Review: Austenland by Shannon Hale

Title: Austenland

Author: Shannon Hale

Series: Book 1 of the Austenland series

Format: Paperback (paid for myself)

Rating: 3.5/5

Goodreads description: Jane is a young New York woman who can never seem to find the right man-perhaps because of her secret obsession with Mr. Darcy, as played by Colin Firth in the BBC adaptation of "Pride and Predjudice." When a wealthy relative bequeaths her a trip to an English resort catering to Austen-obsessed women, however, Jane's fantasies of meeting the perfect Regency-era gentleman suddenly become more real than she ever could have imagined. Is this total immersion in a fake Austenland enough to make Jane kick the Austen obsession for good, or could all her dreams actually culminate in a Mr. Darcy of her own?

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Favourite quotes: "Jane sat beside Colonel Andrews. He had a dashing smile. It nearly dashed right off his face."

"And here you are. Miss Erstwhile. You are infuriating and irritating, and yet I find myself looking for you."

"I suddenly had to see you again. I know that seems ridiculous, but I look at you, and I feel sure of something."

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My review: Austenland tells the story of Jane, a woman who has had a string of unsuccessful boyfriends which she blames on her love of Mr Darcy and the high expectations he brings with him. Her Aunt sees her unhappiness and leaves Jane a trip to Austenland in her will, a holiday destination in England where you can live like a Jane Austen character for a few weeks, which Jane's Aunt hopes will finally break her Darcy infatuation.

In the past, whenever I have read a book after watching the film adaptation first I have never had any problems with enjoying the book. However, sadly, the same cannot be said for Austenland. I'd seen the 2013 film several times before I decided to pick up the book it was based on. I fell in love with the film's comedy, it's Bridget Jones-esque heroine and its downright silliness. However while the book did share the same basic storyline as the film, it seemed to fall flat in comparison. The characters just weren't as hilarious and full of life as they were in the film - I felt sorry for the book's Miss Charming rather than wanting to laugh along with her like I did whilst watching the film and I even found it hard to warm to the main character, Jane.

However please don't think that my issues with this book come primarily from its comparison to the film. While I do love the general idea of this book, it just wasn't executed how I thought it would be. It had elements of silliness mixed in with serious which didn't work for me and left me cringing slightly at the end instead of swooning. However despite my disappointment, I still did enjoy reading this book. It's packed with many funny lines and was also a very quick and easy read. I especially enjoyed the description of Jane's previous break-ups at the start of each chapter (for example: "Boyfriend #7 Juan Inskeep, age twenty-five. Gay."). And the book definitely gets at least a few points for having the best dedication of all time at the front.

Before I started reading Austenland I was so sure I would be ordering the sequel, Midnight in Austenland, as soon as I'd finished the first book but now I'm not too sure. I think I'll just have to content myself with watching the film again. And again, and again, and again...

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Book cover image from Goodreads

Bookish Hair Bows | Lavender Latte

I came across Lavender Latte while I was browsing on Instagram one day and I fell in love! They have a range of gorgeous hair bows from nautical-themed bows to Star Wars ones but what really caught my eye was their bookish bows! I ordered a Hunger Games-inspired bow straight away but soon after I had to make another order.

They have a great range of book-inspired bows including Harry Potter, TFIOS and A Song of Ice and Fire/GoT ones! And even though they are based in Australia, they are very reasonably priced. Each medium bow is less than £4 each (all the bows pictured here are a medium size) and the shipping is only £3.10 for the first item and 28p for each additional item!

What's more, Etsy are currently running a promotion where if you refer someone to Etsy, they'll give them £5 towards their first purchase! If you're interested please use this link to sign up for an account: http://etsy.me/1tIDFWZ

How amazing are these?! I've already got my eye on a few more bows for my next order...

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P .S. I was in no way sponsored for this post, I just really love this shop and wanted to share their bows with you!

Review: Where Rainbows End (Love, Rosie) by Cecelia Ahern

Title: Where Rainbows End

Alternative title: Love, Rosie

Author: Cecelia Ahern

Series: n/a

Format: Paperback (paid for myself)

Rating: 5/5

Goodreads description: Since childhood, Rosie and Alex have stuck by each other through thick and thin. But they're suddenly separated when Alex and his family move from Dublin to America. 

Their magical connection remains but can their friendship survive the years and miles?

Misunderstandings, circumstances and sheer bad luck have kept them apart – until now. But will they gamble everything – including their friendship – on true love? And what twists and surprises does fate have in store for them this time ... ?

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Favourite quotes: "Bethany wants a house in Martha's Vineyard. I've never met Martha and I don't know how she would feel about us moving onto her vineyard all of a sudden." 

"His name is Ted... He's overweight but then again so am I so who cares; we can bounce off each other."

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My review: I picked up this book in anticipation of the upcoming film adaptation, Love, Rosie. Where Rainbows End is a love story of two characters, Rosie and Alex, who have been friends since they were children but events in both of their lives keep getting in the way of them bringing their relationship to the next level. The book is written in an epistolary format of letters, emails, instant messages etc. between Rosie, Alex and their friends and family. I usually avoid books written in this format like the plague but the trailer for the movie looked so funny and sweet so I was curious to give the book a go. When I first started reading it, I did find the format annoying me as instead of directly experiencing the events of the story, you only really hear about them after they've happened (for example an important birthday party is described by a character in a couple of lines rather than 'experienced' and depicted in detail). This really did annoy me at first as it felt like we might be missing out on important information about the story but once I settled into the format, I found it a very easy read.

I kept picking up and putting down the book to begin with as I was reading about four other books at the same time (I really must stop doing that!) but when I picked it up again recently at about 60 pages in, I found myself breezing through the story. All of the chapters merge into each other so well that I would pass through several chapters at once without realising I wasn't on the same chapter I began with. The characters were all so lovable and funny (at least the nice ones anyway!) so it was very easy to become immersed in their lives. I especially loved Rosie as even though she'd been through a lot of hardships, she kept picking herself back up again and carrying on with humour.

The only thing I'd change about this book is that I'd like the ending to be beefed out a little more but otherwise I think I can easily say that this is one of my favourite books that I've read so far in 2014! I'd definitely recommend this book if you're after an easy, light-hearted and funny read.

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Book cover image from Goodreads

August 2014 Book Haul + Green Metropolis Bookstore

The Hot Zone by Richard Preston
If I Stay by Gayle Forman
Trial by Fire by Josephine Angelini [competition prize]
Longbourn by Jo Baker
Isla and the Happily Forever After by Stephanie Perkins
Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins
Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

Where Rainbows End by Cecila Ahern

Oh dear. As you can see, I went a bit book-buying crazy in August! I read and fell in love with the first two books from Stephanie Perkins's Anna series in July so I had to get them along with a copy of her new book, Isla and the Happily Ever After. I think I've won a copy of Isla in a giveaway as well though (eek!) so I'm saving this copy to do my own giveaway on Instagram soon.

I also bought Shadow and Bone as I read it last month and Where Rainbows End with Longbourn to read before their respective films come out (although I fear the Longbourn film might be a long way off yet *sob*). Additionally I'm very excited but also a little petrified about reading The Hot Zone by Richard Preston. There's a quote on the cover from Stephen King that describes it as 'one of the most horrifying things I've read in my entire life'. Definitely one to save for the daylight hours then I think!

I also bought a copy of If I Stay which came from Green Metropolis. I may be preaching to the converted here, but if you live in the UK and you've not heard of Green Metropolis I'd highly recommend you check them out. They're basically like an online charity bookshop where most of their books are priced at just £3.75 with free delivery! How I wish I'd found out about them before! All their books range in condition but you can find some new ones. This copy of If I Stay was listed as new but it didn't state which version of the cover it was, so as you can imagine I was very surprised (and happy!) when the new movie cover turned up. It may take a bit of digging around but there are definitely some good bargains to be had on there. Plus with all this Amazon drama recently, Green Metropolis might be a good alternative to Amazon if you're not too keen on buying books from them anymore.

I was also lucky enough to win a competition on Twitter hosted by My Kinda Book. The prize was a copy of Josephine Angelini's new book, Trial by Fire, and some lovely book swag! I'm very excited to read this book, the story sounds really interesting and all the reviews I have seen so far seem to be raving about it!

What did you buy in August? Have you read any of these books that I bought?

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P.S. This isn't a sponsored post - I just cannot get over how cheap GM are!