In college I knew a few girls who were part of the Jane Austen book club on campus and I would sometimes hear them muttering ‘What Would Jane Do?’ in certain situations. I was always amused by this since Jane lived a century and half before, how would she know what to do in our modern era? Oddly enough this book proved one thing to me--despite the superficial changes, society itself hasn’t really progressed.

Eleanor was a very likable character to me. As were the two ghost sisters, or even their not-so-ghostly living selves. Shermont…he’s described as being a womanizer and rake, but I really don’t think he was any worse then any other man. Despite his wariness where Eleanor is concerned (the timing is a little too perfect of her arrival, she would evade questions and always seemed to be hiding something, in other words she was acting very suspicious) I have to admit Shermont was surprisingly fair-minded with her.

The book has a lot of misunderstandings and misdirection. From the ghost sisters’ and their uncertainty about what happened the night of the duel to Shermont’s mission to find the Napoleonic spy events seem to spiral out of control quickly for poor Eleanor. I do find it very amusing later on when she has to choose between hot sex or Jane Austen (I truly don’t think I could have chosen).

The resolution was better then I thought it would be--too often it seems like time travel romances ignore changing history by uprooting a character to the past or present, but in this case it worked out wonderfully.

I really do enjoy Laurie Brown’s romances (I previously read One Hundred Years to Reform a Rake, which was another time travel romance, but the heroine had the terrible decision of loving the Ghost man or his live self and feeling like she betrayed both at once) and look forward to future books! ( )

A pretty quick read, but a good romance novel. The 'mystery' was pretty predictable, but I enjoyed the time-travel and Jane Austen aspect of the book. The description on the back is very misleading - Jane doesn't really have any involvement in the story or in the main characters adjusting to Regency England, as she is a guest whom Eleanor meets twice. Still fun to read. ( )

This was a wonderful read in which a modern woman is brought back in time to the regency period. This book is full of interesting characters and a well written plot that is full of surprises and will keep you captivated until the very end. ( )

This was what I would call a quintessential "eh" book. It was just average I could have lived not reading it, but I didn't feel as if it stole precious time from my life.
 
I never felt myself connect with the main character Eleanor and most of the story is from her point of view. Shermont, Eleanor's love interest, was completely cookie cutter 18th century rake. He was vanilla, didn't love/didn't hate him.
 
I never really bought into the storyline of Eleanor being sent back in time to stop a duel, it wasn't flushed out, and poorly executed. Plus Eleanor accepted and was accepted way to easily when she woke up in the past.The supporting characters barely made a dent with me.
 
The added in suspense/murder mystery was lame-o and the ending was too contrived. I won't give away the ending but let's just say I rolled my eyes at how perfectly everything worked out. I know it's a romance book but the ending could have been worked out better; the reader deserves better in regards to their creativity and intelligence.
 
Final take is if you're hankering for a time travel book, I can never seem to find good ones, it would be ok to give it a go, just be ready for mediocrity and some bland characters.
 
C- ( )

Another great vacation read. Eleanor travels back in time to prevent a duel so that two sisters don't end up as ghosts. While she has the right wardrobe thanks to her job as a costume maker, she lacks a lot of the social skills and knowledge necessary to navigate the regency time period and of course there is also Lord Shermont, who suspects her of being a spy....

I liked watching Eleanor try to navigate her way through the Regency period and I found her funny. I loved the fairy tale happy ending that Eleanor and the sisters got.

The only caveat is that Jane Austen does not appear nearly as much as she is expected to appear in the book. The book stands alone without it but I found the blurb a bit misleading. ( )