Austenland Written by: Shannon Hale

Good evening Readers, so, are we all enchanted with mother nature gifting us with spring once more? Austenland was quite the read...I had to ask myself several times during this book if such a place like the world Shannon Hale created could actually exist in present day. Of course the world of Jane Austen existed and thanks to her books we can all wish for our Mr. Darcy and hope to be courted and wooed by the charming proper men of old. I suppose that wish is an understandable one, but one should look at the lovely ancient aunt in this book and think hard on her advice and go for what is real, to hold onto what is actually there and not live in a world of fantasy. I personally would never want to live in that era of history, but to each their own. Sure, love can be and is quite magical, but in the end it should also be real no? So in Austenland we have Jane, a young New York Woman who doesn't appear to have the best track record when it comes to men and if that wasn't bad enough she has this obsession with Jane Austen's character Mr. Darcy specifically the BBC's version staring Colin Firth. Jane's Aunt Carolyn an ancient woman with quite a lot of money sees Jane's obsession and gifts Jane with a very unique gift. The gift she gives is one that will finally give Jane everything she's been dreaming of her entire life and then some. I found this book quite fun to read the Jane character was so confused the entire time and seems to be a woman that is out to sabotage herself whenever she can...quite the mixed up mind this one. But, even if she is deliberately or accidentally ruining her chances at love one thing is very clear, we the readers are in for a treat. I won't give away much but this book definitely proves to we the witnesses of Jane's story that sometimes playing out ones fantasy can be fun, scary, and at times just ass numbingly dull. The story itself reads very fast and had me second guessing every character and their motives and what was real the whole time. The dialogue was witty and the characters themselves pleasant. I was rooting for Jane the entire time. So if you are a fan of Jane Austen and have ever entertained the idea of living in an Austen world then this book would be a treat for you indeed.