July 3, 2013
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According To Jane by Marilyn Brant Edition: Paperback Price: $12.08 5 out of 5 stars Ellie Barnett
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According To Jane
By Marilyn Brant
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(Small amounts of spoiler)
The title caught my eye at the shops. I was intrigued by the storyline. A girl who is haunted by Jane Austen herself. Ellie isn’t just haunted by Jane through her teen years though. Austen has been with Ellie from the age of 15 to 34 years old. So this is a coming of age storyline with Jane Austen’s help.
Just like Ellie, I was a geek in my English classes because I enjoyed reading the books assigned. Not all sophomore teens can understand Austen’s satire, let alone dialogue. So that’s why I was a book mouse. I might not of had Jane Austen “haunting” me. I did have Jane’s works to use as guidelines in finding a Mr. Right. But like Ellie has realized, I’ve set that bar pretty high.
“Heaven forbid! – That would be the greatest misfortune of all! – To find a man agreeable whom one is determined to hate! – Pride and Prejudice.”
At the beginning of each chapter, Marilyn Brant gives a quote from one of Jane Austen’s works. This one is from chapter 9 and I think it is the perfect description of Sam Blaine. Jane and Ellie consider him to be Mr. Wickham. In my opinion, teenage Sam is a lot like the teenage boys that were in my school.
The Wickham comparison is pretty good. But unlike Wickham, I think Sam can and has shown that he is changing. He wants to be a better person. So I was glad that Sam proved Ellie (and Jane) wrong about him.Most romance books that have H and h reunited have the heroine be celibate. I disagree with that. In According to Jane, I was very happy that Ellie isn’t celibate while Sam wasn’t also.
I think that it’s plausible that 15 y.o. Sam knew that Ellie was “The One.” After all, my Uncle married his Junior High School sweatheart. They are still married and very happy. So finding “The One” at such a young age can happen.
I am very glad I have this book. I’ve read it 5 times now since I bought it almost three years ago. I didn’t always like Jane’s “hauntings” because I thought they interfered with this nice story. They were good though.
