Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler

Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict

(Austen Addict Book # 2)

by Laurie Viera Rigler

Genre: Time-Travel | Contemporary Romance

Received book from Crazy Book Tours

Jane Mansfield has long wished to escape the confines of life as a gentleman's daughter in 1813 England.  But awakening in the urban madness of twenty-first-century L.A. - in the body of Courtney Stone - is not what she has in mind.  With no knowledge of Courtney's life, let alone her world, Jane is in over her head.  What is Jane to make of carriages that run without horses, lights that glow without candles, and people who talk to the air while holding a small object against their ears?  Granted, she does enjoy the shiny glass box in which tiny people act out her favorite book, Price and Prejudice.  And she savors her first taste of privacy, independence, even the chance to earn her own money.  Bot when Courtney's romantic entanglements become her own, Jane realizes that the machines of the twenty-first-century are much easier to master than its rules of love.  Can a girl from Regency England survive in a world in which flirting and kissing and even the sexual act raise no matrimonial expectations?

This second Austen Addict book continues with the flip story of Jane and Courtney: Book #1 followed Courtney's new life as Jane in 1813 England and, this one, Book #2 now follows Jane's new life as Courtney in 2009 America.  The concept of these books is simple . . . imagine waking up in the life of another. Yet, the twist is, this new life isn't in a time or place you're familiar with or even accustomed to.  Thus, Jane trades her life of a well established family, close friends, dependable servants, stable home, prearranged future for one of a single modern lady with emotional baggage in a new world of free will "with inflexible lines between different spheres of society" (pg 215); where she must now find her own way and make her own choices. 

Having already enjoyed Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict, I was prepared for the comical ciaos that ensues after Jane wakes up in her new life.  Unlike Jane, who suffers a horrible fall off her horse Belle, our modern Courtney fatally knocks her head on the bottom of a swimming pool; easily convincing those surrounding her that she's suffering from amnesia.  Now Jane not only has to learn the strange futuristic ins and outs from her friends, but she also has to hide her on-going awe of her new modern surroundings while immersing herself in electronics and L.A.'s culture.  I found myself enjoying seeing the world through Jane's eyes.  Expect a lot of detailed descriptions since the names of modern devices doesn't quickly come to Jane, so it became almost a game in guessing just what she would discover next.  Unfortunately, it could be a little too descriptive at times, but never too annoying to throw off continuing with the story.  

I also enjoyed the many personal lessons Jane learned during her awakening as Courtney. From everyone deserving a second chance in life to decreasing some of her previous airs/essence of arrogance by questioning if earning an honest labor was undignified for herself.  Jane really comes out of her protected Regency-style shell throughout Rude Awakenings and does A LOT of internal debate about herself and what good, if any, she's doing in the future world.  "Why did I have to inherit such a disordered life?" (pg 170)  was a thought Jane kept going back to, but  eventually she learns the past has little consequence on her future choices and she decides to focus on the present and enjoy/accept her helpful friends, all the clever twenty-first-century devices, and her splendid book collection.

I'm still undecided as to which book out of the two was my favorite, since each was highly enjoyable and had its funny moments, but I feel Rude Awakenings was a little more well rounded overall.  Yet, after finishing both, I felt a little sorry for the main characters since if you step back from the story itself, Jane/Courtney was never really happy with their own lives and they needed to be placed in another existence to fully develop a different point of view and acceptance.  So, they never really solved their own situations, just worked on someone else troubles by walking in a different pair of shoes.  Must be nice to escape all together, but would it be worth giving up everything you've ever known for a different life?  These ladies were given that chance, but in the end, they were stuck with it as well.  Sure the book claims "there is nothing nobler than to give up one's life in service for another" (pg 108) but  switching bodies is a high price to pay.  I'm glad our ladies ended up happy, but Jane also come off as  truly alone and always withholding secrets from those close to her throughout much of the book as well.

All in all, if you're looking for a funny romantic book that will make you smile, Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict will satisfy your desire.  Enjoy!

Likes:  All the characters throughout the story were very believable and easy to like, especially Wes.

Dislikes:  The description of modern devices by Jane got a little out of control and tedious at times.

Rating:

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Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler

Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict
(Austen Addict Book #1)
by Laurie Viera Rigler

Genre: Time-Travel Romance | Fantasy

After nursing a broken engagement with Jane Austen novels and Absolut, Courtney Stone wakes up and finds herself not in her Los Angeles bedroom or even in her own body, but inside the bedchamber of a woman in Regency England. Who but an Austen addict like herself could concoct such a fantasy?  Not only is Courtney stuck in another woman’s life, she is forced to pretend she actually is that woman; and despite knowing nothing about her, she manages to fool even the most astute observer. But not even her level of Austen mania has prepared Courtney for the chamber pots and filthy coaching inns of nineteenth-century England, let alone the realities of being a single woman who must fend off suffocating chaperons, condom-less seducers, and marriages of convenience.  This looking-glass Austen world is not without its charms, however. There are journeys to Bath and London, balls in the Assembly Rooms, and the enigmatic Mr. Edgeworth, who may not be a familiar species of philanderer after all. But when Courtney’s borrowed brain serves up memories that are not her own, the ultimate identity crisis ensues. Will she ever get her real life back, and does she even want to?

Jane Mansfield (aka Courtney Stone) hasn't been herself lately . . . literally.  She wakes up one morning in a Jane Austen-style dream (she thinks!) and soon finds out that her new historic life appears a lot more realistic than she first thought.  Now she's stuck in another person's body, living a life that's not her own, and beginning to share memories of a world she knows nothing of.  What's a modern lady to do when she can't keep up her normal twenty-first century lifestyle?

There was a lot missing from the book that I would have enjoyed to read about, but overall it was a cute story.  I'm a history buff myself, so all the daily troubles Jane/Courtney had to learn about throughout the tale wasn't anything new to me, but it was interesting watching her adapt.  Strangely the book begins right when Jane/Courtney wakes up in her "new" world, which was a bit odd and confusing for the reader to understand just HOW? she got there.  The tale wasn't written a 100% smoothly and there were gaps missing here and there; example: I would have liked to learn more about her dream within a dream with her reflection in the lake addressing her or I would have liked to see the main character have a harder time describing why she couldn't write, do needlework, or dance like her "old" self (personal traits). . . I feel the author took the easy way out.  Plus, characters were kind of confusingly blending together from the past and present worlds, which really could have been some type of symbolism of Jane/Courtney's conscious, but again, never fully explained.  Our protagonist's a little scattered brained sometimes and even comes off as adjusting to the whole time travel incident almost too easily.  She doesn't appear to learn from her mistakes and doesn't really evolve as I enjoy seeing characters do throughout the book.  Yet, there were funny parts that made me smile and it kept my attention throughout.  I'm even curious enough to check out book #2 - Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict

Likes:  I think I enjoyed the historical aspects to the story more than anything else; the daily habits, the courting rituals, and the whole style of life during 1813-1814 England.

Dislikes:  I'm not sure if it was the simple writing style or the rambling on of Jane/Courtney's silly thoughts that caused me to, sadly, skip paragraphs when I got bored with the story.  Not a good thing!

Rating:

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