I'm a Janeite. And therefore, I am wary of literary and cinematic renderings of Janeites, as they have not usually been the greatest.

This, though, was a delight. Set in the 1940s, it describes a fictional band of misfits (e.g., a teenage maid, a doctor battling addiction, and a Hollywood movie star) who join forces to save the (actual) cottage in Chawton where Jane Austen lived and wrote her final three novels.

With exceptional sensitivity and awareness of the seemingly mundane circumstances that can change a person's life completely, Jenner has created a novel that Austen fans and non-fans alike can enjoy.

Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for a digital ARC for the purpose of an unbiased review.

For those of us who are captivated by Jane Austen, this is a delightful find. Natalie Jenner has assembled such an interesting cast of fictional characters who come together very unexpectedly with a common purpose. They all are true believers in the magic of Jane Austen's writing and hope to preserve the charming cottage on the estate where she lived the last years of her life. The passage of time and the lack of urgency to preserve the cottage meant the unique impact of Jane Austen's legacy might disappear from the area. Precious few of her possessions still existed in the area of Chawton, the village where the estate was. By luck and chance, eight strangers somehow find one another and create the Jane Austen Society in order to preserve her legacy in the village.

When reading the novel, the reader is actually transported to a story within a story. Jenner has created characters and a plot that could mirror an actual Jane Austen novel. The continual confusion of intent plus biased judgements of others reads just like Pride and Prejudice. There are many references to various Austen novels, so it's a joy to see the people here behave in very similar fashion to Austen's most memorable characters.

Everyone is dealing with some sort of loss. The plot skillfully shows them come together in an attempt to bring honor to the legacy of Jane Austen, and at the same time, heal some painful wounds each has carried.

Thank you to Net Galley for providing an advance copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

This story takes place in the little town of Chawton, England in the years just following WWII. This is the town that Jane Austen lived in during the last years of her life. What is left of her legacy is now owned by distant relatives who have no heirs. Together, some townsfolk who are each going through their own dramas-a doctor, a farmer and a young widow band together with a Hollywood starlet to form a society in order to preserve Jane Austen's family library and cottage. The story is completely fictional but felt so real. I got very involved in the small town dramas-each story and character was so relatable although at the beginning of the book, each character had issues that were kind of sad.
Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this story in return for my honest review.

What a lovely gem this book is. While I don't think that you have to be an Austen lover to enjoy it, it would certainly help. The prose it littered with references to Austen characters and places and as a fan it is really fun to come across them. It is a light and sweet but also interesting and it inspired me to revisit my Austen favorites again.

I loved this heartwarming book. As a Jane Austen fan, I particularly liked the Jane-based conversation amongst the characters.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing an ARC copy for my review.

I loved this one!! Natalie Jenner has created a truly delightful world for Austen lovers. I loved the shifting between multiple perspectives throughout the book. It was full of rich character development, some romance, complex ideas, thoughtful themes, all set in the picturesque English countryside. What's not to love?! If you're a Jane Austen fan, you'll enjoy this one.

I am sad to say I really did not like this book, but I did not hate it. I just feel it was ok. I was really looking forward to book this, so I was really sad it was not a book I loved. I was kindly provided an e-copy of this book by the publisher or author via NetGalley, booksirens, or goodreads giveaway in exchange for an honest review.

As a massive fan of Jane Austen, I was extremely excited to read this book. I enjoyed how the author described various Jane Austen books and characters throughout the book.

Chawton, the home of the famed author Jane Austen, is still the home to some of her distant relatives. In 1945, when her home and legacy are compromised, a group of like-minded individuals gets together to form the Jane Austen Society in hopes of preserving all things Jane Austen related. The members often discuss why the stories and characters are essential to each member of the society. The Society members included a variety of characters, such as a movie star, a doctor, and a handyman, and I delighted how they all shared a common interest.

This book was slow to start, and the author took her time to develop each character and to bring them together. Overall, I did not mind the slow pace, but at times I felt it was a bit boring. However, the closer I got to the end, I thought that the story was rushed to bring to a close. Despite these few issues, I was pleased with the book. I particularly liked that the author included men as a part of the Jane Austen Society and showed that men are fond of her books as well as women.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book.

What a delightful story that Jane Austen fans will adore and even those who aren't familiar with Austen's novels will appreciate.. The characters were charming and the location of a village in England so delightful. If I could give one criticism it would be a bit of language in half-way through the book. I feel like that was unnecessary and Jack's character could have been developed without using it. Overall a 3.5 for me. Much thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for an advanced read.

I picked up this book solely because it had Jane Austen’s name in the title and I’m an avid fan of her works.
The first few chapters are sent bringing in all the characters and I wasn’t at all sure what I had signed up for. A farm laborer, a doctor, an actres, a school teacher. What could these folks have in common? Well, it turns out it’s a love for Jane Austen and a desire to preserve her home and legacy in the town of Chawton.
This is a sweet, cozy, historical fiction. Don’t go into it expecting to learn a lot. It’s much more focused on the imaginary characters than anything about the time or place. We have two strong willed heroines, the handsome cad, the good doctor, the spinster and so on. As with Austen’s own works, there are several unrequited loves and the fun is to see how they work themselves out. There are other parts of the story that echo back to Austen’s books, including the sharing of a name by the “boob”, as Evie calls him, of the story.
I recommend it for folks that like Rhys Bowen. I would not recommend it for those that aren’t fans of Austen. Another positive note is that this book propelled me to listen to an audio version of Emma.
My thanks to netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advance copy of this book.

This is ultimately a book that makes you happy you read it. It is like the Mitford series, full of characters that you have to like and enjoy set in a peaceful locale, plus Jane Austen. Really what else do you need in a book?

Wonderful story, I loved it! This reminded me very much of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. The characters are complex. The writing flows and is wonderful. I have never read a Jane Austen book but still found this interesting.
4 stars

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read and review this story. All opinions expressed are my own.

Set in Chawton, Where Jane Austen once lived, in the years after WW2 . This story follows a group of eclectic townspeople, each dealing with a painful past, who come together to celebrate their love of Jane Austen and discuss her works.

This reminded me very much of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. I loved it!

The story is mostly set in Chawton, England, where Jane Austen lived in her final years, in the years following WWII. Some of Austen's last known artifacts and her home are being threatened and a group of Austen fans come together to preserve her legacy.

The characters are complex. The writing is beautiful. The romance is so touching. Each character's relationship to Austen's work holds different meaning and I loved how well this was done. Any Jane Austen fans - this is a must read! This was such a lovely, thoughtful, read that I will gush about to any Jane Austen fans. The characters are nuanced and well developed.

A disparate group of residents band together to save the cottage where Jane Austen lived in Chawton. The group consists of a young widow, a local doctor, a Hollywood actress, a laborer, a young house maid and the daughter of the property owner. The Jane Austen Society explores the love for Jane Austen's books and how much they mean to different people from all walks of life. A thoroughly enjoyable book which reminded me of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society with the triumphs and tragedies that Jane Austen's books portrayed beautifully.

If Jane Austen was still alive today, she would love this book.

A group of people who have seemingly nothing in common, come together over one single longing, the written words of Jane Austen. I've always loved Austen and her way to bring a strong woman to life during a time when the world was against women with a voice. This book really tells the tale of people who need something from her words and how we all need each other to get us through the hard times.

The review will be live on the Book Confessions blog on 5-27-20

“If only people would be brave enough to go after what they really wanted.”

The Jane Austen Society is a historical fiction novel that takes place at the end of World War Two in Chawton, England--the last town Jane Austen lived in before she died--and it follows the story of a ragtag group of individuals who unite under a shared love of Jane Austen to preserve her books and cottage by forming the aptly-named Jane Austen Society.

What I Loved:
1. All the Jane Austen references!: This story is filled with quotes from all the Jane Austen novels, and we also get conversations between the characters about their opinions on Austen’s stories and characters. Through reading this story, I felt like I was revisting my beloved Jane Austen stories again.
That being said, if you have never read Jane Austen, much of this book will be lost on you.

2. It’s written like a Jane Austen novel:
A. Style: Jenner’s writing style is similar to that of Austen’s in her elevated language, wit, and sometimes meandering sentences. There’s a richness and elegance to the prose.
B. Content: This is very much a social commentary story in its focus on the nuances of relationships. The reader has to figure out much of what is going on with everyone’s love lifes through subtle social cues--akin to a Jane Austen novel.

3. Twists: In a similar fashion to Jane Austen, if you’re not paying close attention to the story, you will miss something important. Jenner drops shocking twists in single sentences.

What I Didn’t Love:
1. The ending was absolutely ridiculous: It was one of those ending where everything wraps up in ten pages in a completely different way than how the story had been leading up to, and very little of what caused these changes in the course of events is explained. I was happy with the ending, but felt cheated out of it due to the brevity in which it was given.

You can find my more detailed thoughts about this book on my YouTube channel, Perks of a Bookflower.
Here is the video where I discuss it: https://youtu.be/kgL7T_FsQHI
And I begin discussing it at (0:55).
Thanks to St. Martin’s Press for early access to this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Jane Austen Society is about a group of people each dealing with their own traumas, who band together because of their love for the famous author. The book is set mostly in Chawton, England where tourists flock to see the house Jane Austen wrote in.

This was a nice, relaxing read. I enjoyed learning about each of the characters. The characters have a lot of discussions centered around each of Austen's works, comparing and contrasting Austen's beloved characters.
I think this book will make a wonderful addition to the bookshelves of Jane Austen fans.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and Natalie Jenner for the advanced copy of The Jane Austen Society in exchange for my honest review.

What a delightful, heartwarming work of fiction. Jenner's book introduces readers to a delightful, sorrowful, cast of characters in the small village of Chawton, England. Each of the characters is dealing with pain and loneliness in their own way as they come together to save the legacy of Jane Austen in their home village. Through this action, the characters find themselves addressing the past and facing their futures in a way that wonderfully, and at times surprisingly, unfolds through to the final pages. I highly recommend this book to anyone that wants to enjoy a great work of fiction.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a DARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Thanks to netgalley for the arc of this book in exchange for an honest review. i enjoyed the later half of the book once the society got started but the book did take a while to get there. I enjoyed reading how the characters enjoyed Jane Austen and how her novels helped them in their every day lives. Which made me think about rereading a few once i was done with this book. If you're a fan of Austin I think you'd enjoy this book.