Lies Jane Austen Told Me by Julie Wright is a light-hearted summer read. Each chapter starts with a Jane Austen quote.
Emma read Pride and Prejudice and believes Jane Austen is the expert on all things romantic. Emma has been dating Blake Hampton for a while and when he invites her to his family estate she is expecting a proposal. When she finds out that is not what Blake had in mind she is devastated and decides that romance is all a bunch of lies. She decides to throw herself into her work at Kinetics but is thrown another curve when she learns the new consultant is Blake’s brother. Emma and Luke travel to the east coast for business. Emma soon learns that Luke is nothing like Blake and she begins to fall for him even though Luke is trying to get her to forgive Blake and date him again. Does Luke share Emma’s feelings? Will Emma’s trust in love be restored?
I liked the premise of the story and the story moved along without lagging. There are a few other story lines that are woven into the main story and keeps the reader interested and reading more. The characters are well developed and are very likeable. They act as you would expect people you know to act. Emma at times makes assumptions and acts on them before thinking of possible alternatives; don’t we all? The main thing that bothered me about this book is the lack of capitalization. Most sentences begin with lower case letters and it sometimes is confusing and definitely slows down the reader. There are occasionally words missing or extra words in sentences. I believe this is disruptive to the story at times. For these reasons, I give this book 4 of 5 stars.
I received an advance copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

"I just want them to take me seriously. The problem with being twenty-six...and female is that no one considers you the boss; they think you're the one doing the Starbucks run."

Hi everyone, it's me, your resident Jane Austen super-fan. Lies Jane Austen Told Me claims to be an Austen-esque contemporary romance, but does it deliver? ......kind of. The short answer is kind of. This book really made me wish that Goodreads had half-star ratings, because I struggled with myself for a while on whether to give this two or three stars. I enjoyed it, but there were also some real problems I had with this book. But I'll get to those in a moment.

What I Liked:

1. Contemporary Romance isn't really my favorite genre, but I like Shadow Mountain because they continually publish good, clean romances that are sufficiently cute, and Lies Jane Austen Told Me was not a disappointment in that regard. Luke and Emma had really nice chemistry and I enjoyed seeing the ups and downs of their relationship. The whole air of this book reminded me of a cross between Letters to Juliet and While You Were Sleeping, two of my very favorite movies.

2. I loved the side characters in this book. Sylvia was the perfect best friend and a really good voice of reason. Jared was perfectly balanced between annoying boss and hilarious hippy. I laughed a lot while reading this book.

3. Despite it's faults, which I'll talk about later, Lies Jane Austen Told Me made some strides towards being a feminist romance that are rarely seen in Contemporary Romance nowadays. Here's one of my favorite quotes:
"'You deserve to be treated like you're special.'
No, I wanted to say. I deserve to be treated like I'm intelligent."

4. This book had some really good, and quite hilarious, descriptions. I love when authors create similes that can let the reader truly get the feeling of what's going on, and Wright excelled at that with such descriptions as "Dating felt like making caramel: a sticky mess where the chances of getting burned were likely," and, "His parents had moved their heads back and forth between their two sons as if they'd been watching a hypercompetitive ping-pong game."

5. I love how fish and Trish rhyme. I'll just leave it at that.

What I Didn't Like:

1. I felt that Emma's character was pretty flat. I liked what we saw of her, but I wasn't able to get a real read on her character. This book tended to over-describe, not really leaving anything to the reader's imagination, and it made the main characters not seem as real or three-dimensional as they could have been.

2. The main reason why I didn't like this as much as I could have is simple: for a feminist romance, there seemed to be kind of a lot of internalized misogyny going on in Emma's mind. There were a lot of times where I wanted to cheer for Emma, but an equal amount of times where I cringed because of stuff she did/said.

2.1. Emma called herself pathetic a lot. A. Lot. And for totally non-pathetic reasons. I did a quick search on my kindle and Emma uses the word pathetic to describe herself five times. One particular quote rubbed me the wrong way especially:
"For anyone to discover I was going back to the guy who liked me after a non-proposal would make me the most pathetic boss ever. No one could respect a woman who acted like a schoolgirl when it came to love. I couldn't respect myself knowing that I was such a hopeless closet romantic."
There isn't anything pathetic about being a romantic, and calling yourself a pathetic boss for something occurring in your personal life, when you continually tell your employees to keep their personal lives out of work, is really backwards-thinking. We should still respect women who "act like schoolgirls" when it comes to love. It's okay.

2.2.
"I tried not to feel superior to a woman who used terms like "vacay" and "hottie" when the words sounded so juvenile and empty-headed."
Lies Jane Austen Told Me unfortunately fell into the trope of women hating on women for no reason other than they are dating your crush, and though it wasn't as bad as other romances (Emma challenged her own feelings of dislike, though not often), I still wish a book claiming to be a feminist romance hadn't fallen into this trope. I need more women supporting women, some more non-toxic love triangles where everything isn't seen as a competition and the person in the middle isn't seen as a prize to be won.

2.3.
"An overweight suitcase is a sign of a seriously insecure woman."
This quote sounds worse when it's taken out of context, but in context it's still not very good. It's more bashing on a "stereotypical" woman, which seems feminist at face value, but, in fact, isn't. We should be celebrating our differences in personality, not hating.

2.4. A book with zero (0) diversity can't really call itself feminist. Strange how two of the main settings in this book are Los Angeles and New York City, two cities that pride themselves on diversity, and yet every single character is white. I would have liked to see a lot more diversity, especially in a supposedly feminist contemporary.


To conclude, I am not sure if I would recommend this book. If you are a fan of contemporary romances and don't mind having to read over some problematic content, then sure, give it a read. But if not, then don't.

It should definitely be noted that all my quotes are taken from an ARC copy of this book, and when the novel is published I will check them with the finished copy and adjust my comments as needed.

Emma Pierce is an avid reader of Jane Austen, she even carries a dog eared version of one of her books in her purse, just in case she needs something to read. This is a modern day story that captured me from the beginning. A triangle relationship that has Emma second guessing herself. A best friend that I loved, because of her no nonsense personality. A great read and one I will be recommending.

I obtained an advanced reading copy of Lies Jane Austen Told Me from Netgalley back in May. What captured my attention immediately with this book was its clever cover.

I’ve watched the Pride & Prejudice movie, but have never read any Jane Austen titles, though their contents are no secret. Each chapter opens with an Austen book quote befitting the contents of said chapter. The apparent lie that Austen has told our main character, Emma, is essentially that every woman has her own Mr. Darcy. Emma has no problem bitterly reminding us of this throughout the book.

“…I’d spent so much of my time being unloved that I knew something had to change if I wanted a different ending from the one my once-hero author had. I had to stop believing her.”

Emma is presented as an intelligent woman in a powerful position at the company she works for, yet bits of the story run contrary to that impression. She fails to speak up for herself at work. Her boss is demeaning, but this is written off as normal for his quirky personality. I simply didn’t enjoy Emma-the-employee; thankfully she’s more tolerable outside of work (though the type of work she does sounds cool).

"The problem with being twenty-six, blonde, and female is that no one considers you the boss…"

As the synopsis indicates, there’s a love triangle with Blake, her boyfriend we meet in chapter one, and Blake’s brother, Lucas. Blake’s character is difficult to like — intentionally, to be sure — but the oddest part is that his personality unrealistically changes in the middle of the book. Lucas is a likeable guy, yet his weird co-dependency to Blake is baffling when you consider them both being independent adults.

"That was when my palm connected with his cheek in a way that would leave a handprint on his great-grandchildren."

There is the classic Big Misunderstanding trope, which sadly drags on too long and could have been addressed easily early on with a simple, non-offensive inquiry. I think the book had enough going on without this predictable trope thrown in, but alas. While it doesn’t do much to deepen characterization, it does introduce us to the best character in the book: April (who is adorable, you’ll love her).

“Problems are hard to deal with if we can’t see all the pieces clearly… We need perspective and a way to appreciate the complexity and beauty that can come from them.”

The book is well-written with vivid imagery, and ultimately gives a satisfactory HEA that will leave you smiling. Overall, it’s a decent book and worth checking out at the right price. There’s nothing mind-blowingly unique, but it fits in just fine for a casual, lazy-day read.

"…an earthquake with fissures cracking open was safer ground than being with Lucas Hampton."

Lies Jane Austen Told Me will release on November 7, 2017.

Did you grow up reading Jane Austen and dreaming of your own Mr. Darcy?
Or maybe you fell in love with the A&E miniseries starring Colin Firth.

Either way, lovers of Jane Austen and romance should give this book a whirl!

Emma is a bright gal. But, she isn't so great at finding her happily ever after. She and co-workers think her current beau, Blake, is the real deal. She discovers that he isn't which leaves her reeling a bit and pledging to never listen to Jane Austen again when it comes to relationships.

Soon after things end with Blake, there's a new guy in her life. Lucas is a consultant hired by the company she works for to launch locations on the east coast. She has to work intimately with him. The problem? He's Blake's brother!

Over the course of months, Lucas tries to get her back with Blake. Meanwhile, Emma starts to have feelings for Lucas.

Eventually, she has to decide whether to continue working on things with Blake or admit that is a failed relationship and pursue Lucas.

Overall, this was a fun read. A definite must for those who adore Jane Austen, especially if you are willing to have aspects of her classic stories be pulled into a modern tale.

Throughout it all there are plenty of references to Ms. Austen's work. And, like Pride and Prejudice, there are depths to each character's lives that come out in the process.

This book was really sweet. The characters were interesting, their lives were fun but not without some hardship, and the love story was a slow burn which is my favourite. The Jane Austen references and quotes at the beginning of each chapter were a nice touch too. Highly recommend if you are a fan of clean contemporary romance despite it being a bit predictable.

I'm not exactly sure what I was expecting when I picked this book other than its title intrigued me. I thought it was an ingenious twist for a contemporary story.

In Lies Jane Austen Told Me, Julie Wright introduces a modern "Emma", who happens to be a successful marketing executive, and who's never forgotten nor forgiven her mom's abandonment when she was only 5 years old. Emma is angry because her love life isn't close to the stories written by Jane Austen, that's of course until she's forced to decide between Blake and Lucas. Neither is Mr. Darcy or Mr. Knightley though.

The premise of the story is good. There's quite a bit of humor in the dialogue, I found myself chuckling a few times. But there is just something about Emma that I couldn't connect to. For being a hot shot, super clever marketing executive, she acts too childish/foolish at times, and so do Blake and Lucas. I thought, "Helloooo? It's 2017, who acts like this nowadays?" 

Then, the way Blake's and Lucas' parents welcome her into their home as though they've known her forever is over the top considering that she's still a perfect stranger to them, regardless of how much Blake and Lucas talk about her. 

Perhaps I missed the modern take on Jane Austen with this story; however, this doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it. Though I didn't care much for Emma, Blake, and Lucas, I loved Sylvia--Emma's best friend. She is the voice of reason, and does she have the perfect comebacks every time? In my opinion, Sylvia is the most interesting character of the lot.

This will post on my blogs, Blue Cat Review, tomorrow, Monday September 11, 2017
https://bluecatreview.wordpress.com and http:www.bluecatreview.us/

My Disclaimer:

I was provided a free copy of this book by the author’s representatives, NetGalley and Shadow Mountain. I am voluntarily providing an honest review in which all opinions are fully my own. I am not being compensated in any way.

~ Judi E. Easley for Blue Cat Review

My Review: ✰✰✰✰✰

I loved this book the whole way through even though I knew how it was going to turn out from page 20 when Emma Pierce was kneeling on the floor next to April, Lucas Hampton’s niece, talking about lip gloss. I just knew her BFF, Silvia, had to have a guy she was keeping secret while she was trying to be supportive of Emma. I knew Emma would end up with the correct Hampton. And I knew Blake would be taken care of. I also knew Emma wouldn’t give up on Jane Austen in the end because Jane Austen would never lie.

I was really glad that Emma dealt with Debbie and the Facebook issue the way she did. I feel too much of what should be professional is not due to social media. And once a trust is violated, there can be no trust.

I loved Carolyn Hampton’s defense of Jane Austen at her birthday party when she read the inscription on Emma’s gift.

“But Caroline wasn’t having any of it. “No, society taught them that, and there’s nothing wrong with wanting to be in a healthy, functioning, loving relationship. What Jane taught women was that it was okay for them to read, for them to think, for them to not play the coquettish little games other women played. She taught them to be moral and smart and that their opinions mattered. And she did all that under the form of basic entertainment where the men would have no idea that a subversive revolution was happening right under their noses, where even the women had no idea that their minds were being enlarged and their prospects expanded. I had a professor tell me that Jan Austen took the pen out of the hand of man and proved it fit into the curve of a woman’s fingers as well. She opened the door for women to write their own stories and to not be afraid to own the task. Yes, she was a feminist. And don’t you dare badmouth her on my birthday.”

After that, Emma was really a part of the family. She and Carolyn had worked together to form the basis of the foundation Emma’s company needed and now they were like-minded women of the world-at-large. That just left her to sort out Carolyn’s sons and get on her way.

I loved the forthright way that Emma handled Blake. She didn’t play games. She didn’t prevaricate. She was honest with him and even offered alternatives to the situation that he really wasn’t considering fully. And I loved the ending.

This author has 23 novels to her credit, several of which are award winners of various kinds. I’m putting on my list of authors to keep an eye on and back list to check out. I strongly recommend this book to you and suspect you will add her to your authors list as well.

Release date for Lies Jane Austen Told Me Nov 2017.

In the meantime, some of her other books are:

Cross My Heart, My Not-So-Fairy-Tale Life, Olivia, Eyes Like Mine, Loved Like That, Victoria’s Promise, Four Chambers, Spell Check, To Catch A Falling Star

For as far as I read I gave it zero stars. I know Jane Austen is endlessly popular but this is a mish mass!

4.5 for me as a reader, clean romance.
This was such an interesting read. It was definitely romantic, but there were some subtleties in the characters and in their interactions that made me wonder why I haven't read more by this author? I don't often re-read light stories, but this will definitely be put on my to-read again shelf to enjoy the subtleties again. Emma's fall out and her relationship with Blake come in sharp contrast to the connection she feels with Lucas, his brother. She relaxes, she laughs, she savors, and learns about herself and what she really wants out of a relationship. Her future, while shaped by her past, is her choice as she navigates the relationship and work issues that come forward in this lovely, charming, and heart-wrenching novel that examines family, values, character, and the choices that Emma makes to find her HEA.
Highly recommend!

Leave your Friday night open, this book is worth reading cover to cover. It has a perfect combination of romance, reality and drama (social media drama included!) I loved that the book balanced a love story while including plots that dealt with family, social issues and work. As a Jane Austen fan, I thought the book did a fantastic job of including Jane Austen in the work but also maintaining the author's own story- it's not a pride and prejudice retelling. It's a perfect 2017 romance and will have you soaking up each page.

Requested this book from Netgalley because I was in a Jane Austen funk, after listening to the audiobook of Pride and Prejudice on Spotify.

This book was so-so for me. Didn’t dislike it enough for me to rate it lower than a 3 but didn’t like it enough either that it deserved more than a 3. It was a meh book for me.

I didn’t root for any characters in the book and neither did I have any favorites. I felt that all the characters had flaws that just ANNOYED me and made me truly unable to relate to any of them.

Lucas has this weird overkill brotherly love syndrome.

Emma with her inability to get her head out of her ass and the fact she experienced instalove with Lucas. She was supposed (note: SUPPOSED) to be smart but I did not see it through the entirety of this book.

Blake… I don’t even know what is his deal… is he the bad guy? the good guy? what is he? confused?

My biggest problem aside from the characters was the pacing of the plot. Emma just *technically* broke up with Blake and then she and Lucas had to work together (Blake and Lucas are brothers BTW) and then BAM! She started having feelings for Lucas. I felt it was a bit too fast for her to be falling for Lucas and it made me question the romance unless it was a rebound relationship then okay point taken. Had there been more time for them to get to know each other and whatnot I would have rated the book higher because the plot was pretty decent because really all this happened in just a few months, barely three months if I’m not mistaken so it make you as reader wonder is she falling for Lucas because its genuine or because its just a rebound?

Not all is bad with this book because towards the end I really liked how the author incorporated the values that Jane Austen wrote in all her books, that it is okay to be different or to be the same as everybody else. It is okay to be single like how Jane herself never married, that it is okay to dream of Prince Charming. Just be you whatever form that may be. I really liked that.

I enjoyed this book. The story was entertaining. The ending was adorable.
I did find some of Emma's inner dialogue a bit redundant. It made it harder to see her growth, which for me was the downside of the book.
Overall an entertaining read, that I would recommend.

Funny, and if you haven't read anything by Jane Austen, you will want to after reading this book. An enjoyable romantic romp.

LIES JANE AUSTEN TOLD ME explores the rocky, unfair, and rather confusing search for love in a modern world. But often it is when you stop looking that you find it. A cute contemporary romance filled with high hopes, dark realities, and tough choices, this book will sweep you away and have all those stuck in the frustrating dating world nodding their heads in understanding.
-pooled ink Reviews

Oy vey, this book....first off, I understand that these ARCs are going to have grammatical errors, but would it have killed the author to capitalize her "I"s? And names. Let's at least practice basic grammar. Nothing fancy here when I ask for this.

Aside from that, the book had a promising start. Funny, interesting characters. An intriguing man with a mystery (is April his daughter?). But all of that wonderfulness was blemished by two things: 1, the fact that Lucas was constantly singing his cheating brother's praises and thought Emma should give the asshat another chance, and 2, that Emma was actually considering doing that! For a "feminist", she sure had no problem rekindling a relationship with a guy who couldn't give a shit about her feelings. I thought Lucas was a jerk to even think it was okay, because Blake was such a good brother to him. My family is great too, but I certainly wouldn't tell someone to date my cheating cousin because she is just so awesome. Ugh. So much potential in this book, wasted.

What a delightful book! I read it in one sitting. It's a light, easy read that is thoroughly enjoyable.

I was ecstatic to find this book. As an avid Jane Austen fan, I read any retelling or Austen themed book I can find, but sadly this book just fell a little flat. A better title would have been, “Modern Girl who Reads Jane Austen and likes the movies” since that is where the obsession left off. Emma is a strong independent woman who is trying to navigate things that most women in this day and age are, work, friends, love, annoying co-workers, abandonment issues, etc. That last one, maybe not so much. What I am trying to say is that Emma is not obsessed with Jane Austen, she just likes her. If you have ever read or seen Austenland then you would know what I was expecting here, a crazy obsessed woman looking for her Mr. Darcy around every corner and never settling for anything less.

I found Emma to be annoying, which made me sad, but it's true. She self-talked WAY TOO MUCH. It was like she was trying to convince herself to stay distant from Lucas for something that the reader could see was false from the beginning. She is extremely judgemental over the Lucas/April situation, but never asks any questions that might clear up her obvious ignorance. From the moment you meet April and Denise, you can pretty much figure out who Lucas is to them, EXCEPT Emma of course. She is constantly telling herself the same thing over and over about him to the point that I was skipping lines just to get out of her head. Emma also has horrible listening skills. Her best friend Sylvia is going through something tough, not sure what since we never find out thanks to Emma never asking her what is wrong! Give me a break! The author points out body language from Sylvia that suggests she is really going through something bigger than a new job, but we never find out what.

Emma is obviously attracted to Lucas because he seems like such a better person than her idiot ex, Blake. Of course, she does not realize the depth of her feelings until she finds out the truth about April, which then makes her comprehend that she is indeed in love with him. Wow, no words there. They then spend the rest of the trip not speaking. *Yawn*

The few things I did like were the Jane Austen quotes at the beginning of each chapter, I thought that gave it a nice classy touch. The setting is in California, NYC, and Boston, which was pretty cool descriptions and scope for the imagination.

Overall, this book was a disappointment for me, it really dragged. If I had liked it, maybe it would have been a quicker read.

3 / 5 stars

I enjoyed reading this Proper Romance. The best parts were the Jane Austen quotes and references. I found the “romance” a little lame. The Proper Romance publishers and authors need to remember that while you can have a great romantic story without graphic sex, you still need the romance. I didn’t find much romantic tension between Emma and Lucas, and the way he kept throwing her former relationship with his brother between them got old. I also found the book draggy in the middle as their relationship didn’t seem to be progressing.

I liked that Emma is a strong woman who excels at her job, and the subplot involving a child in a bad home situation added some interest to the plot. I also love that cover!

I really enjoyed the story, especially the little jane Austen quotes at the beginning of each chapter that applied to the chapter I thought it was very clever. Emma was like most women, a little bit lost trying to figure out who the right guy for is and then trying to hold on to him!! Lucas was an unselfish sweetheart heart, but unfortunately that unselfishness sabotaged his own life.