Jane Austen Time Traveler
by Rachel Dacus
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GENRE: Sci-Fi
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BLURB:
Lonely Regency romance writer travels to the future, meets her
fans, dips into a pearly swimming pool, and falls for its owner. Can she ever
go home again…
If
Jane Austen’s novels had never ever existed, would we have rom-com movies and
women’s fiction? But the young writer is discouraged by a publisher’s rejection
and ready to give up writing. And an unwelcome marriage proposal she has rashly
accepted spells her doom.
Someone
must save history and Jane Austen! When a stranger calls and claims to be an
interested publisher, a desperate Jane agrees to go with him to his office.
That office turns out to be in the future. And it's not an office, but a
bookstore in southern California in 2024 where fans of Jane Austen gather every
month to discuss her works.
Jane
greets the Jane Austen Superfan Club, only to find that superfans can be super
picky. Discouraged by their critiques, Jane wants different adventures. Even
deadly, dangerous ones. And oh, yes! Romantic ones.
Her
“publisher” had hoped to inspire Jane’s writing by showing her a book club
devoted to her writing. But when she meets a tall, handsome superfan, Jane
decides to chart her own course. She disappears with her new friend, and
history may have to save itself …
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EXCERPT
Jane sat up and looked out of the wall of glass. It overlooked
the pool they had walked beside last night. Will was swimming with a most
peculiar stroke, like a butterfly spreading its wings. He leapt from up the
water and then disappeared under again, doing a stroke she had never seen, even
at the seaside when the boys played in the ocean.
Jane lay still, contemplating the day and the swimmer.
She should get dressed and join him at the pool, to watch
from nearer. Having only her new, silky outfit from last night, Jane wondered
if she could wear it for another day. The idea of returning to the hotel and
lacing up the layers of her old life returning made her shiver with dread.
Will had left George a message, Ubering their whereabouts,
he had said. George would have to rest content with her absence for at least
another morning.
Will’s rhythmic swimming mesmerized her as she listened to
the sound of his hands and feet slapping the water. He changed to a smoother
stroke, swimming quickly back and forth the length of the pool.
Jane dressed and joined him. The day’s warmth was beginning,
so she was glad she had left off her jacket.
Will swam over to the side of the pool, dripping like the
statues of Attic gods in fountains in Hyde Park.
“Did you sleep well?” he asked. When she nodded, he said, “I
made breakfast for us, if you’re ready.”
“Breakfast would be wonderful.”
He swam to the far end of the pool, walked up the steps.
Drying off with a blue towel, he wrapped it around his hips, which made Jane
look up and around at the sky and gardens, anywhere but at the living statuary
that was Will Fleming, a man who had kissed her last night.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“To write another book would be to release my arrow with no target in sight.”
Fast-forward to 2084: Something was altering the space time continuum and the course of history.
In the beginning, the read is quite dry and technical. It certainly wasn’t too alluring. But once you sift through all the details, the bottom-line was this: someone was tampering with Jane Austen’s life. Making her book, Pride and Prejudice, sink might take the author with it. Without it, women’s fiction might’ve gone a different way, and, with it, women’s future.
This mission: travel through time to rescue Jane Austen.
Okay, now we got a compelling concept.
Story shifts back-and-forth between the past and the future with the time traveler zig-zagging everywhere. This gets a little confusing. Jane’s part in the past is very slow and uneventful. The best part are the scenes with the time traveler. Story, all in all, had a lovely prose, very flowery and so consistent with a typical Jane Austen book. That’s all it really felt like—nothing but pretty words with no real push to the story.
The book was certainly well-written, but I just didn’t feel too involved with the story. Usually, a good story sucks me in from the beginning ‘til the end. I liked the concept of getting history back on track and saving the future.
It’s a fairly nice read, but I
guess I just expected to like it more.
Rating:
3 stars
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
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RACHEL DACUS writes about history, love, family, and art -- with a touch of magic. Rachel is the author of both prose and poetry. When she’s not writing or reading, she listens to music and walks through the beautiful San Francisco Bay Area, where she lives with her architect husband and a lively Silky Terrier. She blogs about books and the writing life.
Website: www.racheldacus.net
Twitter:
@Rachel_Dacus
Instagram:
racheldacusauthor
Facebook:
RachelDacusAuthor
Buy Link:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Jane-Austen-Time-Traveler-Timegathering-ebook/dp/B0BDVXLXC1
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GIVEAWAY
Rachel Dacus will be awarding a $20
Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteSounds like an interesting concept for a novel!
ReplyDelete