Consistently Mediocre

To begin, a few words about the narrator: while she wasn't necessarily bad, she was very poorly-suited for this particular book. Ms. Handford has a distinctly Canadian accent, and, while the novel opens in San Francisco, Austin, Texas soon becomes the novel's setting; thus, many of the characters are Texans. Although Ms. Handford does give these characters "southern" accents, some of her pronunciations are still exceedingly Canadian--the word "been" comes to mind (in her pronunciation, it rhymes with "seen"; I'm not sure if you'll find many Americans who pronounce it that way, but you certainly won't find any Texans who do!).

Another note on the narrator's rendition of Texan accents: I would wager she likely isn't acquainted with many Central Texans, and likely hasn't ever visited Austin. First, a generalized (and not very adept) southern accent is not really a good approximation of what a Texan sounds like. Also, the mere fact that every single Austin character has a fairly strong southern accent would be highly unlikely, even if they are, presumably, natives. As a lifelong resident, I'd say we have as many watered-down (almost neutral) Texan accents as we have exaggerated drawls. When you think of Texan accents, you may instantly think of Matthew McConaughey or Tommy Lee Jones, but then you also have Steve Martin, and Jim Parsons, and both of the stars of Supernatural, whose voices are far less obviously Texan.

Okay, on to the story itself! I must confess, though the description was promising enough, it was probably the fact that it was set in my hometown that really lured me in. Sadly, having read it, I cannot claim to have been pleasantly surprised, and must, in fact, conclude that its setting (with references to familiar locales), is the best thing about it. Another positive is that some of the characters were fairly endearing--Callum, in particular, with Margot coming it at a close second, which is saying something, considering she is far less prominent a character than some others (namely, Jane).

At the beginning of the story, Jane was almost unlikable; despite being quirky, bookish, and decidedly practical, she seemed, not just serious, but downright uptight (verging on irascible at times), self-centered, and ungracious (particularly where her accommodating relatives are concerned). Unfortunately, once I no longer perceived her this way, I found that I instead thought of her as suddenly vapid and dispossessed of her purported intelligence and emotional depth. It was hard to reconcile the intense bluestocking of the first couple chapters with this twit who instantly falls for the too-handsome knight-in-cowboy-boots. It makes her seem either very naive, or very shallow, which is at odds with the way the author seems to want us to view Jane.

As to the other sister, Celia, she seems far more generous of spirit than Jane, but she's pretty boring. I found myself consistently uninterested in checking in with Celia. Overall, she is like wallpaper--perhaps pretty and nice to look at for a moment or two, but easily fades into the background. And her overall relevance to the story seems to be limited to two areas: serving as a parallel to characters in Jane Austen novels, and serving as the catalyst in the Woodwards moving from San Francisco to Austin. She is otherwise fairly unnecessary, and, really, she could have just as easily been left out.

Characters aside, my biggest complaint is that there isn't a whole lot of substance here; plot-wise, it's pretty thin. I feel like the book is way too long for what it offers, and could have easily been told in half the time. In fact, cut in half, it might be a vastly better story; this would have given it just the right amount of time to lay out all its charms, instead of filling page after page with lackluster fluff, for the sake of protracted eventualities.

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3 people found this helpful

texan stereotypes

story was enjoyable, not crazy about the narration.
besides using a stereotypical twangy accent for each texan character that lived in AUSTIN, home of the many hipsters not honky tonk cowboys.
and this is just a small thing, but the way she pronounced some of the words was very disconnecting.
like whenever she said the word appreciate or appreciating, she says it with no R.
it was weird and hit me every time she said it, which was a lot.

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Loved this story, so sweet!

This was such a sweet story, it really held my attention. The narrator was excellent as well, she kept distinct voices for each of the differemt characters. I was left wanting to drink tea, read some Jane Austen, and try out some of the yummy recipes mentioned between the chapters. this might be a book I need to go out and buy in the paper version :)

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3 people found this helpful

loved it!

Hope tbete will be more Austen remakes like this. very well done. i loved it!

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love love love

this book is great!!! such a great spin on sense and sensibility I highly recommend it!!!

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Love, love, love

I love this book. The story is so good and the added recipes are great.

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I adore this book!

I loved it so much, I've listened to it twice. The story makes you feel warm and fuzzy at the end, which is what I was looking for. The book also wasn't overtly sexual, which I really enjoyed. It's perfect for anyone looking for a sweet romance that isn't saturated in sexual content.

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Excellent storyline full of interesting detail!

I could not stop listening! Loved every word! This book has excellent character development and details that keep you entertained! It was so well-written and clean! Such a well-done book!

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Excellent

As I grew up in a tea drinking country, this is very nice for me hearing how Jane valued and categorized her tea. Hope we will see tea parlor in the near future, thank you x

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Sweetly Done Modernization of Sense & Sensibility

I have had the ebook of this novel on my Kindle for ages but I am glad I chose to listen to the recording. The narrator is excellent and the story is well done. I liked that the author kept some parts but gave things their own spin. This becomes more Jane’s story (Marianne) & I felt her character was more drawn out than Cecilia’s although both were likable as was the Colonel Brandon character, Becket. I loved the tea shop background & the included recipes. A really sweet escape.

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