Blurb:

After years of following her best friend’s lead, Mary Davies finds a whimsical trip back to Austen’s Regency England paves the way towards a new future.

Mary Davies lives and works in Austin, Texas, as an industrial engineer. She has an orderly and productive life, a job and colleagues that she enjoys—particularly a certain adorable, intelligent, and hilarious consultant. But something is missing for Mary. When her estranged and emotionally fragile childhood friend Isabel Dwyer offers Mary a two-week stay in a gorgeous manor house in Bath, Mary reluctantly agrees to come along, in hopes that the holiday will shake up her quiet life in just the right ways. But Mary gets more than she bargained for when Isabel loses her memory and fully believes that she lives in Regency England. Mary becomes dependent on a household of strangers to take care of Isabel until she wakes up.

With Mary in charge and surrounded by new friends, Isabel rests and enjoys the leisure of a Regency lady. But life gets even more complicated when Mary makes the discovery that her life and Isabel’s have intersected in more ways that she knew, and she finds herself caught between who Isabel was, who she seems to be, and the man who stands between them. Outings are undertaken, misunderstandings play out, and dancing ensues as this triangle works out their lives and hearts among a company of clever, well-informed people who have a great deal of conversation.

Review:

The cover of The Austen Escape is artistic, colorful and so very cute!

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange of an honest review!

Mary and Isabelle both are really interesting characters and this book was an amazing experience because of them!

The storyline was awesome, the characters well developed, and the descriptions? Oh my my.

I wish I could write an essay on how much I enjoyed this book, but I don't think I have enough words to do that.

So I guess I'll have to do with saying that this book was an amazing read and that I hope everyone enjoys it as much as I had! :)

Mary Davies is a unique character when it comes to fictional heroines, as she’s an engineer. She finds herself in a rut. A vacation with her friend Isabel may be just the thing to shake things up. Mary needs a break from her job … and her life. She heads to England, where she finds herself immersed in the world of Jane Austen, where she learns more about herself and her relationships.

If you’re a fan of Jane Austen, you’ll likely enjoy Reay’s latest release. It’s a nice change to have a book focused more on personal growth and development than on romance, even though the romance does exist. It was a bit slow to get into and felt a bit like too much info was given too slowly. The pace picked up once Mary arrived in England. Mary’s inability to see her own potential may be relatable for some readers. Parts are a bit predictable, and the ending wasn’t all I was hoping for, but this is a sweet tale overall.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy from NetGalley, but I wasn’t required to leave a positive review.

The basic premise of the book is that Mary is a workaholic in an engineering company, and Isabel, her best friend since school, has been writing a thesis on Jane Austen. They travel over to England on an Austen Escape, and here the story unfolds.

A lot of the references to the less well known Jane Austen books I did not understand and therefore I may have missed some of the subtleties in the plot. Having said that, I did enjoy the book.

I was enjoying this book in the beginning. The main character was an engineer genius which is a neglected career in books. The slow build up of conflict with her work, romantic interest and best friend made things interesting. Then conflict starts getting resolved without any communication. Like main character forgives someone because she has seen their prospective but they don't talk through their conflict. It's just the main character assuming. I still don't understand why the best friend did those things that hurt the main character so badly. The ending with the best friend was too neat.

Mary Davies, an engineer in Austin, Texas may soon find herself out of a job after major changes at the tech startup for which she works. She’s been stuck on her latest project and her new manager doesn’t think she’s enough of a team player. At least she has her work crush Nathan- a consultant hired by the company-to distract her. But now Nathan’s stint at WATT is coming to an end, and his last day arrives before Mary can summon the courage to tell him how she feels.

Needless to say, Mary could use a bit of an escape. Against her better judgement, she’s persuaded by her father and her childhood friend Isabel, to accompany the latter on an all-expenses paid trip to a beautiful estate in Bath. Here the two will live like characters in a Jane Austen novel as Isabel gathers research for her Masters thesis. Although Mary is less into this Regency game of dress-up, she does quickly make friends with the other guests and gets swept up a bit in the quiet and beauty of the period. That said, she’s grateful there’s still indoor plumbing and wifi.

Things become complicated when Isabel-who has a troubled relationship with her father-has a bit of a psychological breakdown, and starts to believe she really is a Regency era lady. This dredges up old hurts and new betrayals for Mary. She is forced to weigh their friendship against her own heart’s desire. Perhaps she can look to Austen’s heroines for guidance as she navigates her relationships and her career.

I found The Austen Escape to be predictable and mediocre. Many of the plot points were glaringly obvious. Some parts kept my interest, but ultimately I couldn’t wait to be done with this one. The toxic friendship between Isabel and Mary was rather painful to read about. Frankly, I’m not convinced that these two had a relationship that was worth salvaging. The romance itself was pretty boring and the novel’s ending lackluster. I didn’t feel strongly for any of the characters or invested in their relationships.

I mostly felt like this was a novel about workplace drama with a bit of Austen tacked on as an after thought. It was as if Reay inserted elements and dialogue from the novels in a paint by numbers fashion. I loved that Reay included an intelligent and competent heroine who worked as an engineer. The more fiction that includes and celebrates women in the STEM field, the better in my opinion. However, I think this would’ve been more successful if Mary herself had been a bigger Austen fan. Instead, it is her deceased mother and Isabel for whom Austen means the most.

Perhaps Mary could’ve been an Austen reader who just wasn’t as gung-ho about dressing up as a Regency character, or someone who loved Austen when she was younger but who hadn’t revisited the novels as an adult. But since Austen didn’t mean much to Mary, the Austen elements ended up feeling rather secondary. Now, a novel featuring a woman engineer who is also an avid Janeite? That’s a novel I’d like to read please…

All in all, I found Reay’s characters rather forgettable, and the premise itself clichéd and unbelievable. In my opinion, there’s nothing about this novel that makes it stand out from the pack of the contemporary Austen genre. Maybe it’s also a case of my being over this genre as well?

This type of book gears for specific readers,I personaly did not like the book as you have to have read most of the books by Jane Austin to fully appreciate the various charzcters and the book references the plot was weak as regard to Mary and Isabel and somehiw the two characters did not fully fit into the story.To appreciate thus book it needs to be rethinked and polished up with regard to the plot the interaction between the characters and the setting in genersl but like I mentioned in the begining this book cstes to a certsin type of reader.

The Austen Escape by Katherine Reay is a sweet, wholesome tale of a woman who goes to England to partake in an Austen themed vacation getaway. I enjoyed how modern and fun this novel was and for anyone vaguely familiar with Austen you will get a kick out of some references. I sympathized with the main character and liked the little twist at the end.

This book was too much fun. Jane Austen LARPing (live action role playing)? Gorgeous old English manor? Check. Awesome protagonist who likes Jane Austen AND is an industrial engineer? Check. I loved this combination. It felt charming, fun, and fresh to me. I devoured it in one day. Now I'm itching to read both Austen AND much more Katherine Reay.

What a delightful story! Mary heads to a castle in England with her friend to immerse herself in “all things Austen.” The story develops beautifully as Mary learns more about herself and her friend Isabel. It is my first Reay novel and I am pumped to read others now.

This is my first time reading Katherine Reay and I will be happy to read more by this author. This book was a good book, but I don't think it was great.
Mary and Isabel grew up as really close friends. They actually think of each other as sisters. So when Isabel offers Mary the chance of a life time to go to regency England and participate in a costumed Jane Austen Escape, she eventually accepts.
When Isabel loses her memories and thinks that she is really in regency England Mary gets freaked out and has to figure out what to do.

The characters were not lovable. Isabel was not even likeable until she loses her memory. When reading this book at first, all I could think was that Mary had a terrible life and I would not want trade places with her. I could not relate to the characters until later in the book but it was a decent read, so try it, you have nothing to lose.
I received a free copy of this book in return for my honest opinion.

Other reviewers have provided excellent plot synopses, and I will not repeat their efforts here.

Last year I read "The Bronte Plot," by the same author, and found it interesting and unusual. So when this one came along, I was intrigued and interested by the premise, and I picked it up free from NetGalley as an advance copy.

What an unusual book. Not your average run-of-the-mill romance. The heroine is a full-fledged geek, an engineer who makes strange and interesting gizmos for a living. When her baggage-laden friend drags her off to England for a Jane Austen costume getaway, the baggage starts coming to the surface, with alarming results.

I am not very familiar with Austen's work, so some of the quotations and inside jokes I am sure went straight over my head. This did not, however, diminish my enjoyment of this book in the least, so I would encourage anyone who might be hesitant to read this because they don't know all things Austen to go ahead and read it anyway.

Interestingly, although this book is published by a Christian publisher, either I missed something or there is almost nothing in it that could be deemed Christian content. To me that is not a bad thing, because it's a very good book, but if someone is looking for a sermon disguised as a novel, this isn't it.

I fell in love w/ Katherine Reay's work after reading her debut novel. I was so excited to read her latest publication. I loved it....every single word of it. I have highly recommended THE AUSTEN ESCAPE to everyone. Thank you for the opportunity of reading...and sharing...this fabulous story.

This was a delightful little piece of escapist fiction! It follows the story of a woman named Mary who finds herself in a bit of a rut. She's failed to produce her passion engineering project at work. She feels like she is in unrequited love with a consultant at her company and doesn't even realize that he is giving her signs of returning her affections. That is, until she finds herself pushed into taking a vacation with her childhood best friend, Isabel. The trip is to a special house in Bath, England that provides an immersive experience into the world of Jane Austen. Through this experience, Mary finds growth in herself and in her relationships.

I really enjoyed reading this book! I was so jealous of Mary and Isabel and their Jane Austen experience. I just wanted to jump into the book and join them. I also really liked that the story focused more on Mary and her personal growth rather than the romance. That being said, the book still had a lot of romancy cliches.

Overall, a good read if you're looking for something sweet and fluffy, and if your a fan of Jane Austen.

I was really pleased that I tried out a different type of novel than my standard foray. “The Austen Escape” was cleverly written and I was very pleasantly surprised by the ability of the author to interweave so many characters from Jane Austen into a modern story.
Mary works as an engineer for a company called WATT. She is currently being challenged by her boss, Karen, who she fears is going to fire her but she finds support from Nathan, who she is very attracted to. Mary finds herself heading to Bath, England, to meet up with her friend Isabel, despite all the issues at work. Soon after arriving, Isabel’s mental health is in question and Mary needs to step into support her.
The beauty of this novel was in the exploration of friendship and how trust can quite easily be broken. The author has done a magnificent job of highlighting the frailties of friendship, particularly with time spent apart. I found the snippets of various Austen books very creative and I found myself sneaking back to these books to see how they were originally used.

Katherine Reay has written another great book! Mary's dad talks her into going with her "best friend" Isabel to Bath, England for an Austen get-away where they dress up in that era of clothing and do everything to do with the past. She decides to go because she is sure she is going to loose her job and the guy she is interested in doesn't seem to notice her. Then things go wrong and she makes new discoveries about her friend, Nathan and herself.

There is a great cast of characters and the descriptions of the locations make me want to visit too. I really enjoy this book and can't wait for more from Katherine Reay.

'The Austen Escape' was brilliant! This was my first Katherine Reay book and I couldn't have been more enchanted by her mix of Jane Austen quotes and book situations mixed with a current and engaging story. The issues in the book were serious and relatable, and the characters well drawn so that those who were likeable were absolutely so, and those who weren't were easy to recognize. I am just hooked, and I've gone out and purchased more of the author's books. I can't recommend 'The Austen Escape' highly enough!

Mary escapes the dreary engineering office for a trip planned by her best friend. Reluctantly, she agrees to travel from Texas, "across the pond" to England. The gorgeous manor house they arrive at is intentionally set as a getaway into an Austen novel.. Mary isn't so sure she is ready to delve into the Austen character, especially after stifling her feelings about the loss of her mother. This novel illustrates our hopes and dreams of living the Austen life. Reay does a fantastic job of interweaving a modern day love story through the Austen"esque" setting.

Mary Davies and Isabel Dwyer are the original odd couple in many ways- friends since childhood Mary is an engineer in Austin Texas constantly inventing new technologies to make life easier while Isabel, originally from England and transplanted as a child, is a scholar finalizing her dissertation on Jane Austen's work.

At a loose end, as a project comes to a close without success, Mary allows herself to be convinced by Isabel to travel to Bath, England to be immersed for a fortnight in the world of Jane Austen. Unfortunately, not long after arriving at the beautiful mansion that they are to inhabit for the two weeks, Isabel suffers a loss of memory that causes her to believe that she truly is part of the world Jane Austen created through her books. Mary must go lightly if she is to help her friend return to the real world. Things become complicated when a man from their life in Austin comes to Bath due to a series of unexpected revelations and it becomes apparent that they both have a romantic investment in this gentleman.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book not just because of the Austen references (these are great if you have any familiarity with these books) but because of the nature of the relationships between all the main characters. There is a nice depth to how they treat each other and sufficient back story for the reader to become invested in the outcome of this particular adventure. I really like Mary's father - he is such a dad and a fun inventor in his own right - who wouldn't want a machine that dolls out skittles at regular intervals. The romantic elements of the book are gentle much like a good Austen novel and this is just the right amount of manipulation and machinations going on. I would absolutely say if you like your chick literature with an intelligent edge than this book is well worth delving into.

Have I ever told you guys what my favorite Katherine Reay book is? No? Maybe because it changes all the time...to whatever her newest book is! I'm telling y'all, they are all incredible, and all my favorites! Honestly, you can't go wrong with any of her books that you read. But today I'm going to tell you about her next best-seller (because I'm sure it will be!), The Austen Escape. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to take a trip back in time to Jane Austen's era? I didn't know it before, but, apparently, if you have enough money to spend, you can travel to England and visit places where you get to live like Elisabeth Bennett! (Anyone want to donate money for me to go??) Since most of us will probably never get a chance to go experience an Austen escape, this is the next-best thing.

Mary Davies has a great job as an engineer, good friends, a wonderful relationship with her dad, and a little crush on a consultant working at her firm. But she's hit a wall in her life. When her childhood friend, Isabel Dwyer, invites her to travel to England to stay at an Austen-inspired manor for two weeks, she balks. She and Isabel have always had a tumultuous relationship, and she's unsure about spending the time together. Mary's dad encourages her to go, so she gives in. The trip takes a turn when Isabel loses her memory and believes she is living in Regency-era Bath. Mary struggles to deal with Isabel's issues, as well as figure out what to do with her own life. When she's faced with what seems to be Isabel's ultimate betrayal, Mary is ready to give up and walk away from this friendship. But this escape has a lot of secrets and surprises in store, and the past may just be the key to unlocking Mary's future.

Like all of Katherine's previous books, I was unable to put this one down. Every part of this novel is captivating, from the characters and scenery, to the plot and dialogue. I could easily picture myself traveling to Bath, England, and experiencing all the things that Jane Austen wrote about in her novels. The costume descriptions alone were swoon-worthy. I could almost feel the soft fabrics in my hands. I loved the parts where Mary toured the rooms that featured so prominently in books like Northanger Abbey. It's hard for someone reading in the modern day to really understand what those rooms looked like, so it's nice to read descriptions of them. And can I just take one minute to gush about that gorgeous cover? If you have ever received a text from me, you know I'm a huge fan of emojis, and this cover would get all the heart eyes!

The Austen Escape is about so much more than a group of people talking and dressing like book characters. There are really deep characters here, and you have to really dig to understand their motives. At first, I hated Isabel. I couldn't understand why Mary would ever want to be friends with her. Honestly, when Isabel lost her memory, I wished Mary would just leave her in England and forget about her! But that would have made for a pretty short and boring book! Instead, she stayed and learned more about Isabel's past, and she began to understand why Isabel acted like she did. Mary remembered the reasons she was friends with Isabel to being with. Mary is a really great main character, and I admired her loyal friendship to someone who wasn't always loyal to her. I appreciate that Katherine writes about women who are strong and capable and smart, but still vulnerable and feminine. I think it's something that is often lost in today's society.

I thought there were a couple of important lessons to be learned in The Austen Escape. First, people aren't always what we think they are. Even if you've know a person for a very long time (most of their lives in Mary and Isabel's case), there are still things you may not know or understand about them. Many times people are dealing with pain in their past, or even in the present, that we don't know or understand. Sometimes we're quick to jump to conclusions before we know their story. I still have to say, though, that the pain Isabel caused for Mary wasn't justified. I have experienced friendships like that in the past, where a person hurts you for no reason other than to make themselves feel better. It's a really hard thing to experience. That brings me to the second lesson you can learn from this book. Sometimes you just have to let it all go before you can move forward. On the surface Mary's life seemed successful and mostly put-together. But underneath she was stuck, and afraid to change. She needed to confront issues in her past before she could get to the future she wanted. I think that's a message many of us can relate to. Who has ever let something in their past keep them from success? {insert raised hand here} For so many of us, like for Mary and Isabel, the way forward is to go back and deal with issues. Although I don't recommend that you go as far back in the past as Isabel did, sometimes we do need to look back and recognize what is holding us back, deal with it and move on.

Y'all know that I like to read a good romance novel. (Not THAT kind! Only the good, clean ones. Get your mind out of the gutter!) But recently I've found myself really liking books that challenge me and make me think. I like to be confronted with issues that make me ask, "How would I respond in this situation?" The Austen Escape definitely fits that bill. And it's great to read a book where I can learn things to apply to my own life. If you're looking for a different kind of book to read, I highly recommend The Austen Escape. It's a great read for fans of Jane Austen or the Bronte sisters, but if you've never read their books in your life, you'll still find something to love here.



I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for my review. All opinions are my own and favorable review was not required.

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