The Dashwood Sisters Tell All, by Beth Pattillo: A Review

The Dashwood Sisters Tell All is Beth Pattillo's third novel about the modern day world of Jane Austen. Three years ago, Beth's first novel, Jane Austen Ruined My Life, introduced us to Mrs. Parrot and the Formidables, the secret society that protected Jane Austen's private letters. Her second novel, Mr. Darcy Broke My Heart, followed the formula, as does this most recent book.

The Dashwood Sisters Tell All was obviously written to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Sense and Sensibility, for Mimi and Ellen Dodge are the modern counterparts to Marianne and Elinor Dashwood. At the time of their mother's death, they are estranged. Only the conditions of her will unite the two sisters, who are different in temperament and ambitions. They are to participate in a Jane Austen themed walking tour and agree on an appropriate place to scatter her ashes. Once this happens, the two sisters will receive their inheritance. This turns out to be Cassandra Austen's priceless diary, which had the following words written on the fly leaf:

Private property of Miss Cassandra Austen

Do Not Read.

That Means You, Jane.

As the Mimi and Ellen read the passages, they note that certain worlds are underlined, leading to riddles that the sisters feel they can solve. (Shades of Emma!) Then the diary goes missing, and the sisters immediately suspect Mrs. Parrot. Add to this mix a good description of the Jane Austen tour, three men who resemble Colonel Brandon, Willoughby, and Edward Ferrars, and you have a satisfying read.

My only quibble was how Beth used the first person point of view for both sisters, for I felt that their “voices” were too similar. The only clues as to who was telling the story were the events they thought about and their particular habits, for I did not realize for several chapters that Mimi and Ellen were both telling the story. I would have given the sisters unique vocabulary preferences and thought quirks to make their voices truly distinctive.

Beth Patillo fans will not be disappointed with this third Formidable tale. A newcomer to the series might be a bit confused, for the Formidables are not as well described as in her first two books. Still, the tale is well crafted. The mystery of the missing diary is finally solved (easily, for the culprit is obvious), but the twist at the very end came as a surprise.

I give The Dashwood Sisters Tell All three out of three Regency fans.Order the book here.

Review of Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict

Imagine waking up in someone else's body in another time period with no clue of how you got there or how you'll make it back home. That's the situation author Laurie Viera Rigler has set up in Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict. One day our heroine Courtney Stone wakes up as Jane Mansfield, a 30-year-old spinster living in turn of the 19th Century England. The day before she was in Los Angeles nursing her hurt over a breakup with a lout of a boyfriend, and the next thing she knows she is confronted by a strict, harsh-eyed Regency mama who deplores her daughter's unmarried state.

Laurie Viera Rigler takes us on a fun and frothy romp through the Regency period as our heroine encounters one bewildering situation after another trying to understand what's happened to her and why. Readers who are expecting a time travel novel with the depth and breadth of Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series might be disappointed in this book's superficial fun. But the fans that adored Jude Devereaux's Knight in Shining Armor or the time travel movies Somewhere in Time, Kate and Leopold, and Big will definitely have a rollicking good time.

The themes of intrigue, romance, and a fish out of water are fleshed out with the cultural shocks that our heroine experiences as she becomes accustomed to a world of chaperons, lack of running water, a cool and calculating mother, and unhygienic hostelries. What I found most interesting about this time travel book is that as Jane, Courtney looks entirely different. In her regency persona she is taller and prettier, and can embroider with the skill of an experienced seamstress. Although Courtney has all of Jane's talents and some of her memories, her thoughts and emotions are rooted in the 21st century. This dichotomy places us firmly in the mind of our bewildered heroine, who as Courtney is exceedingly attracted to the suitor her alter ego Jane rejected. It doesn't hurt that our hero, Charles, is as dapper as Mr. Darcy or Captain Wentworth.

There are a few problems of logic, as all time travel novels share. Jane's strange behavior and lack of memory are explained away as the result of a fall from a horse. And although Courtney was an avid reader of Jane Austen's novels, as Jane she has a hard time coming to grips with the lack of baths and ready-to-wear dresses and a tightly circumscribed world that is not as romantic as she had once thought.

As a reader who is interested in the Regency Era, I would also have loved to have read more details about dress, manners, interiors, and architecture. These were spare, but because of this economy of detail, the book moves along quickly. Frankly, I couldn't put it down at times. I also have a confession to make: This is the first Jane Austen fan book or spin off that I have finished. Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict is as light and pleasing as a summer sherbet, which, as we all know, is a perfect tonic for a hot summer day.

I give it three out of three regency fans

Lady Anne's Review of Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict

Lady Anne is the most well read of our Janeites of the James group when reading about all things Austen, including Jane's fan fiction. She has agreed to read Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict and report on her impressions of this novel out in stores tomorrow. Lady Anne is one tough reader to please when it comes to any topic pertaining to the Regency Era. Faint praise from her is fine praise indeed. Here, then, is her review. Mine will arrive in a few short days.

Courtney Stone is a 30-ish single living in LA with a nothing job, a crummy apartment, and lousy taste in men. Like many in her situation, she obsesses over trivialities and takes solace in vodka and the occasional Xanax. But she finds her best relief from the woes of her life in re-reading Jane Austen. Jane Mansfield, a 30-ish single living in Regency England, lives at home with her harsh mother and vague, artistic father. Like many in her situation, she sees only misery and unhappiness before her. In her search for a way out, she consults a fortuneteller, who has apparently done a few terms at Hogwarts School, and who, in the aftermath of a riding accident, slips the very 21st century mind and psyche of Courtney into the body and life of the Regency Jane.

In the fairly predictable incidents that unfold, author Laurie Viera Rigler takes a clear look at the marrying money theme that runs through Austen’s books, as well as the realities of everyday living for the gentried classes and their servants. Courtney/Jane, while chafing against the chaperonage inflicted upon her, a little strict by 1813 for a woman of 30 even by Regency standards, learns to appreciate the fabric of the life she got so much comfort from reading about. It doesn’t hurt that Mr. Edgeworth, an eminently respectable suitor, is also charming and handsome, and everything she had looked for in a man, but couldn’t find in 21st Century LA. Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict is a good summer read, and fun for every Jane Austen fan.