Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler - Book Review

Laurie Viera Rigler is, like so many other avid readers, a Jane Austen addict. In her first novel, Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict, Rigler imagines a twenty-first century Los Angeles woman who finds herself transported to eighteenth-century England. Sure to appeal to Jane Austen fans everywhere, Confessions is a delightful read.

Pros

Cons

Courtney Stone is a young, single woman living in Los Angeles. Sounds like the start to a typical chick lit book, with one major difference: Courtney wakes up to find herself in the body of a young, single woman living in eighteenth-century England. Courtney -- like Laurie Viera Riegler herself -- is a major Jane Austen fan, and her love of the books seems to have turned her into one of Austen's characters.

Courtney struggles with characters and situations that will be familiar to readers who are familiar with Austen's novels: interfering parents with marriage plans, rakish young men, and gossipy neighbors. While Courtney luxuriates in some of the pampered aspects of her new life, she also chafes against all the limits imposed on her as an unmarried woman; a theme Austen explored in her novels as well. Pride and Prejudice and Emma aren't required reading for Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict, though -- Riegler's novel is easy to understand and an enjoyable, quick read.