Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera RiglerMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Month Read In: January 2022
Challenge:
Satisfied The Uncorked Librarian 2022 January prompt, Time Travel. In the loosest sense possible. I did not realize that this was a sequel and so I have not read of Courtney's trip into Jane's life, but I also don't feel the need to, if that makes sense.
This was a romance, plain and simple, but beyond that, Rigler did a very good job of sharing how someone from 19th century England who wakes up in a 21st century woman's body would view our world. We so often romanticize the past and time travelling romances always send the woman (and a few men) back in time to fall in love with someone then. This one, was a departure from that script and quite enjoyable.
Rigler's telling of how Jane handles Courtney's life and airplanes and job and power shut off and interacting with the neighbor and learning there are more movies than her favorite Pride and Prejudice and she gets to read all the other Jane Austen novels that hadn't even been published yet... You see where I'm going with this? The marvel and the wonder and appreciation of discovery that comes after the startling fear of being plopped down in the unknown. I rated atmosphere a 9.5. and characters a 7. They were typical romance background characters and I couldn't bring myself to care about Courtney's friends Paula and ... Ann was it?
The way the verbiage and language changed between present day speech and Jane's 19th century thought prose was amazing. I was also listening to the audiobook and Kate Reading was phenomenal in bringing these two aspects of the protagonist's world into full focus. Rated 9.
Plot and Intrigue were pretty predictable but well done for a romance I suppose. Plot 7.5 and Intrigue 6. But the time juxtaposition and the way Jane starts to think about Courtney being in her own life back in England and the mystical sidebar of the fortune teller brings logic up to a 8.5. This reminds us that women of Jane Austen's time were not all silly little ninnies looking for a husband. They had thoughts and aspirations beyond that, just without always the means to achieve them.
I wasn't looking for a romance in this book, but I should have known better. At least my Time Travel book for the challenge was something I was able to grapple my mind around, because some of those SciFi ones are difficult even in the best of times for my brain. Rated 7.
CAWPILE final rating: 7.79 = 4 Stars
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This was a romance, plain and simple, but beyond that, Rigler did a very good job of sharing how someone from 19th century England who wakes up in a 21st century woman's body would view our world. We so often romanticize the past and time travelling romances always send the woman (and a few men) back in time to fall in love with someone then. This one, was a departure from that script and quite enjoyable.
Rigler's telling of how Jane handles Courtney's life and airplanes and job and power shut off and interacting with the neighbor and learning there are more movies than her favorite Pride and Prejudice and she gets to read all the other Jane Austen novels that hadn't even been published yet... You see where I'm going with this? The marvel and the wonder and appreciation of discovery that comes after the startling fear of being plopped down in the unknown. I rated atmosphere a 9.5. and characters a 7. They were typical romance background characters and I couldn't bring myself to care about Courtney's friends Paula and ... Ann was it?
The way the verbiage and language changed between present day speech and Jane's 19th century thought prose was amazing. I was also listening to the audiobook and Kate Reading was phenomenal in bringing these two aspects of the protagonist's world into full focus. Rated 9.
Plot and Intrigue were pretty predictable but well done for a romance I suppose. Plot 7.5 and Intrigue 6. But the time juxtaposition and the way Jane starts to think about Courtney being in her own life back in England and the mystical sidebar of the fortune teller brings logic up to a 8.5. This reminds us that women of Jane Austen's time were not all silly little ninnies looking for a husband. They had thoughts and aspirations beyond that, just without always the means to achieve them.
I wasn't looking for a romance in this book, but I should have known better. At least my Time Travel book for the challenge was something I was able to grapple my mind around, because some of those SciFi ones are difficult even in the best of times for my brain. Rated 7.
CAWPILE final rating: 7.79 = 4 Stars
View all my reviews
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