By a Lady: Being the Adventures of an Enlightened American in Jane Austen's England

I had this Austenesque time-travelling escapade on my TBR shelf for a few years and it's finally been read! I am usually not a fan of modern Austenesque stories, but I enjoyed this one (probably because it's mostly in the past).<br /><br />I enjoyed it for how C.J. presented 1801 Bath to us, I'm sure most of us would end up in jail within our first 24 hours or so.<br /><br />There were a few holes (where did the yellow dress go is one, etc.) that I wondered about in this time travel plot, but all in all it was enjoyable! The ending DID surprise me!

DO NOT READ THIS BOOK. It starts off with an interesting premise-21st century gal gets magically transported to Jane Austen's Bath-but then descends into new ways the author can get the 21st c. gal into sexual situations (I gave up taking it seriously at the tantric sex. That was before she witnessed a threesome in a brothel) and how often she can have Jane Austen spout lines from her novels.

3.5 stars. <br /><br />C.J. is trying out for a part on Broadway, hoping to play her favourite author, Jane Austen. As the audition comes to a close, she suddenly finds herself in Bath, England, in the year 1801. Now what? She has no money, no place to stay, and knows no one! C.J. finds herself in all sorts of different situations while in the early 19th century. <br /><br />It was a good book. I learned a little bit about the time period, as well.

Unable to finish this one, due to the twin strikes against it of 1) featuring the Kama Sutra to an excessive degree (Regency Romance cliche I am sick to death of) and 2) containing JANEAUSTENBOT-1800, who only apparently speaks in direct quotes from Austen's works and letters.

Many others have, understandably, given this silly book a very low rating; however, there's a difference between a silly book and a stupid book, so I'm being a little more gracious with my rating. The story is so ridiculous that the reader often wonders if the author is having a joke with us all; but it's very WELL written, using a rich and intelligent vocabulary, and is very well researched, the author having a good understanding of Regency era Bath.<br /><br />My initial reaction was that the author was using far too many Jane facts all at once. I wrote, "not everything has to be explained. A fan already knows these things and a non-fan won't care. Too much clever gets to be annoying." After awhile, I realized this was going to be the style of the entire book so I gave up my frustration and rolled with it. It did get better after awhile when I realized the author was pretty knowledgeable and offered many interesting lessons on Georgian/Regency life.<br /><br />The story was so unbelievable that it would be silly to even attempt a comment. Many reviewers have expressed frustration that it all seemed so coincidental and ridiculous. I'd invite those readers to stop for a moment and remember they're reading a time travel story. Time travel is impossible. Therefore, EVERYTHING in this story is silly and ridiculous...it's built upon a ridiculous premise. So, rather than trying to pick apart the story itself, perhaps it makes more sense to comment on the predictable elements within it.<br /><br />My only issue with her actual grammatical style was the fact she put quotes around far too many words and phrases, hoping to emphasize their importance. The whole "aunt" and "niece" thing was frustrating, as I found myself emphasizing them in my head as I read them, page after page. I suppose it was supposed to build up to the fact that she didn't use them at the end---emphasizing the true connection between these two characters---but that was annoyingly anticlimactic. <br /><br />I was not impressed with the character of CJ. Firstly, she had way more knowledge than made sense---no matter how much she'd researched for her character. Sure, she may have perfected a 21st century idea of what Regency life was like, making her actions less conspicuous once she got there, but it's very unlikely she'd be able to speak their way so easily, quickly, and without detection. No matter how much I study a foreign language, I will never speak it flawlessly to other native speakers my first time out. While American English and British English may be mostly the same language, any American who has read something written by a 21st century Briton can tell the difference almost immediately---how much more the difference between a 21 century actress and the 18th century culture into which she stepped?<br /><br />A second unlikely thing was CJ's reaction to meeting Jane Austen. She doesn't seem to care a bit and the beloved author is treated like any other character. It's not until after several meetings with her that CJ expresses any sort of awe that they are friends. (Side note: robotic Jane-quoting Jane is also really annoying.)<br /><br />I suppose I could comment here, at length, on the predictability of the story; but as I said above, it's made to be unrealistic to begin with so expectations should be appropriate.<br /><br />Lastly, my biggest beef with the story was the explicit sex scenes. Always unnecessary---but very unexpected in this story and unneeded, too. Austen introduced us to many romantic relationships without any hint of impropriety. Surely this author could have challenged herself to do the same.<br /><br />Overall, I liked reading about Bath---mainly because I'll be going there again twice this year, for my fourth and fifth visits, and will enjoy some of the same walks and views as these characters did. However, the rest of the story's elements left me rolling my eyes. Not a bad book---but not a super great one. Without the explicit scenes, I might recommend it for its silly fun look at Regency life, but I can't suggest it to anyone with those scenes included.

This book is so bad but also highly entertaining!

This was truly god-awful! About half-way through it occurred to me that the author thought she was writing a farce, but since nothing had yet struck me as funny, I must be excused for not having previously noticed. The absolute stupidity of a character transported through time responding not with horror, or awe, or fear, but only mild curiosity is absurd (and not in any way funny!) When she finds herself in another century, our heroine makes no attempt to return, spares no time to wonder how or where she will eat or sleep or even relieve herself, but simply proceeds to play the tourist for the rest of the day. Her only worries were whether she was fashionably enough dressed. When it does finally occur to our heroine to wonder how indeed she will relieve herself, or deal with such realities as her period, the author does not bother to give us an answer after asking the question, an intolerable cheat. On two different occasions our heroine assures another poor unfortunate that she will take care of her and never forget her, only to abandon them both without another thought when her own circumstances change. The cut and paste effect of the Austen dialogue is amazingly awkward, without ever being funny. Yuck! I can’t believe I was such a fool (again) as to hope that somewhere out there was someone able to “play” with Jane Austen in an amusing way!<br />

Yet another woman-who-travels-back-to-Jane-Austen's-time novel, although I think I prefer novelists that revisit Austen's characters and imagine their later lives. Rather extensive erotic scene midway through; about a 10-pager lol. What would Jane say?<br />

I don't know if there are enough words to convey how much I disliked this story. Don't waste your time.

Jane Austen + Romance novel = a book I'm ashamed I've read.