What If Choosing Love Erased Your Legacy?

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Source: Purchased

TYPE OF NOVEL: Time Travel, Jane Austen as a Main Character

THE PREMISE: Our girl Jane is miserable in 1803, her parents and society are all pressuring her to marry and she can’t help but feel immeasurably guilty when each new suitor/prospective match doesn’t end up proposing to her. Out of desperation and curiosity, Jane decides to meet with this matchmaker who boasts she could deliver Jane’s one true love. But little does Jane know that this delivery takes her to a completely new time…

MY THOUGHTS: 

A story about Jane Austen finding love and time traveling? – sounds right up my alley! I love imagining and believing in romances that Jane Austen might’ve experienced. In addition, I love seeing Jane Austen live out of her normal environment and explore new places. I was immediately engaged by the premise and the situation Jane was facing – how at the age of twenty-eight there were raised hopes and expectations with each encounter she had with a person of the opposite sex and how her mother started to blame and forbid her writing.

It was so perfect that Jane “landed” in the midst of a Jane Austen film adaptation of Northanger Abbey and the new characters this production introduced. Sofia Wentworth has her own drama she is dealing with – trying to win back her ex-husband aka the director, being cast as Mrs. Allen when is typically cast as the sexy action star or ingenue – but she is determined to help Jane find her way back home….until they realize the real reason she is here. I liked learning more about Sofia and seeing her relationship with Jane develop – even if I think it could have grown a few degrees warmer.

I wish I could say I absolutely adored Jane’s relationship with Fred, but I didn’t. It held all the progress and promise of being a swoon-worthy relationship – especially with their early bickering, playful animosity, and cute awkwardness around each other. But it seemed like the more the relationship developed the flatter it became. The moments of realization and declaration all had some detachment to it. I didn’t feel any affection or admiration between these characters. There was a deeper connection missing – which didn’t really make sense given the conflict this romance introduced. In addition, when heavy truths were revealed or difficult decisions needed to be made, it was handled all very casually and insignificantly. Overall, it felt like there was a lot of emotional detachment – which is not really how I like my romances. The more emotional the better for this girl! 😉

FINAL THOUGHTS:

👰🏻‍♀️  If marriage will not befall a young lady in her own time, she must seek it during another…

💓  Even though I wished for a bit stronger romance, there was still a lot I enjoyed about this novel.

🕑  It is only a time travel novel, or, in short only some work that creatively displays a woman’s struggle between two times, two lives, and two heart’s desires.

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