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Jane Austen Ruined My Life (Adventures with Jane Austen and her Legacy)

3.33 of 5 stars 3.33 · rating details · 3,379 ratings · 752 reviews

English professor Emma Douglas has always done everything just the way her minister father told her she should. Life was good until the day Emma finds her husband in bed with another woman. Suddenly, all her romantic notions, a la Jane Austen, are exposed as foolish dreams.

Paperback, 270 pages

Published February 1st 2009 by GuidepostsBooks

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Aug 16, 2010 Valerie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: realistic-fiction

I stayed up late into the night to finish this and I like my sleep so that just shows I was pretty gripped. I have to confess that I’m not a die hard Jane Austen fan; I’ve only read P&P thus far, so I wouldn’t know how real fans of Austen would feel about this book.

Emma (figures her name would be Emma or something like that) decides to go to England for a change of scenery. After divorcing her husband and losing her job as a professor she could use it, but that is not the only reason why she...more

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May 09, 2010 Melissa Rochelle rated it 2 of 5 stars

Before a proper review begins...I must rant about something that really bothered me about this book. It's a tiny flaw, but it really gets to me.

If one says "I love Jane Austen, I will write a book about her life and novels..." then one should ensure that every tiny detail is correct. At one point in the novel, the main character (Emma) is talking to Adam about a home in a park and they say it possibly inspired the great homes in Austen's novels. Emma then says that the family in Mansfield Park d...more

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Jun 15, 2010 Alison rated it 4 of 5 stars

A fun book for any Jane Austen lover!

Fresh off an ugly divorce from her cheating husband, who also ruined her career, Emma goes on a pilgrimage to England to find the lost letters of Jane Austen. Emma is an Austen professor, an Austen fanatic, an Austen "junkie", as she sets out on her quest in hopes of restoring her credibility and reputation. What she restores is her faith and hope in all things Jane Austen...and herself.

"It's hard for modern-day people to imagine how lives used to be changed...more A fun book for any Jane Austen lover!

Fresh off an ugly divorce from her cheating husband, who also ruined her career, Emma goes on a pilgrimage to England to find the lost letters of Jane Austen. Emma is an Austen professor, an Austen fanatic, an Austen "junkie", as she sets out on her quest in hopes of restoring her credibility and reputation. What she restores is her faith and hope in all things Jane Austen...and herself.

"It's hard for modern-day people to imagine how lives used to be changed by the receipt of a letter. Today, bad news comes over the phone, in an e-mail, or via a text message. But in Jane Austen's day, important information had to travel by post, and so many historical, life-changing moments still rest upon the pages for us to witness."

Jane Austen's life was recorded in her letters, but her sister, Cassandra, is believed to have destroyed Jane's letters before her death, leaving her fans without the knowledge of several years of her life. Thus, much of Austen's life remains a mystery, adding to the magic of her novels. This much is true. We also know from our literary texts that Jane Austen never married - but how could the woman who penned some of the greatest love stories ever told not have found her own true love?

Beth Pattillo takes us on a wonderful journey to help fill in some of the gaps in Austen's personal life with a fictional tale of a secret society known as The Formidables, who swore to secrecy and to protect the lost letters of Jane Austen. She takes us from Austen's humble birthplace, her family's retreat in Bath, several stops in between, and finally to her last home where she spent her final days. This is not the fan-lit that is so popular now, taking Jane Austen's books and retelling them or creating would-be sequels. This is a book all unto its own.

If you loved Pride and Prejudice, Persuasion, Emma and Sense and Sensibility as I did, you will thoroughly enjoy reading this lovely story of how these novels might have given us some clues into Jane Austen's true love life. Did she find her Mr. Darcy? Her Mr. Knightly?

I will say, if you have not read Austen's classics, you might miss a few key references, like the Cobb from the scene in Persuasion where Louisa Musgrove jumped from the higher level of the Cobb instead of the lower steps, expecting Captain Wentworth to catch her. Even though Pattillo reminds us of the scene, it may not resonate with readers who haven't read the novel and feel a connection to it. Jane Austen's novels move me to laughter and tears, and reading Jane Austen Ruined My Life was pure joy. I read it in one day, I couldn't put it down.

The only thing I would change about this book is the ending, which of course I won't give away. Still, I enjoyed this book so much that I have Beth Pattillo's Mr. Darcy Broke My Heart on my nightstand, and I can't wait to read that one!

If you are a lover of Austen's novels as I am, read this book. It's a wonderful, light, fun story, and one that I had to keep reminding myself was fiction. I so wanted it to be true.

(less)

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Mar 07, 2009 Andrea rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: austen-esque

I picked this up at the bookstore the other day because it looked entertaining. (What Austen fan could resist that title?) In the end, this book wasn't really what I expected. Yes, it was a bit fomulaic with all the elements you would expect from Chick Lit, but it also had some interesting insights. Maybe it's because of where I'm at in my life, but it hit me just a little bit deeper than the typical Chick Lit would and gave me some things to think about. All in all, an enjoyable way to spend an...more

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Mar 06, 2009 Tami rated it 5 of 5 stars

Emma Grant was living a real life Jane Austen fantasy. She had a promising career. She was even married to the perfect gentleman. So she thought. That is, until Emma caught her husband Edward and his teaching assistant in a compromising situation on the kitchen table. This just happened to be the same woman who would later accuse Emma of academic plagiarism.

Angry that she actually believed Jane Austen’s nonsense about true love, Jane went a little crazy. She decided that she’d go to England and...more

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Aug 31, 2012 Amy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: chick-lit, love-stories

FABULOUS... Such a good story. I was enthralled as it was not the usual "I want to find a Mr. Darcy and live happily ever-after," fan fiction. I do enjoy a cute little Jane Austen fan-fiction story. Yet the story made me think the characters of Austen's were real--that they once lived. I forgot as I was reading this book, that they were only the imagination of a very gifted author. I could envision Jane Austen in all of the settings pictured in the book, and felt her presence there--even though...more

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Mar 19, 2012 W rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012-read

This is a story of a modern 30-something, recently-divorced woman who goes to England in search of Jane Austen's missing personal letters. She gets sent on a number of "tasks" by the older woman who possesses the letters, which reveal new things about her favorite author and herself.

This novel was a very quick read (finished it in one day). I was interested as I read it to figure out what was going on and what would happen next, but ended up just feeling let down through the whole thing... it ju...more

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Mar 04, 2012 Camy rated it 5 of 5 stars

I really wasn't sure what to expect when I started this book, but since I had enjoyed the author's Betsy books, I was reasonably certain I'd enjoy this one.

I didn't just enjoy this book, I absolutely loved it. It was partly due to the fact that I adore Jane Austen and reread her books at least once every year.

The parallels the storyline took with Austen's novel plots was both poignant and surprising. I'm sure I didn't describe that adequately, but there it is. There were several points at which...more

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Feb 23, 2012 Alice rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: jane-austen-around

Difficile de décrire les sensations que j'ai éprouvé en lisant ce livre tant le plaisir que j'ai éprouvé contraste avec mon désaccord avec la thèse défendue par l'auteur. Mais après tout est-ce vraiment important?

Emma Grant vient certainement de vivre les instants les plus terribles et les plus humiliants de sa vie. Non seulement elle a surpris son mari, un éminent professeur d'université, dans les bras de son assistante mais cette dernière lui a en plus volé le fruit de son travail, la discéd...more

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Jul 20, 2011 Candace rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: meta-academic

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I actually really liked this book. Not that I thought I wasn’t going to like it, but I liked it in a different way than I thought I would, and all because of how it ends. I agreed with Corinne’s sentiments upon first picking it up — that it’s a book where you know she’ll end up with the guy in the end — but I was pleasantly surprised. I think that Emma’s final decision showed surprising strength of character, of a highly welcome sort.

The plotting wasn’t always the strongest; I for one had a hard...more I actually really liked this book. Not that I thought I wasn’t going to like it, but I liked it in a different way than I thought I would, and all because of how it ends. I agreed with Corinne’s sentiments upon first picking it up — that it’s a book where you know she’ll end up with the guy in the end — but I was pleasantly surprised. I think that Emma’s final decision showed surprising strength of character, of a highly welcome sort.

The plotting wasn’t always the strongest; I for one had a hard time believing that Adam would just let the Formidables give him advice about wooing Emma like that, and Barry’s appearance seemed too coincidental for too long. I actually didn’t feel like the storyline with him was that well resolved — is there another secret society whose purpose is to go against the wishes of Jane Austen and publish her lost letters, and if so, why is it led by a Hemingway professor?

But I really loved what Pattillo did with Jane Austen’s life. I think that the story she crafted out of the missing letters fit. It didn’t need to be terribly brilliant or subtle or scheming; the idea that Jane Austen had loved once and lost was enough for me. I was particularly intrigued by the picture Pattillo painted of Cassandra as the kind of person who would go to such lengths to protect her sister. One of my favorite “lost letters” was the one in which Austen talked about the kinds of men she’d written about in conjunction with where she was in her life when she was writing them. Corinne would kill me for saying this, but this book makes me like Persuasion better. It’s still not my favorite Austen, but it gains something from this kind of imaginary backstory (and from the purely true fact that Austen once knew a man who died at sea).

A moment of geekery: I really loved hearing talk of professors and universities and being a professional in the world of English literature. (Although why did the cheating ex have to be a Miltonist?) I think Patillo did a good job of communicating Emma’s scholarly love of literature, and how closely intwined it was with her personal love.

But where this novel really soared for me was in the way that it addressed how women’s professional lives are always defined — for better or for worse — by their personal lives. Emma’s final decision to take her time and learn how to live as a woman on her own made perfect sense to me, especially in the context of Austen’s supposed decision to relinquish love in favor of writing. I really felt Emma had changed as a character when she decided not to stay in London with Adam, despite knowing that she loves him. If anything, this story is about the birth of a women’s strength, and the many sources from which it can spring. It all boils down to honor — and I really liked Pattillo’s decision to make that the one thing that Emma had really learned from Austen. Because it is a little bit about the happily ever after, but it’s more than that.(less)

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Jun 07, 2011 Pattyrflg rated it 4 of 5 stars

Emma Grant—PhD, prestigious English professor whose specialty is Jane Austen and her works. Emma’s marriage and career comes crashing down, so when she receives a strange invitation to come to England to learn new information about Jane Austen she decides to go. Upon arriving at her cousin's townhouse in London, she encounters her best friend from college, Dr. Adam Clark. Emma meets Mrs. Parrott and she reveals that she and her secret group, the Formidables, have over 3,000 of Jane Austen’s lett...more

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Jan 28, 2011 Julie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Pleasant little chick lit book. Let's face it, if one is a Jane Austen fan of any proportions, one will read any damned thing with her name in the title. I'm guilty. I started the book on Wednesday evening and finished it on Thursday afternoon -- which gives you some sense of the complexity or lack thereof.

Happily, the book doesn't foist a framework of an Austen novel (or multiple Austen novels) on the modern heroine's life. Rather, we have a charming travelogue of Austenesque locales while revi...more

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Aug 16, 2010 Korynn rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: contemporarylit

A daft emancipation novel about a woman who is recovering from a disastrous series of events that ruined her life. She, through some deranged logic, feels that her devotion to Jane Austen's novels have caused her believe marriage was the final hurdle to life's happy ending. Determined to expose Austen's secreted private letters to her literary gain, the protagonist slowly learns the obvious, that she is wrong to blame a dead author for her choices, wrong to betray what has been protected, and de...more

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Jul 11, 2010 Jane rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is a 3.5 star book for me. It was a great little bit of summer escapism, yet I sometimes found parts of it too didactic, and at other times, I kept thinking Beth Pattillo hadn't REALLY given us a good look at what our heroine was like. Perhaps because Emma, the disgraced (due to a charge of academic plagiarism) and betrayed (by her unfaithful scoundrel of a husband) does not know herself and her true feelings well, we were supposed to buy that--but it still bothered me at times. On the othe...more

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Jun 25, 2010 Lady Knight rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: contemporary, regency, adult, public-library, england-uk, romance-focused

I picked this up with some hesitation, but I was really pleased with the way this novel turned out! Emma Grant is a disillusioned university professor who just caught her husband and her teaching assistant in a compromising situation and has just been accused of academic theft from the same teaching assistant. Even though the accusation of theft is false, her career and reputation is still in shreds and worst of all.... she blames Jane Austen! Emma grew up loving the Austen novels and developped...more

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Feb 18, 2010 Jeannie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: christian, fiction, own, romance, women-authors, light-hearted

While this book did not add overly much to the literary world, it is a cute, fun, but rather predictable read. The characters in the book are intriguing, but if the author being "researched" in this book had not been Jane Austen, I do not think I would have been as interested. However, I did choose to stay up late to finish this novel (to see what would happen in the fictional Jane Austen research). Another thing I love about it is its cover. This book makes an excellent conversation piece when...more

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Jan 08, 2010 Rosalyn rated it 3 of 5 stars

Three stars may be a bit generous, but I really wanted to like this book. The story follows Emma Grant, a professor of English who blames Jane Austen when, after following Austen's dictates and finding her own "Mr Knightly" (an older, more established professor), her marriage falls apart when her husband takes up with her teaching assistant, and she loses her job when the TA accuses Emma of plagiarizing one of her (the TA's) papers. Emma apparently blames Austen for a faulty belief in happy endi...more Three stars may be a bit generous, but I really wanted to like this book. The story follows Emma Grant, a professor of English who blames Jane Austen when, after following Austen's dictates and finding her own "Mr Knightly" (an older, more established professor), her marriage falls apart when her husband takes up with her teaching assistant, and she loses her job when the TA accuses Emma of plagiarizing one of her (the TA's) papers. Emma apparently blames Austen for a faulty belief in happy endings, but I find that just a little unjust, since Austen has always seemed to me to be unusually clear-eyed about the potential risks of marriage. At any rate, her life in shambles, Emma decides to follow a rather bizarre clue in a letter that suggests that more of Jane Austen's letters exist than was previously believed (many of Austen's letters were burned after her death by her sister Cassandra), so she takes her remaining savings and flies to England.

In London, she becomes acquainted with a rather bizarre group (known as the Formidables) dedicated to preserving Austen's hidden letters and guarding the "secret" those letters would reveal. At the same time, she also runs across an old friend from graduate school (and would-be romantic interest), and complications inevitably ensue.

While the premise of the story was fine, the actual development was disappointing. Emma's motivations weren't always clear to me, nor was it clear to me that the author had a very clear sense of how academic life works. For one thing, she describes Emma's friend Adam as a "full" professor, a feat that would be hard to believe given his relative youth, and then later mentions that he has just received tenure . . . Also, I don't know of any professors who would use their TA's laptop to write a professional article (this is the apparent reason that Emma's TA could make the plagiarism claim in the first place)--why wouldn't they use their own laptop? My major issue with the story, however, was that the "secret" that the Formidables were sworn to protect, as it might irretrievably damage Austen's reputation, didn't seem to be that big of a deal to me--certainly not a big enough deal to justify all the subterfuge.

The book was an entertaining read on some levels (hence the 3 rating), but for readers looking for a serious academic/literary mystery, A.S. Byatt's _Possession_ is infinitely richer.(less)

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Jan 07, 2010 Laurel rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: austen-inspired, contemporary-fiction, fiction

Could Jane Austen ruin your life?

American college professor Emma Grant always does the right thing and expects the same from others. She acquired her expectations from her minister father and her favorite author Jane Austen, who both taught her to believe in the happily-ever-after. Life was turning out as planned until she unexpectedly discovers her husband’s affair with her teaching assistant who in turn falsely accuses her of plagiarizing another author’s work. An academic scandal ensues promp...more Could Jane Austen ruin your life?

American college professor Emma Grant always does the right thing and expects the same from others. She acquired her expectations from her minister father and her favorite author Jane Austen, who both taught her to believe in the happily-ever-after. Life was turning out as planned until she unexpectedly discovers her husband’s affair with her teaching assistant who in turn falsely accuses her of plagiarizing another author’s work. An academic scandal ensues prompting an investigation and removal from her prestigious teaching position, denunciation by academia, and an ugly divorce leaving poor Emma at a turning point in her life. She had always believed in the possibility of finding her Mr. Darcy or Mr. Knightley and settling down to martial bliss. How could Jane Austen have ruined her life?

Without a job, husband, reputation or money, she packs up and off to London on the invitation of an elderly woman Mrs. Parrot who claims to have a stash of undocumented letters written by Jane Austen. If this woman’s claims are true, they might be the famous missing letters that Jane Austen’s sister Cassandra inherited after her death in 1817 and supposedly burned deeming them to personal for public view. If authenticated, they represented the ultimate Holy Grail of Austenalia and the ticket to Emma’s academic and personal happiness. The enigmatic Mrs. Parrot is not quite ready to just hand them over to anyone, even if they have been summoned to her house. Emma must prove her worthiness to Mrs. Parrot, one of the ‘Formindables’, a secret society of devoted Janeites named after Jane’s own moniker of herself and sister Cassandra in their later years. Mrs. Parrot sends Emma on a series of Austen related tasks/tests to prove she’s up to snuff visiting Steventon, Chawton, Bath and other Austen haunts. Along the way she encounters many coincidences including a reappearance after ten years of a previous boyfriend Adam and a new man Barry who just happens to pop up unexpectedly along her journey all adding to the mystery surrounding the letters and their importance.

Jane Austen Ruined My Life is an intriguing and quick read that succeeds on so many levels by blending accurate biographical and historical information about Jane Austen’s life and works (major kudos to Pattillo) with a contemporary adventure romance that at times is reminiscent of The Last Templar where the heroine is thrown into a quest to discover ancient information that will change our current perceptions. Austen enthusiast will appreciate discovering all the Jane Austen lore and references, and romance readers will identify with the modern heroine and her adventure. Anglophiles will enjoy the added benefit of Ms. Pattillo’s past residence and many trips to England as she describes familiar haunts in London and Jane Austen travel destinations with aplomb. My one quibble is that Emma’s romantic decision could have ended differently. Obliviously, I am not as evolved as the heroine yet, and expect my Jane Austen happily-ever-after!

Laurel Ann, Austenprose(less)

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Aug 29, 2009 Christina (A Reader of Fictions) rated it 4 of 5 stars

This novel written by an Austen-maniac like myself centers around a professor specializing in Austen, with the apt name of Emma. She believed as she grew up that she would find a Darcy or Knightley; Indeed, she thought she had. Unfortunately, her Knightley, as she believed her professor husand was, turned out to be more of a Nightmare, leaving her with not only a ruined marriage, but a destroyed career as well. She travels to England, in a last ditch effort to reclaim her scholarly reputation by...more

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May 08, 2009 Anne rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: ww

Recommended to Anne by: aml2006@verizon.net

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

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May 18, 2013 Angela rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: chick-lit

I was expecting more from this book, to be honest.

Emma blaming her unhappiness on Jane Austen promising her a happy ending that fell short, struck me as entitlement and bothered me throughout the entire book.

We all grow up reading or watching happy endings. Books, tv, movies...Disney movies are nothing but happy endings. I personally don't believe in "happily ever after", because it's just not realistic. Life happens, and it's not always for the better.

Her husband cheated. It happens every day....more

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Dec 22, 2011 Kim Miner rated it 2 of 5 stars

Pros: A sweet, escapist story. Someone else on here said a "DaVinci Code-light, for Austin fans" which I agree with. Some Jane Austen tribute books would have you accept time travel, supernatural characters, or fan-fiction like "sequels." In this one, you must accept a Secret Society of Jane Austen enthusiasts protecting her legacy. Sure, why not. The love story is pretty sweet, if a bit predictable.

Cons: Not just the problem of mistaking the Bertrams for the Rushworths in Mansfield Park, that i...more Pros: A sweet, escapist story. Someone else on here said a "DaVinci Code-light, for Austin fans" which I agree with. Some Jane Austen tribute books would have you accept time travel, supernatural characters, or fan-fiction like "sequels." In this one, you must accept a Secret Society of Jane Austen enthusiasts protecting her legacy. Sure, why not. The love story is pretty sweet, if a bit predictable.

Cons: Not just the problem of mistaking the Bertrams for the Rushworths in Mansfield Park, that is pretty bad. However, I found actual typos in this book. The worst: "One upon a time..." on page 212. Also, and I suppose I can't blame the author about this, but every book in this particular genre of Jane Austen-obsessed heroines seems to have the protagonist as a recently divorced victim of a cheating dog of a man. These men are made out to be so vile, we start to doubt the protagonist's likability for falling in with them in the first place. This may be unfair to the author since I was reading "Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict" at the same time and I was getting just a little fed up with whining about cheating ex-husbands, but there you go.

Finally, I hate writers as protagonists. Stop it writers of the world. Too often a main character is made a writer and it answers all the answers to their problems (As though becoming a writer doesn't actually cause a slew of other problems) and/or they wax philosophical about the wonderful act of writing. This is "write what you know" taking to it's laziest extreme, and I would argue that, at times, it is used as a fan-fiction-like self-insertion tool.

With that rant though, I did like the ending where *SPOILERS* her happy ending is not made dependent on a man, but on herself. Unfortunately, it also hinges on her becoming a published author, which disappointed me in a different way.

If you want a light-hearted romance with some historical insight about Austen, give it a read. Like many of these Austen-inspired books, you might just have to turn your brain off for a bit.(less)

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May 01, 2011 Julie Graves rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011-reads

Emma Grant's life seems to be falling apart. She found her husband in a compromising situation(on their dining room table) with her Teacher's Assistant. She was asked to leave the University she was teaching at for being accused of plagiarizing a paper. She has sold everything she has in order to buy a ticket to London to pursue lost letters of Jane Austen that may or may not exist. When she arrives she finds that she is not alone in the flat she is borrowing from her cousin. Her former best fri...more

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Mar 12, 2013 Catherine Thompson rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: popular-fiction

After catching her husband cheating on her, Emma, an English professor specializing in Jane Austen, flies to England to meet with a woman claiming to have Austen's letters--the ones supposedly destroyed by Cassandra Austen, Jane's beloved elder sister. Once in London, Emma finds herself on a quest set up by this Mrs. Parrot, to visit various sites associated with Austen and complete tasks at each one. She also finds her friend Adam is staying in her cousin's house. She soon discovers that Adam's...more

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Feb 23, 2013 Melissa rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013-reads

Oh my goodness. OOOOOOOOOHHHHHH!!! I can't even think of the proper typed word to truly express how angry the ending of this book made me. I seriously can't find the word. Do you believe in Happily Ever After? Do you like to read stories about Happily Ever Afters? Well, if so, please keep away from this book. I happen to believe in HEA. I believe that HEA is possible for all of us. What my HEA might look like might be a lot different than yours, but I do believe in it. Does HEA mean that life is...more Oh my goodness. OOOOOOOOOHHHHHH!!! I can't even think of the proper typed word to truly express how angry the ending of this book made me. I seriously can't find the word. Do you believe in Happily Ever After? Do you like to read stories about Happily Ever Afters? Well, if so, please keep away from this book. I happen to believe in HEA. I believe that HEA is possible for all of us. What my HEA might look like might be a lot different than yours, but I do believe in it. Does HEA mean that life is all puppies and flowers? No. HEA takes work. The road can be bumpy. But HEA is possible. But you have to reach for it. Simply because there are jerks in the world doesn't mean that HEA is a silly pipe dream. It just means that there are jerks in the world. Okay. Enough of my rant. For now.

Jane Austen Ruined My Life is the story of Emma, a college lit professor whose marriage fell apart after she caught her husband in a compromising position with a grad student. Then, to make matters worse, this grad student somehow cooked up a scheme to accuse Emma of plagiarism. Her ex-husband, Edward, supports the grad student. Emma is fired in disgrace. Now Emma has traveled to the UK with her last dollar in order to check out a possible connection to several lost letters by Jane Austen in some sort of strange plan to prove Austen as a fraud for making Emma believe that such a thing as HEA actually exists. This involves top secret meetings with an old lady who is a member of the Formidables, a super top secret society of women who supposedly keep the secret of Jane Austen's lost letters. Throw in Adam, Emma's great friend from ten years earlier, who stopped hanging around after Emma chose to marry Edward. Now he's back, possibly working against Emma's plans involving the letters, but also causing Emma to have something happen to her that she doesn't like so much ... warm, fuzzy feelings. Then there is Barry, the surfer-dude college professor who shows up at convenient times to try and kiss Emma ... even though he just randomly met her days earlier. Emma's still dealing with her divorce and Edward's horrible betrayal. She is still trying to rebuild her academic reputation. And there's the story ... all taking place in the areas of the UK where Jane Austen worked and lived.

Let me start with the good. This story had lots of good potential. Lots. I love Jane Austen stories. I loved the idea of exploring her life and ideas of romance. The scenes that were set up in Austen's world as Emma imagined how Austen might have experienced the joys and heartache of the world around her was truly fascinating. It was interesting to imagine how her life might have played out romantically and how that would have shown through in her novels. So the premise for this book was wonderful. I even could see how some of Austen's life as portrayed in this book might have mirrored the experiences that Emma was having in the modern world. So many parallels could have been formed. ... but it didn't happen.

I liked Adam. A lot. Frankly I thought he was more patient than any person could actually be in real life. But it was okay. In fact, I really wish there had been even more of him throughout this book. It didn't need to be a full blown romance, but it would have been nice to get to know him a bit more and see this great friendship that was supposed to exist between Adam and Emma. There just wasn't enough interaction between the two of them to warrant the feelings that both of them express by the end of the book. I rooted for them, but I felt weird about it.

One small thing I didn't like ... Barry. As far as a character he was nice enough. I didn't really have any problem with who he was as a fictional human being. The problem I had with him was his role in this entire novel. Why did he exist at all? He seemed to pop up at weird times and behave in ways that people don't do in normal situations. Who begs a woman to "give him a chance" after only a few moments together? His emotions seemed to be stronger than the situations called for. And then when his true role in everything comes to the forefront, it seemed to just be thrown out there, a little tidbit for me to swallow, without any further exploration of that topic. I think the story would have improved if he was not part of it.

Ultimately, however, the reason I cannot give this book a higher rating is because of the protagonist of this story, Emma. I did not like her. Not at all. I recognize that she is in a wicked spot. Absolutely horrible. She is entitled to her time to grieve for the life that she has lost. But at a certain point as a reader I want to see this woman rise from the ashes of her life like a phoenix and be reborn. I want to see the triumph over the heartbreak. That's why I keep reading. I want the HEA. Here's the deal ... I don't think that a HEA needs to involve a romantic wedding at the end of the book. I don't even necessarily think that it needs to involve finding Mr. Right. But what happened in this book was so anti-climatic. It was just a giant pile of nothing. Maybe that flies in real life. Maybe. But after I spend a day or two immersed in a book, I don't like to end with a giant pile of nothing. I want resolution. I want hope. I want something. And in this book I don't feel like I got that. Emma has some serious trust issues. She doesn't particularly trust or like men in general. And after being burned as she has, it makes sense that she would feel this. I don't blame her for those feelings. But by the end of the book I wanted her to realize that she was allowing Edward to define all of humanity, and that was not fair. I wanted for her to see that it was okay for her to risk her heart again for love. I wanted for her to have something. When she remarks that she is the one to blame for her unhappiness I was thrilled. Finally she would be able to move on. But she didn't. Here's where I have to include a spoiler ... (view spoiler) I understand Emma's need to get herself together and not rely on a man to get her there. But I don't agree. There is nothing wrong with going through life and facing life's challenges with a partner. That doesn't make us weak. I just felt like this book implies that relying on one another in a relationship is somehow undesirable. And that irritated me. I couldn't stand Emma because I felt like she treated Adam horribly. I felt like she treated Barry horribly. I felt like she treated Mrs. Parrot horribly. And I couldn't move past those feelings in order to enjoy the better parts of this book.

I actually was planning on giving this book three stars originally. It is a quick read that, for the most part, was enjoyable. Until the ending, I would have said that the biggest problem in this book was tht I wanted to see the relationships (not just the romantic ones, but ALL the relationships) developed more fully. But after that ending I can only give this book two stars. It just disappointed me too much. But if you are a big Austen fan and are interested in getting a little taste of what her world might have been like, you might find this one to your liking. Two stars. (less)

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Sep 11, 2012 Susan rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: contemporary-romance, 2012

Just finished this book and I can't even say what it was about. I can't even say if there was a moral to the story or what the purpose of the telling was. There was a bit of a 'treasure' hunt involving unknown Jane Austen letters, in which the character, Emma, was sent to various places, perform a task, then open an envelope and read a copy of the letter.

I think the point of this hunt was to show Emma something. But, I can't figure out what it was! She came off a divorce to a snake of a guy who...more

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Jan 19, 2010 Samantha Hastings rated it 3 of 5 stars

I have read dozens of Jane Austen spinoffs and this one is pretty good. There were a few things that were entirely unbelievable; namely:

1. I have never met an English professor who dressed in designer clothing. (I have a graduate degree from a British University. I have met many professiors nationally and internationally.)
2. No professor would be fired for plagiarism because of their ex-husband's testimony. The main reason is that every person has a distince voice when they write and those readi...more

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Jun 07, 2009 Bee rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: chick-lit

This was a 3.5 star, charming little read.

Of all the recent crop of 'books for Jane Austen addicts', this one was definitely the most enjoyable for me. The plot was a bit formulaic -- Emma Douglas, bitter over her Jane Austen-inspired quest for a happy ending that was shattered by her unfaithful husband, heads to England on a mysterious quest involving an Austen secret society called The Formidables. This small group supposedly has the letters between Jane Austen and her sister Cassandra that C...more

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Jun 02, 2011 Andrea rated it 3 of 5 stars

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

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Apr 24, 2010 Vicki rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: chick-lit

I picked this up because the title caught my attention and I thought that it would be a quick, fun read. I read a lot of classics and I am trying to be less of a book snob, so I thought that a quick foray into chick-lit might be fun, especially since it references one of my favorite authors. This book made me want beat a hasty retreat to the safety of my classics.

There were times when I found the book interesting. The idea of a secret society that guards Jane Austen's letters was intriguing, tho...more I picked this up because the title caught my attention and I thought that it would be a quick, fun read. I read a lot of classics and I am trying to be less of a book snob, so I thought that a quick foray into chick-lit might be fun, especially since it references one of my favorite authors. This book made me want beat a hasty retreat to the safety of my classics.

There were times when I found the book interesting. The idea of a secret society that guards Jane Austen's letters was intriguing, though I was plagued by the question of why, if Austen's sister Cassandra had really wanted to keep her letters secret, they weren't destroyed in the first place. I liked the biographical parts about Jane Austen and the frequent references made to her works. And I will give it this, it was a quick, easy read.

Part of the problem for me was that I didn't really like the main character. Emma is self-absorbed and rather boring. There is a point to the self-absorbed part, but I don't think that she was meant to be boring. Her romantic interest (I finished it two days ago and I have already forgotten his name) is a cardboard cutout of the perfect man with no discernable flaws, other than the fact that he loves her for reasons that I can't fathom.

There is a point at which introspection becomes just plain annoying. Everything that happens, every little word that is said to Emma causes her to come to some revelation about herself and her marriage. This got really boring and repetitive after a while, and eventually I wanted to be thought intelligent enough to infer or remember what had previously been said about her marriage instead of being told over and over again. Halfway through I just wanted her mental voice to shut up and get on with the story.

The one thing that really sticks with me about this book is the fact that she made an incorrect Jane Austen reference. Emma is talking about the elegance of a house or something that she is looking at, so her companion mentions some houses from Austen's works. He mentions Mansfield Park, and she says that it wasn't really described in the novel, but it probably wouldn't have that kind of elegance because the Rushworths were too self-absorbed or something like that to live in someplace truly elegant. Now, Emma is supposed to be a professor who specializes in Jane Austen. She should know that the Bertrams live at Mansfield Park and that Sotherton is the Rushworth estate. I read this exchange three times before I realized that I hadn't misunderstood anything and that Emma was just plain wrong. I might be just nitpicking, but it really bothered me. Did nobody check things before they published it.

Overall, it was disappointing. I felt no real chemistry between the two main characters, and I spent a lot of time wondering why he would want her at all. The plot was interesting at times, but most of the time it was just plain silly. I wouldn't recommend it. This is one of those books that I am really glad I checked out from the library instead of buying. Too bad, because the title was clever and I liked the cover design.(less)

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Jane Austen Sequels: Jane Austen Ruined My Life, by Beth Pattillo	1	7	Oct 07, 2012 05:34pm

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“Heartbreak is more common than happiness. No one wants to say that, but it's true. We're taught to believe not only that everyone deserves a happy ending, but that if we try hard enough, we will get one. That's simply no the case. Happy endings, life long loves, are the products of both effort and luck. We can control them, to some extent and though our feelings always seem to have a life of their own, we can at least be open to love. But, luck, the other component, well there's nothing we can do about that one. Call it God's plan or predestination or divine intervention, but we're all at its mercy. And sometimes God isn't very merciful. Jane taught me that.” — 49 people liked it

“I took my time, running my fingers along the spines of books, stopping to pull a title from the shelf and inspect it. A sense of well-being flowed through me as I circled the ground floor. It was better then meditation or a new pair of shoes- or even chocolate. My life was a disaster, but there were still books. Lots and lots of books. A refuge. A solace. Each one offering the possibility of a new beginning.” — 45 people liked it

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Jane Austen Ruined My Life (Adventures with Jane Austen and her Legacy)

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