Connelly has come up with a clever new tactic for reaching the surprisingly healthy market for Jane Austen-related fiction: instead of a working with Austen’s characters directly, or even in a Regency setting, she’s penned a modern day romance about Austen-obsessed characters. Connelly’s own love for Austen shines through, and there’s enough solid detail to suggest that Connelly got good value from deductible research junkets. She pokes gentle fun at her coterie of Austen devotees. I enjoyed this aspect of the novel quite a bit.
Unfortunately, I found the romances quite unsatisfying. For better or worse, they don’t follow the classic Austenian arc of establishing then reversing suitable and unsuitable matches. Several characters make choices that made it hard for me to root for them, the establishment of dreamboatiness is oft-times laid on with a trowel, and I had serious credibility problems with how a woman who broke off with her previous boyfriend after learning he was married responds to the secretiveness of her new beau.
needs more demons? a few.
Needs More Demons Or Not 