Sophie Johnson is
working for a high-powered fashion magazine in London in sales. She would much rather be writing editorials
for the magazine. She has been
unfortunate in love, but when she discovers the Jane Austen Dating Agency, she
thinks her dreams have been answered. It’s
described as an “Exclusive dating agency for ladies to meet real gentleman in
beautiful settings – only the truly romantic may apply! Dine like Elizabeth and Darcy at Chatsworth
aka Pemberley, picnic like Emma or Knightley on juicy strawberries and
sparkling champagne on Box Hill.”
Sophie is soon
meeting new people and having new adventures through the dating agency. Will she find her own Mr. Darcy, or will it
be Mr. Wickham?
This was the March
Book Club selection for JASNA Northwoods Book Club. We had our meeting yesterday and it seemed
that everyone felt the same about this novel as I did. It was a fun book, but there were just too
many characters. The author tried to put
in characters and plot items from four of Austen’s novels and it was just too
much. It was hard to keep track of the
characters and I don’t feel the romance was well developed between the
leads. I wish the author would have
written a separate book for each Austen novel with less characters – it would
have been fun.
Favorite Quotes:
“My brother, Ben,
always says I have such unrealistic expectations of men due to an alarming
overconsumption of romantic novels as a teenager. Maybe he’s right, I know I love to escape
into a book – I should probably at least try to live in the real world. But right now it feels pretty inadequate.”
“I want him to
gaze at me, although maybe not in a creepy stalker way, and not controlling
either. Just romantic – you know what I
mean.”
“I really admire
you. In spite of your ridiculous
gaucheness our bizarre friends and ability to burst out laughing at random
moments, I think maybe . . . well, I really like you. You’re not like anyone else I’ve ever met.”
“The time has come
for me, Sophie Johnson, to kick ass and sort out my own happy ever after.”
Overall, The Jane
Austen Dating Agency was a fun book, but lost its way with too many characters.
Book Source: Purchased on my Kindle from Amazon.com
Plots and characters from four of Austen's novels? That is too many for one book.
ReplyDeleteIt was - I think it would have been a great book if it would have stuck to just one!
DeleteThank you for your honest review, Laura. Too many characters can dilute a story, whether it's a book or a movie.
ReplyDeleteI agree! I love characters, but when there are too many to keep track of, it does really dilute the story.
Delete