The premise is "two feuding co-stars in a Jane Austen film adaptation accidentally travel back in time to the Regency Era". This sounds like such a fun twist on a regency romance. Plus, the film the co-stars are working on is Northanger Abbey! This was such a fun read. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced digital review copy.

This was sooooo cute!!

Everything in this book just worked so well together. And as someone who doesn’t like too much spice in a book I felt like it was perfect and the slow burn wasn’t as teeth pulling as others can be.

Can we have more of Tess????

I think this would make a fun movie! It tells a story of two actors in an Austen film who accidentally are thrown back in time. It is a refreshing Jane Austen-themed book (I’m typically wary of them) and I think a lot of Austen fans can relate to it. Specifically the way that the FMC is a superfan of Austen’s, the feeling of being misunderstood based on your outward appearance/persona, and the love story. It is an actual enemies to lovers concept, so that was nice!

The The Austen Affair is pure joy from start to finish. It's a witty, romantic romp that feels like Jane Austen meets Outlander with a dash of Hollywood chaos. Tess and Hugh’s enemies-to-lovers banter crackles, and their fish-out-of-water adventures in the Regency era are laugh-out-loud funny while still delivering heartfelt moments. Madeline Bell’s debut is a smart, charming love letter to Austen fans, with just enough time-travel mayhem to keep you turning the pages. A delightful escape!

Thank you Madeline Bell, Macmillan Audio, St. Martin's Press, and Netgalley for the advanced copy!

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This was a very cute rom com and I loved all the Austen quotes. I thought the characters fell in love a little too quickly after they got together and I think this would have worked better has a happy for now rather than them running off and getting married.

The setting was cool, but under described, especially for an Austen inspired book where the houses and the outdoors are so important, the descriptions felt a little lackluster.

I wish more attention had been paid to societal norms - there seemed to be no repercussions for the main characters acting the way they would in the modern world, and their actions/language felt jarring.

THE AUSTEN AFFAIR WAS SUCH GOOD, SOLID FUN!! I literally couldn’t stop myself from going back to this story, sue me. Was this some perfect, world up-ending novel that changed me on an atomic level? No. But is it a BLAST? FOR SURE. I am such a sucker for a whimsical Austen-esque story, & this SO much delivered in FULL.

When two dueling actors on the set of a production of Northanger Abbey get sloshed back into the regency era, nothing can go wrong, right???? UGH! MAGICAL REALISM MEETS ROM COM MEETS JANE AUSTEN NERDOM: WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL MY LIFE!!? Tess and Hugh are BELOVED by me, oh my gosh. I enjoyed their dynamic & the whole cast of characters that intertwined with their story. I genuinely loved Tess, & that is not an easily won title for many a leading character. She was funny, & bright & genuine & the perfect foil to MR. HUGH. UGH!! LOVE!! Sweet, grumpy baby, how I loved him. Seeing their relationship felt natural & FUN & RIGHT. It had the exact perfect feeling of watching Austenland, which I can tell Madeline Bell loves too from that piano scene (I died). This is a book for someone who wants a fun, lighthearted Austen romance with some surprisingly beautiful quotes & moments of depth. Fully, FULLY enjoyed! What are men to rocks & mountains & books that make us happy? CHEERS!

4.5 stars but I’m so rounding up, cause I had a great time!! Thank you so much to NetGalley & to Macmillan & St. Martin’s Press for the ALC & the eARC (which I went back & forth between lol)!! The audio was absolutely lovely for any audiobook lovers!!!

Admittedly, I have yet to read a Jane Austen novel but this cover was so eye catching I just had to grab the ARC. I’m so glad I did, this was such a fun read! Madeline Bell merges historical romance and time travel with the lightheartedness of a romcom making this a unique yet thoroughly entertaining read!!!
It was funny to see the contrast of Austen’s proper nature and Tess’s inappropriate inner monologue when she travels back in time. I loved following Tess and Hugh’s journey from enemies to lovers. Their personalities were a perfect contrast of one another and that ending was just the sweetest ever!

This was a delightful, whimsical read! The author started off so deep that I double checked whether I was reading an author's note or the first part of the story. Choosing to begin with such an important part of the FMC's history helped me to immediately understand her. The male MC was obviously wired differently, and their enemies-to-lovers storyline was believable. (I hate when an author has one of the MC do something atrocious to the other, and yet we're supposed to believe they'd both forget and fall in love! Didn't happen here- thank goodness!) I do love my Jane Austen, but this was not a serious homage to her- it was just plain fun! This was a perfect summer read for me.

Two co-stars who hate each other are transported back to the regency era while, they are filming a Jane Austen movie. The idea is so unique and as a lover of Jane Austen novels I was so excited. Sadly I think my expectations were set too high. As I still enjoyed reading this in general; I just feel like I wasn’t able to fully immerse myself into the story. I really just found myself wanting more. This seems a little juvenile especially compared to Jane Austen novel.

Thank you NetGalley for the arc!

The Austen Affair is exactly what you’d expect from a time-travel romcom starring a grumpy British method actor and a bubbly Austen-obsessed ingenue.

This was such an easy, enjoyable read. I wouldn’t call it life-changing, but it definitely scratched the itch for something comforting and romantic. If you’re an Austen fan, particularly one who doesn’t mind when a story leans heavily into familiar beats, this will likely hit the mark.

The premise is unique: a struggling young actress and a brooding British actor filming Northanger Abbey accidentally get transported back to the Regency era and, unsurprisingly, fall in love. It’s got forced proximity, reluctant allies to lovers, and enough Austen references to keep literary fans satisfied. The romance is sweet, the banter lands, and the emotional stakes, while not especially groundbreaking, felt genuine enough to keep me invested.

Is it predictable? Absolutely. But it’s the kind of predictable that feels cozy, like rewatching your favorite movie where you know exactly when the kiss is coming. As someone who has read every Austen novel and written a thesis paragraph or two on her narrative structures, I clocked the beats a mile away, but I still had a good time.

This is definitely a book for Austen superfans or readers who live for a good meta-romance. It knows its audience and delivers. I tore through it in one sitting, and while it didn’t change my life, I closed it with a smile.

Overall: a fun, fast read that knows exactly what it is.

This was such a charming and romantic escape! I loved the clever twist of time travel—modern-day actors filming a Jane Austen adaptation suddenly finding themselves in Austen’s own world. The romance was sweet and swoony, with just the right amount of tension to keep me rooting for the couple. The historical backdrop felt vivid, the characters sparkled, and the pacing kept me hooked from the first chapter to the last. It’s the kind of feel-good love story I could happily read again and again. Perfect for fans of Austen and anyone who loves a heartwarming time-slip romance.

This is the story of Tess and Hugh, two actors currently filming an adaptation of Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey (which I personally rank as the fifth best Austen book). In the middle of an argument, they receive an electric shock and end up being transported back 200 years, to the time of Jane Austen. This is not the first time travel romance I've read with a guest appearance by Jane Austen (hello Puck and Prejudice). Tess is thrilled about this turn of events, Hugh is not.

This book is heavy on the Jane Austen vibes, in that it seems like the author tried to smoosh together events and characters from all Austen's books into one story. If that's what you're looking for, you've found the book.

It took more than half of the book to warm up to Hugh, since he is introverted and serious and anxious, and you only see him from Tess's perspective. Tess is enthusiastic and pleasant, but she doesn't really seem to think very much about anything going on around her. Like, you can practically feel the existential dread of time travel leaking out of Hugh, while Tess is like "nah, it's fine!" So I kinda thought Tess was a bit irritating in that regard.

Altogether, I didn't feel like the story was particularly unique or riveting, but it was an easy read, generally pleasant, and light. I rate it 3.5 stars, rounded up.

i don’t normally read romance, but who can resist the allure of a time-travelling jane austen-inspired romcom?

the austen affair follows teen choice award-winning actress tess bright, who finds herself floundering after the death of her mother. lost in grief after losing her best friend, tess begins slipping at work, falling and falling until eventually, she is fired from her role on a popular tv show. in a last-ditch effort to save her career and reputation, tess signs on to an adaptation of northanger abbey. this would be the perfect role for her—she grew up alongside jane austen, their shared love of her stories tying tess and her mother together—if not for her insufferable method-acting co-star, the decorated british actor hugh balfour. tess is trying, but after an argument on set, tess and hugh are transported 200 years into the past, straight into the world of jane austen. stuck together in a world neither of them belongs in, tess and hugh must put their acting skills to the test and try to survive jane austen’s england.

this book was so cute, and i absolutely could not put it down. like i said, i don’t usually read romance, but as i was finishing this book, all i could think was, “why do i only read dark and depressing stuff? this was so much fun!” the austen affair has the perfect combination of romance tropes, from time travel, to a fake relationship, to forced proximity—and even has a dash of enemies to lovers. tess and hugh had so much chemistry, and their romance was irresistible, but it was also lovely to see their other relationships develop in their new world, their lives suddenly populated—and foiled—by typical jane austen archetypes as they tried to find their way back home.

full of clever and fun references, this book is perfect for any jane austen fan, whether you’ve read every single one of her books or somehow just know her from austenland. this book lived up to my every expectation!

“I told you from the start: I would not be put off forever.”

ˋ°•*⁀➷ 4.75 stars

Thank you St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for this advance reader's copy!

I fell madly in love with this book. It’s so deeply immersive and wonderful and I was hooked from the very start. I went into it thinking it was a silly romcom and was immediately hit with some of the most devastating and realistic depictions of grief I’ve read. I think something it does so strongly with such a large ensemble cast is make every single character memorable. There is never an instance where a side character is mentioned that I have to try to remind myself who they are. They all play their parts in the story well but they also all are memorable characters outside of their roles too.

Hugh and Tess are some favorite main characters of mine now. I adored their dynamic and their push and pull. They are the perfect kind of opposites attract in my opinion. They have the perfect amount of sweetness with their bite against each other and you root for them so hard from the start too. Hugh is probably my favorite though simply because of the arc he has for readers. You start off thinking he is this kind of closed off asshole and then you learn more about him throughout the story and realize that couldn’t be further from the truth. Even as I say Hugh is my favorite though, I find myself drawn back to Tess and how great of an FMC she is. She’s so fun to experience the regency era through and read the connection that she has to that time period with her mother. The way that she starts to understand who Hugh really is becomes such a wonderful thing to read as well. I was smiling and giggling and kicking my feet for a good chunk of the book.

My only true complaint that knocks this down a quarter of a rating is I wish that the ending was a bit more drawn out. We get to the final four or so chapters and everything happens so fast. I wish we could have slowed down just a bit and had a bit more time in the last moments of the story with the regency era characters. I don’t wish that Tess and Hugh stayed there longer but just that the last two days or so was written to last over a bit more time to let the readers really sit with those characters one more time.

All in all, I loved this book. It was an amazing debut by Madeline Bell and I can not wait to read more from her in the future!

this was soo entertaining!! both of the main characters kind of annoyed me at first, but they grew on me so easily. i cannot even begin to imagine how confused the crew must be when they came back and were just randomly in love LOL... i genuinely commend hugh for his ability to adapt to every situation so well. i don't know how long it would have taken me to figure out what happened, but it definitely would've been way longer than what it took hugh... i still can't believe how quickly he caught onto everything. but, ugh they actually knew how to communicate!!! it's kind of rare, so it was really nice to see in this. despite their intial hatred for each other, they were very similar and understood each other quickly (once they started to open up). i've been wanting to read more historical romance books and this one hit the spot. the writing made it so easy to binge in one go, i could not put it down.

First off, I would like to extend my gratitude to NetGalley for allowing me to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I thoroughly enjoyed the whimsy of this book. As an Austen lover myself it was a unique way to incorporate different novels into the telling of the story. I also very much enjoyed the character development while also still allowing the characters to acknowledge their faults.
There were several moments that had me laughing and moments that brought tears to my eyes as well.
Overall, I enjoyed this book and would absolutely recommend it to people looking for a lighthearted and fun read!

3.5-3.75 ⭐️ A time-traveling, enemies to lovers romcom you can read in one sitting. Hugh and Tess are co-stars on the set of a Jane Austen movie who clearly do not like each other. They get thrown back in time and have to learn to work together to find their way home and maybe into each other’s hearts. This was a fun, modern/regency romance with likable characters and an interesting plot. The author did a good job with the time travel storyline in my opinion and I was rooting for the two main characters the whole time. I definitely recommend for a lighthearted romcom with barely any 🌶️. Thank you to St. Martin’s and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

The Austen Affair centers around Tess Bright, an actress who has just lost her job on a popular sitcom and is grieving the loss of her mother. When she is cast as Catherine Morland in a film version of Northanger Abbey, she is thrilled to embrace the role and do her very best, not only for her career, but to honor her mother, a Jane Austen fanatic. The only problem? Her leading man, Hugh Balfour, a classically trained and highly acclaimed actor who cannot hide his disdain for Tess.

When a freak accident sends the two co-stars barreling back in time to the Regency Era and smack into Hugh’s ancestors village, the pair must play new roles in order to assimilate to their new lives. As they search for a way back home, their cold relationship blossoms into a friendship and then something more. The two attempt to mend old wounds and right the wrongs of Hugh’s ancestors while navigating their newfound romance.

I thought this book was delightful, especially the cameo from Jane Austen herself.

This was delightful and romantic! The characterization and growth arcs are rich and made each character feel very real. I enjoyed the depth Tess and Hugh both had and their past pains and flaws that slowly and naturally unfolded. The magical realism part was one I had to mentally ignore and pretend it really could happen as this was the weakest part of the novel for me. But all the other aspects, especially "living" in regency times made this worth reading. I almost want to read all of Jane Austen's novels now.

The slow burn romance and growing friendship between Hugh and Tess had many moments that made me laugh and also swoon as their chemistry was undeniable. Witty banter and intelligent sarcasm abounded. There are many heartwarming scenes, especially the ones with Hugh's ancestors. I'm looking forward to reading more books by this author. Thank you to NetGalley for my early e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

Really enjoyed reading this book. Went through it pretty fast couldn’t put it down. It had a good mix of humour, banter and slow burn.