Rebekah Wolfe Follow

As a single, never married woman over 40, I was happy to be reading a book where the heroine is also in this same category. I liked that, despite her fashion magazine career, she was not your typical "chick lit" heroine in age and upbringing. Beyond that, though, I didn't like this book and ended up skimming to the end because I was basically checked-out of the plot mid-way through. I didn't find the comedic elements funny - falling in manure, doing a pregnancy check on a cow, nor did I find the romantic elements swoony-worthy. The Jane Austen elements also felt tacked-on, like the author's editor told her to give her story some sort of "in" to a reading audience, so she made the heroine a Jane Austen fan who occasionally asked herself WWJD? I don't recommend this book to fans of Austen fan fic.

I *maybe* would have liked this book more if I had read it instead of listened to it. Rather than embody the characters, the narrator elocuted the novel, putting distance between me and what could have been a very relatable protagonist with a precise delivery that came off as uppity and sometimes preachy.
The premise of this novel is complete escapist enticement, and honestly, I think the premise is the best thing about this book. Judging from the cover, I expected a “romantic comedy” akin to Talia Hibbert or Sofia Kinsella. Instead, this book was more “quaint village yarn” in the vein of Felicity Hayes-McCoy. There weren’t any laughs, the romance didn’t sizzle, and the heartbreaking drama at the end fell flat.

This is a contemporary, proper romance featuring a likable cast including Emma and Lucas in the HEA rolls. I like the “Proper Romances” that Shadow Mountain publishes. They are meant to be in the style of Georgette Heyer, so you get a lot of romantic tingles but no sex. This book has a scene where Lucas places Emma’s hand on his chest and they just stand, enrapt in each other’s mingled heartbeats. To me, it was more romantic than any wall-banging scene you get in other contemporary romances.

All in all, I’d describe this book as “easy, breezy.” Even though both characters experienced abandonment as children, the plot does not ask very much of the reader. The author tends to tell rather than show. Here is an example: the narrator, Emma, has been talking with her BFF and this the friend’s reaction: “She laughed, the kind that spoke of comfortable pleasure, and turned back to the romance movie.” This sentence jarred. First, no one says (or thinks) “romance movie,” romcom or even romantic movie, sure. Second, she could have described how her friend’s laugh made her feel rather then tell us what kind of laugh it was.
Still, its a sweet, easy read.

This novel begins as it means to continue, with suspense and action. I really enjoyed fantasy premise, the main character Susan and the 1980's setting. It does not take place in a bookshop, but one of the main characters is a Harry Styles-eque bookseller, so I think that suffices.

This Sense and Sensibility retelling is not as faithful to the original as others, like Jane of Austin. The author wanted it to be a book about sisterhood rather than about finding love. I liked that the author drew cultural parallels from Georgian English Gentry to present-day Washington D.C. Sometimes, though, the author's political tone was cloying. I'm politically liberal, but I don't like how some liberals look pityingly askance at differencing ideologies and opinions. I felt some of that from the characters in the book.

Xe Sand's narration is butter. You trust her voice and don't want to stop listening. The writing is also superb. Sarah Gailey's descriptions/similes are befitting the subject: dark and clever. Two examples: "I slide it into the conversation as gently as a filet knife between two ribs." "I turned so fast that a muscle in my neck filed a grievance." This well crafted novel resonates on all the levels.

This book was my "gateway drug" into Jane Austen retellings. The main character was very relatable (to me). The whole idea of taking a vacation to play dress-up in a Georgian England is complete escapist fantasy and, to quote Liz Lemon, "I want to go to there."

I devour Katherine Reay novels. This one has a setting similar to Austenland, a hotel/resort where the clientele get to pretend they are living in Georgian England. Ms. Reay's novels are christain but not preachy.

I've read plenty of books set in bookshops or bakeries, but this is the first I've read that is set in a tea shop. I really enjoyed reading about the rituals surrounding a good cup of tea. This is a pretty faithful retelling of Sense and Sensibility and an emotionally satisfying read.