Geeking Out with Jane Austen!
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Source: Review Copy from Author
Kelsey Edmundson is an obsessed, geeky, Jane Austen fan-girl. After a bad breakup or a disappointing day she doesn’t watch romantic comedies with a pint of ice cream, she turns to her beloved Pride and Prejudice to mend her broken heart and soothe her sorrows. After a particularly disastrous night of trying to get over her perfectly horrid ex-boyfriend, Kelsey once again retreats to the well-worn pages of Pride and Prejudice. Except that this time she somehow ends up in the pages of Pride and Prejudice. Like actually in a scene from the story and in the body of one of the characters! Talk about living out your geek-girl fantasy!
So what does Kelsey do when she discovers she is able to jump into characters and scenes of Pride and Prejudice? She does what any Jane Austen fan-girl would do! She tries to jump into Elizabeth Bennet, of course! Which, unfortunately is not as easy as one would hope. This novel-jumping ability didn’t come with a reader’s manual, so Kelsey is kind of learning things by trial and error. And even though she gets a good grasp of navigating the lives of Jane Austen’s minor characters, the rules of the game all seem to change when she inhabits the body of Elizabeth Bennet…
How I loved this über fun and incredibly unique novel by Jessica Grey! I’m finding it hard to decide which aspect of the story I took pleasure in the most – the Pride and Prejudice scene jumps where we hear Kelsey’s thoughts and interactions with Jane Austen’s characters, the modern-day bits where Kelsey has a bad habit of making a fool of herself in front of an adorable and available Australian cutie, or the hilarious and oh-so-appropriate movie, book, and geek-girl references! (Star Wars, Princess Bride, and Anne of Green Gables to name a few!)
Even though I loved and thoroughly appreciated all of Kelsey’s insightful and comedic experiences in Pride and Prejudice, I must admit that my favorite scenes were those between Kelsey and Mark. I just loved spotting all the cleverly reversed Pride and Prejudice parallels – Mark (like Elizabeth Bennet) overhears a rude comment from Kelsey the first night he meets her, Kelsey is reserved (like Darcy) and often retreats into herself when in uncomfortable social situations, which leaves Mark the challenge of trying to make out her character (like Elizabeth tries to do with Darcy). Both characters were likeable, accessible, original, and well-crafted. I loved observing their misunderstandings, heated debates, electric chemistry, and sweet yet blunder-filled romance. My only complaint is that their relationship seemed to pick up a little too much speed towards the end. It kind of got too serious too soon.
While Trekkies fantasize about being on board the Enterprise and Potterheads fantasize about being admitted to Hogwarts, it is probably the fantasy of every die-hard Janeite to meet Mr. Darcy…in the flesh. To see the iconic and brilliant hero as Jane Austen imagined him in her head. *sigh* In this inventive and stellar Austenesque novel by Jessica Grey, readers get to vicariously live through Kelsey Edmundson as her fan-girl dreams come true! I highly recommend!
7 out of 30 completed!
Meredith, thank you for this fantastic review! I am so glad you liked Attempting Elizabeth and Kelsey and Mark!
My pleasure, Jessica! I loved Attempting Elizabeth, thank you for writing such an enjoyable and unique book!
Sounds like a fun story!! How cool would that be to jump INTO P&P?!?! Putting this on my to-read list! 🙂
I know, right? I’d love to be able to jump into P&P and see everything as Jane Austen imagined it! 🙂
It does sound like fun. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on Jessica’s new book. I know I want to read it too.
So much fun! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! 🙂
Congratulations, Jessica, on your new release. Sounds like a super fun and inventive story. Best wishes for every success with it!
Let’s hope Jessica will gift the Austenesque genre with another terrific read real soon! 😉
Sounded like a fun read. I think the jumping in and out sounded like a good idea. I enjoyed the review.
I loved the jumping in and out of Pride and Prejudice, it was so funny to see all the other characters Kelsey accidentally jumped into and her reaction to it! Some characters she was definitely not pleased about! 🙂
I just started this book today. I’m four chapters in and I think Kelsey should be my best friend. I’m half in love with Mr. Darcy and hate hiking, too. Or maybe I just jump into this book myself and be Kelsey. It’s such a fun read. Thanks for your review!
Yes! Kelsey is definitely someone I’d want as a friend! It would be so fun to jump in novels and meet character like Kelsey who we’d get along with! Enjoy, Heather!