Thoughts on Bespelling Jane Austen

Title: Bespelling Jane Austen: Almost Persuaded/Northanger Castle/Blood & Prejudice/ Little to Hex Her
Author: Mary Balogh, Colleen Gleason, Susan Krinard, Janet Mullany
ISBN-13: 978-0373775019
Publication Date: October, 2010
Acquired by Me: NetGalley


Description Courtesy of Goodreads:

"But even if the whole world was against them, it would not matter. They were together—again. And this time they would remain together. Until death do them part and, of course, long after that.

What if Austen had believed in reincarnation and vampires? Join four bestselling romance authors as they channel the wit and wisdom of Jane Austen.”

My Thoughts:

Never let it be said that Jane Austen will go out of style. The steady stream of Austenesque novels shows clear evidence of this fact. Paying homage to our most beloved female author, storytellers crank out pages of dialogue and description designed to continue Miss Austen’s legacy: her characters. One shining and unique example is the recently released Bespelling Jane Austen. BJA consists of four short stories, each one taking a separate classic Jane Austen novel and rewriting it to include a healthy dose of paranormal spin. BJA is a collaboration of four fantastic authors in their own right: Mary Balogh, Colleen Gleason, Janet Mullany, and the conceptual wizard behind the project, Susan Krinard.

**Almost Persuaded** by Mary Balogh: Persuasion is my favorite Austen novel and I love Mary Balogh—so this story should have been a no brainer for me to love; however, I stumbled hard over her story of reincarnation…

On the surface, it seems like a great fit for Persuasion, a story about losing love and recapturing it---so what if it happens over several lifetimes as opposed to several years? Still, it was hard to swallow. I keep trying to think of a specific reason that I couldn’t buy into it and the only explanation I can come up with is that perhaps it was because the story was so intense from the very beginning that I felt I was dropped into it too abruptly. Typically, I like a warmer build up, you know, time to really learn the characters and get a good feel for them. There just didn’t seem enough time for that before…BAM…the story was over!

**Northanger Castle** by Colleen Gleason: This was a quirky (love that word) story. A young woman’s wild imagination and the ability to see all sorts of spooky things around her. She’s quick to throw herself into the center of an intriguing mystery--- to find and stop a vampire from preying on innocent victims. Only, she gets more than she bargains for and finds out that not all is as it seems.

Northanger Castle incorporates enough of Northanger Abbey into it that the gothic feel of the story kept me interested. Gleason injected a fair amount of absurdity (fondly said), which had me smiling continually at the characters (the ending especially). Miss Caroline (ahem, Catherine) Merrill and Mr. Blanchard certainly made things interesting…but I don’t want to give away too much, so I’ll end on that note.

**Blood & Prejudice** by Susan Krinard: I really liked this modern day/paranormal spin on Miss Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy’s romance. Krinard did a great job with their personalities, as well as the rest of the ensemble. Yep, most everyone is present in this version, although you can imagine how different they might appear as modern day people.

A big piece of this story centers on – wait for it – Mr. Darcy as a vampire (I’m not really spoiling much with this, you knew it had to be the case, right?). Yes, we’ve read a lot of that lately, but let it be known Krinard handles the walking dead in a manner that I haven’t seen elsewhere (okay…maybe a smidge of PP&Z only sub zombies for vampires). The story is very entertaining and as always, I am quite happy to see Lady Catherine get what she most assuredly deserves.

**Little to Hex Her** by Janet Mullany: It was a close race, but I do think that Little to Hex Her nudged out Blood & Prejudice as my favorite out of the four stories. Think Emma. Now think Clueless. Now…maybe throw some Buffy the Vampire or Charmed into the mix.

Emma’s helps out her sister by running her dating service for a while. Hooking up paranormal beings can be a tricky business. Things go south for Emma and the future of the service looks a little iffy—but at the end of the day, she perseveres and triumphs over tragedy (said loosely) and ultimately winds up with her Knightley--and all becomes right in the world, of course. Look for Harriet, the Eltons, Miss Fairfax, Mr. Churchill and Miss Bates among others to complete the story. A special note: the only thing missing for me was more Knightley!

Overall, I enjoyed the book; however, I am a little mixed on my thoughts. Some of the stories worked better for me than others. I think I can safely say that everyone who reads this book will wind up with a favorite pick. The question is, which one will be yours?

The thoughts expressed in this post are solely based on my personal opinion and have not been influenced by any other entity or being. Use of my statements may not be reproduced without permission from me, the author of Fall In Love With Books.