Review: Jane Austen Made Me Do It - Anthology

Genre: Jane Austen variations

Pages: 448

Published: October 2011

Publisher: Ballantine

Source. NG

“My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.” If you just heaved a contented sigh at Mr. Darcy’s heartfelt words, then you, dear reader, are in good company. Here is a delightful collection of never-before-published stories inspired by Jane Austen—her novels, her life, her wit, her world. 

In Lauren Willig’s “A Night at Northanger,” a young woman who doesn’t believe in ghosts meets a familiar specter at the infamous abbey; Jane Odiwe’s “Waiting” captures the exquisite uncertainty of Persuasion’s Wentworth and Anne as they await her family’s approval of their betrothal; Adriana Trigiani’s “Love and Best Wishes, Aunt Jane” imagines a modern-day Austen giving her niece advice upon her engagement; in Diana Birchall’s “Jane Austen’s Cat,” our beloved Jane tells her nieces “cat tales” based on her novels; Laurie Viera Rigler’s “Intolerable Stupidity” finds Mr. Darcy bringing charges against all the writers of Pride and Prejudice sequels, spin-offs, and retellings; in Janet Mullany’s “Jane Austen, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!” a teacher at an all-girls school invokes the Beatles to help her students understand Sense and Sensibility; and in Jo Beverley’s “Jane and the Mistletoe Kiss,” a widow doesn’t believe she’ll have a second chance at love . . . until a Miss Austen suggests otherwise.

Regency or contemporary, romantic or fantastical, each of these marvelous stories reaffirms the incomparable influence of one of history’s most cherished authors.

My thoughts:

As always like with all stories, some I liked some not so much. Some I wanted to read more of because they were good, and some I thought also needed to be longer because I was just confused when they were so short. All in all this was a nice collection of different variations, modern version and a few ghosts.

And I am going to say a bit about every story.

Jane Austen's Nightmare Syrie James 
JA meets her characters, it was such a delightful and short story :D Must read more by this author.

Waiting: A story inspires by Jane Austen's Persuasion by Jane Odiwe 
Anne and Wenthworth. A little but about the past and the proposal now. Sweet.

A Night at Northanger by Lauren Willig 
Ghost Trekkers at Northanger. Not my favorite story. It was good, but to me it did not feel very Jane Austen like.

Jane and the Gentleman Rogue: Being a fragment of a Jane Austen mystery by Stephanie Barron 
Jane Austen and spies. I do not know about this one, it was ok, but I just do not know why she cared for something.


Faux Jane by Diane Meier and Frank Delaney writing as F. J. Meier 
I do admit to feeling confused during the whole story. Not for me.

Nothing Less Than Fairy-land by Monica Fairview 
Emma and Knightley after the honeymoon. Another sweet one. Poor Emma, her dad sure is troublesome. Very enjoyable and I must read more by this author.

Love and Best Wishes, Aunt Jane by Adriana Trigiani 
A letter and I was bored, that is it.

Jane Austen and the Mistletoe Kiss by Jo Beverley 
A lovely story about a widow with 3 daughters and a HEA. A short story that worked well and would surely have made a great book too.

When Only a Darcy Will Do by Beth Pattillo 
I was worried that the modern stories would not work for me, but this one was nice. A woman holds JA tours and meets a guy. And what a guy.

Heard of You by Margaret C. Sullivan 
Admiral Croft and the story how he met his wife. Awww young Frederick Wentworth, I always did like stories set at sea.

The Ghostwriter by Elizabeth Aston 
JA helps an author write a book. I liked how JA was portrayed here, not as you would imagine her at all.

Mr. Bennet Meets His Match by Amanda Grange 
How he met his wife. Yes he fell for a pretty face, and I liked how it showed that he was still happy with his choice.

Jane Austen, yeah, yeah, yeah by Janet Mullany 
A teacher talks about Sense and Sensibility during detention and compares them to the Beatles to get the girls interested. I liked this discussion as it does show you can do anything with JA.

Letters to Lydia by Maya Slater 
Maria Lucas is watching and writing letters about how she thinks Lizzy and Darcy are up to something. Delightful letters, and it seems Maria could have played a crucial par behind the scenes.

The mysterious Closet: A tale by Myretta Roberts 
Honestly again I was just confused. i think the story was good, but needed to be fleshed out cos now confusion took over.

Jane Austen's Cat by Diana Birchall 
An ok story. Not much going on in it.

Me and Mr Darcy, Again.... by Alexandra Potter 
4 years after book 1 and I do have that book...I might just have to read it and see the woman who met Mr Darcy

What would Mr Darcy do? by Jane Rubino and Caitleen Rubino-Bradway 
A YA story, very nice and I liked this one where a young boy learns to dance and meets a girl

The Riding Habit by Pamela Aidan 
Not much happened in this one where Lizzy learns to ride but it was still good.

The Love letter by Brenna Aubrey
A twist on Persuasion, an ok story but not much happening.

The Chase by Carrie Bebris 
A story about JA's brother. Sea chases and so on, something I would rather see on tv than read.

Intolerable stupidity by Laurie Viera Rigler 
First I was all confused because it was really strange, but after a while I started to enjoy it. A very weird story that should just be read.

And that was all, as you can see there are a lot of stories in this one and something for everyone.