Review: Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict

I am a bit delayed in writing a review on this book, seeing as though I didn’t always have this blog when I won it several months ago through a giveaway on Twitter by the wonderful people at Bloomsbury.

Confessions of a Jane Austen addict by Laurie Viera Rigler, is a wonderful and insightful Austen inspired fiction novel that perfectly plays of what every Jane Austen addict dreams of…. living the life of a Jane Austen novel. As an Austen addict myself, I did my best to win the books, which I had never heard of before the competition. My memory is a bit fuzzy but I recall we had to say what makes us an Austen addict. I had absolutely no problem in sharing my addict stories.

This book is the first of the two books, the second being Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict (That review will follow shortly).

The story is about 21^st century LA girl, Courtney Stone. She is a confessed Austen addict that has read far to many Jane Austen’s books. Courtney lives the life of a woman wounded by love, friends and restlessness; that is until she wakes up one morning and is spiraled into the world of Regency England in a foreign body, also known as Jane Mansfield. We follow Courtney and she attempts to live life as Jane Mansfield and unfortunately for Courtney she isn’t brushed up on Regency England etiquette and language. We are introduced to new characters in Jane’s life that Courtney has to become familiar with and discover who is honest and who will make her life as Jane difficult. The theme in the story begins to focus on destiny vs free will and as a reader I became confused whether this was a dream or similar to ITV’s Lost in Austen. Since Courtney is not thrust into an actual Jane Austen novel like Amanda Price, it is not entirely the same. Either way, the story was highly enjoyable, I found myself utterly engaged in Courtney’s new life, thinking about what I would do in her shoes.

The book has its share of drama, scandal, romance, passion, friendship and handsome men, add to that a twist of cross century travelling, fortune tellers and poor hygiene and you will get an amazing read that makes you to go back and brush up on Jane Austen’s novels. Who knows, you could wake up one morning and be in Regency England…. Or just stumble across Charles Edgeworth.

Rating: 4.5/5

Release Date: March 2010

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Author: Laurie Viera Rigler