Absolutely loved this book! (I really enjoyed the first book
"Austenland" and can't wait for the movie to come out.)
"Midnight in Austenland" took me by surprise and I think I loved it
even more than book one, which I didn't think was possible. This wasn't a real
sequel, it was different main characters but the setting was the same place. I
was expecting more of the same kind of story from book one but it had twists
and turns that I never saw coming. Charlotte our heroin is a discarded wife and
sometimes you want to slap her because she is like a front-door mat letting
everyone walk all over her, especially her slimy cheating x-husband.
Charlotte becomes a big fan of Jane Austen and loves all her
books. So spending two weeks in England in the Jane Austen world is just the
break she needs from her x-husband and this way her two children can spend time
with their dad and new step mom.
The experience at Austenland is completely authentic to
1816. Charlotte is there with two other ladies who are on vacation too and the
three gentlemen there will woo them and at the end of the vacation a ball will
take place and everyone is sure to get a happy ending with a proposal. Of
course all of this experience is playacting but sometimes acting can become
terrifyingly real.
Charlotte has an active imagination and on a dark and stormy
night during a game of "bloody murder” she is sure that she touches and
see's the hand of a dead body.
Even though the story becomes a murder mystery the author is
genius in her writing and there were so many things that made me laugh out loud.
The “Internal Thought” is the comic release. There are so many lines that are
my favorite. For instance, "It's a universal truth that nothing spoils a
postlunch game of croquet like suspecting the other players of murder."
The writing was original and painted a picture with words;
like, "She seemed to be floating all over the place. Someone could tie a
string to her and sell her at carnivals."
Another good line, "Truth is a sword, and though it be
good, it cuts."
Jane Austen lovers you will be thrilled with this modern day
reenactment resort. You get the “Pride and Prejudice” brooding Mr.Mallery (like
Mr. Darcy) and Edmund Grey (like Bingley). Charlotte becomes like Catherine
Morland in “Northanger Abbey” as she sneaks around the place trying to solve a
murder. And you get a little “Emma” too as Charlotte is a nice girl helping
everyone to a fault.
Shannon Hale does it
again with another witty tale and is a heroin in her own right.
2 comments:
I read this book when it first came out and LOVED it too. Probably more than the first! Did you hear there's a movie of the first coming out? Stephanie Meyer is producing it! It was supposed to come out this year but they must have postponed it. I can't find a final release date anywhere for it.
Yeah I heard they turned Austenland into a movie but no release date yet. Shannon Hale said at the booking signing no word yet on when it will come available. I really think Midnight in Austenland would do well as a movie too.
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