Scan barcode
A review by brandypainter
The Austen Playbook by Lucy Parker
4.0
4.5 stars
I loved this so much. Lucy Parker, never stop writing because your romances always make me so happy.
As a huge Austen fan, I was pleased with how the premise of this work. Basically Freddy Carlton is playing Lydia in a murder mystery hodge-podge live audience participation extravaganza based on the characters from all of Austen's novels. (Seriously, where is the real life well-executed version of this British Television???) The whole thing is being shot at the country estate of London's most snarly theater critic, Griff. Freddy and Griff are amazing together. No one nails the grumpy, responsible man who falls in love with a ray of literal sunshine woman quite as well as Lucy Parker does. And she just keeps making it amazing. I love their banter, their back and forth, the way they get to know each other, and the family history that complicates all of that. Even when they have the expected romance-novel misunderstanding, it is not overplayed, overdramatized, or dragged out for too long. There are thing that are full of high drama, but that mostly comes from so many egos being contained in such a small space for the filming of a live broadcast. I thoroughly enjoyed all of the secondary characters in this one as well. (I'm really hoping both Freddy's sister and Griff's brother will be seen again in future books.)
I read this in one sitting. It's going into my rotation of pick-me-up rereads immediately.
I loved this so much. Lucy Parker, never stop writing because your romances always make me so happy.
As a huge Austen fan, I was pleased with how the premise of this work. Basically Freddy Carlton is playing Lydia in a murder mystery hodge-podge live audience participation extravaganza based on the characters from all of Austen's novels. (Seriously, where is the real life well-executed version of this British Television???) The whole thing is being shot at the country estate of London's most snarly theater critic, Griff. Freddy and Griff are amazing together. No one nails the grumpy, responsible man who falls in love with a ray of literal sunshine woman quite as well as Lucy Parker does. And she just keeps making it amazing. I love their banter, their back and forth, the way they get to know each other, and the family history that complicates all of that. Even when they have the expected romance-novel misunderstanding, it is not overplayed, overdramatized, or dragged out for too long. There are thing that are full of high drama, but that mostly comes from so many egos being contained in such a small space for the filming of a live broadcast. I thoroughly enjoyed all of the secondary characters in this one as well. (I'm really hoping both Freddy's sister and Griff's brother will be seen again in future books.)
I read this in one sitting. It's going into my rotation of pick-me-up rereads immediately.