Review: Austenland by Shannon Hale

Hello everyone!
Today I wanted to share my review of Austenland by Shannon Hale. I really like Shannon Hale as an author and really enjoy her writing style.

Austenland is about Jane Hayes who is living in a fantasy. She is waiting for Mr. Darcy to appear and sweep her off her feet. Her aunt leaves her a trip to Austenland in her will, so Jane feels obliged to go. Once she arrives, she must live for three weeks as if it were the 1800's. While she is there, she tries to get over her Mr. Darcy fantasies. Jane has a hard time determining if the "actors" are acting or if their feelings are real. 

I really enjoyed this novel. I related to Jane feeling like she would never find her perfect guy. It was fun reading about the struggles she went through throughout the book. There were a lot of witty lines, and I found myself laughing throughout this novel. 

Jane did find herself in a love triangle in the book, and I couldn't decide which guy I wanted her to end up with. Mr. Nobley was the perfect Mr. Darcy and Martin reminded her of what life could be like without the Jane Austen fantasy. She is torn between knowing whether Mr. Nobley is just acting or if his feelings are real. 

There is a twist towards the ending that I didn't see it coming. It was a good twist, and it made the love triangle decision an obvious choice. I really enjoyed all of the characters, even if they were "acting". Miss Heartwright was a returning customer and I enjoyed reading about her character and the love story that went on between her character and Captain East. I didn't like her as much towards the ending when it's time for Jane to leave Austenland.

There were parts towards the middle that I had to trudge myself through to get to the ending. They were necessary for the story, but it was hard for those scenes to hold my attention. I would definitely read this book again though. There were also descriptions of her past "boyfriends" between each day she was there. Reading those made me sympathize with her character even more. She'd never had a real boyfriend before, and she compared almost all of the boys she dated to Mr. Darcy. 

Overall, this book was really enjoyable and entertaining. I gave it 4/5 stars. It made me decide to give the movie a shot at some point. Hopefully, it will be just as funny as the book.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a wonderful day.

~Abby