Jane in Love is written by a filmmaker, and you can most definitely tell. This would make an excellent movie.

Jane Austen is struggling with the fact that she is getting older, is still not married and her family's nonexistent support of her passion for writing. Jane meets with a fortune teller/ witch to work on at least one of her issues: She wants to fall in love. Instead of just helping her meet a man, the woman sends Jane through time to the twenty first century. There Jane not only learns about the success of her writing, but also meets a new best Sofia and her brother Fred. Fred and Jane immediately have this connection, but how is love supposed to work when she is from 1803?!

I love the idea of the book, and it reminded me of the movie Kate & Leopold. Fred and Jane have a sweet relationship and I love the chapters they have together. Jane's chapters are fairly formal, which makes sense considering she is from 1803, but I don't understand why Sofia's and Fred's words are also so old school. When they speak, they don't seem like they are from the twenty first century at all. This is why no one thinks her way of speaking is weird either, which would be the biggest indication to me that someone may not be from this time.

I have mixed feelings about the ending. I think I may be too much of a romantic and was hoping for a different outcome.

I received a free advanced copy from the author/ publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review.

**Thank you to HarperCollins and NetGalley, who provided me with an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

When I read the description of this book and saw it was about Jane Austen time traveling to 2020, I said, “Yes, please!” And “Jane in Love” did not disappoint!

Jane Austen is in danger of becoming a spinster in her own time, 1803. When she is disappointed by the failure of a potential match, she decides to take matters into her own hands to find her match, and ends up traveling to modern day Bath, England on the set of a film adaptation of Northanger Abbey. The reader follows Jane as she struggles to adjust to new technology and social mores. I laughed out loud at many scenes. This book is infused with Austen-esque humor and wit. I was brought to tears as well, and found the conclusion of the story perfectly well-done.

I fell in love with the characters in this story and the dilemma Jane faces as she tries to find the love of her life. If you are an Austen fan, this is a must read.

This novel is cute, but it is also just so well done. The book opens on a young Jane Austen, who is not published, but does enjoy writing. She is getting older and despairing of ever finding a husband. After another disappointment, she meets this mysterious lady who offers her a chance to go on a journey to find her one true love. She gives it a shot, but nothing happens at first...then she is transported into our own time.

She meets Sophia, who is an actress playing in a remake of Northanger Abbey. At first, Sophia thinks the studio is playing a joke on her, but soon believes Jane is who she says she is. She promises to help Jane find her way back home, but in the meantime, Jane falls in love with her brother, Fred. Jane realizes if she doesn't go back in time, she will never write her novels, but if she doesn't stay, she will lose her only chance for love.

I have long been a fan of Jane Austen, and I studied a little of her life in graduate school. The author has done a really lovely job imitating her style in Jane's dialogue, and including some actual biographical elements. Hats off to the writer, and this is a very fun read for fans of Jane Austen, Victorian England, and love.

I enjoyed this novel but did not love it and liked the middle more than the beginning or the end. It has a bright cartoon cover and looks like it should be a romantic comedy, but it isn't. There's a little romance and some comedic scenes, but it swung wide of both for me. It’s definitely more women’s fiction than a romance - if I’d gone into it with that frame of mind I probably would have liked it more. Rachel Givney’s writing style if very visual and I could easily see this being a very satisfying movie or a mini-series.

Jane Austen and time travel… A combination that I never thought I would see together. A combination I never thought would work. BUT IT DOES!

Jane in Love is a fun, light hearted what if. I loved the premise from the very beginning. Anything about Jane Austen has me hooked.

It was fun to watch single 19th century Jane Austen arrive in the 21st century looking for her true love. Rachel Givney did an amazing job with making her Jane's as realistic as possible. She held Jane true to her time though-out the novel. She made sure you could see the differences between society then and now, with how we interact, how we converse. Everything is different and I was delighted to be a part of Jane's discoveries, as well as her romantic journey.

This novel was a wild ride and a joy to read. It had me laughing and at times tearing up.

I love the idea of this book. It’s like “Kate and Leopold” meets “Becoming Jane” and I liked it. However, there were many parts where I forced myself to continue and hope different aspects got better. The character of Sofie was all over the place. At one point she was a strong, talented woman the next she was a simpering, whining brat. And Jane was frustrating for a lot of the book. I mostly enjoyed Fred, but perhaps because we see the least of him. The dialogue between the characters was stilted and frustrating, but I’m glad I pushed through because the heart of the story was compelling.

The premise of this book intrigued me as I enjoyed all of Jane Austen's novels. Jane Austen time travels to the present day? Sounds like Kate & Leopold- Sign me up! The language was a bit formal, as if the entire book took place in 1803. I did enjoy the friendship between Jane and Sofia and I also enjoyed the ending, especially when Fred read Persuasion.

Wow, this book wrecked me.
First of all: this isn't a romance. This is women's fiction, and don't expect a happy ending. The ending is the only one that makes sense, and eventually it settles into a feeling of rightness, but it will involve Kleenex.
That out of the way, this is a solid 4.5-5 star read for me.
The initial POV dealing with Jane is written very much in the voice and style of Austen, so the first chapter or so in the 1803 timeline doesn't read with a modern voice. It took me a bit to sink into the story, because that style is heavy on telling instead of showing, etc. As a writing device designed to mimic Austen, it's quite effective.
Once I got to Sophie's POV, the book wrapped me in the unique concept and I didn't surface until the end.
The narrative is frequently gorgeous as Jane works through the expectations of her upbringing, her talent, and the legacy she left behind. There are scenes of brilliance, such as when she discusses an aging woman's role with Sophie.
This is a book I'll be gifting to people.
And now I need to go read Persuasion again.

I will be honest: I really wanted to like this book. To bring Jane Austen to the 21st century is such a cute idea! That being said, it was HORRENDOUSLY executed. It took twenty chapters to get Jane to orient herself to technology. She found everything fascinating--and rightly so! Yet to spend TWENTY chapters to talk about each new technology was way too much. Furthermore, Ms. Givney's characters were not remarkable. Sophia was dramatic, whiny, dumb, and vain. Fred was herotic through event retellings vs his actual actions. The only pleasant character was Jane. There were times where the author did what I like to call "social dumps:" placing troubled teens, gay characters, etc to show writer's openness where such characters did not add value to the story. In short: Ms. Givney wanted to cover her bases to make sure no one believes her to exclusive.

All in all, I think this story had great potential. But 59 chapters?? By the end of chapter 55, I skipped to the last page. Did not miss a thing...

Sorry!

Rachel Givney's Jane in Love is wildly uneven. It's a shame, because there's the core of a good idea. This is, oddly, the second book this year to heavily focus on Jane Austen and an aging actress. In both cases, I could have done without the actress part. Jane in Love is a story about Jane Austen being ripped out of 1803 after a failed courtship and ending up in the present. By chance, Jane ends up at rehearsals for a movie shoot where she encounters a savior in the form of an actress--who for some reason believes that Jane is acting for a hidden camera show. This part of the novel makes an attempt at slapstick, but falls on its own face, more or less. The novel gets markedly better as the marriage plot comes into play. Yet, the part of the plot relating to the actress drags on the book as a whole. Jane herself ends up torn between marriage and career--an issue that feels both authentic and timely. I wanted to like this book and I did like parts of it. Overall, however, a review has to account for the overall experience. Givney is a screenwriter and I think she should adapt this book and try it as a movie--I think it would be a guaranteed success in that format. As a novel, I can only give it three stars.

You know I love a good Jane Austen variation, so I couldn't resist Jane in Love by Rachel Givney. When a matchmaker promises Jane Austen a spell to bring her to her one true love, Jane finds herself in Bath in 2020, well, in an alternate 2020 with crowds, movie filming, and open businesses. At one point, Jane asks if the current 6-month drought is the apocalypse, and I longed for an alternate history where that was what we'd worry about in 2020. Her period clothes and speech just make her seem like another Janeite visiting Bath, an adorable twist.

The sharp wit is what keeps me coming back to Jane Austen novels, so I was slightly disappointed by this version of Jane as a bewildered time-traveler. For too much of the novel, she's more acted-upon than active, and she spends far too long playing with electric lights or self-inking pens.  Constantly noting that people spend a lot of time on their mysterious talking boxes made Jane seem like a boomer bemoaning technology. 

As Jane stays in 2020, though, her disappearance from 1803 affects the timeline, and her books start popping out of existence. This may be one of my favorite wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey plots! This is bad news for Jane's legacy, obviously, but also bad news for Sofia, Jane's friend in 2020, since she's hoping to make her acting comeback in a Northanger Abbey movie.  I thought Sofia's worries about being sidelined as an over-thirty actress nicely mirrored Jane's struggles as an almost-thirty spinster.

The very heavy choice of work vs love didn't really work for me. I did like Fred a lot, but Jane's decisions didn't pull me in with tragedy, because the choices were to hang around 2020, cooking dinners for her love, or to return to 1803 and become a successful author. It felt a bit too heavy to be sympathetic and intriguing.

Not a huge win for me, although I really enjoyed the scenes visiting modern Bath with time-traveling Jane.

I was drawn to this primarily because of its cover and the description. It delivered only on one count, the cover paints it as a romance but this is not a romance. However, it is a well written women's fiction and I enjoyed it once I shifted my expectations.

I always love a good sismance and therefore enjoyed Jane and Sophia's relationship. The book also had witty banter and I enjoyed its touching on women's issues.

In conclusion, a nice summer read. And if you are an Austen fan, you should really enjoy it.

Thanks Netgalley for the ARC

I didn't know what to expect going into this book. I love Jane Austen, but don't read a lot of Jane Austen fiction, especially time travel fiction! I was pleasantly surprised when I started reading. I couldn't put it down for the first 30% of it. I was able to suspend my disbelief, had some great laugh out loud moment, and I loved Sofia and the first interactions with Jane/Fred.

But as soon as Jane and Fred went to London this book went off the rails for me. I overlooked some of the long-winded descriptions of London because up to then, the book had been wonderful! But as soon as Jane and Fred's relationship started to develop, the characters fell flat for me. Sure, I can believe time traveling Jane Austen, but I couldn't see why Jane or Fred would like each other, let alone fall in love after a few days. There were also some strange events in the plot that felt really out of nowhere.

Essentially, amazing premise, great story up to 30%, and then the rest of the book felt like a summary of what this book was supposed to be and I lost the emotional connection to the characters.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing this ARC!

This was a very cute book and enjoyable read. I'm always amazed by how much I enjoy Jane Austen themed books despite never having finished one of her novels! Just like Fred I find them tough going at first. Perhaps I should keep plugging along like he did.

Reading this book was an absolute delight! The author did a fantastic job bringing Jane Austen to life and writing in her Regency era voice while switching seamlessly to Sofia's modern vernacular. I love how the author wove her story together with facts from Jane's real life and works. I feel like the author really honored Jane Austen in her story's ending. This book had the humor of an Austen novel, drama, love, heartbreak, and a bit of magic.

Thank you so much to HarperCollins Publishers and NetGalley for access to this ARC.

Oh my goodness, my heart. This was such an amazing read. It was bittersweet, funny, lovely, and just heartwarming. Growing up, I have always loved reading Jane Austen's work but always wondered why she never married, and this book takes such a fun twist on that. I adored the friendship between Jane and Sophie. This book is such a fun read for fans of Jane Austen and I would definitely recommend it! The idea that Jane's one true love was actually born in a different time was amazing. I adored the budding relationship between Jane and Fred. Even though it has a bit of a bittersweet ending, I thought it was the perfect way to end.

This book was a lovely escape. It was full of charm and a whole lot of modern day Jane Austen wit. I personally loved the romance in contrast with Jane’s bittersweet destiny. This is a brilliant book and is sure to captivate all who love Jane Austen.

“What do I love most about writing? It takes a chair and gives it a soul. It tells the truth with a lie. It adds one’s voice to the dream of the world.”

I adored this book. It was slow to start, but wow once it ramped up, it was an emotional rollercoaster. It was witty, smart and we'll paced once Jane gets to 2020. What I did not expect was for this book to be so heavy. I laughed, swooned and cried. And let me emphasize that last part most. I cried a lot. I am a huge Austen fan, and I recommend this to anyone that loves her books.

Thank you to HarperCollins Publishers for the ARC.

This book read like a love letter to Austen. The author clearly has done research and worked to give Jane a chance to find love in a way that felt meaningful and authentic. Through Jane in Love, Givney was able to remind readers of the relevance of Austen's works, even in the 21st century. It was such an empowering read, and a perfectly wonderful representation of Jane. I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

This is so sweet, not saccharine, really just lovely. I have a problem with one character spending an enormous amount of time on a film set to play a character who was only in like 2 scenes, but I'm willing to ignore that little aberration because this author's Jane was wise AF (and slightly futsy, which reads as endearing).