Jane Bites Back by Michael Thomas FordMy rating: 1 of 5 stars
The premise was delightful, the pacing, in the beginning seemed appropriate for a book about Austen, but the female characters are written like caricatures of women, at times, even the seemingly strong female characters devolve into vapid stereotypes and I don't have time for that.
Further, the metaphoric and nearly literal rape apology rampant in the book is rather stomach churning. Spoiler alert: a woman being coerced into sleeping with a man she doesn't even like is a bad plot device when the rest of the plot is trying to set up some sort of likeable rouge character. As a repeat offender, plotwise, the fact that Ford keeps trying to redeem this character, or at least write heroic scenes for him just makes me want to puke.
Further, the plot tends to focus on unnecessary details a little too long, and with arguable accuracy (see makeup tips that died in the nineties) then to completely fast forward when details would make "action" scenes a little more readable.
I also disliked the suddenness of the plot turns toward the end. They reminded me of a role playing campaign with a lazy DM.
Sorry, there were parts that were enjoyable, but the parts I didn't like or that broke my willing suspension of disbelief barrier simply outweigh the good of the book. I won't be bothering with the sequel.
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