Austenland

Title: Austenland
Author: Shannon Hale
Series: Austenland (#1)
Pages: 196 (paperback)
Published: May 2007 by Bloomsbury USA

Summary: Jane Hayes is a seemingly normal young New Yorker, but she has a secret. Her obsession with Mr. Darcy, as played by Colin Firth in the BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, is ruining her love life: no real man can compare. But when a wealthy relative bequeaths her a trip to an English resort catering to Austen-crazed women, Jane's fantasies of meeting the perfect Regency-era gentleman suddenly become realer than she ever could have imagined.

Decked out in empire-waist gowns, Jane struggles to master Regency etiquette and flirts with gardeners and gentlemen;or maybe even, she suspects, with the actors who are playing them. It's all a game, Jane knows. And yet the longer she stays, the more her insecurities seem to fall away, and the more she wonders: Is she about to kick the Austen obsession for good, or could all her dreams actually culminate in a Mr. Darcy of her own?

My Thoughts: A short but sweet, easy read that's perfect for the beach. I was dying to read this book after I saw the cute and hilarious movie adaptation of it (which I absolutely fell in love with) so when I saw that it was only $1.49 on BookOutlet.com I had to snatch it up!
 
Now here's the thing, usually when I've seen the movie version and then read the book, I'll have slightly higher expectations than if I just read the book then see the movie (because the book is almost always better than the movie. Almost). However, since I loved the movie Austenland so much, I thought "this book must be an absolute delight!"
 
Well, it was pretty good, but it did not reach "absolute delight" status. Even though it's a relatively short novel (only 196 pages) I still found that it dragged at some parts, like when the ladies would sit and play whist or when Jane would be wondering why she was even at Austenland in the first place, I would find myself skimming a little. And then there were parts that felt like they were too choppy, like when at the beginning of each chapter it would describe her exes and how they broke up or whenever there was a segue between scenes.

This did not detract from the reading experience too much, though. I did enjoy it a lot for what it was. As a novel, it didn't take itself too seriously and was very cute, short, sweet, and to the point. The characters were as well fleshed out as they could be for a book under 200 pages long although I wish there were a few more character descriptions sprinkled in there, and Jane grows immensely from beginning to end. She goes from swearing off men entirely to letting her life, including the romantic aspects, run its course, taking her wherever it may.
 
I mean at first she completely questions the Austenland experience but when you reach a little over halfway through the book, she's turning over a new leaf. She figures that as long as she's at this Austen-inspired resort/getaway, she may as well live life how she wants instead of letting life just happen to her, which was quite inspiring!
 
Even though it was cheesy as some parts, I still really enjoyed this cute book. I don't think I'll ever reread it, at least not in the near future, but I'm still glad that I had the opportunity to read it since I was so fond of the movie adaptation.
My Rating: 3 out of 5 stars