'I hate Jane Austen! I really hate her!'
I stop. I know that voice.
'Oh, Lavinia, Mama says that Jane Austen is just a vulgar, husband hunting, affected little minx. She says you are to take no notice of her.'
I know that voice too. It's Lavinia and Caroline Thorpe. I remember them well from the time Jane and I were at boarding school at Southampton. They made my life a misery there.

Anyone who has followed my reading for a while will know that I find it impossible to pass up the opportunity to read anything with ''Jane Austen'' written on it. I love Austen's writing and I devour the many related books out there. The first book in this particular series is Jane Austen Was My Best Friend, a book which left a huge impression on me last year for being insanely fun and sweet. So of course I was eager to read the sequel and it definitely did not disappoint! Jane Austen Stole My Boyfriend was such a lovely read and I enjoyed getting back to all the delightful characters again. I loved every second of it! I used to adore Cora Harrison's books as a child so its great to be able to carry on to her YA novels.

This book is told from the point of view of Jane Austen's cousin, Jenny. Jenny was a real person but her age has been changed slightly and her actual name was Jane but obviously two Janes would be a tad confusing! Jenny is a wonderful and humorous character and it's been amazing to watch her grow and change throughout the two novels. She's engaged to be married to a guy named Thomas but her brother refuses to give them permission. It was so sad seeing how torn apart Jenny was by how difficult her brother and sister-in-law were being about the whole situation. She handles it amazingly well though and never gives up.

I think Harrison captures the character of a young Jane Austen perfectly and it's exactly how I imagine Jane would have been. So intelligent and quick-witted with her head in the clouds the majority of the time. Jane provides many laughs throughout this book and is always up to something. She's always thinking of how she could work situations into a novel and I love how she pays attention to other people and picks up on the little things. It's really fun getting to know and I love following her journey to find a guy for herself since she's always setting other people up!

I'm also really fond of how this book is set out. Jenny writes the whole thing as a diary and it works really well. We also get to see lots of little drawings to help us picture the scene and this definitely sets the mood throughout the book. Jenny also sticks in her love letters and little pieces of writing that Jane has done to mock other people. There's not a dull moment in this book and I spent most of it laughing or smirking! I would certainly recommend this book (and the one before it) to any historical fiction lovers and of course to anyone who craves all things Austen! ( )

Si fa leggere, senza provare disturbo per le austeniane "ortodosse". ( )