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Book Jacket

My Jane Austen Summer:
A Season in Mansfield Park
by Cindy Jones

Publisher: Avon Books
Publication date: 03/29/2011.
Novels, 352 pp.

Number of reader reviews: 23
Readers' Consensus: 3.5
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First Impressions: Page 2 of 4
Rated 4 of 5 of 5 by Liz M. (Morristown, NJ)

My Jane Austen Summer
This is a great book for lovers of Jane Austen. It combines a modern day woman's dilemma's with heroines situations from the novels, Mansfield Park in particular. This would be a fun book club read or a great beach read.

Rated 4 of 5 of 5 by Kimberli M. (Jessup, MD)

A Good Read
I really enjoyed this book. Jane Austen is one of my favorite authors. It was interesting how Jones interwove details of Mansfield Park into a modern story. The characters are well thought out and entertaining. I would recommend this book to others.

Rated 3 of 5 of 5 by Mary Ellen B. (Hebron, CT)

Living Jane Austen
The idea is clever--Lily is a Jane Austen aficionado whose own life seems to be falling apart. Caught in a cycle of repeating the same mistakes, she decides to do something different. An opportunity arises and she takes off for London to be a part of a theater festival featuring Mansfield Park. Her expectations for her foray to England are not exactly met, but she ultimately does find a new path in her life. This is a light froth of a book which will appeal to fans of contemporary chick lit. treatments of 19th century women's literature.

Rated 3 of 5 of 5 by Dorothy T. (Victorville, CA)

Not up to Jane Austen's level
When I first began reading "My Jane Austen Summer," and in fact more than half-way through it, I was tempted to consider it as lightweight fiction with nothing I could take away from it. As I continued on to the end, however, I saw what author Cindy Jones is trying to show her readers about relationships, secrets, and our inner selves. As the participants at the Literature Live Jane Austen festival debated about the main character of "Mansfield Park" in the “Fanny Wars,” I expect that some book clubs might have “Lily Wars” regarding whether or not they like the main character here. This novel would be better for those readers who have a familiarity with Austen’s works, as well as the Bronte’s and other authors of the same time and similar genres.

Rated 3 of 5 of 5 by Freya H. (Phoenix, AZ)

My Jane Austen Summer
I found the characters, especially Lily, to be annoying. Also, the story line was only mildly interesting. For me, giving this book an "average" rating, may be generous.

Rated 3 of 5 of 5 by Joanne V. (Towanda, PA)

I loved all of Jane Austen's books, but.....
I was so disappointed in this book, since I very much looked forward to reading it. I am not sure why, but Lily was extremely annoying and I could have cared less about her and her foray into living "Mansfield Park" and the other characters just equally annoying. I think anyone who loves Jane Austen's novels wouldn't think much of this one.

Rated 3 of 5 of 5 by Elizabeth P. (Lower Burrell, PA)

Have to be a Jane Austen Fan
Three losses in her life....the loss of her mother, the loss of her job, and the loss of her boyfriend. What else could happen, hopefully something good? And something good did happen....Lily was going to London for the summer to participate in Literature Live. How would she afford it? She wasn't sure, but she had to attend and would think of some creative way to make the money she needed for the plane fare.

When Lily arrived at Newton Priors, she had no place to stay since she wasn't in the elite group so she seized one of the actress's rooms that hadn't shown up....what a mistake that was to have to share the room with Bets. Bets turned out to be one of the stars, unreliable, and also a thief.

Bets's unreliability helped Lily get on the stage for one brief moment, but then Lily was relegated to be the tea-theater host. Lily also found someone to replace her old boyfriend, but there were contingencies and pain attached to him...just like all aspects of her life had always been.

Lily was glad she had "Jane Austen" around to help her solve some of the problems. She did wonder about Jane, though - "Jane Austen had secrets.........And she never told me. I would have told her something that important. I told her everything. Perhaps we weren't as close as I thought. Perhaps the person in my peripheral vision wasn't Jane Austen at all." Page 289

The book was not bad….the ending was memorable, but the book didn't have much action. Lily’s flashbacks and memories of her mother were very touching, and her enthusiasm about Jane Austen was contagious, but I guess you really have to be a true Jane Austen fan to pick up on all the little nuances and the excitement. Rating 3/5.

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