Medium – Book
About the Book – Lady Victoria Aston is a headstrong girl living in the early 19th century and is a complete fanatic for the writings of her favourite author, Jane Austen. She is determined to find her own Mr Darcy/Mr Knightley/Colonel Brandon, but is in no hurry to do so. However, circumstances work against her, and her sister returns to the family home, having fled an abusive marriage. In order to save her family’s reputation, and their home of Oakbridge, Victoria must make a good marriage. There is no shortage of potential candidates, with her childhood friend Tom and the gorgeous and dangerous Mr Carmichael as frontrunners. But it seems that there is something dangerous coming for Victoria and soon, marrying for love will be the least of her worries.
My thoughts – This was another of the YA books I got from the Book Box that I subscribe to. It is not my usual ‘thing’ and although I enjoyed parts of it, there are a few reasons why I have only given it 3 stars. Firstly, I did find the constant references to Jane Austen’s work a bit cringeworthy. I love anything by Austen and think that she is a genius, but the constant references to being like her characters or having an ‘Austen ending’ were slightly irritating. The author did a great job at writing a range of characters, but the characters generally fell into tropes (the good-looking but severe hero, the man with an uncertain reputation, the nagging mother), which did mean that some of the characters seemed two dimensional.
The book was written by an American author, and sometimes this did show – there were some Americanisms, as well as a lack of understanding of UK geography (which wouldn’t have been a problem except the action happens in Hampshire, where I live!) The main character, Lady Victoria, was a nice addition to the book, and I liked how independent and brave she was. There were some unanswered questions in the book which led to plot holes (i.e. why was it so important that Vicky marry quickly as her father seemed in excellent health?) So overall, a book I probably wouldn’t read again, but one I would recommend to other Austen lovers as a nice, gentle story.
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