The premise of this book is really interesting. While reading it, it felt like parts of the plot weren’t developed as fully as they could’ve been, which made it a really slow read. It was also very slow burn: almost too much for me at times. Again, the premise is great. 2.5 rounded up.

‘Her experience of women inhabiting country houses was limited to reading - and watching televised adaptations of - Jane Austen books, along with reruns of Downton Abbey. So what would Jane Austen do with her day?’

With Jane Austen in the book title, how could I resist? What Would Jane Austen Do? is a fun, light romance read with an enemies to lovers trope - just right for that inbetween read.

‘… after all, Elizabeth Bennet didn’t get her first glance of Pemberley and think, ooh, I bet that will involve a lot of dusting.’

Jane Austen fans will appreciate the carefully selected quotes at the start of each chapter that lightly align with the given theme. However, given the book title, I was expecting stronger Jane Austen ties that in reality were only fleetingly mentioned. This book could easily remove that draw card name and present as a standalone.

‘Jane Austen would say that if you like someone, make it clear that you do, but don’t put your feelings on public display unless you’re sure they’re reciprocated. Otherwise you’re heading straight into Marianne Dashwood territory.’
‘Who’s she?’

Maddy inherits an English manor but of course there is a stipulation that she must live for one year in the home. Intrigued with the inheritance, she investigates this distant cousin and the surrounding mystery; she gets involved in the local literary festival and takes on a cranky lodger and this is where the light romance comes into play. All these aspects come together for an easy paced read and when you add in an adorable dog there is enough to engage readers.







This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.

What a fun book! This has great tropes, and is a winner for Jane Austen fans. Recommend!

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for this book.

Maddy, a true romantic. moves to the country and meets a crime writer, Cameron who is anything but a romantic. When he moves in as her lodger, how will they get on.? Funny and really enjoyable.

A Fun romance full of quirky characters and an adorable dog. Set in the present time mostly in a small village of Cotlington near London.
Maddy loses her job as a correspondent for a magazine answering Dear Jane questions on love and relationships. As she contemplates how she can afford to keep living in a flat with her friend she is given news that she has inherited a house in the village of Cotlington when her father’s uncle dies.
A condition of the will requires that Maddy must live in the house for twelve months. Maddy is a fan of Jane Austen and romance novels. Each chapter starts with a quote from one of Jane Austen’s books.
I loved the way Maddy got involved in village life and helps plan a literary festival. To earn some extra cash Maddy agrees to let Luke Hamilton stay in her house as a lodger for a short time. Luke is a mystery writer who is not a fan of romance novels and is having trouble writing his next novel. Maddy and Luke clash over the merits of romance novels versus mystery novels.
This was about village life, literary festivals and writers. Lots of humorous situations.

As a Austen fanatic myself I just loved this book. I have often wondered the title question myself and this was just a fun journey and I hope you read it and like it as much as I do.

What Would Jane Austen Do? is without a doubt one of my favourite books of the year so far! I absolutely loved it!

Maddy is such a lovely character I absolutely want to be friends with her.

Things are looking pretty bleak at the beginning of the book. Maddy is made redundant from her agony aunt job, and her meagre savings means she won’t be able to stay in London for long. And then, in true romantic heroine fashion, she inherits a house from a long-lost relative.

Maddy,s plans to sell up and stay in London are thwarted when the solicitors reveal a strange clause in long-lost Cousin Nigel’s will – she has to live there for a year and becomes chair of the village literary festival.

Like many an Austen heroine before her, Maddy has to put aside her pride and prejudice and get to know the villagers. Before long she is actually excited about the literary festival and repairing the house.

The only thorn in her side is Cameron Massey, a best-selling local author whose views of fiction are the opposite of Maddy’s. He may be good-looking and intelligent but he’s also sulky and brooding. Is he her Mr Darcy?

This is a fantastic romance with lots of humour and fun along the way. The supporting cast are interesting and compliment the main characters well. Buster the dog is a scene stealer.

The back story of Nigel, the family black sheep, is really interesting and adds a poignancy to the story. Maddy works hard to get to know a man who is so adored in the village but ridiculed by his family.

I loved Maddy and Luke’s relationship. They come to really appreciate each other despite more than a few misunderstandings. Of course, it ends with a happily ever after – but it is a very satisfying one.

I also loved the Austen quotes at the beginning of each chapter. They were such a joy and will make you want to reread all Austen’s books, too.

A very cute and enjoyable read! The main character is just so likeable, I was totally rooting for her. The chemistry between Maddy and Luke was so well written from the beginning.

Read if you like:
- small town romance
- enemies to lovers
- grumpy x sunshine
- forced proximity
- closed door romance

Life's throwing curve balls Maddy Shaw's way
Sacked from her job, she has a lot to say
When a crime writer, Cameron Massey, suggests romance
Is bland, predictable and shouldn't have a chance!

When Maddy challenges him to write romance
He thinks it'll be easy, but won't give it a chance.
Then she learns a distant relative has sadly died
And left her his home if there for a year she'll reside!

What she never expected was to discover, you'll see,
Is how highly esteemed the deceased seems to be.
The village community his praises sing
And living in his home new tasks for Maddie will bring!

There's drama, a lodger, a festival to run,
A mystery, family history and work to be done.
A new place to live, new friends to make
And new activities in which to partake!

A fun romcom with Jane Austen quotes, too,
As Maddy uses the author's works to tell her what to do.
There's a delightful dog and secrets to uncover
As well as a chance for romance to discover!

A heartwarming read to put a smile on your face
As Maddy meets the challenges of living in a new place.
For my complementary copy, I say thank you,
As I share with you this, my honest review.

An enjoyable light hearted read which i would happily recommend. Many great characters, a little mystery and cute romance, what’s not to like?!

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with an early access copy for an exchange of a honest review.

If you are a Jane Austen fan, this book is for you!

‘What Would Jane Austen Do?’ is packed with Austen references along with great characters and a cute dog!

This book was great, it was light and cute and a quick read. It helped me out of a slump and it felt really good and refreshing to read this.
I liked the enemies to lovers and forced proximity.

If you like Jane Austen, the countryside, enemies to lovers, a CUTE DOG and a sweet romance then I definitely recommend this book.

Cute contemporary romance.
However the title of the novel is misleading and was not needed.

A woman, Mandy loses her jobs and happens to discover she has inherited a long lost uncle’s mansion. With having to move and everything her life changes and the characters we meet in the new village are so lovely and warm, some are quirky.

The chapters are very long though it would take me at least 20 minutes to finish one when usually it would be about 5 minutes.

I did enjoy the story however it was so slowly paced it took me a while to read even though I really enjoyed the cozy warm plot.

There is no way I see a Jane Austen themed romance novel pop up and don't immediately read it, so thank you to #NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC!

I'll start with the things I didn't like, and save the good stuff for last...

Unfortunately, I didn't really enjoy the Austen part of the story... Mostly because it felt a little obsolete? Not that the main character would be an Austen fan, I mean that's reasonable enough, but that I fail to see why that is an integral part of the story? There aren't really any similarities to Austens characters other than the fact that our main character and her love interest at first don't get along (Lizzie and Darcy). But come on, that is too common to use as a connection to Austen readers? I think it would have worked better if there had been either more or less of the Austen thing, because right now it feels a bit random.

I do wonder though if it's because I didn't like the love interest, at all. I never felt that his bad behaviour was justified and that made it hard to accept the love story...

ON TO THE GOOD STUFF!
I seems a bit weird now that I've said that I didn' t particularly like the Austen parts or the love interest, but I actually really enjoyed this book. Everything that was a bout a young woman moving out to the country, to this big old house, and being coerced into running a literary festival was everything I like in a feelgood romance. It had charm, humor, warmth, etc. If the whole book had been about Maddy finding a purpose living in the country, setting up the literary festival and trying to figure out what her life should be like - I probably would have loved it!

Summing up - this book is definitely worth a read, but would have been even greater without the love interest. I even see the Austen thing working better without him...

this book was such a fun read! as always, i was a big fan of the enemies to lovers + forced proximity trope! i really did like both the characters and their contrasting personalities but i do wish we got to see a deeper connection with them and a bit more chemistry. however, i did really like how there was a bit of mystery as a sub plot which made the book even more interesting!

if you’re a jane austen fan then i definitely recommend this book to you! thanks to netgalley and the publisher for sending me this arc. all opinions are my own.

I have seen and interacted with Linda on social media and even bought her book Love You From A-Z, but I have not gotten around to reading it yet. Nevertheless, I was really excited to hear about this new book. Two writers suddenly living near each other and forced to be around each other but with completely different ideas about what a good author does.
I perhaps had high hopes for this book and I really enjoyed it, but I didn't love it as much as I had hoped. I am personally not a die hard Jane Austen fan or anything, so the fact that each chapter started with a Jane Austen quote did not really do anything for me.
Overall I enjoyed both the story line, the mysteries and finding out how Maddy would cope suddenly being in the countryside and around a crime writer she had not hit it off with when she first met, but I wasn't so caught up in the story that I found it hard to put down. This could be partially due to my 15 week old puppy taking up a lot of my time and energy, making it harder for me to fully focus on the story in front of me, so for that I must apologize.

TRIGGER WARNING: Some bad language and a small scene in the bedroom.

I haven’t got any of Jane Austen’s books. The idea of Jane Austen Fandom and a difficult neighbor really appealed to me and I was eager to find out what the book was like, I was unfortunately not very interested in the plot. I didn’t see what the bad language and the bedroom scene bought to the plot.

3 stars

Thanks to Linda Corbett, Harper Collins UK and Rachel’s Random Resources for my eARC in exchange for an honest and voluntary review.

I instantly fell in love with the characters and loved every second of reading this book. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of the book in exchange for a review.

This was sweet and cute and I adored it.
I enjoyed the characters and the setting. The Nigel subplot was extremely confusing and disappoining, but overall I highlu recommend the book

Maddy has lost her job. But when a relative passes away and leaves her with an old English Mansion, her answers could be solved until she finds out she must live in the mansion for one year before selling.

But soon this Jane Austen-style life becomes more complicated and things may also heat up.

This was a really fun, light-hearted and delightful narrative; the reader is rooting for the love interests from the start and I didn’t want it to end. I loved the character of Maddy as she is given different challenges which just add to the narrative.
This was a really great book and one for all the Jane Austin fans.

This is a book which lovers of Jane Austen will appreciate as there are so many allusions to her stories and characters within it. Maddy is a likeable character who is at the crossroads in some ways and ends up completely out of her comfort zone due to circumstances. Just as in Pride and Prejudice, first impressions prove to be misleading. Luke and Maddy hardly get off to the best start. Even the black sheep of the family, Nigel Shaw turns out to have some secrets in his past which lead his family to reassess their views on him.

The inhabitants of rural Cotlington are a varied and amusing lot. Even better than them is Buster, Luke's adorable dog. This gentle romance has plenty to make you smile. I loved the Austen quotes at the beginning of every chapter which were so appropriate to the forthcoming events. Maddy finds herself co-opted into the position of the chair of the literary festival which was the brainchild of Nigel. This fitted in so well with the story.

In short: well worth a read