Review: Jane in Love by Rachel Givney
The Basics
Title: Jane in Love
Author: Rachel Givney
Published: Originally published on Feb. 4, 2020 in Australia. Expected U.S. publication date is Oct. 27, 2020.
Note: I received an e-ARC from NetGalley and William Morrow in exchange for an honest review.
Publisher: William Morrow — HarperCollins
Pages: 448
Format: E-book
Genres: Fiction — Time travel, Historical fiction, Regency fiction, Contemporary fiction, Romance, Contemporary romance
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Book Synopsis
Having reached the ripe old age of 28 without having found a husband, Jane Austen (yes, that Jane Austen) decides to heed the advice of a neighbor and travels to London to meet with a matchmaker named Mrs. Sinclair. Only, Mrs. Sinclair is no ordinary matchmaker. Unbeknownst to Jane, her would-be matchmaker possesses magical powers. So, when Jane asks Mrs. Sinclair to help her find her true love, Mrs. Sinclair does just that – she sends Jane to meet her perfect match, who just happens to live a couple hundred years in the future.
My Review & Overall Thoughts
Beware – spoilers ahead!
Jane in Love is like the movie Kate and Leopold – only instead of a time-traveling, handsome duke, it’s Jane Austen. Oh, and there’s no happily-ever-after ending either. It’s a time-travel story where the past remains unchanged from reality.
Instead of recreating the past to have Jane Austen take a different path, the author gives the Jane in this story the same fate as the real-life Jane. That is, Jane in Love’s Jane remains every bit as single as the Jane Austen from history. Why couldn’t the Jane in this book have both love and her career? Why couldn’t her love interest, Fred, have traveled back to the past with her? The author’s suggestion that Jane would have somehow lost her ability to write upon marrying Fred is absurd. She was a highly intelligent, natural-born writer. Talent like hers can’t be dissolved by wedding vows. Plus, as a modern-day man, Fred, would not have forced Jane into the traditional female role had he accompanied her back to her time; he would have allowed her to continue writing. It feels like such a missed opportunity to not have created an alternate history for Jane Austen.
Another flaw of Jane in Love is its highly predictable plot. Sometimes predictably in a plot isn’t a bad thing, but for Jane in Love, it is. There is a scene early in the book where Jane visits a museum and sees a painting of herself wearing a ring. One of the employees at the museum then remarks that no one knows where the ring came from. Upon reading that, I immediately suspected that Jane would become engaged to Fred but return to the past without him, and unfortunately, I was proven right.
The primary storyline, the Jane-Fred romance, also leaves a lot to be desired. Their relationship is not well-constructed, owing to a rushed feel about it. The two profess their love for one another and become engaged in a matter of a couple weeks. Then, they have a rather melodramatic and completely unsatisfying farewell scene.
The secondary characters and their subplots are even less enjoyable. Sofia’s storyline, in particular, seems to detract from more than it adds to the overall plot. Her desire to win back her ex-husband is cliché, and her implied future relationship with Dave feels contrived.
The good
I do not want to give the impression that the entire book is awful. There are a couple redeeming qualities to this book, the first of which being that the author clearly researched Jane Austen’s life in detail. The other laudable aspect of this book is its first volume, which takes place in the past before Jane time travels to the present day. This section is entertaining, as it gives a glimpse into Jane Austen’s dating woes, as well as her attempts to buck the conventions of the day.
Overall
Jane in Love has such potential, but alas, that potential is never realized. It’s a time-travel story where nothing changes. It’s a rom-com that opts for a realistic, not happy, ending. All in all, it’s a disappointing read.
