Genres
Publication
Broadway Books (2006), Edition: First Edition, 363 pages
Description
A tale of time travel, true love, and Jane Austen New York actress C.J. Welles, a die-hard Jane Austen fan, is on the verge of landing her dream role: portraying her idol in a Broadway play. But during her final audition, she is mysteriously transported to Bath, England, in the year 1801. And Georgian England, with its rigid and unforgiving social structure and limited hygienic facilities, is not quite the picturesque costume drama C.J. had always imagined. Just as she wishes she could click her heels together and return to Manhattan, C.J. meets the delightfully eccentric Lady Dalrymple, a widowed countess who takes C.J. into her home, introducing her as a poor relation to Georgian society--including the dashing Earl of Darlington and his cousin, Jane Austen! When a crisis develops, C.J.--in a race against time--becomes torn between two centuries. An attempt to return to her own era might mean forfeiting her blossoming romance with the irresistible Darlington and her growing friendship with Jane Austen, but it's a risk she must take. And in the midst of this remarkable series of events, C.J. discovers something even more startling--a secret from her own past that may explain how she wound up in Bath in the first place.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member marnattij
Mix of Jane Austen and Diana Gabaldon though not as successful as either of them.
Modern day actress C. J. Welles finds that a prop door on the stage where she is playing Jane Austen leads her back to Jane Austen's England. There through a series of events, sometimes outlandish, sometimes not, she
Some of the events seem to have arisen from the author's research on the topic more than need of the story, but still an engaging read.
Modern day actress C. J. Welles finds that a prop door on the stage where she is playing Jane Austen leads her back to Jane Austen's England. There through a series of events, sometimes outlandish, sometimes not, she
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meets the real Jane Austen, falls in love, and finds her true life.Some of the events seem to have arisen from the author's research on the topic more than need of the story, but still an engaging read.
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LibraryThing member gardentoad
A modern Austen-lover accidentally travels in time back to Bath in 1801. There were parts of this that were interesting. I enjoyed the descriptions of some of the more negative aspects of the Georgian period. The main plot, though, left a lot to be desired.
LibraryThing member Turrean
If you are an Austen fan, run, do not walk, away from this book as fast as you can. If you are a fan of historical fiction with a romantic flavor, go read Amanda Quick and her compatriots. If you want a bizarre mishmash of Austen, time travel, and bad historical romance, why, you've found the right
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book. The first 160 pages read like any other Austen wannabe author, with a sprinkling of Austen names and locales. (The great Jane herself is dragged in as a character whose only dialog is quotes from her novels.) Then the author gleefully leaps into a weird mix of Regency soap opera, copious bedroom scenes, strident social commentary, and Shakespearean reference. I read about 200 pages and then leafed dolefully through the rest. Then I went and read Sense and Sensibility to take away the horrid aftertaste of an hour with this complete train wreck of a novel. The author gets 1/2 a star for a cute idea. Show Less
LibraryThing member LibraryCin
3.5 stars.
C.J. is trying out for a part on Broadway, hoping to play her favourite author, Jane Austen. As the audition comes to a close, she suddenly finds herself in Bath, England, in the year 1801. Now what? She has no money, no place to stay, and knows no one! C.J. finds herself in all sorts of
It was a good book. I learned a little bit about the time period, as well.
C.J. is trying out for a part on Broadway, hoping to play her favourite author, Jane Austen. As the audition comes to a close, she suddenly finds herself in Bath, England, in the year 1801. Now what? She has no money, no place to stay, and knows no one! C.J. finds herself in all sorts of
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different situations while in the early 19th century. It was a good book. I learned a little bit about the time period, as well.
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LibraryThing member classyhomemaker
Many others have, understandably, given this silly book a very low rating; however, there's a difference between a silly book and a stupid book, so I'm being a little more gracious with my rating. The story is so ridiculous that the reader often wonders if the author is having a joke with us all;
My initial reaction was that the author was using far too many Jane facts all at once. I wrote, "not everything has to be explained. A fan already knows these things and a non-fan won't care. Too much clever gets to be annoying." After awhile, I realized this was going to be the style of the entire book so I gave up my frustration and rolled with it. It did get better after awhile when I realized the author was pretty knowledgeable and offered many interesting lessons on Georgian/Regency life.
The story was so unbelievable that it would be silly to even attempt a comment. Many reviewers have expressed frustration that it all seemed so coincidental and ridiculous. I'd invite those readers to stop for a moment and remember they're reading a time travel story. Time travel is impossible. Therefore, EVERYTHING in this story is silly and ridiculous...it's built upon a ridiculous premise. So, rather than trying to pick apart the story itself, perhaps it makes more sense to comment on the predictable elements within it.
My only issue with her actual grammatical style was the fact she put quotes around far too many words and phrases, hoping to emphasize their importance. The whole "aunt" and "niece" thing was frustrating, as I found myself emphasizing them in my head as I read them, page after page. I suppose it was supposed to build up to the fact that she didn't use them at the end---emphasizing the true connection between these two characters---but that was annoyingly anticlimactic.
I was not impressed with the character of CJ. Firstly, she had way more knowledge than made sense---no matter how much she'd researched for her character. Sure, she may have perfected a 21st century idea of what Regency life was like, making her actions less conspicuous once she got there, but it's very unlikely she'd be able to speak their way so easily, quickly, and without detection. No matter how much I study a foreign language, I will never speak it flawlessly to other native speakers my first time out. While American English and British English may be mostly the same language, any American who has read something written by a 21st century Briton can tell the difference almost immediately---how much more the difference between a 21 century actress and the 18th century culture into which she stepped?
A second unlikely thing was CJ's reaction to meeting Jane Austen. She doesn't seem to care a bit and the beloved author is treated like any other character. It's not until after several meetings with her that CJ expresses any sort of awe that they are friends. (Side note: robotic Jane-quoting Jane is also really annoying.)
I suppose I could comment here, at length, on the predictability of the story; but as I said above, it's made to be unrealistic to begin with so expectations should be appropriate.
Lastly, my biggest beef with the story was the explicit sex scenes. Always unnecessary---but very unexpected in this story and unneeded, too. Austen introduced us to many romantic relationships without any hint of impropriety. Surely this author could have challenged herself to do the same.
Overall, I liked reading about Bath---mainly because I'll be going there again twice this year, for my fourth and fifth visits, and will enjoy some of the same walks and views as these characters did. However, the rest of the story's elements left me rolling my eyes. Not a bad book---but not a super great one. Without the explicit scenes, I might recommend it for its silly fun look at Regency life, but I can't suggest it to anyone with those scenes included.
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but it's very WELL written, using a rich and intelligent vocabulary, and is very well researched, the author having a good understanding of Regency era Bath.My initial reaction was that the author was using far too many Jane facts all at once. I wrote, "not everything has to be explained. A fan already knows these things and a non-fan won't care. Too much clever gets to be annoying." After awhile, I realized this was going to be the style of the entire book so I gave up my frustration and rolled with it. It did get better after awhile when I realized the author was pretty knowledgeable and offered many interesting lessons on Georgian/Regency life.
The story was so unbelievable that it would be silly to even attempt a comment. Many reviewers have expressed frustration that it all seemed so coincidental and ridiculous. I'd invite those readers to stop for a moment and remember they're reading a time travel story. Time travel is impossible. Therefore, EVERYTHING in this story is silly and ridiculous...it's built upon a ridiculous premise. So, rather than trying to pick apart the story itself, perhaps it makes more sense to comment on the predictable elements within it.
My only issue with her actual grammatical style was the fact she put quotes around far too many words and phrases, hoping to emphasize their importance. The whole "aunt" and "niece" thing was frustrating, as I found myself emphasizing them in my head as I read them, page after page. I suppose it was supposed to build up to the fact that she didn't use them at the end---emphasizing the true connection between these two characters---but that was annoyingly anticlimactic.
I was not impressed with the character of CJ. Firstly, she had way more knowledge than made sense---no matter how much she'd researched for her character. Sure, she may have perfected a 21st century idea of what Regency life was like, making her actions less conspicuous once she got there, but it's very unlikely she'd be able to speak their way so easily, quickly, and without detection. No matter how much I study a foreign language, I will never speak it flawlessly to other native speakers my first time out. While American English and British English may be mostly the same language, any American who has read something written by a 21st century Briton can tell the difference almost immediately---how much more the difference between a 21 century actress and the 18th century culture into which she stepped?
A second unlikely thing was CJ's reaction to meeting Jane Austen. She doesn't seem to care a bit and the beloved author is treated like any other character. It's not until after several meetings with her that CJ expresses any sort of awe that they are friends. (Side note: robotic Jane-quoting Jane is also really annoying.)
I suppose I could comment here, at length, on the predictability of the story; but as I said above, it's made to be unrealistic to begin with so expectations should be appropriate.
Lastly, my biggest beef with the story was the explicit sex scenes. Always unnecessary---but very unexpected in this story and unneeded, too. Austen introduced us to many romantic relationships without any hint of impropriety. Surely this author could have challenged herself to do the same.
Overall, I liked reading about Bath---mainly because I'll be going there again twice this year, for my fourth and fifth visits, and will enjoy some of the same walks and views as these characters did. However, the rest of the story's elements left me rolling my eyes. Not a bad book---but not a super great one. Without the explicit scenes, I might recommend it for its silly fun look at Regency life, but I can't suggest it to anyone with those scenes included.
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ISBN
1400097991 / 9781400097999