Austenland by Shannon HaleMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
Ugh…I hate having to admit I was wrong. In my mind I wanted to detest this book, probably because The Actor and The Housewife was such a disaster. But, this was much better, if only slightly so, than the author’s current work.
Jane Hayes is obsessed with all things Austen. When her Aunt dies, she sends Jane to an Austen-like them park, where they dress in Regency clothes, speak in Regency English, and fall in love with Regency wannabes.
Shannon Hale has a gift for opposite sex dialogue and banter. It worked much better in Austenland with single adults. She made Austenland sound like a fun place to take a vacation and play dress up for three weeks. And it’s got a sappy-sweet, happily ever after, ending.
I should have finished this book in an afternoon. In fact, I checked this out from the library a month or so ago when I committed to the Austen Challenge. Oops – I forgot it was in my stack until I got a notice it was nearly overdue. I needed to finish it before I started The Help, and thought it wouldn’t take me anytime to do so. Nearly a week later it’s finally done (kids going back to school has somehow cut into my reading time).
However, I’m still waiting to be won over by Shannon Hale.
(This was a TOTALLY Clean Read)
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4 comments:
Yeah, it was sappy-sweet and a bit predictable in the end, so a nice and light read. I'm starting Hale's The Princess Academy which will let me know if Hale's won me over as an author. Thanks for your review. Glad to see you're on the bloggernacle as well!
I've heard her YA fiction is much better than her Adult fiction...I hope that's true!!
Oh, I haven't read The Actor and the Housewife yet and am sorry that it didn't live up to your expectations. Glad that Austenland was a better read for you.
I haven't read Austenland, but I genuinely enjoyed The Goose Girl, and the Princess Academy. I was even more impressed with The Goose Girl after I read the original fairy tale. Shannon Hale took a relatively unknown, sort of boring little fairy tale and turned it into a full blown story with a plot and characters and everything. I mean, it's not Pride and Prejudice, but I'd be pretty darned pleased if I could pull off something like that.
And she's miles ahead of Twilight, or even Meyer's The Host. Princess Academy is also fun, although much more a finish in one sitting type of YA novel. Still, glad I have these books to give to my 10 year old daughter.
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