Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict

Cover art love

/ Meg / 7 Comments

rude_awakenings2I didn’t know it was possible to be so in love with a book’s cover art, but let me tell you right now — I am in love with this book’s cover art. And it doesn’t hurt that it’s a book by Laurie Viera Rigler, the sequel to Confessions Of A Jane Austen Addict.

Rude Awakenings Of A Jane Austen Addict brings us back to Courtney, modern L.A. girl, last seen in the body of English aristocratic daughter Jane Mansfield a hundred and fifty years earlier. Except now we have Jane in the body of Courtney in present-day California! Oh my! I’m really psyched to see this plot, because one of my biggest issues with Confessions was the lack of understanding regarding what happened to Jane while Courtney was running around English gardens and chatting up attractive English gentlemen in Jane’s body.

confessions_ja_addictBut back to the cover art. A Victorian beauty in a gorgeous pink and white dress — grasping an iPod? Really? Loves it. Anything with a pink sash and awesome font and mixture of textures immediately grabs my eye. Of course, I liked the cover art for the first book, too. But I’m really excited to get my hands on this one, another novel in the long line of original Austen fiction. I just can’t get enough! Rude Awakenings will be released June 25. Check out Rigler’s website here!

Booking Through Thursday: See the potential

/ Meg / 9 Comments

booking_through_thursLet’s go Booking Through Thursday!

What book do you think should be made into a movie? And do you have any suggestions for the producers?

If done well, I think that Laurie Viera Rigler’s Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict could be an awesome movie! The story of a modern woman, Courtney, being transported back to the time of Jane Austen and finding herself an unwilling, unwed lady of the house is a solid, original one. Throw in a hot, Mr. Darcy-like character, some lush costuming, intelligent and witty dialogue and plenty of romantic tension and you’d have a winner! As long as I got to see plenty of cobblestone streets, shots of the English countryside and some fountains on the property, I’d be happy with the set. I love films that just transport me, dropping me into the center of an entirely different world and making me forget that I’m sitting in a sticky theatre seat for two hours. I think Confessions could definitely be a film like that!

And Lord knows there’s certainly a strong Austen fan base to support a film! Look at the countless movies made of Austen’s novels, not to mention the films made about Austen’s own life (“Becoming Jane” being my favorite). Though its a booming industry, there’s plenty of room for a new addition. And the cast and crew would have plenty of material to examine for reference! As a sampler, see:

northanger_abbey

"Northanger Abbey," Masterpiece Theatre (2007)

"Sense and Sensibility," PBS (2008)

"Sense and Sensibility," PBS (2008)

"Becoming Jane" (2007)

"Becoming Jane" (2007)

pride_prejudice

"Pride & Prejudice" (2005)

Book review: ‘Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict’ by Laurie Viera Rigler

/ Meg / 4 Comments

confessions_ja_addict

Courtney Stone is in a world of trouble. Not only is she struggling to get over her philandering ex and dishonest best friend in modern-day Los Angeles, she’s now awoken to find herself trapped in the impossibly different and beautiful body of Jane Mansfield, an unmarried thirty-year-old woman living and breathing in eighteenth-century England — the same England of Jane Austen, Courtney’s all-time favorite author.

In Laurie Viera Rigler’s Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict, Courtney grapples with the whys and hows of her very unusual circumstances in the early 1800s, somehow managing to form an alliance with Mary, the sister of the illustrious Mr. Edgeworth, and beginning to see the world of Austen in an entirely different light. Once admired for its sense of propriety and romance, Courtney begins to realize the social conventions that once seemed so endearing were unbelievably constrictive — even reprehensible. And everything else begins to shift and reshape as she sees the world through Jane Mansfield’s eyes — including a burgeoning relationship with Edgeworth, a strained one with her “mother” Mrs. Mansfield and the countless other details of a life Jane Mansfield seemed to struggle so hard to be living.

I’m a huge Austen addict myself, and I found myself pretty caught up in this story. I can’t say I felt the passion or romance bubbling off the page at any point, but I took these “confessions” to be more about Courtney discovering what a “self-empowered” woman really is — and it doesn’t necessarily mean going out and sleeping with whoever we want, or having all-night girls nights out, or having the freedom to work wherever we would like (though it can be those things, too). Courtney uses her time as Jane to discover who she is as a person . . . as soon as she stops obsessing over how to get back to L.A.

Like other reviews I’ve read, I found the end unsatisfying — I had so many questions about the mechanics of everything that happened. It seemed to all be dismissed by mysticism or just plain overlooked, like we would forget about it. I was also bothered by Rigler’s constant barrage of rhetorical questions — How is this happening? Will I ever be home? Am I losing my identity? Why am I thinking like Jane? — and wanted a little more showing and less telling in the story. More dialogue could have definitely helped with that, I think.

But overall it was a great, fast read, and I think many Austen fans will enjoy Rigler’s romantic scenes and glimpses at life behind Austen’s words — the nuts and bolts of a real bath in Bath, for instance. I was happy to have made the journey with Courtney/Jane.


4 out of 5!

ISBN: 0452289726 ♥ Purchase from Amazon ♥ Author Website
Personal copy purchased by Meg