The Austen Escape Review

The Austen Escape by Katherine Reay is an adult contemporary novel. It is about a woman named Mary, an electrical engineer, whose life seems to be spiraling out of her control. Now her rich and distant childhood friend, almost sister, has invited her to an estate in England for a once in a lifetime regency experience and she is compelled to go. Only to find old and new troubles follow her across the pond and some craziness ensues.

I found this in a search for Christian fiction, but it is not a book I would put in that category. It is a good, clean contemporary romance (but by no means a Christian based book). That being said, I still found it an entertaining read. I gave it 3 out of 5 stars. I am an avid fan of Jane Austen and enjoy most any retellings or spin-offs and this one was okay. The story was interesting, funny and for the most part light. The blended use of/ reference to all Austen’s major works was quite enjoyable, since most books tend to stick to her most common works (e.g. Pride and Prejudice).

I liked Mary. She was really smart, a hard worker, a dreamer and yet insecure and surprisingly lacking in self-confidence. She felt very ‘real’ to me (as in dynamic and flawed like real people are). The supporting characters were pretty strong as well and where they were, they made a distinct impression on me (both positive and negative).

The drama was a bit over the top and the misunderstandings could have easily been resolved by an honest, open conversation (communication being the missing key). Some aspects of the story seemed a bit rushed and could have been elaborated, but perhaps it was done this way to keep the book from getting too long.

I don’t think it was a waste of my time to read it, but I probably won’t read it again. That being said I did find it a nice, quick, pretty fun read and am interested in checking out more works by Reay.