Review: The Austen Escape by Katherine Reay

The Austen Escape

by Katherine Reay

Publisher: Thomas Nelson

Pages: 320

Format: book

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  After years of following her best friend’s lead, Mary Davies finds a whimsical trip back to Austen’s Regency England paves the way towards a new future.

Mary Davies lives and works in Austin, Texas, as an industrial engineer. She has an orderly and productive life, a job and colleagues that she enjoys—particularly a certain adorable, intelligent, and hilarious consultant. But something is missing for Mary. When her estranged and emotionally fragile childhood friend Isabel Dwyer offers Mary a two-week stay in a gorgeous manor house in Bath, Mary reluctantly agrees to come along, in hopes that the holiday will shake up her quiet life in just the right ways. But Mary gets more than she bargained for when Isabel loses her memory and fully believes that she lives in Regency England. Mary becomes dependent on a household of strangers to take care of Isabel until she wakes up.

With Mary in charge and surrounded by new friends, Isabel rests and enjoys the leisure of a Regency lady. But life gets even more complicated when Mary makes the discovery that her life and Isabel’s have intersected in more ways that she knew, and she finds herself caught between who Isabel was, who she seems to be, and the man who stands between them. Outings are undertaken, misunderstandings play out, and dancing ensues as this triangle works out their lives and hearts among a company of clever, well-informed people who have a great deal of conversation.

Kritters Thoughts:  Mary Davies is an engineer and with her work life hitting a snag she decides to confirm the trip with her cousin that will take them deep into Austen land.  When they land in England, her cousin has a medical mishap and Mary must call on an interesting person to help her with her cousin. 

I would say one of my big quips with this book was since I haven't read a Jane Austen book, I felt lost a lot.  I would say this book should only be read if you have read a good majority of Austen's books.  With characters and quotes and all of those things throughout this book, you could be lost like me if you are not an Austen aficionado.  

I still loved the plot of the story and enjoyed that there was a place like this in this fictional world and would love to see a place like this for fictional characters that I am a fan of!  

I loved the characters Isabel and Mary and the story, I just felt lost a lot of the time which isn't a great feeling.  I would probably love to reread this book after I read a few Austen books and would probably love it so much more.


Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from TLC Book Tours.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.