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chasa's review against another edition
1.0
I'm amazed that I managed to get through the entire book. Attempts to develop the characters failed. I didn't care about the character and was bored. The only thing pushing me through the novel was the vast amount of white space on each page.
jbrueck's review against another edition
3.0
I liked this book. I loved the use of pride and prejudice intertwined with the protagonist trying to find herself. Cute love story as well.
add24's review against another edition
3.0
Much better than the first! I'm anxious to read the next one! But like her first, I felt characters were instantly in love without truly knowing anything about the other... Characters/books like this annoy me! The lost manuscript part was enjoyable. Liked it better than first book and enough to try the third...
lifeand100books's review against another edition
3.0
Adorable read. Very fast paced. I was 3/4 of the way through it without even noticing.
Due to her sisters pregnancy Claire Prescott agrees to take her place at an Oxford seminar on Pride and Prejudice. Having just lost her job she decides that she needs to go and figure out what she's going to do for the rest of her life. She's unsure of a lot of things since her layoff. Enter James; handsome, suave, and rich. With his introduction Claire begins questioning her relationship with her boyfriend at home Neil. While all of this is going on Claire meets an elderly woman who claims to be a descendent of Jane Austen's family. She claims to have the original manuscript of First Impressions (P&P). She lets Claire read it but tells her it must be kept secret. James begins taking Claire out on dates and kisses her one night. Neil pops into Oxford the next day and finds out about James. Claire doesn't understand why he's there when her leaving was of so little importance to him. He tells her how much he loves her and wants to marry her, but now that James is in her life he guesses she doesn't need/want him anymore.
I won't tell you who she winds up with, but the first draft of First Impressions plays a big role on how she makes her decision.
As I said earlier the book was incredibly fast paced. I would have enjoyed learning about each of the characters more. All the events happened one after the other after the other.
It was an adorable read and was pleasantly surprised with the outcome. I'd enjoy reading a sequel to find out what happened with Claire once she got back home. She was an endearing character and I do so hope she found herself and got her life back on track.
Due to her sisters pregnancy Claire Prescott agrees to take her place at an Oxford seminar on Pride and Prejudice. Having just lost her job she decides that she needs to go and figure out what she's going to do for the rest of her life. She's unsure of a lot of things since her layoff. Enter James; handsome, suave, and rich. With his introduction Claire begins questioning her relationship with her boyfriend at home Neil. While all of this is going on Claire meets an elderly woman who claims to be a descendent of Jane Austen's family. She claims to have the original manuscript of First Impressions (P&P). She lets Claire read it but tells her it must be kept secret. James begins taking Claire out on dates and kisses her one night. Neil pops into Oxford the next day and finds out about James. Claire doesn't understand why he's there when her leaving was of so little importance to him. He tells her how much he loves her and wants to marry her, but now that James is in her life he guesses she doesn't need/want him anymore.
I won't tell you who she winds up with, but the first draft of First Impressions plays a big role on how she makes her decision.
As I said earlier the book was incredibly fast paced. I would have enjoyed learning about each of the characters more. All the events happened one after the other after the other.
It was an adorable read and was pleasantly surprised with the outcome. I'd enjoy reading a sequel to find out what happened with Claire once she got back home. She was an endearing character and I do so hope she found herself and got her life back on track.
albionscastle's review against another edition
5.0
I think I enjoyed the mythical draft of Pride and Prejudice more than anything in this book. I would love to see that expanded upon into a full novel! I liked Claire and understood where she was coming from. The Darcy wannabe seemed too obvious and a little Wickham like for my taste so I never really connected with him. I like the idea of heroes in unexpected places. An enjoyable, easy read.
brendaclay's review against another edition
2.0
A novel about a woman with a martyrdom complex who goes to Oxford to present her sister's paper at a Pride and Prejudice conference. I enjoyed it, but I think there was too much backstory. The payoff moments were mostly based on past events that the reader never saw, some of which weren't fully explained. It made me feel oddly disconnected from the book.
leslie_books_and_socks_rock's review against another edition
3.0
It was ok, the book spans a week. There was plenty of character development and the author writes her own thoughts of how First Impressions, the original Pride and Prejudice, could have been written. I just felt like bits were missing. The main character, Claire, would do something one day, it wouldn't take very long and then that's the end of the day. Its a short book already and I just felt like it wasn't as meaty to really fall in love with it and savor it.
fluffy8u's review against another edition
I knew I wasn't going to care much about this book when I picked it up. It asks the reader to stretch their imaginations too much.
First off it seemed like there were less than 25 people at this symposium which is held at an infamous college (Oxford's Christ Church, where Lewis Carroll taught and wrote the Alice books), that discussed a highly popular and seriously studied author, Jane Austen. "It's exclusive," you say. And sure, it could be, but even though the main character says that her high school teacher of a sister has one of the less prestigious occupations there, several of the background characters seem like housewives with the hots for Darcy (there's nothing wrong with a full time mom going to a literary symposium, actually bravo to them) and are out of place where, I got the impression, that scholars and historian should be. The whole thing felt like a book club meeting with one Jane Austen historian.
Secondly, the protagonist, Claire, appeared to just stumble on to a great secret concerning Jane Austen, the lost first draft of "Pride and Prejudice" which is in the procession of a woman whom everyone says is too dementia riddled to know truth from fiction, but Claire believes and she starts to investigate whether or not the manuscript really is "First Impressions" (which the writing style does not change between the novel and the bits of the supposed manuscript that Claire (and the audience) reads). I know this is a major plot point, but it just felt like to much of a stretch.
Then there's the case of the Mr. Darcy wanna be that turns Claire, already a barely believable character, into a Mary Sue. He comes in and sweeps her off her feet, into his handsomely good looking and rich arms? Mmm hm. Sure, sure. It's all just too much of a fantasy, that has way more stretches than I listed here, and is somewhat poorly written.
First off it seemed like there were less than 25 people at this symposium which is held at an infamous college (Oxford's Christ Church, where Lewis Carroll taught and wrote the Alice books), that discussed a highly popular and seriously studied author, Jane Austen. "It's exclusive," you say. And sure, it could be, but even though the main character says that her high school teacher of a sister has one of the less prestigious occupations there, several of the background characters seem like housewives with the hots for Darcy (there's nothing wrong with a full time mom going to a literary symposium, actually bravo to them) and are out of place where, I got the impression, that scholars and historian should be. The whole thing felt like a book club meeting with one Jane Austen historian.
Secondly, the protagonist, Claire, appeared to just stumble on to a great secret concerning Jane Austen, the lost first draft of "Pride and Prejudice" which is in the procession of a woman whom everyone says is too dementia riddled to know truth from fiction, but Claire believes and she starts to investigate whether or not the manuscript really is "First Impressions" (which the writing style does not change between the novel and the bits of the supposed manuscript that Claire (and the audience) reads). I know this is a major plot point, but it just felt like to much of a stretch.
Then there's the case of the Mr. Darcy wanna be that turns Claire, already a barely believable character, into a Mary Sue. He comes in and sweeps her off her feet, into his handsomely good looking and rich arms? Mmm hm. Sure, sure. It's all just too much of a fantasy, that has way more stretches than I listed here, and is somewhat poorly written.