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Jul 04, 2008

Alisa rated it:

I really agonized over how many stars to give this book. I don't actually know why I finished it - or why I stayed up an hour past my bedtime to finish it. It wasn't worthy of such devoted attention, when nearly every page annoyed me in some fundamental way...and then the ending completely sucked, too! Let me list just a few of the reasons why I sort of hated this book, despite having devoured it in a single day:

For a character who's supposedly addicted to Jane Austen, she's way t More...

8 comments like (25 people liked it)

Jun 13, 2008

Leanna rated it:

I have stacks of books just waiting to be read, but instead I wasted the last two days reading Laura Viera Rigler’s Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict.

Considering my own Jane Austen addiction, it’s no surprise that I was initially attracted to the book. Courtney, the book’s heroine, is a modern woman from LA. One morning, not long after the disastrous end to her engagement, Courtney wakes up to find herself inhabiting another woman’s body: Jane Mansfield (snark snark) from regency E More...

0 comments like (15 people liked it)

Jun 01, 2008

Amyc rated it:

(some spoilers ahead) One of the worst books I have read. It is about a woman, Courtney Stone, who (after a breakup) ends up in the body of a girl, Jane Mansfield (who lives during Courtney's favorite author, Jane Austen's, era).

Turnoff one--Basically Courtney is now Jane (even though she knows she is not. She realizes that she even has Jane's accent, mannerisms, and talents (such as needlepoint). Despite this, she continues to be afraid to do the things Jane would naturally do.
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0 comments like (17 people liked it)

May 03, 2008

Wendi rated it:

If you are a self-confessed Jane Austen addict, there are things you should just inherently know.

#1 Women have no rights, no freedom and are often seen as a trophy, baby maker, and house keeper. If you read Jane Austen you would know that. You wouldn't walk into a Jane Austen era household and start throwing fits about feminism no matter how much it's needed. Yes, we know that Lizzie Bennett was a strong willed woman who wanted to marry for love, but she also knew the era's decorum - More...

2 comments like (7 people liked it)

Nov 06, 2007

Jackamo rated it:

Well, this book was weak at its best. I was sucked in by the ode to my lady Jane. Books like The Jane Austen Book Club should have taught me not to be so tempted, but alas, I was lulled into a belief that this book would be worthy because the author is a fellow Jane-lover. Her book, however, does nothing to convince me that she has ever even read a Jane Austen book. It is peppered with quotes, but those are easy to come by. The protagonist was whiny and a tad on the "loose" side w More...

6 comments like (8 people liked it)

Dec 26, 2007

April rated it:

This starts off like Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis, except the cockroach is a woman named Miss Jane Mansfield of the Regency era. You sort of get glimpses of the narrator's past life through flashbacks, but you never really get to see her return to her old life.

And this book is really less about Jane Austen and more about free will -- the main character learns that it's really all about the choices she makes and the consequences that come of them. Bad men don't happen to her; she CHOOS More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Feb 15, 2008

Jeanette rated it:

Generally I am not a fan of Jane Austen “sequels” and other fiction based on her work but I keep finding myself reading them. I thought this one sounded promising. Courtney Stone wakes up one morning in Regency England, living another woman’s life. The book did not hook me at all. It was a quick read but not an “I can’t put it down” read. I felt it took too long for anything to really happen. There was too much “Why I am here? How do I get back? Ok. I accept that I am here.” And then back More...

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Jun 22, 2009

Zeina marked it as to-read

There should be an "in limbo" category.
I started this book a few days ago. I read a few chapters and could not go on. The author takes several chapters to make a point - a simple point that would take any talented writer a page at the most. It just all seems belabored, and that just turned me off.
Maybe one day, I'll give it another go.

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 04, 2011

Nicola rated it:

Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict was a really fun book. It follows the life of Courtney stone, a 21st century girl who gets transported back in time to the 1800s, and is stuck in a stranger's body. She has to take the place of Jane Mansfield and navigate her way through a completely different society to the one she grew up in.

I thought Courtney was a really enjoyable and likeable character. I expected her to be a bit silly and dumb but she was actually rather intelligent and leve More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Aug 25, 2008

Lindsey rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jul 01, 2008

Amanda rated it:

Woman wakes up in Jane Austin's time in another's body. That's no spoiler, that's the premise of the novel. (see: Both Sides of Time for YA equivalent. Also, a slightly better story.) There are three possible veins this novel could follow:

1. It was actual time travel. Li'l bit of sci-fi mystery goodness.

2. She is drunk or dreaming or in a coma.

3. Alternative approach of a them being the same person, possible reincarnation vibes, etc.

Unfortunat More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 28, 2008

Lynn rated it:

This book has so many problems I don't know where to start. The title isn't really appropriate, as there is nothing confessional about the book. The premise, that a modern woman goes back to Austen's time, is interesting, but most of the story works against itself. Supposedly the main character loves Austen, but then she doesn't seem to know how to act appropriately. And she's constantly thinking about her old life in the 21st century. She's not very self aware for someone who spends most of the More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

May 08, 2008

Kate rated it:

There are so many elements I expect from a book I read, but the most important aspect is being able to at least relate to the main character. In this I found Laurie Rigler's book a huge disappointment. I've read books like this before, where a woman from our time is stuck in another time period, but this is by far the worst rendition. The main character is not only unrealistic and unlikable, but she is also not even remotely a Jane Austen addict. A true Jane Austen addict would take time and More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jan 23, 2008

Danielle rated it:

I was highly disappointed in this book because I am a big fan of Jane Austen. It wasn't the "reality check" of the grime and filthiness of the times, but the stream of consciousness flow of the book.

The book opens with the heroine waking up as Jane Mansfield. She remembers her life in modern day LA and believes that what she is experiencing is an elaborate dream. She soon learns that she has somehow come to inhabit the body of Jane in this previous time period.
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0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 20, 2008

Sarah rated it:

This is a terrible book. Don't waste your time if you even remotely enjoy reading Jane Austen and appreciate her incredibly clever writing. This is terrible insult to Miss Austen and yes, she would probably react just as coldly to the author as she did to the main character in the book.

The main character of the book bugged from the very beginning to the very end and I only finished because I hoped the book would redeem itself. But sadly, that was not to happen. She stayed a compl More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Feb 02, 2009

"Aubri"/Lisa rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 03, 2007

Kimberly rated it:

Do you find yourself reading and re-reading all Austen's works? Do you read her early things, like Love and Freindship, letters, Sandition and others? Do you find yourself caught up in the other continuation books by other authors? Well then why wonder about reading this book? I think it is even something a woman interested in the 18th would enjoy. The author gives, I believe, a more accurate portrait of women during Austen's time; discussing smells, bathing habits, and the little details that w More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Mar 02, 2009

Lynne-marie rated it:

I can't remember when I first read this, but two weeks ago a felow JA lover said she'd just read a strange book and had I read it and what did I think of it. I re-read it so I could talk it over with her. We discussed the book from stem to stern and sighed that we had no-one with whom we could regularly write to about the things we read. Now I have Goodreads! That being said, I do not usually enjoy SciFi, but will usually be tempted by anything JA related. (Although I will be forgoing " More...

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Jan 24, 2009

Erin rated it:

I am a Jane Austen addict, albeit not quite as obsessed as Courtney Stone, the main character of this novel. I am not so miserable in my own life, which is apparently a good thing, as it makes me less likely to awake one morning in 1813 as she did. (For all my moments of wishful thinking, I don't really want to be someone else.)

Courtney, however, retreats to the world of Jane Austen as often as possible, especially since she discovered her fiance cheating on her with the wedding ca More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 18, 2009

Bookworm rated it:

Being a big Jane Austen fan, I just had to read this one. Courtney, a modern woman from LA, who is having man troubles, wakes up one day to find herself in a bedroom in nineteenth-century England. She is a big Jane Austen fan and remembers going to sleep while reading Pride & Prejudice. So Courtney just figures she's dreaming.

Sound bizzarre? It gets better. Courtney finds herself being called Jane Mansfield and living with her meddling other and her father. Her mother is trying to m More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 22, 2008

Leslie rated it:

Purchasers of this book probably aren't novices when it comes to the ever-expanding field of published Jane Austen fanfic. Yes, such reading is indulgent, but sometimes a girl just needs a break from the piles of critical theory books that she has to wade through for her thesis. ...Okay, that last statement was probably a bit too specific, but I'm sure that many people follow the same principle. However, just because a book is supposed to be escapist does not mean that it must be poorly written. More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 06, 2012

Kinley rated it:

There are so many things I could say here, but I'm not sure I would do justice.

The most glaring:

1) How could a woman so utterly obsessed with Jane Austen not have THE SLIGHTEST clue about how to act in Regency England? (Examples: most interactions with men, going on about feminist standards at the dinner table, telling Jane Austen herself that the movie adaptations of her books were better than the books themselves, almost sleeping with a man in a garden, etc.)

2) A More...

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Dec 22, 2011

Kim rated it:

Such a silly, guilty pleasure. I like that she tears down the romance of Regency England a bit rather than gushing on it the way we sometimes do. I contend that it would be actually harder to find true love in such a restrictive society, and that Jane Austen herself did not manage it, but yet romance novel covers would have us to believe otherwise. Also, this is a similar premise to the TV miniseries "Lost in Austen" and the narrator doesn't bungle things half as much as the protago More...

0 comments like

Dec 11, 2011

Kate rated it:

Okay, so I should start off saying that the amount of spin-off Austen writing out there sometimes makes me grumble a bit. There's so many P&P continuations, or side-stories, and it makes me laugh a little because it's all essentially published fanfiction.

But I love Austen, and I think fanfiction is a wonderful idea in a lot of ways, so I shake my head a bit at the constant stream of publications paying homage to Austen, and ponder how cool I thought "The Jane Austen Book Club" More...

0 comments like

Nov 26, 2011

Louise rated it:

Whilst I enjoy Jane Austen and reread Pride and Prejudice from time to time, I am nowhere near a Jane Austen Addict. This book is not my usual reading fare, and perhaps my enjoyment suffered because of that. I know this book predates Lost in Austen, which for some reason I didn't enjoy either. I found myself wanting more from this. Sassy 21st century Californian Courtney is somehow thrust back to become Jane Mansfield in 1813 in Jane Austen's England. Enough of a culture clash that there should More...

0 comments like

Oct 13, 2011

Pamelabyoung rated it:

This book is so much fun! I realize that true Austen "addicts" will likely loathe the story, as it is somewhat irreverent and unladylike, but it is funny and interesting food for thought in a wacky tongue-in-cheek, albeit shallow, way. Courtney, a California girl with a love for Austen movies and a love but limited understanding of Jane's books, has been dealt a rude emotional blow from her fiance and falls asleep while reading Pride and Prejudice only to find herself in 1813 in a sort More...

3 comments like

Aug 03, 2011

Rojo rated it:

Took me long enough! The book was really good and I was constantly thinking what I would do if I were Courtney. Of course, one thing got me really confused and that was the ending. At the end, Courtney/Jane is engaged to Edgeworth and then the last lines says something like, "At that moment I'm home." or something like that. Then the next page is a page from "The diary of Mrs. Charles Edgeworth" and goes on to talk about how she never thought she would ever sign her name tha More...

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May 27, 2011

Irene rated it:

Reading about a contemporary woman finding herself in Regency England and having to deal with her over-bearing mother allowing the doctor to perform a bloodletting is how this book starts off. Courtney, the modern-day Austen-loving heroine finds herself in the body of Jane Mansfield, a gentleman's daughter. I wasn't expecting this book's writing or plot lines to compare to Austen, but I thought I'd enjoy a light Austen-inspired read. Several pieces bothered me immensely. First, there's a sce More...

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May 23, 2011

Amanda rated it:

There isn't much I can add that the other reviewers haven't covered, and I agree with the 1-star reviews I've read. For starters, there was far too much whining, and just to put it simply, Laurie Viera Rigler isn't enough of a Jane Austen Addict to pull this off. There was one scene that actually disturbed me:

<spoiler>At one point at a party Jane is conversing with a man who gets the wrong idea about her and invites her to join him and another woman behind the house in some so More...

0 comments like

Apr 28, 2011

Maia rated it:

I HATE this book. It is an insult to Jane Austen. It's using Austen's name as a moneymaking device, a franchise, a cheap ploy to get me to buy Laurie Rigler's insanely terrible book. This is why we need six stars: one for "I hate it." My actual rating is not 1 star, it's negative a thousand stars. I can't believe the badness of this book.

For one thing, it's chock full of sex - something Jane Austen was careful not to be explicit in ANY WAY about. CHOCK FULL. I can't even begi More...

0 comments like