only home she's ever known: a stately brick town house on Boston's prestigious Beacon Hill. Thirty-eight and terminally single, Jane has never pursued idle pleasures like her sibling and father. Instead, she has devoted her time to running the Fortune Family Foundation, a revered philanthropic institution that has helped spark the careers of many a budding writer, including Max Wellman, Jane's first&#8212;and only&#8212;love. </p> <p> Now Jane has lost her luster. Max, meanwhile, has become a bestselling novelist and a renowned literary lothario. But change is afoot. And in the process of saving her family and reigniting the flames of true love, Jane might just find herself becoming the woman she was always meant to be. </p>]]>
  </description>
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    <rating>1</rating>
  <votes>1</votes>
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  <read_at>Tue Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Mon Jul 14 17:49:46 -0700 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Tue Jul 22 10:16:52 -0700 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[The cover of this book says &quot;Inspired by Jane Austen's Persuasion,&quot; so I thought, well, &quot;Clueless&quot; was fun, maybe this will be, too. Not so much. It's a very heavy-handed update of Persuasion - so subtlety, wit, or charm. I cannot motivate myself to finish it - too many good book...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/27259332">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/27259332]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/27259332]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>64733971</id>
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    <id>1539719</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Christina (Boupie)]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Benicia, CA]]></location>
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  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Family Fortune: A Novel]]>
  </title>
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  <average_rating>3.30</average_rating>
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    <![CDATA[<p> Jane Fortune's fortunes have taken a downturn. Thanks to the profligate habits of her father and older sister, the family's money has evaporated and Jane has to move out of the only home she's ever known: a stately brick town house on Boston's prestigious Beacon Hill. Thirty-eight and terminally single, Jane has never pursued idle pleasures like her sibling and father. Instead, she has devoted her time to running the Fortune Family Foundation, a revered philanthropic institution that has helped spark the careers of many a budding writer, including Max Wellman, Jane's first&#8212;and only&#8212;love. </p> <p> Now Jane has lost her luster. Max, meanwhile, has become a bestselling novelist and a renowned literary lothario. But change is afoot. And in the process of saving her family and reigniting the flames of true love, Jane might just find herself becoming the woman she was always meant to be. </p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2006</published>
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    <rating>5</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
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  <read_at>Sun Jul 26 00:00:00 -0700 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Thu Jul 23 19:54:05 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Mon Jul 27 22:03:48 -0700 2009</date_updated>
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    <body><![CDATA[&quot;romance&quot;<br/><br/>I actually really enjoyed this. Horowitz does a very good job adapting <em>Persuasion</em> to a more modern retelling. The setting of Boston was perfect... in fact it made me miss the city a little bit. Even though I did not afgree with all of her changes I found it to be both ...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/64733971">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/64733971]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>5026554</id>
    <user>
    <id>171624</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Maryll]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[New York, NY]]></location>
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    <![CDATA[The Family Fortune: A Novel]]>
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  <average_rating>3.30</average_rating>
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    <![CDATA[<p> Jane Fortune's fortunes have taken a downturn. Thanks to the profligate habits of her father and older sister, the family's money has evaporated and Jane has to move out of the only home she's ever known: a stately brick town house on Boston's prestigious Beacon Hill. Thirty-eight and terminally single, Jane has never pursued idle pleasures like her sibling and father. Instead, she has devoted her time to running the Fortune Family Foundation, a revered philanthropic institution that has helped spark the careers of many a budding writer, including Max Wellman, Jane's first&#8212;and only&#8212;love. </p> <p> Now Jane has lost her luster. Max, meanwhile, has become a bestselling novelist and a renowned literary lothario. But change is afoot. And in the process of saving her family and reigniting the flames of true love, Jane might just find herself becoming the woman she was always meant to be. </p>]]>
  </description>
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    <rating>2</rating>
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  <read_at>Fri Aug 24 19:39:40 -0700 2007</read_at>
  <date_added>Thu Aug 23 15:36:55 -0700 2007</date_added>
  <date_updated>Thu Aug 23 15:39:10 -0700 2007</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Claims to be &quot;a radiant retelling of Jane Austen's Persuasion&quot; which should make old Jane spin in her grave. But it beats watching Oprah on a rainy afternoon]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5026554]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5026554]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>17230525</id>
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    <id>900897</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Allyn]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[The United States]]></location>
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  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Family Fortune]]>
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  <average_rating>3.50</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>20</ratings_count>
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    <![CDATA[<blockquote> <p> Jane Austen in Boston: <br/> a modern retelling of <em>Persuasion</em> <br/> in which the sensible daughter of a flighty <br/> Brahmin family finds love against all odds </p> </blockquote> <p> Jane Fortune has a problem. Thanks to the profligate habits of her father and older sister, the family's money has evaporated and Jane has to move out of the only home she's ever known: a stately brick town house on Boston's prestigious Beacon Hill. Perhaps what's worse is that Jane, at thirty-eight, has never had the gumption to leave in the first place. She is terminally single and fears that she has been left on the shelf to curdle like cream. </p> <p> Unlike her father and sister, Jane doesn't spend her days in the pursuit of idle pleasures -- the best wines, cosmetics, plastic surgeries, spas, haircuts. For fifteen years Jane has been running the Fortune Family Foundation through which she started a literary fellowship and, almost to her own surprise, a journal of great renown. Though too modest to acknowledge it, she's also helped spark the careers of many a budding writer. That includes Max Wellman, the first winner of the fellowship and also Jane's first -- and only -- love. </p> <p> The loss of the family home launches Jane into a peripatetic lifestyle that begins with a visit to her spoiled younger sister, Winnie, in the suburbs. It is then that Max Wellman comes back into Jane's circle. Both Max and Jane have changed in the intervening years. While Max has become a bestselling novelist, known as the literary lothario due to the number of conquests reported by the tabloids, it could be said that Jane had misplaced her luster. </p> <p> But change is afoot. Along the way to bailing out her family and reigniting the flame of true love, Jane discovers enough about herself to shed her spinster persona and become the woman she was always meant to be. </p>]]>
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  <published>2006</published>
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    <rating>2</rating>
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  <read_at>Thu May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2003</read_at>
  <date_added>Fri Mar 07 08:17:01 -0800 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Fri Mar 14 15:23:10 -0700 2008</date_updated>
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    <body><![CDATA[Cute story but the storyline towards the end of the book wasn't developed very well.]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/17230525]]></url>
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      <review>
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    <name><![CDATA[Jenny]]></name>
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    <![CDATA[The Family Fortune]]>
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    <![CDATA[<blockquote> <p> Jane Austen in Boston: <br/> a modern retelling of <em>Persuasion</em> <br/> in which the sensible daughter of a flighty <br/> Brahmin family finds love against all odds </p> </blockquote> <p> Jane Fortune has a problem. Thanks to the profligate habits of her father and older sister, the family's money has evaporated and Jane has to move out of the only home she's ever known: a stately brick town house on Boston's prestigious Beacon Hill. Perhaps what's worse is that Jane, at thirty-eight, has never had the gumption to leave in the first place. She is terminally single and fears that she has been left on the shelf to curdle like cream. </p> <p> Unlike her father and sister, Jane doesn't spend her days in the pursuit of idle pleasures -- the best wines, cosmetics, plastic surgeries, spas, haircuts. For fifteen years Jane has been running the Fortune Family Foundation through which she started a literary fellowship and, almost to her own surprise, a journal of great renown. Though too modest to acknowledge it, she's also helped spark the careers of many a budding writer. That includes Max Wellman, the first winner of the fellowship and also Jane's first -- and only -- love. </p> <p> The loss of the family home launches Jane into a peripatetic lifestyle that begins with a visit to her spoiled younger sister, Winnie, in the suburbs. It is then that Max Wellman comes back into Jane's circle. Both Max and Jane have changed in the intervening years. While Max has become a bestselling novelist, known as the literary lothario due to the number of conquests reported by the tabloids, it could be said that Jane had misplaced her luster. </p> <p> But change is afoot. Along the way to bailing out her family and reigniting the flame of true love, Jane discovers enough about herself to shed her spinster persona and become the woman she was always meant to be. </p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2006</published>
</book>

    <rating>3</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
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  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Mon Jun 15 16:11:08 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Mon Jun 15 16:15:06 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[I picked this book up off the shelf at the library, something I don't like to do because most of the time the books have things in them that I don't like. This book was no exception; it had some language (a few F bombs) and a scene that I thought was offensive. I almost took it back to the library w...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/59797665">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/59797665]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/59797665]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>40773284</id>
    <user>
    <id>1642154</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Caryn]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[The United States]]></location>
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  <isbn>0060875275</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780060875275</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">56</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Family Fortune: A Novel]]>
  </title>
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  <average_rating>3.30</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>201</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[<p> Jane Fortune's fortunes have taken a downturn. Thanks to the profligate habits of her father and older sister, the family's money has evaporated and Jane has to move out of the only home she's ever known: a stately brick town house on Boston's prestigious Beacon Hill. Thirty-eight and terminally single, Jane has never pursued idle pleasures like her sibling and father. Instead, she has devoted her time to running the Fortune Family Foundation, a revered philanthropic institution that has helped spark the careers of many a budding writer, including Max Wellman, Jane's first&#8212;and only&#8212;love. </p> <p> Now Jane has lost her luster. Max, meanwhile, has become a bestselling novelist and a renowned literary lothario. But change is afoot. And in the process of saving her family and reigniting the flames of true love, Jane might just find herself becoming the woman she was always meant to be. </p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2006</published>
</book>

    <rating>4</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
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  <recommended_for><![CDATA[Jane Austen lovers]]></recommended_for>
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  <read_at>Mon Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Tue Dec 23 12:44:32 -0800 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Tue Dec 23 12:48:12 -0800 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[ _Persuasion_ by Jane Austen is flawlessly retold in modern upper crust Boston society.  Understandably, the story does ask you to suspend some disbelief in order to stay true to the original story.  I loved knowing what was going to happen next, but wondering how the author was going to portray the...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/40773284">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/40773284]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/40773284]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>77621470</id>
    <user>
    <id>1722883</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Sharon]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Oakland, CA]]></location>
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  <isbn>0060875275</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780060875275</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">56</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Family Fortune: A Novel]]>
  </title>
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  <average_rating>3.30</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>201</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[<p> Jane Fortune's fortunes have taken a downturn. Thanks to the profligate habits of her father and older sister, the family's money has evaporated and Jane has to move out of the only home she's ever known: a stately brick town house on Boston's prestigious Beacon Hill. Thirty-eight and terminally single, Jane has never pursued idle pleasures like her sibling and father. Instead, she has devoted her time to running the Fortune Family Foundation, a revered philanthropic institution that has helped spark the careers of many a budding writer, including Max Wellman, Jane's first&#8212;and only&#8212;love. </p> <p> Now Jane has lost her luster. Max, meanwhile, has become a bestselling novelist and a renowned literary lothario. But change is afoot. And in the process of saving her family and reigniting the flames of true love, Jane might just find herself becoming the woman she was always meant to be. </p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2006</published>
</book>

    <rating>3</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
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  <read_at>Thu Nov 12 00:00:00 -0800 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Thu Nov 12 21:29:54 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Thu Nov 12 21:33:29 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Another modern telling of Jane Austen that I just stumbled upon.  This one is &quot;Persuasion,&quot; with Boston brahmins and Palm Beach standing in for British aristocracy and Bath.  Of course, you know how it will turn out, but the characters and dialog are well-written and the Boston setting is ...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77621470">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77621470]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77621470]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>59500098</id>
    <user>
    <id>1559512</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Laura]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Ramona, CA]]></location>
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  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Family Fortune: A Novel]]>
  </title>
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  <average_rating>3.30</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>201</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[<p> Jane Fortune's fortunes have taken a downturn. Thanks to the profligate habits of her father and older sister, the family's money has evaporated and Jane has to move out of the only home she's ever known: a stately brick town house on Boston's prestigious Beacon Hill. Thirty-eight and terminally single, Jane has never pursued idle pleasures like her sibling and father. Instead, she has devoted her time to running the Fortune Family Foundation, a revered philanthropic institution that has helped spark the careers of many a budding writer, including Max Wellman, Jane's first&#8212;and only&#8212;love. </p> <p> Now Jane has lost her luster. Max, meanwhile, has become a bestselling novelist and a renowned literary lothario. But change is afoot. And in the process of saving her family and reigniting the flames of true love, Jane might just find herself becoming the woman she was always meant to be. </p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2006</published>
</book>

    <rating>4</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
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  <read_at>Mon Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Sat Jun 13 06:41:36 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sat Jun 13 06:43:21 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[This modern-day retelling of Jane Austen's Persuasion is a great Summer Reading book.  It's funny and romantic and all the right people end up happy.  For my conservative friends, beware, there is some bad language and one bedroom scene that I skipped entirely.  ]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/59500098]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/59500098]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>39870595</id>
    <user>
    <id>1295268</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Kimberly]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Magna, UT]]></location>
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  <isbn>0060875275</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780060875275</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">56</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Family Fortune: A Novel]]>
  </title>
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  <average_rating>3.30</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>201</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[<p> Jane Fortune's fortunes have taken a downturn. Thanks to the profligate habits of her father and older sister, the family's money has evaporated and Jane has to move out of the only home she's ever known: a stately brick town house on Boston's prestigious Beacon Hill. Thirty-eight and terminally single, Jane has never pursued idle pleasures like her sibling and father. Instead, she has devoted her time to running the Fortune Family Foundation, a revered philanthropic institution that has helped spark the careers of many a budding writer, including Max Wellman, Jane's first&#8212;and only&#8212;love. </p> <p> Now Jane has lost her luster. Max, meanwhile, has become a bestselling novelist and a renowned literary lothario. But change is afoot. And in the process of saving her family and reigniting the flames of true love, Jane might just find herself becoming the woman she was always meant to be. </p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2006</published>
</book>

    <rating>3</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
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  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Thu Dec 11 09:50:21 -0800 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sat Jan 03 00:14:39 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[I liked this book, I didn't like how her love interest had gone and become a ladies man though.  True to Persuasion, to me, would have been successful, and a flirt, but not sleeping around.  But in todays world I guess that is all fine and dandy, but not in Jane Austen's world, she would not have be...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/39870595">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/39870595]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/39870595]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>41916300</id>
    <user>
    <id>579164</id>
    <name><![CDATA[KellyWells]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Marthasville, MO]]></location>
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  <isbn13>9780060875275</isbn13>
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  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Family Fortune: A Novel]]>
  </title>
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  <average_rating>3.30</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>201</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[<p> Jane Fortune's fortunes have taken a downturn. Thanks to the profligate habits of her father and older sister, the family's money has evaporated and Jane has to move out of the only home she's ever known: a stately brick town house on Boston's prestigious Beacon Hill. Thirty-eight and terminally single, Jane has never pursued idle pleasures like her sibling and father. Instead, she has devoted her time to running the Fortune Family Foundation, a revered philanthropic institution that has helped spark the careers of many a budding writer, including Max Wellman, Jane's first&#8212;and only&#8212;love. </p> <p> Now Jane has lost her luster. Max, meanwhile, has become a bestselling novelist and a renowned literary lothario. But change is afoot. And in the process of saving her family and reigniting the flames of true love, Jane might just find herself becoming the woman she was always meant to be. </p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2006</published>
</book>

    <rating>2</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
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  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
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  <read_at>Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Sun Jan 04 19:57:49 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sun Jan 04 20:00:19 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[I needed a quick silly book-one that I could read in one sitting and this one fit the bill! It does have some merit being a retelling of a Jane Austrn book and the writing style is actually pretty intelligent. ]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/41916300]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/41916300]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>13055476</id>
    <user>
    <id>235181</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Ali]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[The United States]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/235181-ali]]></link>
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  <isbn>0060875267</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780060875268</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">9</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Family Fortune]]>
  </title>
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  <average_rating>3.30</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>201</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[<blockquote> <p> Jane Austen in Boston: <br/> a modern retelling of <em>Persuasion</em> <br/> in which the sensible daughter of a flighty <br/> Brahmin family finds love against all odds </p> </blockquote> <p> Jane Fortune has a problem. Thanks to the profligate habits of her father and older sister, the family's money has evaporated and Jane has to move out of the only home she's ever known: a stately brick town house on Boston's prestigious Beacon Hill. Perhaps what's worse is that Jane, at thirty-eight, has never had the gumption to leave in the first place. She is terminally single and fears that she has been left on the shelf to curdle like cream. </p> <p> Unlike her father and sister, Jane doesn't spend her days in the pursuit of idle pleasures -- the best wines, cosmetics, plastic surgeries, spas, haircuts. For fifteen years Jane has been running the Fortune Family Foundation through which she started a literary fellowship and, almost to her own surprise, a journal of great renown. Though too modest to acknowledge it, she's also helped spark the careers of many a budding writer. That includes Max Wellman, the first winner of the fellowship and also Jane's first -- and only -- love. </p> <p> The loss of the family home launches Jane into a peripatetic lifestyle that begins with a visit to her spoiled younger sister, Winnie, in the suburbs. It is then that Max Wellman comes back into Jane's circle. Both Max and Jane have changed in the intervening years. While Max has become a bestselling novelist, known as the literary lothario due to the number of conquests reported by the tabloids, it could be said that Jane had misplaced her luster. </p> <p> But change is afoot. Along the way to bailing out her family and reigniting the flame of true love, Jane discovers enough about herself to shed her spinster persona and become the woman she was always meant to be. </p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2006</published>
</book>

    <rating>4</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
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        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
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  <read_at>Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Mon Jan 21 09:38:45 -0800 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Mon Jan 21 09:42:03 -0800 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[This was a slower read than I usually prefer -- not wanting to think much or have to invest more than surface emotions for the characters -- but what a great find. <br/><br/>It was chosen on a wet, rainy day at the library and is Austen-esque in as inoffensive as I've ever seen. <br/><br/>The charac...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/13055476">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/13055476]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/13055476]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
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    <user>
    <id>1286065</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Marla]]></name>
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  <isbn>0060875275</isbn>
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  <text_reviews_count type="integer">56</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Family Fortune: A Novel]]>
  </title>
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  <average_rating>3.30</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>201</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[<p> Jane Fortune's fortunes have taken a downturn. Thanks to the profligate habits of her father and older sister, the family's money has evaporated and Jane has to move out of the only home she's ever known: a stately brick town house on Boston's prestigious Beacon Hill. Thirty-eight and terminally single, Jane has never pursued idle pleasures like her sibling and father. Instead, she has devoted her time to running the Fortune Family Foundation, a revered philanthropic institution that has helped spark the careers of many a budding writer, including Max Wellman, Jane's first&#8212;and only&#8212;love. </p> <p> Now Jane has lost her luster. Max, meanwhile, has become a bestselling novelist and a renowned literary lothario. But change is afoot. And in the process of saving her family and reigniting the flames of true love, Jane might just find herself becoming the woman she was always meant to be. </p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2006</published>
</book>

    <rating>3</rating>
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          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Sun Nov 29 00:00:00 -0800 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Tue Dec 01 09:13:22 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Tue Dec 01 09:21:23 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[A retelling of Jane Austin's &quot;Persuasion&quot;. I enjoyed reading this book. I feel I have some things in common with the main character Jane.  However, she was able to transform herself into the woman she was meant to be.]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/79526174]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/79526174]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>43045419</id>
    <user>
    <id>558699</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Nell]]></name>
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  <id type="integer">1405550</id>
  <isbn>0060875267</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780060875268</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">9</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Family Fortune]]>
  </title>
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  <average_rating>3.30</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>201</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[<blockquote> <p> Jane Austen in Boston: <br/> a modern retelling of <em>Persuasion</em> <br/> in which the sensible daughter of a flighty <br/> Brahmin family finds love against all odds </p> </blockquote> <p> Jane Fortune has a problem. Thanks to the profligate habits of her father and older sister, the family's money has evaporated and Jane has to move out of the only home she's ever known: a stately brick town house on Boston's prestigious Beacon Hill. Perhaps what's worse is that Jane, at thirty-eight, has never had the gumption to leave in the first place. She is terminally single and fears that she has been left on the shelf to curdle like cream. </p> <p> Unlike her father and sister, Jane doesn't spend her days in the pursuit of idle pleasures -- the best wines, cosmetics, plastic surgeries, spas, haircuts. For fifteen years Jane has been running the Fortune Family Foundation through which she started a literary fellowship and, almost to her own surprise, a journal of great renown. Though too modest to acknowledge it, she's also helped spark the careers of many a budding writer. That includes Max Wellman, the first winner of the fellowship and also Jane's first -- and only -- love. </p> <p> The loss of the family home launches Jane into a peripatetic lifestyle that begins with a visit to her spoiled younger sister, Winnie, in the suburbs. It is then that Max Wellman comes back into Jane's circle. Both Max and Jane have changed in the intervening years. While Max has become a bestselling novelist, known as the literary lothario due to the number of conquests reported by the tabloids, it could be said that Jane had misplaced her luster. </p> <p> But change is afoot. Along the way to bailing out her family and reigniting the flame of true love, Jane discovers enough about herself to shed her spinster persona and become the woman she was always meant to be. </p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2006</published>
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    <rating>3</rating>
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  <read_at>Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Wed Jan 14 13:59:42 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Wed Jan 14 14:02:38 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[A light read, but witty and just a bit snarky. I enjoyed the parellels between this story and <em>Persuasion,</em> which is my favorite Austen. ]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/43045419]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/43045419]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>57525423</id>
    <user>
    <id>1800942</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Emily]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[The United States]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1800942-emily]]></link>
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  <isbn>0060875275</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780060875275</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">56</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Family Fortune: A Novel]]>
  </title>
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  <average_rating>3.30</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>201</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[<p> Jane Fortune's fortunes have taken a downturn. Thanks to the profligate habits of her father and older sister, the family's money has evaporated and Jane has to move out of the only home she's ever known: a stately brick town house on Boston's prestigious Beacon Hill. Thirty-eight and terminally single, Jane has never pursued idle pleasures like her sibling and father. Instead, she has devoted her time to running the Fortune Family Foundation, a revered philanthropic institution that has helped spark the careers of many a budding writer, including Max Wellman, Jane's first&#8212;and only&#8212;love. </p> <p> Now Jane has lost her luster. Max, meanwhile, has become a bestselling novelist and a renowned literary lothario. But change is afoot. And in the process of saving her family and reigniting the flames of true love, Jane might just find herself becoming the woman she was always meant to be. </p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2006</published>
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    <rating>3</rating>
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  <date_added>Wed May 27 13:31:29 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Wed May 27 13:32:36 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[I enjoyed this book as it is based on &quot;Persuasion&quot;, my favorite Jane Austen novel. It's a good book for light reading and a vacation of the mind.]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/57525423]]></url>
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      <review>
  <id>65883216</id>
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    <id>1078092</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Anji]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[The United States]]></location>
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  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Family Fortune: A Novel]]>
  </title>
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  <average_rating>3.30</average_rating>
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  <description>
    <![CDATA[<p> Jane Fortune's fortunes have taken a downturn. Thanks to the profligate habits of her father and older sister, the family's money has evaporated and Jane has to move out of the only home she's ever known: a stately brick town house on Boston's prestigious Beacon Hill. Thirty-eight and terminally single, Jane has never pursued idle pleasures like her sibling and father. Instead, she has devoted her time to running the Fortune Family Foundation, a revered philanthropic institution that has helped spark the careers of many a budding writer, including Max Wellman, Jane's first&#8212;and only&#8212;love. </p> <p> Now Jane has lost her luster. Max, meanwhile, has become a bestselling novelist and a renowned literary lothario. But change is afoot. And in the process of saving her family and reigniting the flames of true love, Jane might just find herself becoming the woman she was always meant to be. </p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2006</published>
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    <rating>4</rating>
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  <read_at>Fri May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Sun Aug 02 11:52:15 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sun Aug 02 11:53:46 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Great book and good read. About a women who runs her families foundation while her family runs it's &quot;fortune&quot; into the ground. I]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/65883216]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/65883216]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>78851739</id>
    <user>
    <id>997541</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Mel]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Toronto, Canada]]></location>
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  <isbn>0060875267</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780060875268</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">9</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Family Fortune]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1183345231m/1405550.jpg</image_url>
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  <average_rating>3.30</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>201</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[<blockquote> <p> Jane Austen in Boston: <br/> a modern retelling of <em>Persuasion</em> <br/> in which the sensible daughter of a flighty <br/> Brahmin family finds love against all odds </p> </blockquote> <p> Jane Fortune has a problem. Thanks to the profligate habits of her father and older sister, the family's money has evaporated and Jane has to move out of the only home she's ever known: a stately brick town house on Boston's prestigious Beacon Hill. Perhaps what's worse is that Jane, at thirty-eight, has never had the gumption to leave in the first place. She is terminally single and fears that she has been left on the shelf to curdle like cream. </p> <p> Unlike her father and sister, Jane doesn't spend her days in the pursuit of idle pleasures -- the best wines, cosmetics, plastic surgeries, spas, haircuts. For fifteen years Jane has been running the Fortune Family Foundation through which she started a literary fellowship and, almost to her own surprise, a journal of great renown. Though too modest to acknowledge it, she's also helped spark the careers of many a budding writer. That includes Max Wellman, the first winner of the fellowship and also Jane's first -- and only -- love. </p> <p> The loss of the family home launches Jane into a peripatetic lifestyle that begins with a visit to her spoiled younger sister, Winnie, in the suburbs. It is then that Max Wellman comes back into Jane's circle. Both Max and Jane have changed in the intervening years. While Max has become a bestselling novelist, known as the literary lothario due to the number of conquests reported by the tabloids, it could be said that Jane had misplaced her luster. </p> <p> But change is afoot. Along the way to bailing out her family and reigniting the flame of true love, Jane discovers enough about herself to shed her spinster persona and become the woman she was always meant to be. </p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2006</published>
</book>

    <rating>2</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
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  <read_at>Mon Nov 23 00:00:00 -0800 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Tue Nov 24 09:23:27 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Tue Nov 24 09:28:22 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Not a very good attempt of modernizing Persuasion, but it's tolerable if you can overlook a few unrealistic plots.]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/78851739]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/78851739]]></link>
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      <review>
  <id>70755719</id>
    <user>
    <id>2720074</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Mary]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Richmond, VA]]></location>
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  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Family Fortune: A Novel]]>
  </title>
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  <average_rating>3.30</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>201</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[<p> Jane Fortune's fortunes have taken a downturn. Thanks to the profligate habits of her father and older sister, the family's money has evaporated and Jane has to move out of the only home she's ever known: a stately brick town house on Boston's prestigious Beacon Hill. Thirty-eight and terminally single, Jane has never pursued idle pleasures like her sibling and father. Instead, she has devoted her time to running the Fortune Family Foundation, a revered philanthropic institution that has helped spark the careers of many a budding writer, including Max Wellman, Jane's first&#8212;and only&#8212;love. </p> <p> Now Jane has lost her luster. Max, meanwhile, has become a bestselling novelist and a renowned literary lothario. But change is afoot. And in the process of saving her family and reigniting the flames of true love, Jane might just find herself becoming the woman she was always meant to be. </p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2006</published>
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    <rating>3</rating>
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  <date_added>Thu Sep 10 14:25:56 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Thu Sep 10 14:26:57 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[A good read for an airplane or a vacation. Light, quickly finished, easily digested. No thought required. ]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/70755719]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/70755719]]></link>
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      <review>
  <id>41444814</id>
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    <name><![CDATA[Amy]]></name>
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  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Family Fortune: A Novel]]>
  </title>
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  <average_rating>3.30</average_rating>
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  <description>
    <![CDATA[<p> Jane Fortune's fortunes have taken a downturn. Thanks to the profligate habits of her father and older sister, the family's money has evaporated and Jane has to move out of the only home she's ever known: a stately brick town house on Boston's prestigious Beacon Hill. Thirty-eight and terminally single, Jane has never pursued idle pleasures like her sibling and father. Instead, she has devoted her time to running the Fortune Family Foundation, a revered philanthropic institution that has helped spark the careers of many a budding writer, including Max Wellman, Jane's first&#8212;and only&#8212;love. </p> <p> Now Jane has lost her luster. Max, meanwhile, has become a bestselling novelist and a renowned literary lothario. But change is afoot. And in the process of saving her family and reigniting the flames of true love, Jane might just find herself becoming the woman she was always meant to be. </p>]]>
  </description>
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  <read_at>Fri Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Wed Dec 31 15:31:17 -0800 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Wed Dec 31 15:32:18 -0800 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[I just loved reading this book - adapted from Persuasion by Jane Austen, with a very modern take.  ]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/41444814]]></url>
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