Austenland

by Shannon Hale

{ 2007 | Bloomsbury | 208 pgs }

This piece of fluff had a disappointingly happy ending. I read it because there was nothing else to read in our house (aside from the Romgi’s other textbooks, which I didn’t want to pick up at 11pm).

The main character, Jane (!), has a secret Mr. Darcy crush, and compares every man she meets to her Darcy ideal. When her great-aunt, who knew about the secret crush, dies, in her will she gives Jane a trip to a Jane Austen pretend-a-thon. Basically there’s an estate in the English countryside where you pay to play make-believe, like you live in Regency England and are an attractive, eligible young woman. The whole point was really for Jane to get over her fantasy, but [SPOILER] she has a happy, blissfully romantic ending anyway.

Dumb.

(For the record, this is why sometimes I won’t read other books by favorite authors.)