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A review by bookstolivewith
Jane In Love by Rachel Givney
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Okay buckle in folks. Jane In Love by Rachel Givney is a wild ride. I honestly can’t believe that I finished this one considering how often I screamed “What!?” but I couldn’t look away.
Synopsis: Jane Austen is so desperate to find true love that she’s willing to sacrifice anything. When she gets her wish and time travels to the 21st century, she does end up meeting her true love — and he loves her back. But is she ready to give up her writing and her legacy to keep him?
Maybe it’s the English major in me, but Austen is god-tier untouchable. So retellings of her work and reimaginings of her life have to knock it out of the park. And this didn’t meet my (admittedly high) standards.
I found the plot to be a bit reductive when it came to the complexities of time travel and there were a LOT of moments where I didn’t even understand their explanations of time travel. Especially when (spoiler!) Jane traveling to the present causes a ripple effect that makes her writing disappear and everyone forget who she is (and this is where they lost me) except for a select group of people.
At the same time, despite everything happening that should have been exciting (which includes not only time traveling but also a broken “engagement,” a hidden manuscript and an electricity-induced coma!?), I was bored and not really engaged with the story. There’s also some weirdly sexist moments, even when you get to the 21st century.
The dialogue was often stilted and the character’s personalities were borderline obnoxious, particularly Sofia, an actress who is helping Jane. They were somewhat one dimensional, and I formed zero attachment to them or their burgeoning romances, despite the fact that I was obviously supposed to do so.
To me, Jane In Love was trying to pose a serious question: what would Jane Austen do if she was forced to choose between love and writing? But their answer — that only great pain can create great art — left me unsatisfied and the story to get there left much to be desired.
This one is out on October 27th and if you want to read it, I’d highly recommend getting it from the library.
Synopsis: Jane Austen is so desperate to find true love that she’s willing to sacrifice anything. When she gets her wish and time travels to the 21st century, she does end up meeting her true love — and he loves her back. But is she ready to give up her writing and her legacy to keep him?
Maybe it’s the English major in me, but Austen is god-tier untouchable. So retellings of her work and reimaginings of her life have to knock it out of the park. And this didn’t meet my (admittedly high) standards.
I found the plot to be a bit reductive when it came to the complexities of time travel and there were a LOT of moments where I didn’t even understand their explanations of time travel. Especially when (spoiler!) Jane traveling to the present causes a ripple effect that makes her writing disappear and everyone forget who she is (and this is where they lost me) except for a select group of people.
At the same time, despite everything happening that should have been exciting (which includes not only time traveling but also a broken “engagement,” a hidden manuscript and an electricity-induced coma!?), I was bored and not really engaged with the story. There’s also some weirdly sexist moments, even when you get to the 21st century.
The dialogue was often stilted and the character’s personalities were borderline obnoxious, particularly Sofia, an actress who is helping Jane. They were somewhat one dimensional, and I formed zero attachment to them or their burgeoning romances, despite the fact that I was obviously supposed to do so.
To me, Jane In Love was trying to pose a serious question: what would Jane Austen do if she was forced to choose between love and writing? But their answer — that only great pain can create great art — left me unsatisfied and the story to get there left much to be desired.
This one is out on October 27th and if you want to read it, I’d highly recommend getting it from the library.