What Would Jane Austen Do? by Linda Corbett

Linda Corbett set herself up for a fall by putting words into the mouth of her heroine. Maddy waxes lyrical, and at length, on the difficult challenge that is writing a romance novel, maintaining that it is no easy option. She even draws Jane Austen in to help her make the point that, just because there’s a guaranteed ending, romances are not all the same, and cause their readers to ponder life, the universe and everything as well as any other genre of book.

Fortunately for Linda, What Would Jane Austen Do? amply demonstrates the truth of the points that Maddy makes. I loved the story with its plot devices of moving somewhere new, making new friends, uncovering the real man behind the grumpy facade of the hero, a gentle mystery, and a book festival. Okay, maybe the latter isn’t all that usual but this one was described in such a way that I wanted to set up my own!

The writing is engaging, the plot is well-paced, and the romantic leads behave fairly rationally all things considered. I admit that there is a dog, a trope that drives me mad, but still this is a great book and I’d thoroughly recommend it.