Jane Austen Ruined My Life (2009) (edit title/settings)

• Rated 3 stars

“Book #1 of my Austenprose challenge. What if unfound letters of Miss Austen were suddenly to surface...what if you found out about the sudden loss of her unknown love? These questions come to light along with places like Chawton, Lyme, Bath and Hastings book store. ”

• Rated 2 stars

“2.5 stars. Boring, kind of cheesy and a bit predictable.”

• Rated 0 stars

“I stopped reading this book because it is dumb. I didn't give this a five star rating, I just don't know how to correct it on Shelfar!”

• Rated 3 stars

“It was... good. I didnt like the ending but I understand why it ended like it did. the book kept me entralled the whole time. so... ya.”

• Rated 0 stars

“Good. Loved the beginning and middle and all of the amazing details of Austen's life. The plot was great with all the ideas tied to Austen's own writing, but I didn't really like the ending. However, it's just a personal preference on the end and I know not everyone will feel that way.”

• Rated 4 stars

“I admit. I was captivated by this book. Either it was the fact that I was tired when I read it or that I also want to believe in Austen-like hopeful, happy endings for all.. but I did, I liked it. A lot. And I read it in one sitting. I liked Emma... I liked her visit to Hampstead (it totally made me long to return to the England and go to the same sites), I liked the all too believeable back story about her crumbled marriage and career, and I like the emerging friendship with the blast from the past she encounters. I wanted to believe that the Formidables exist and really want the author to write more about them. A novel about that spitfire in Bath, please, Beth Pattillo??? ”

• Rated 3 stars

“Emma Grant blames Jane Austen for her belief in "happily ever after," as well as her parents. Emma recently found her husband cheating with her teaching assistant on their kitchen table. To make matters worse, the TA accused Emma of plagiarism and her jerk of a husband sided with the TA.
She goes off to England and is complies with some "tasks" that an elderly woman sets to her. All having to do with Jane Austen and a gap in her life span that historians cannot account for.

This book wasn't horrible, but it isn't fantastic either. Get it from the library. There are a few spelling errors and one major Jane Austen faux pas regarding the family's surname of Mansfield Park.
I'd give it 2.5 stars. Shelfari really needs an "okay" rating. ”

• Rated 3 stars

“In Jane Austen Ruined My Life, English professor Emma Grant is an expert on, and slightly obsessed with, Jane Austen. After losing her job and divorcing her cheating husband, Emma decides she is done believing in Austen's happy endings. Her opportunity to change her life comes when she's requested to visit England to see Austen's lost letters. Finally, she can reinstate her career, put happily ever after behind her, and expose Jane Austen as a liar. But when the owner of the letters sends Emma on a series of tasks, Emma finds herself in a moral delimma and in a romance with an old friend.

This is an easy, rainy day kind of read that is a must for Austen fans. I thought it was fun, but believable enough to make the reader accept the "lost letters" as fact. ”

• Rated 3 stars

“Not the most fabulous story, but the Jane Austen aspect of it was really fantastic. Makes me want to go to England and see some of the places mentioned.”

• Rated 5 stars

“Foolishly started this after midnight and read it straight through unable to put it down. Tired, but with a smile on my face. Not the usual Austen inspired continuation, but instead a treasure hunt and travelogue of places Austen - places I've been and could close my eyes and retrace my visits and steps. Very cleverly woven into a modern love story of loss, betrayal, rediscovery of old love, is the search for Jane Austen's lost/destroyed letters to preserve the sanctity of the novels she "birthed" hiding the loss of the one man she loved, refused to marry, decided to marry, and fate stole from her. Very clever. I'll reread this and recommend to other Austenophiles. ”