Friday, November 27, 2009
Double Review: Everything Austen Wrap-Up Double Feature

Happy day after Thanksgiving! I have much to be thankful for this year, and all year round. I had a great visit and houseful with my aunt & uncle’s family in from Idaho. We had a great time the night before Thanksgiving eating lasagna (because the food HAS TO be vastly different from what we were about to pig out on), playing games, and chatting all night. It was a really nice time. That next day they headed to their son’s house, and I headed to another aunt and uncle’s home. It was a leisurely day, and delightful as such!

As for my reading, wow, has it suffered in the last week! It’s okay, because I’ve had many great and wonderful things going on, but it still feels strange to not have read a single book in the past week! I’ll be remedying that over the next several days, as I pick through a stack of over 24 books I have checked out for just this occasion. I did, earlier this month, finish the Everything Austen Challenge. This challenge made me realize that I’m quite an Austen aficionado. 🙂 I still have several more books coming up that would fit this challenge. For my final two picks for the challenge, I read Jane Austen’s most famous novel, Pride and Prejudice, and also Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler.

What is there to say about Pride and Prejudice that hasn’t been said in a million different ways, by a million different devoted fans and readers? I’ll resist giving a synopsis of this most famous novel, not only by Austen, but also by just about any author. There really is something that we readers love about Elizabeth Bennett, with her spunky ability to zing a proud Mr. Darcy, and the brooding compassion and love demonstrated by Mr. Darcy for Elizabeth. We love this novel. I really think that our love and appreciation for Mr. Darcy comes from an observation made by Anne in the series Anne of Green Gables when she remarks that it’s not that we want a man that is bad, but could, but chooses not to be. It’s somewhere in the fact that they KNOW about the badness, but show you their fortitude not to embrace it. While I think that the book takes awhile to get into completely, the plot builds in such a way that you get sucked in and have to keep reading…even if you already know what’s going to happen. (For more information, see: Pride and Prejudice.)

I also read this book on my Kindle, which satisfies my 5th in the E-Book Reader Challenge.

Synopsis: In this second novel by Laurie Viera Rigler (not a follow up to Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict), we travel forward in time, not back to the Victorian Era. In Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict we find that Jane Mansfield has woken in our modern times as L.A. girl Courtney Stone. Not only must she navigate the fact that she is a completely different person, but also that she is in a time period where people can randomly talk through a handheld device, watch stories acted out in a box with a glass screen, and travel at excessive speeds in a metal object not pulled by horses! It all might seem overwhelming and is, when Jane learns that she has broken up with a scoundrel fiance, and is being comforted by a “friend” who her supposed friends also dislike. What’s a girl to do?

Review: Out of the two books written by Rigler, this version was actually my favorite. I listened to this book on CD, and have to say that this was another audio book that I would actually recommend. I thought that the acting and reading voices were believable and engaging. Besides liking the audio version of this story, I also just really liked the story. Although time travel stories are getting old (at least in my opinion), I liked Jane Mansfield, and I wanted to see her happy and settled in our modern day. In the end, isn’t that what’s most important in a story, that you care about the characters? Overall, I really did enjoy the escape factor of this story. I may not read this over and over again, but it was a fun escape and a fun way to wrap up the challenge. (For more information, see: Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict.)

***These complete the Everything Austen Challenge. Pride and Prejudice was my own copy, and Rigler’s audio book was checked out from the library.

Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler is more a parallel story to the hugely popular Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict than a sequel and it was awesome! It was funny, witty, and ever so charming. I was completely captivated by Jane’s adventures as Courtney in the modern world.

A little background is in order I think. In Confessions, Courtney ends up in Jane’s world in the 1800’s and struggles to find her way there and it was a series of hilarious happenings that kept me laughing. In Rude Awakenings, Jane Mansfield ends up in Courtney’s world which is our world now and Jane is none to happy with how things seem to have changed. She doesn’t seem to have a servant, men are coming into her room, and oh my—the clothes—they don’t cover your whole body. One of the most hilarious scenes for me was when Jane/Courtney is putting on underwear…

* ‘One of the garments is bright pink with three large openings; the other consists of two bowl-shaped pieces of fabric in a pale yellow, connected with strips of fabric and decorated with lace and embroidery of the same color. Anna hands me the yellow article; I turn it this way and that. Ah. I could fit one of the bowls inside the other and — yes that must be it. I place the bowl-like sections upon my head and attempt to tie the strips of fabric under my chin.’ (pg 22/23)

Jane had wanted to escape the rigidness of her own life and well she certainly succeeded when she ended up waking up in this one. The story takes us through Jane trying to accustom herself to our world. Think about it, she’s never seen tv, dvd’s, cars—any number of what we consider modern conveniences. When she finds Pride & Prejudice playing in the glass window she is fascinated. I think though she’s most surprised at the apparent lack of morals people have in this day compared to her time and she feels very conflicted over that.

The real Courtney’s friends Anna and Paula think she’s off her rocker. That hit on the head in the pool really mixed up her marbles. Then there’s Courtney’s ex Frank and the whole scandal there involving Wes. With Wes, she just doesn’t know what to think. She still can’t come to terms with having a man in her apartment unchaperoned but she sure does like having him around but apparently he lied to Courtney so that’s just one messed up situation too.

As time passes, Jane/Courtney becomes more used to life in this new world and she’s liking it. For the first time in her life she has independence, her own place and privacy —something she’s always craved and she learns that she can get a job, make money and take care of herself. This novel is a delightful look at our world through the eyes of a nineteen century Jane Austen addict.

While this story is witty and funny and very entertaining, Laurie’s wonderful writing style shines through. I always seem to find myself falling into her books and losing myself for a while and for me that’s the purpose of a good book. I have another favorite quote from the book to leave you with…

* ‘What makes a story true is that there is the truth of human nature and self-reflection in it, the awareness and the awakening to the fact that we indeed know nothing and that nothing we think is true is really true, that indeed we have made it all up.’ (pg 109)

A huge thank you goes out to Laurie for sending me her newest novel Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict. I hope this isn’t the end of the line for either Jane or Courtney but whatever Laurie chooses to write about next, I’m sure it’ll be just as awesome as this novel is! Make sure and pop over to Laurie’s website here, she’s got a really great site. Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict releases tomorrow, June 25, so be sure to check it out! You can purchase the book here in the US and here in Canada. Oh, and keep an eye out about mid-July, there just may be a surprise coming up.

Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict – Laurie Viera Rigler

In 2009 I read and reviewed Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler which I enjoyed very much. Read my review here. Now we have Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict, a parallel story line to the first book.

I do have reservations about the Jane Austen Prequel and Sequel Industry, but when the stories are as well done as these two are then I put them to one side. Laurie Viera Rigler’s books are not reworkings of any of the Austen canon, rather two stories about Courtney and Jane who love Austen and find they have changed places. In the first story Courtney, from Los Angeles, wakes up and finds that she has been transported back into the time of Miss Austen and her bewilderment when she realises that she is stuck and cannot get back and her coming to terms with the mores and attitudes of the day make for amusing reading.

In Rude Awakenings we have Jane waking up and finding that she is now living Courtney’s Life in modern day USA complete with laptops, mobile phones, cars, trains and all the day to day technology which we all take for granted. Apparently Courtney/Jane cracked her head in a swimming pool so all her friends think that her memory loss and strange way of speaking will disappear and she will be back to normal in no time. Awakenings There is no sign of it happening and as she hasn’t the faintest idea that she dumped her fiance just before she was due to be married (see review of earlier book) or that she has a job of work to go to, they take her along to a psychiatrist to see if anything can be done.

As with the first book, it is clear that both Courtney and Jane had unhappy dealings with their respective men in their lives and this seems to have triggered off the subconscious wish for something different, something better. I mentioned in my review of Confessions a meeting Courtney had with Jane Austen in Bath, in Awakenings Jane spots all the Austen books in Courtney’s bookcase and is delighted that there are more to read as they had not yet been published in her other life. She spends happy days curled up reading them all totally oblivious to the fact that this odd machine is bleeping and ringing and decides to ignore it until her frantic friends turn up on the doorstep wanting to know what has happened to her and why she has not answered the phone or responded to their texts.

I am not going to give away the ending as the same dilemma arises in both books – do Courtney/Jane decide to stay where they are and seek happiness in their new lives or will they find a way back to their own time? As with the first title, this was a hugely enjoyable read and though it was fun to find out what happened to Jane after reading Confessions, I was left wondering at the end, which would be more difficult – Courtney going back in time and coping or Jane waking up in modern day America.

What do you think?

Posted on 10 February 2011 at 09:24 AM

Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict introduces us to Courtney Stone, a woman the readers of the first novel by Viera Rigler are already familiar with. In the first novel, Courtney takes a body of a 19th century woman Jane Mansfield, thus becoming her. In this one, Jane Mansfield from 19th century takes over the body of Courtney, a woman from 21st century L.A.

From this onwards, when I mentioned Courtney in this review, I mean the 21st century Courtney (with Jane’s 19th century personality etc).

When Courtney wakes up from her home one morning, she has no recollection of what has happened. She is fully shocked when she notices that there is a man in her room. Everything looks a lot different than before; there is people talking the words of her favorite novel in a little box, the book shelf is filled with Miss Austen novels she has not even heard about, and people talk in a very different way than she does. Everyone tells that she has just suffered a small concussion because she hit her head on a swimming pool, but Courtney thinks different. She is not were she is supposed to be.

But since everyone threats her as Courtney, she has to pretend to be Courtney. But it gets really hard when she does not remember the people from Courtney’s life. Especially hard it gets when the problems of Courtney’s love life become her problems. There is Frank, a man Courtney was to marry, but who betrayed Courtney just before the marriage. Then there is Wes, who is amazingly handsome and kind, but Courtney’s friends keep reminding that Wes is not honest either.

As the time goes by, and Jane in Courtney’s body starts to readjust to the new life, Courtney realizes that she has to make her own choices. Since she has no recollection of what has happened, she needs to find out where everyone stands. Especially interested she is about Wes, who keeps making butterflies fly in her stomach. But can she trust Wes? Does she need to know about the past in order to live the present?

This novel was so hilarious. The way Courtney speaks and what she thinks about things such as sex and relationships makes this novel hilarious. But it is also interesting to follow how she learns new things about the world in which she is living.

Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict is a nice follow up to Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict. My review for Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict can be seen from here! These both novels are must reads for Janeites!

March 27, 2011

Top Ten Books For People Who Liked Jane Austen (PERFECT SUMMER READS LIST!)
(I chose to this list sequels, modern adaptations etc).

1. Austenland by Shannon Hale
A definite read for an Austen fan! Funny, romantic and easy to identify with if you are an Austen fan. My review can be found from here.

So ready to see this GORGEOUS man in the film version of the novel.

2. Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict and Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler
These both are hilarious as well! Time travel/body swap aspect is so funny to read about; a modern woman needs to get used to Regency lifestyle and a Regency woman needs to get used to modern lifestyle. Laughter and hot men; the perfect summer reads!

My reviews can be found from here and here. 

3. Echoes of Love (Jane Austen in 21st century) by Rosie Rushton
One of my favorites in the series of Jane Austen in 21st Century books. This is a modern, YA take on Austen’s ‘Persuasion’- Anna is a daughter of a famous TV show host and Felix is a soldier – they fall in love, the relationship is not accepted, Felix goes to Afghanistan and comes back fostering the same feelings. SO ROMANTIC!

My review can be found from here.
4. Edmund Bertram’s Diary by Amanda Grange (Jane Austen Heroes, #4)
My favorite from the Austen hero diaries by Amanda Grange. I LOVE LOVE LOVE Edmund Bertram, so it was a delight to read more about him.

My review can be found from here.

5. I was Jane Austen’s Best Friend by Cora Harrison
The reader is introduced to Jane Austen’s cousin Jenny Cooper. They go to same boarding school, but because the school is horrible, Jenny goes to live in Steventon, Jane Austen’s home, with Jane and her family. The book is written in a diary form and has beautiful illustrations by Susan Hellard. There is a second novel by Cora Harrison called ‘Jane Austen Stole by Boyfriend’, which I think is a sequel to this one.

My review can be found from here.

6. The Importance of Being Emma by Juliet Archer
Modern re-telling of Jane Austen’s Emma. Emma is 23 years old, successful young woman who starts to work in her father’s company after uni. When Emma agrees to work for her father, she does not know that Emma’s father has asked her teenage crush Mark Knightley to mentor her.
This one is so FUNNY, ROMANTIC and totally makes butterflies fly in your stomach.

My review can be found from here.

7. Jane Bites Back by Michael Thomas Ford
Jane Fairfax lives in upstate New York. To everyone else she is just a normal bookstore owner, but really she is Jane Austen who has been vampire for quite a while now. Appearances by different 1800 authors.
Austen related read for the lovers of paranormal novels!

My review can be found from here.

8. Lydia Bennet’s Story by Jane Odiwe
This is a sequel to Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. I have never liked Lydia, but after reading this book I started to see her in a better light. The novel is divided into two parts: part 1 is about the happenings in Meryton and Brighton (these happen during the time span of Pride and Prejudice, but are told through Lydia) and part 2 about the time after the end of Austen’s novel.

My review can be found from here.

9. The Summer of Secrets (Jane Austen in 21st Century) by Rosie Rushton
YA version of Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey set in 21st century England. SO FUNNY!

My review can be found from here.

10. The Man Who Loved Jane Austen by Sally Smith O’Rourke
Do not let the cover (at least I had this very harlequin-type cover in my copy) to fool you! This one is actually pretty good. Eliza, an artist from New York, buys this antique dressing table and finds a letter tucked behind the mirror dated in 1810 by F.Darcy dated to “my dearest Jane”. Of course Eliza wants to figure out the situation and travels to Virginia to meet a man called Fitzwilliam Darcy, who by closer look, seems a lot like Austen’s novel’s Darcy.

My review can be found from here.

Review of “Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict” by Laurie Viera Rigler

Posted on 02/03/2010 by rhapsodyinbooks

Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict is the complementary story to Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict. In that first book (reviewed here), Courtney Stone, a 32 year old from the year 2009, wakes up in 1813 Somerset, England in the body of Jane Mansfield, daughter of a gentleman. Rude Awakenings tells what happens to Jane, who wakes up in Courtney’s body in 2009. The books can be read independently but probably flow better in order.

Both young ladies, rabid fans of Jane Austen, wished for different lives, and both hit their heads at the same time. Thus, we presume, some sort of cosmic Karma has enabled this switch. Like the movie “Back to the Future,” these books focus on the humorous confusions that result from dislocations in time. Coming to 2009 from 1813, there is plenty to astound a person, from televisions, computers, telephones, cars, and airplanes to the astonishing change in manners and morality, especially for a young woman. And there is no shortage of opportunity for satire either. One uproarious passage has Courtney’s friends take her to a therapist; after Jane/Courtney goes on about how she is really someone else from the year 1813, lost in the future, and doesn’t know how to get back, the therapist says: “Soooo… how do you feel about that?”

Courtney, ostensibly recovering from a severe concussion, finds herself attended to by Wes (the best friend of her ex-fiance), old girlfriends Paula and Anna, and a new girlfriend Deepa (who speaks with a reassuring English accent). She also finds herself reluctantly feeling responsive to the importunings of the ex, Frank, whom everyone (including Courtney) now recognizes as a scumbag.

It is Anna, who is into “new-age crap” as Paula calls it, who gives Courtney the most to think about when she says:

I believe that each of us has the power to create heaven or hell, right here, right now.”

Reflecting on this later, Courtney, always the Austenophile, says:

Each of us has the power to create heaven or hell, right here, right now. I do not know how I have come to be in this time, in this place, in this body. But I do know that any place where there are six novels by the author of Pride and Prejudice must be a very special sort of heaven.”

When Courtney expresses angst about how to understand what has happened to her, her friend Deepa takes her to see a fortune teller, who turns out to be the same one she saw as Jane back in 1813. The woman tries to teach her that knowledge about ourselves and others is structured by preconceptions. To truly know someone, you need to be open to fresh perspectives. That is to say, like Elizabeth Bennett in Pride and Prejudice, one must let go of ones’ pride and discard ones’ prejudices, not only to know others truly, but also to know ourselves and our true desires.

She also teaches Courtney not to be intimidated by the nature of 21st Century relationships. Even if someone has loved before, it doesn’t preclude loving again:

When you unite with your true love, it will be as if he is your first, and you his. In the eyes of love, there is no past.”

But can Jane/Courtney somehow reconcile her knowledge of who she really is with her new persona, and overcome the mistakes of both of those lives to make a new beginning? Or will she get cold feet and go back, with the help of the fortune teller? In short, will she create a hell, or can she create a heaven?

Evaluation: I liked this book much better than Confessions, in part because this story tended to tie up the lose ends left by the first story (and I do like all the ends tied!). It was also fun to see Jane/Courtney’s reaction to all the modern conveniences (such as toilets!) and watch her figure out how to use them. And looking at such modern wonders (electricity!) through Jane’s eyes helps you appreciate them so much more!

I envied Jane for having the opportunity to create a new life as Courtney, combining their personalities to make a kinder, better Courtney and a looser, more compromising Jane. It’s sort of like having a rewind button but with an editing capability. What a lovely premise!

Rating: 4/5

THE RUDE AWAKENINGS OF A JANE AUSTEN ADDICT – Laurie Viera Rigler
Plume (Trade Paperback)
ISBN: 978-0-452-29616-9
May 2010
Paranormal Fiction

Present Day Los Angeles, California

Miss Jane Mansfield, a gentleman’s daughter, went to sleep in her own bed in Somerset, England one night in 1813. She’s awakened in the morning by a shrill sound and a horrible headache. She tries to summon her maid, but gradually realizes she’s in a strange room. Jane is about to discover nothing about her is familiar…even her own image in the mirror. Certainly not the fair hair or the short, curvy figure or…gasp…the blue toenails! Or the nice man who pokes his head into the room with barely a knock and addresses her as Courtney. After some conversation confusing to both parties, Jane eventually makes a startling discovery. In short, she finds herself—her spirit, her soul, whatever it is that makes her a unique person—is trapped inside another’s body, in another country, and in another century.

THE RUDE AWAKENINGS OF A JANE AUSTEN ADDICT is the dramatic and humorous sequel to Ms. Rigler’s highly entertaining debut novel, CONFESSIONS OF A JANE AUSTEN ADDICT (my review can be found at Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict). In it, Courtney Stone found herself waking up in Jane Austen’s England…and Jane Mansfield’s life. Where the original Courtney was quite familiar with Jane’s world through her reading, the original Jane finds herself among remarkable…nay, fantastic machines, appalling apparel, and scandalous social mores. And! She is expected to earn a living at an office job that bewilders her. The one thing the girls have in common is that they both recently suffered betrayal by a man.

I’ve found fictional time travel to the past is nearly always more interesting than tales of travel from the past to the present. Too often the forward leaping tales get bogged down on the gee whiz factor of first sight of cars, bikinis, TVs, computers and the like. THE RUDE AWAKENINGS is a fine example of how it should be done. The author treats Jane’s puzzlement and amazement with a light touch, and in both books, she makes effective use of a kind of gradual awakening of muscle memory to speed the heroines’ adjustments. The first person voice and present tense give the whole an immediacy that puts the reader right into the unfolding drama.

While THE RUDE AWAKENINGS OF A JANE AUSTEN ADDICT is a fun read, Jane/Courtney faces serious dilemmas, not least of which is wondering if or when she might return to her own place in time and locale, or if she even wants to. She makes friends in L.A. with three women and a certain man, whom she would surely miss if she again traded places with the other Courtney…er…other Jane. The first novel should probably be read first for the most enjoyment, but if it’s hard to find, reading THE RUDE AWAKENINGS OF A JANE AUSTEN ADDICT as a stand-alone would be highly satisfactory.

I recently received news that further adventures of Jane and Courtney, entitled Sex and the Austen Girl, can be found online at Babelgum: http://www.babelgum.com/sexandtheaustengirl. You might give it a try. Babelgum: Sex And The Austen Girl: “Meeting Men” Episode #1

Jane Bowers

She is Too Fond of Books’ review: With Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict, Laurie Viera Rigler offers a satisfying conclusion to the parallel storyline that engaged readers in Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict. Confessions, you may recall from my review, explores what happens when Courtney Stone, a devotee of Jane Austen’s writing, awakens in Regency England, inhabiting the body and circumstances of Jane Mansfield.

As much as I enjoyed Confessions, I found Rude Awakenings to be even more of a creative feat. In Confessions, Courtney had the relative advantage of traveling back in time – she had at least a passing knowledge of what to expect in her new place in time. Jane (as Courtney) faces hundreds of wildly fantastic new experiences that are beyond her imagination.

The author provides a sharp contrast between the two worlds by using first person present-tense point of view for the entire narrative. Jane thinks and talks with the mannerisms and vocabulary of her well-to-do English upbringing; she quickly realizes that she must adapt a more contemporary tone. Rigler also employs a lot of humor, as Jane tries to understand this strange new world:

One of the garments is bright pink with three large openings; the other consists of two bowl-shaped pieces of fabric in a pale yellow, connected with strips of fabric and decorated with lace and embroidery of the same color. Anna hands me the yellow article; I turn it this way and that. Ah. I could fit one of the bowls inside the other and – yes, that must be it. I place the bowl-like sections upon my head and attempt to tie the strips of fabric under my chin.

Yes, Jane is viewing contemporary women’s underwear for the first time, and has fashioned a hat of sorts from the bra!

Rude Awakenings has an intriguing love triangle to follow – actually more of a “love hexagon” if you consider two women and four men, with 200 years, the Atlantic Ocean, and all of North America between them.

The men are minor characters compared to Jane’s starring role. She learns bits and pieces about Courtney’s history from Wes and Frank as well as a handful of female friends. Ultimately, though, Rude Awakenings focuses on the choices Jane makes, guided mainly by her centuries-old ethos.

While Jane Mansfield walks in Courtney’s shoes, literally and figuratively, she realizes that her actions may affect Courtney’s future, if and when they are returned to their original settings. She takes to heart the well-spoken advice of a curious friend who understands Jane’s unusual predicament:

… there is nothing nobler than to give up one’s self in service to another.

Rigler peppers the novel with such timeless wisdom, including Jane’s realization that

It is easier to be principled when one is sitting on a pretty little fortune than it is when one is necessitous and poor.

Whether or not Jane is able to keep to her principles, and what potentially life-altering decisions she makes for both herself and Courtney, are revealed in this delightful novel that reads like a modern-day fairy tale with a moral that holds true across the ages.

The many themes provide discussion fodder for book groups, and fans of Jane Austen’s novels may be especially amused by both the direct and more subtle references to the author and her work. Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict stands strong on its own, but do read Confessions first for the two views of the story.

Take a look at this one-minute book trailer, a quick video journey from Jane’s world in 1813 to the Los Angeles that greets her in 2009:

July 17, 2009

Review by Shon Bacon

4.5 out of 5 Rating

It’s Hard Being a Woman-No Matter the Time

It’s hard being a young woman in today’s world – just imagine what it would be like for a gentleman’s daughter from Regency England who is thrust into the technologically-driven, “loose” world of the twenty-first century.

This is the initial setup of Laurie Viera Rigler’s novel Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict, a novel I highly enjoyed for its great main character, solid storytelling, and social commentary on women, independence, and love.

Rigler does an excellent job keeping the main character Jane Mansfield within her time and culture’s speech, a difficult task when placed around the contemporary setting, people, and things that are 21st century L.A. It was that ability of Rigler’s that kept me throughout the story, seeing little things like Jane marvel at the TV thinking it to be a window. I believed the main character, and I was willing to follow her throughout the story.

And this was a strong story, a coming-of-age (albeit, in another’s body) story that explores the world in which a woman lives in and how she is to find her place in that world. No matter the time period, no matter the language barrier, a woman still needs to find her place, and Rigler does a fine job showing us that this idea crosses time and space.

I don’t know how Rigler will top this novel, but I do look forward to seeing where her creative mind wanders next.

Imagine yourself waking up in a different world, in a different body, during a different time period. Might be kind of confusing, right? For Jane Mansfield, a young lady living at her parents estate in England during 1813, confusing is only the half of it. One morning Jane wakes up to find herself in Courtney Stone’s body, in a small apartment in LA, in the year 2009. Frightened by the fact that her body and her voice are not her own, Jane not only is unfamiliar with the modern world, but also has to deal with some of Courtney’s problems (including her job as an assistant, paying bills and driving a car). Then there are Courtney’s girlfriends Paula and Anna, who believe Courtney’s strange vocabulary is due to her obsession with all things Austen in combination to the head injury she sustained recently. Also there is sweet Wes (who is disliked by Courtney’s girlfriends after they accuse him of covering for Frank, who was engaged to Courtney and who cheated on her). Between navigating the minefields of Courntey’s life and trying to figure out the bizarre dating rituals of men and women in the year 2009, Jane is beside herself.

Jane, a lady used to embroidering and serving tea all day, now has to make her way in modern America. Soon she is drunk with her new found freedom, but between memories which are not her own and emerging feelings for Wes, Jane isn’t quite sure what world she really belongs to anymore and is having a hard time figuring out how to get back to her real world, or if she really wants to.

Parallel to the story told in Laura Viera Rigler’s first book, Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict, in which Courtney wakes up in Jane’s body in 1813 England, Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict is a fun read. The plot chugs along steadily and there are plenty of cute and funny moments to keep this book a light read.

I do not know how I have come to be in this time, in this place, in this body. But I do know that any place where there are six novels by the author of Pride and Prejudice must be a very special sort of heaven.

July 1, 2009