Austenland (Austenland, #1)
by Shannon Hale

1 out of 5 stars

Jane has always been obsessed with Mr. Darcy and can’t find happiness in any of her relationships. She goes on a vacation to Austenland, where the guests all dress up in Regency clothing and interact with actors as though it is 1816. Jane hopes that immersing herself in her Austen fantasies will help her to get it out of her system and allow her to be content in her real life. However, she discovers that love and fantasy are formidable foes, when she begins to flirt with a handsome gardener but also hopes to win the heart of a brooding Mr. Darcy-type character.

I really hated this book so much. The sensitive content is just so ridiculous and gross. Jane starts heavily kissing this gardener that she has only known for five minutes. They’ve barely exchanged three sentences and they are all over each other. It’s just so excessive and unnecessary.
And there are little flashbacks to all of Jane’s failed relationships in the past, which were also very disgusting and vulgar, and included some sexual harassment that was upsetting to read about.

The only part that I liked is that Jane is trying to find contentment outside of her romantic fantasies, and she does have some character development and ends the book with a much more balanced approach to romance and a much more concrete sense of self worth. But her character development didn’t really feel natural to me. It’s like she had these spurts of personal growth at random times, and it didn’t feel organic to the plot.

The romance with the brooding Mr. Darcy-type character was okay. They have some witty banter back and forth, but I didn’t really feel a particular spark between them that felt real. There are a few lines and a few scenes here and there that I thought were lovely, but they were few and far between.

Because it is connected with Jane Austen’s name, I was expecting a much more elegant story, but it’s entirely too vulgar for my taste.

This book has been screened on the Screen It First website for sexual content, profanity, and other sensitive content. https://screenitfirst.com/book/austenland-405869

I partly read this book with my eyes (2007 paperback edition), and partly listened to the audiobook narrated by Katherine Kellgren. I thought the narration was good and captured Jane’s sarcastic voice very well.