Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict is the sequel to Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict. This time the tables are turned—a young 19th century woman named Jane Mansfield wakes up in the body of Courtney Stone, a 21st century woman living in LA. Jane here has more challenges to overcome than Courtney did, as she learns to adopt herself to a totally new life. Along the way, she becomes attracted to Wes, one of Courtney’s friends. She also learns a lot about herself, and she learns that the 21st century isn’t so much different from the 19th, after all.
This book was a quick read; I finished it in two sittings. It’s enjoyable for the most part, and funny. There’s good character development, but only insofar as Jane/ Courtney goes; the other characters aren’t as well defined. The ending of the novel was very open-ended, too. There’s not much focus on how or why Jane and Courtney exchanged bodies (yes, Courtney hit her head in a pool and Jane fell off her horse, but that doesn’t quite explain how time travel resulted). On the other hand, I thought the author captured Jane’s sense of confusion upon waking up in Courtney’s body perfectly. It’s a cute idea, and a unique take off the whole “Jane Austen lit” craze, that isn’t a continuation of one of Austen’s novels. It’s a good summer book that good for escapist reading.
Also reviewed by: Peeking Between the Pages, The Bookworm, She Is Too Fond of Books
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