Jane Austen mystery romance is my cup of tea, I have to say, and this book delivered on all fronts. The romance was sweet and developed naturally. The mystery was intriguing, and there was plenty of Jane Austen references. However, what was lacking in this book is the same that was lacking in the previous book: the heroine is bland and a bit of a dunderhead.

Unlike Jane Hayes in the previous book, Charlotte Kinder is not a lifelong Austenite. However, after her divorce, she falls in love with the books and decides a trip to Austenland is a well-deserved treat. I, for one, heartily agree. A trip to Austenland is always well-deserved. Some familiar cast members return: Elizabeth Charming, Mr. and Mrs. Wattlesbrook, and Colonel Andrews light up the page. Hale uses this second installment in the Austenland series to explore these characters' backgrounds, and I really appreciated it. Additionally, you learn more about the business of running Austenland, and that helped make the setting feel more real.

That said, Charlotte, like I said, is a dunderhead. To spice up the guests' time at Austenland, Col. Andrews creates a little mystery for them to solve, but then Charlotte stumbles into a service closet and thinks she's solved his mystery until she runs into a corpse... which she also thinks for some reason is part of the Col. Andrews's medieval nun mystery. At one point, she even sees tire tracks and is convinced this is also part... of a mystery about nuns. It doesn't help that Hale beats readers over the head with how clever Charlotte is. Somehow, Charlotte is so clever that she creates a website business that makes her millions of dollars and yet she can't tell that she stumbled into a storage closet. Additionally, somehow she is never confident to the point where her husband is shocked to hear her sounding confident despite the fact that she's been running a successful business for years. It just doesn't add up.

Overall, I feel like I'm reading about an aspirational everywoman. She's not too confident or too smart to alienate readers and prevent them from seeing themselves as her, and I think that's the point. Unfortunately, it just makes Charlotte seem like not a real person, in my mind.

That said, the mystery is pretty good, and it flows pretty well. It's also a short, quick read, so it's perfect for some light reading. For me, personally, I'm still waiting for that perfect book where the Austenite heroine has a basic understanding of the Regency era and cares about more than just Mr. Darcy. ( )

I really enjoyed this novel it was a great blend of vintage and modern story telling. there was several twists in the plot that I didn't see coming. If I had to chose I would say that I preferred the parts of the novel set in Austenland however I get that the back story was essential to get the thorough benefits of the main parts of the novel.

I'm hoping that I can go back and read Austenland after reading this as I'm sure I will enjoy it too! ( )

Charlotte is a mother in her late thirties who is the founder of several successful online businesses. Her self-esteem, which has never been great, has suffered even more because her husband left her for another woman. When she learns about Austenland, she decides to travel there in order to forget her worries and maybe, to experience a little bit of romance. So she travels from the US to Pembrook Park in England to wear Regency attire, meet handsome actors in costumes, take part in excursions to Gothic abbeys and drive around in carriages. Then a game of "Bloody Murder" turns rather serious and suddenly she might be in grave danger... Or is she just falling prey to her fantasies, like Catherine Morland?

My chief problem with this novel was that it tries to be all at once: Jane Austen Pastiche, mystery, modern love story and humorous chick-lit. I liked certain parts of it (especially some parts of the mystery and the chapters that rather seemed like a historical novel), but the change of style and tone did not work for me. It seemed like a puzzle but with mismatching parts. To me, the author tried too much in this novel and accomplished very little.
Another problem I have is that the Jane Austen setting is just a prop and it reinforces the stereotype of her novels as historical romance novels written to sell lavender soap and pink tea pots on their backs. This kind of book just doesn't do them justice. Moreover, everything feels just so fabricated - the surnames and place names sound so fake and not British or Regency at all, like someone imagining a historical Disneyland without respect for the real thing. Maybe it is supposed to be funny, but to me it is just annoying. Miss Gardenside? Mrs Cordial and Miss Charming? Grey Cloaks Abbey? No thank you.

I do not think that there will be a third Austenland novel because it has been ten years since the last one and the film apparently was quite a flop. If there is ever a third one, I will have a good look at the plot before deciding to read it or not. ( )

You don’t NEED to read the first one but it’s better if you do. It’s fun to see all the parallels to Austen and other period works, but you can still enjoy it without being familiar with any other book.

SPOILERS BELOW






Totally knew Mallory was the murderer when he pulled the short straw, but had fun anyway. ( )

The premise sounded fun and started off okay, but by the middle Charlotte's self blaming became so tiresome and all the characters were one dimensional. The plot was thin and the cobbled together mystery made no sense really. Pretty awful and disappointing. At least I finished it quickly. I doubt I would read this author again. We can't really blame poor Jane for inspiring such mediocrity. ( )