What Would Jane Austen Do? by Laurie Brown

Title: What Would Jane Austen Do?
Author: Laurie Brown
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Pages: 352pp
Publish Date: May 2009
Genre: Historical Romance
Rating: 2 Crowns


Synopsis from the publisher:

"When a modern woman goes back to Jane Austen's time, she needs to know...
Everything! Eleanor agrees to travel back in time to prevent a deadly duel, but she doesn't know how to behave, what to say, and most importantly...

How to tell a villain from a rake
The captivating, infuriating, and mysterious Lord Shermont is a renowned rake and womanizer—but is he also a dangerous cutthroat and spy? Eleanor has to get up close and personal to find out...

Otherwise, she could fall into a most shocking scandal...
Thankfully, Miss Jane Austen herself arrives on the scene, with sage guidance and a twinkle in her eye, to help Eleanor navigate countryhouse society and the dangerous terrain of her own heart...

From the author of Hundreds of Years to Reform a Rake, a new time travel romance featuring a modern day career woman swept back in time to Regency England, where she thwarts a Napoleonic spy, chats with Jane Austen, and falls in love with a notorious rake."

My Review:

When Eleanor Pottinger's room reservations are mistakenly given to someone else and she has no alternative but to sleep in the old haunted tower of the hotel, She could not fathom anything worse than encountering the two ghosts that inhabit her rooms... that is until they decide to transport her 200 centuries into the past! Stranded in the 1700's with no clue of what to do, Eleanor must recall what she has learned through the readings of Jane Austen to see her through. But when her charade is questioned by the dashing Lord Shermont, what answer but French spy could possibly make sense? Torn between the empty but safe life she left and the new chaotic yet passionate one, Eleanor must determine what's real and whether her romance is merely a part of her charade. 

The first couple chapters of What Would Jane Austen Do? completely captured my attention; with haunted towers, a regency setting and time travel what could possibly go be better?! Unfortunately, the plot could be an answer to that rhetorical question. Even though the first few chapters grabbed your attention right away, the rest of the novel seemed to lag and there was never a higher point than what the beginning offered. In addition to this, the characters could have been more entertaining and three dimensional. While I loved the encounters between Lord Shermont and Eleanor, I found the other characters to be a bit dull. There is also the fact that the title eludes to Jane Austen having a major play in the novel, whether by influence or character, but I was surprised by how little she was referred to throughout the book.Yes she made appearances at the ball and spoke to Eleanor a bit, but nothing to the extent I expected considering the title of the book. Overall What Would Jane Austen Do? is a quick read with some entertaining moments, but one to put further down the TBR pile.

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