Scan barcode
A review by katizwitchy
Shadows of Swanford Abbey by Julie Klassen
3.0
This was a fun little romp! I loved the nods to Austen (super cute that Becky reads her novels) and I thought the mystery was fun without being too obvious. I appreciated the treatment of mental illness in this novel, as well as the character building. Overall, it was a cozy regency read, and I enjoyed my time with it!
SPOILERS AHEAD!
Where this novel fell a bit flat for me totally falls on my personal tastes. The romance was cute... until they repeatedly brought up the age gap, Listen, I understand that that was common in the Regency era, one of my favorite books is Emma, but Austen was living in the time when that was normal, and... I don't know, we're writing fiction, can't we just make it less creepy with the constant reminiscing about a child? The relationship wouldn't have suffered AT ALL from them being the same age, and like, if you're going to be upset because that makes it "historically inaccurate" I don't know what to tell you other than you're weird.
I also think that it got a bit heavy-handed at the end with the Christianity influence. At first, it makes sense, the main character is a vicar's daughter, and the amount of reflection on religion makes sense, but near the end, it just got VERY blatantly religious out of nowhere, and felt very disconnected from the rest of the novel. I just didn't like it and felt that the ending would have been better without it. But! That's just my personal opinion.
Again, I overall enjoyed the book, these points of conflict just kept it from five stars. :)
SPOILERS AHEAD!
Where this novel fell a bit flat for me totally falls on my personal tastes. The romance was cute... until they repeatedly brought up the age gap, Listen, I understand that that was common in the Regency era, one of my favorite books is Emma, but Austen was living in the time when that was normal, and... I don't know, we're writing fiction, can't we just make it less creepy with the constant reminiscing about a child? The relationship wouldn't have suffered AT ALL from them being the same age, and like, if you're going to be upset because that makes it "historically inaccurate" I don't know what to tell you other than you're weird.
I also think that it got a bit heavy-handed at the end with the Christianity influence. At first, it makes sense, the main character is a vicar's daughter, and the amount of reflection on religion makes sense, but near the end, it just got VERY blatantly religious out of nowhere, and felt very disconnected from the rest of the novel. I just didn't like it and felt that the ending would have been better without it. But! That's just my personal opinion.
Again, I overall enjoyed the book, these points of conflict just kept it from five stars. :)