Blog Tour for What Would Jane Austen Do? by Linda Corbett

 

I've read a few dark novels in the past couple of weeks so I definitely needed something refreshing to read, and What Would Jane Austen Do? was the perfect solution. 

Maddy Shaw is a huge Jane Austen fan and advice columnist for a magazine in London. She loves her job, and is crushed when she is fired by the new manager. Keeping her commitment to appear on a podcast, she gets into a war of words with mystery writer Cameron Massey over romance novels. He's nice to look at, but a bit of a crab.

Maddy finds out she's inherited the country home of her distant relative Nigel, who has a few stipulations for Maddy: she has to live in the home for twelve months before she can sell it. If she doesn't, the home goes to someone else in the village. 

Maddy, at loose ends and unable to afford living in London, decides to move to the country home and try a new life. And surprise! who lives nearby? Cameron Massey AKA Luke. He's having some remodeling done at his home, and needs a quiet place to write his next novel. Maddy has a huge home and needs some extra income. It doesn't hurt that Luke has an absolutely lovable dog who quickly captures Maddy's heart. 

This was a gentle romance, and if you love English contemporary romances, this will definitely be on your TBR list. Enemies to Lovers, starting over, and a bit of a family mystery concerning Nigel all keep the plot moving along. There's no explicit sex scenes so if you like your romance to build slowly with a  few bumps along the way, you'll enjoy this novel. 

I did enjoy the story of Nigel, who is a big part of the novel, even though his death is the catalyst for Maddy's move. A bit of family history and a lesson in not believing family stories passed down without doing some fact checking. 

Jane Austen quotes highlight every chapter, and Maddy's love for Jane Austen does shine through--she even challenges Luke to write a romance, since he thinks they are so easy to do. He finds differently, of course!

Thanks to Harper Collins for a chance to read this novel. A perfectly lovely contemporary romance that takes you to the English countryside. The book is available on Kindle and in paperback.

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Blog Tour for What Would Jane Austen Do? by Linda Corbett

Wedding Girl by Stacey Ballis

This is my first Stacey Ballis book, and I'm sure it won't be my last.  She is firmly under the "chick lit" moniker, but her character Sophie is a refreshing change of pace from the typical lovelorn heroine I've read in other chick lit novels.  I am a big fan of novels where women are faced with rebuilding a life whether it's due to a job loss, or a loss in their romantic life.  I want women to know, even if it's just by reading a novel, that we can continually remake ourselves, and find happiness and strength in moving past a rough patch in life.  

Okay.  I'm off my soapbox!  You've got to feel bad for Sophie:  it's her wedding day, she's spent $70,000 on her wedding, and her fiancee never shows to the wedding.  He doesn't even send her a note.  Instead, guests at Sophie's wedding see on social media that he has eloped to an island paradise with a thin, moneyed woman that is the opposite of Sophie.  Crushed, but being brave, Sophie instead invites everyone to enjoy the food, the band, and the venue.  Sophie throws herself into her party, and unfortunately, pictures flood social media, and she's humiliated.  Sophie is a well-know pastry chef in Chicago, and her plans to open a restaurant with her ex-fiancee were big news, and her humiliation is complete.  

Months later, Sophie has lost her job, sold her condo, and is living with her lively grandmother Bubbles.  She's in debt up to her eyeballs, and burned a few bridges professionally with her bad attitude.  Seeing a sign in the local neighborhood bakery, she starts working part-time, with an eye to getting back into the pastry world in Chicago.  But life, of course, has a way of throwing curve balls, and Sophie is about to get a few tossed her way.  

There is a lot of plot going on in this book.  There is Sophie's relationship with Bubbles, her relationship with her parents, who have been together for 40 years of unwed bliss, her budding career at the local bakery (which is threatened by a new entry into the neighborhood), and there is the annoying son of the owner--Mark, who wonders why Sophie is even bothering to save the bakery.  I found Sophie refreshing because she isn't a size 8, she enjoys food with no feelings of guilt, and instead of jumping into a big job and career change right away, she takes the time to sift through her feelings to decide where she wants to go next with her serious pastry skills.  And most of all, I love the family dynamics between Sophie, Bubbles, and her parents.  Chicago is a big part of this novel, and I always have a soft spot for the city in which my family made home for three generations.   

There's much more going on in Sophie's life, and you'll get the title pretty quickly.  I did feel there was almost too much going on in the plot and in Sophie's life.  I was exhausted!  And it seemed that the end was pretty quick, after many pages of Sophie's life moving a bit slowly.  I would have liked an epilogue.  

Thank you to Penguin-Random House for an advanced copy to review.  

Rating:  7/10 for an enjoyable novel about restarting life, being resourceful, enjoying food and loving the people in our lives.  

This book will be available May 3rd in paperback and e-book format.  

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Wedding Girl by Stacey Ballis