Jane in love - book review

💎💎book review 💎💎

Jane in love by Rachel Givney 

Category: Fiction 

Reading level: intermediate/ advanced 

lets grab our book marks and dive in. 

'Jane in love' is a modern take on one of literary most iconic figures, Jane Austen. 'What if Jane Austen travelled to the present day... and fell in love?' I love Jane Austen and i was intrigued to read a book that takes such a big name from the past and plops her into present day Bath. 

Jane Austen, lived a tumultuous life, she struggled to get her books published, her mother worries she is ageing and not married. Jane at her very core is a woman and like most people in this world she is a woman looking for love, and after her engagement is broken and she is left humiliated she leaves for Bath. From there Jane seeks the help of a lady in London to help her find her love. Little did she realise she is transported from the year 1803 to 2020 and meets the actress Sophia Wentworth and her brother Fred. 

Sophia Wentworth is past her prime, once the most sought after actress, since turning 37 she is no longer what she use to be. Her husband Jack, served her with divorce papers and she believes this role in the Jane Austen remake Northanger Abbey. But her life was flipped upside down when a woman literally just appeared in the curtains claiming to the Jane Austen. 

However, what Jane noticed the longer she stayed in the year 2020, the more of her disappeared, her books, her monuments - until eventually she disappeared from history all together. This was what posed the greatest question to Jane, should she travel back to 1803, knowing she would never find love but become one of the greatest writers to ever walk the face of the earth? or should she stay in the year 2020, and find the love she has craved? 

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I found this book slow to start, and a little on the tedious side, so much so that i put the book down for three weeks and i only picked it back up recently. All the characters in this book experience growth. Sophia learnt to be a better person, she was mentored by Jane, who helped her not carry anger towards her ex husband and his new lover. Sophia's brother Fred spent his days as a teacher, but his nights were consumed by his love for writing. It was only with Janes love he was able to send his book into a publishing house, and it was her love that made him realise why he was scared to finish the book. 

This book is perfect as a book club read, in fact the last page is filled with potential questions for a book club, which I thought were insightful and easy to talk about. I enjoyed this book, it was a light hearted read but it didnt draw me in. I did enjoy the aspect of experiencing 21st century life from the eyes of someone living in the 19th century. I found it touching how Jane had to make a decision between her pen and her heart,  because i feel like this is something so many women in todays world have to choose between. The basis of this book was growth, how people change throughout their lives, Sophia was focused on getting her career back to what it was, keeping her husband and maintaining herself as one of Hollywoods elite. Instead, she found herself in as a lesser role - to which she goes on to win an oscar. Fred, never found love, he was just enjoying life, but he wasn’t ENJOYING life until he found love in Jane. 

hope you enjoy 

Cx