I was so excited about this one and I loved all the characters! ♥️ I’m a huge fan of JAFF and this was sweet, funny and very cleverly written!

What would I do if I met Jane Austen??? Lots and lots of things! I would follow her and take lots of selfies with her and want to find out more about her inspiration for Elizabeth and Darcy! This is a great summer read if you’re a huge fan of Jane Austen.

This was a NETGALLEY gift and all opinions are my own.

2.5 stars

"You have disappeared in 1803 – eight years before your first novel was published. If there is no way back, then you were never published at all. The world has never heard of you, or any of your characters – this is a world without Mr Darcy?"

What the blurb promised: A time traveling Jane Austen getting stuck in the future before any of her books are published. If she doesn’t find a way back to her own time, all her works will be lost to the world.

What I expected: An entertaining romantic comedy where Jane Austen, stranded in the 21st century, gets into all kinds of comic situations due to misunderstandings and not knowing her way around all the “modern contraptions”. I also expected some typical JA elements, such as matchmaking, a love interest, and some story writing. Moreover, I expected to find our world – or at least England – greatly changed, socially as well as politically.

What I got: Little romance and even less comedy. No politics, a little bit of writing, and minimal changes to our world. The impact was mostly apparent in Jane’s and the other protagonists’ personal lives (different job, living situation, and friends). The rest of the world was quite fine and exactly as we know it.

And anyway, the story does not begin with Jane and neither is she the focus of it. The first 10 % of the book establishes the cast and focuses on … Rose. So let’s do the same.

Rose is a sophisticated but shy, self-conscious young woman who does not know how pretty and amiable she really is. She lives in Bath and works for a company that rents out houses that have a connection to JA. Rose is an avid JA fan and attending the JA festival in Bath with her friend Morgan. She has been in love with Dr Aiden Trevellyan for years but is sure that he doesn’t even notice her. Rose is very sweet and relatable and I actually quite liked her as a character.

Morgan is Rose’s chirpy best friend. She is visiting from the USA to attend the festival with Rose. I think she was supposed to be the character who lightens up the novel but I often found her silly rather than funny and a little bit too much.

James is Rose’s boss and very likeable.

Dr Aiden Trevellyan is a smart and handsome but sometimes awkward and withdrawn archeologist and JA expert. He is Rose’s love interest.

Jane Austen makes up only 50-60% of the book which surprised me. I expected her to be smart, witty, and charming. But she is a rather flat character and I found her portrayal rather unrealistic.

I LOVE science fiction and particularly time travel stories but this one was disappointing.

***SPOILER:
I expected Jane Austen to stumble through a portal or to find the charmed necklace mentioned in the blurb by accident. But no, JA has had the necklace for a while, and she has been using it to time travel for quite some time. This just felt odd. ***

When Rose unexpectedly meets JA, her own world unravels and she is determined to bring everything back to normal to ensure that Jane’s writings are saved but mostly just to get her old life back. JA, on the other hand, isn’t shocked or devastated in the least but she’s extremely nonchalant about the whole situation like she doesn’t even care. I find this very unlikely.

During the next 50-60% of the book, Rose tries to cope with her new life (which is not comical, mostly just awkward or boring) while looking for a way to return JA to her own timeline. Rose is pining after her old life, so much so that she does not really care that JANE FREAKING AUSTEN is staying at her place. She could ask her sooo many personal questions and get to know her, befriend her. But she treats her mostly like a liability or like a child you don’t want to play with. (“Jane Austen was turning out to be more than a handful.”) And then, finally, Jane and Rose find their first clue and for a while the plot picks up a little. But that is just a small portion of the book. The rest is mostly Rose.

What I disliked: The authors do a lot of telling instead of showing. So there are lengthy descriptions (with a lot of unimportant and uninteresting detail) of what happens instead of actually letting it happen. This leads to a lack of dialogues and the ones that are there, sometimes felt strange, forced, or scripted. And I could not always follow. The characters seem to change their mind for no apparent reason which feels incoherent and is annoying. Also strange was the unexpected appearance of Rose’s other friends. We never read about them until they suddenly show up at the festival. Most of their names are mentioned once and never again. I was like, who is this? And this? And this? And this? It was just unnecessary and confusing.

What I did like: I really liked that the cast stayed the same. The authors managed to bring all protagonists together in the new timeline under different circumstances which felt improbable but it was fun to read about the changed relationship dynamics.
The language aspect was cool, too. Due to Jane’s visit, we have a constant switch between modern English and Jane Austen’s old fashioned expressions.
It was also interesting to read about actual places and details. For people who know Bath well, this could be very enjoyable.
I read the 2019 kindle edition and I like this cover much better than the previous one. The other cover looks like this could be a gothic story which it is absolutely not.

Funny enough, what I enjoyed the most was the romance between Rose and Dr Aiden Trevellyan. (The love story of Morgen and James was cheesy and boring.) Rose and Aiden are very sweet and cute and awkward. I would have liked more of that. But then, you won’t believe it, when they finally kiss, the authors even manage to spoil this scene by TELLING INSTEAD OF SHOWING AGAIN!!! Instead of showing what Rose felt during and after the kiss, which works best with short sentences to create immediacy, a fast pace and breathlessness, they add TWO long sentences with sub clauses:

"Before Rose had time to speculate on what was coming, he closed the remaining gap between them and claimed her lips with his own and without hesitation, she returned the kiss. It was one of those moments when time slows down, but Rose’s heartbeat started to race, although she could hear nothing but a funny echo of what it once sounded like. In contrast, her senses were fully alert as a heady mix of incredulousness and excitement coalesced inside."

Wait, whaaaat? I had just started to “feel” the kiss but … uh, nope, feeling’s gone.

The story did have some funny moments as well. One of my favorites is Jane Austen reading … well, you’ll see. Here’s the quote:
Rose had caught a glimpse of the cover of the book, and her heart leapt into her throat.
"What are you doing?" She croaked.
"Partaking of some tea. The taste is most particular, but I find I am becoming accustomed to it."
Rose shook her head. "No – I meant, what on earth are you reading?"
Jane turned her book to show the cover to Rose, who paled further and grabbed it from her.
"This is not polite behaviour, Miss Wallace – Rose."
"I’m sorry. Really, I am, but I just don’t think you’re ready for this one yet!" She dropped the copy of Fifty Shades of Grey on the table.

All in all, I think the word I keep using is: boring. And that sums it. The story could have been a lot of fun but alas, it was only okay.

However, let’s finish on a positive not with this quote:
“You couldn’t be cautious and change the world, right?”

Thank you NetGalley and Canelo for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The premise of this book is great. Unfortunately the book itself failed to engage me. It took me almost a month to read it, usually I read a book in a day or two. I was so bored while reading this book. I feel terrible saying that but it's true.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Canelo through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This was so disappointing. It could have been so interesting. Jane Austen has a charm that sends her to our time before she has written anything. While here she discovers the literature world. Then she finds herself stuck here and all of her accomplishments are wiped out of history. Unfortunately, this story is not told from her perspective. Instead the main character and all the side characters are so boring. Especially the romantic interest. Every time there is a Jane Austen sighting, I feel like I'm missing on the interesting story. I would love to follow Jane Austen when she has her first fish out of water experience.

This is a very good book that is a perfect holiday read.
It is well written and the storyline is at the right pace.
Excellent book. I will look for more books by this author

I wasn't sure what to make of the synopsis of this book, set against the gorgeous city of Bath and the annual festival of Jane Austen, with the time travelling Miss Jane Austen herself? For me it did not disappoint. The lead character Rose, I immediately warmed to and was rooting for her throughout this romp of an adventure. The other characters are strong, interesting and yet vulnerable. I loved the little touches of history in the book and the authors "Did You Know" explanation behind some of the links to historical fact. Some traditionalists may find the premise unfeasible, but I found it to be an engaging, exciting, good feeling book.

What would happen if Jane Austen travelled 200 years into the future? That is what we find out in this fun time travel adventure.

I’m not normally a fan of time travel books, they are usually too emotional for me. This one, however, had me hooked from chapter 2! I really enjoyed the way Jane Austen is brought to life and how she reacts to modern life. The other characters in the book are also well written and easy to empathise with.

The ending is very satisfying, and if it weren’t for the last few paragraphs, when a certain character returns, this would have been a five star review! I assume it’s meant to be a taste of the next book, but I just hate cliffhangers, and it makes the ending incredibly abrupt.

I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

myself as her biggest fan, though I read a lot around the period. Bearing that in mind I approached Cass Grafton and Ada Bright’s The Particular Charm of Miss Jane Austen with an open mind.

It’s a time-slip novel, cleverly plotted (perhaps too cleverly as there were a few places where I got confused) and engagingly written. The story is one in which Austen fan Rose, participating in a Jane Austen festival in her home town of Bath, meets a stranger who turns out to be Jane Austen herself, trapped in the present day. Rose’s task is to get Jane back so that the world won’t be deprived of the books she will one day write.

I enjoyed a lot about this book but for me there was fundamental weakness and that was the utter desperation with which Rose felt she had to return Jane to her own time so that she could write all those books. The authors set this up as if they were Saving The World but to me that felt slightly silly as (gulp) I can’t help feeling we would all have survived without Miss Austen’s existing six novels, just as we’ve survived without all the ones she might have written if she hadn’t died young.

In theory not being a huge fan shouldn’t be a problem as one would expect a book to have a wider appeal than just the die-hard fans. (I’m not a great Charles Dickens fan either, for example, but I’ve recently enjoyed books which feature him as a character). The problem was that I felt rather as if I was on the outside looking in, invited to a party where I know a few people but they all know everyone else better and want to talk in detail about mutual (to them) acquaintances whose names I barely know. I feel a bit churlish saying this but I did feel the significance of some of the plot passed me by.

A lot of it was very clever, though. I loved the parallel worlds, with and without Jane, in which Rose is confronted with the person she would have been if her interest in the Austen novels and their author hadn’t existed. Her online friendship with American girl Morgan, over in Bath for the festival, would never have existed and in particular I was taken with the dilemma in the romance which was failing for Rose’s in the world with Jane’s writing blossomed in the world without it — a clever touch which genuinely had me struggling to see who it would be resolved.

I did enjoy this book, as I say, and any Austen fan will surely love it. It’s not the authors’ fault it didn’t quite touch my heart in the way I would have liked.

Thanks to Netgalley and Canelo for a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

The Particular Charm of Miss Jane Austen by Ada Bright & Cass Grafton is a delightful story of books, time travel, and friendship. I was introduced to the work of Jane Austen when I was in high school, but I didn’t truly fall in love with her books until my first or second year of college. Despite the fact that I am more of a casual fan of Austen’s work, I truly believe that there is a lot in these pages that will make Austen fans of all kinds smile.

If I had one gentle criticism about this novel, it would be that the pacing is a bit slow. I had a little trouble getting into this novel at first. The authors begin by slowly setting the stage by introducing the protagonist, her friends, and her unrequited love for the handsome professor.

Once I passed the quarter of the way mark, I found myself becoming truly immersed in the story. When a mishap involving a small dog an an enchanted necklace leaves a time-traveling Jane Austen stuck in modern times, the protagonist finds that it is up to her to put the timeline back in order and send Miss Austen home.

All of the characters are friendly and the protagonist was particularly easy to relate for me to identify with. I was touched by the beauty of the deep and abiding love between the protagonist and her long distance best friend. I have a few relationships like that in my own life which I treasure. The best character of all was the depiction of Miss Austen, who was absolutely delightful. I also enjoyed hearing about the preparations for the Jane Austen festival in Bath.

If you can suspend your disbelief and allow yourself to go along for the ride, I’m certain you will find a great deal to enjoy in the adventures that the heroine faces on her quest. If you’re a fan of Jane Austen and looking for a light and fun Austen inspired read with a hint of magic, I recommend The Particular Charm of Miss Jane Austen.



Note: I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review. My thoughts and options are my own.

This book was just so much fun to read. The particular Charm of Miss Jane Austen was full of twists and turn, I expected a pretty straightforward romance but I was so happy to find it wasn't. Not only did it make me feel I was in Bath but also I was experiencing everything Rose went through. As an Austen fan this was a joy to read. The time travel was so well handled and now I'm super excited to read more about these authors!

This book is well-written and the title certainly grabbed my attention. I have a huge fascination with Bath. However, the story couldn't fully keep my attention all the way through. I needed a bit more oomph.

This is a fun read for fans of Jane Austen's novels, a story about friendship and love of books. While there is a time travel aspect to the book, it's not a fantasy novel but would likely be shelved under Chick Lit in my library. There's not a whole lot of plot to the novel, but the characters are so enjoyable that I didn't mind. I especially loved the characterization of Jane Austen herself. I'll definitely check out the next book in the series when it is released.

I didn't think I'd cherish so much this book. First and foremost, the setting in Bath in September, during The Jane Austen Festival is particularly exciting, especially since the main characters, the British Rose and the American Morgan (and obviously the authors) are not eleventh hour Janeites; in fact, they are very familiar with Jane Austen and her works, and everything related to her, meeting even the most dedicated connoisseur's tastes. At last a novel that - in spite of the sci-fi turn - knows how to move in Jane Austen's sites and life!
Even the pseudonym picked for Jane - Jenny Ashton - is easily explainable; a very good choice.
Bath and the time Jane Austen spent in it are paramount in this novel, even because, incidentally, Rose has a job at the Luxury Lettings of Bath, renting Historical Houses to tourists; but the novel moves to Hampshire, too. And everyone who's been there, <i>feels</i> there, walking with Rose, Morgan and Aiden on trails that every Janeite recognizes and cherishes.
Having said that, this novel made me reflect on how much Jane Austen affected history, literature and the lives of her fans, especially when, as a result of a backwards butterfly effect, Jane is trapped in our own day, vanishing in 1803, so before publishing her novels, and Rose - the only one who remembers of her existence and mourns the loss - will end up in a very bleak world, where nobody has known about Jane Austen's wit and her wonderful works.
When Rose has to come to terms with the unease of a world that has never known Jane Austen, I, too, sensed the same unease. I thought to all the wonderful people I met because of Jane Austen, and I felt very lucky that she existed and still <i>exists</i> in my world.
And I believe that this is the meaning of this novel: emphasise the great power of our favourite writer, that after two centuries, stil manages to put together different people from different places in the world, establishing true friendships and cultural stimuli.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Canelo for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Goodreads review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1706538038

Time travel AND Jane Austen. This book is right up my alley. It was a delightful adventure with a literary character many people know and love.

The Particular Charm of Miss Jane Austen is a delightfully fun read. Imagine Jane Austen showing up because she has time traveled. I might freak out a little. And, her books do not exist because she never wrote them. What a tragic loss to literature and swooning women that would be! Luckily, one other person knows about this situation. Perhaps, with a little help and luck, Jane might make it back to her own time. What happens if Jane is stuck in present day? This story has adventure, charming characters and a unique premise. It's a great romcom historical fiction read. Thanks to NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

The particular charm of Miss Jane Austen is a fun romp of Austen goodness through Bath England. Thoroughly enjoyable and I was pleasantly surprised!

Rose lives a normal life in Bath, where she is obsessed with Janr Austen and secretly in love with Aiden an archaeologist.
However her life is turned upside down when she realises her heroine can time travel and then the world is turned upside down when Jane gets trapped in the 21st century. This means none of her books exist and Rose's life is changed in so many ways. Can she help Jane to return and write her novels and can she find true love in her real life?
A charming take on time travel with an open ending for a sequel

Wonderful book! This book ticks all the boxes on what I love in a book—time travel, Jane Austen and England. What would life be like without Jane Austen? You’re about to find out!

This was a different and interesting read sort of a mix of historical, fantasy and mystery. This is a perfect book for any Jane Austen fans it really captured the spirit of her writing and her style. I enjoyed the character of Rose and her handle of all the crazyness when a time traveling Jane Austen shows up in her town amd throws her life topsy turvy the shenanigans that ensue and the little interesting Jane Austen references dropped throughout made this a fun intriguing read!

Time travel, a dog, and Jane Austen.

A time traveling Jane Austen gets stuck in Present day thanks to a dog and her downstairs neighbor is the only one to help her. This read was an interesting take on Jane Austen. A thoroughly enjoyable lead.