How many Austen re-tellings do we need? SHUT UP HATERS, AT LEAST ONE MORE THAN WE ALREADY HAVE.
Okay, so besides being enemies to lovers, this isn’t a re-telling, it is literally a time travel novel and doesn’t follow an Austen format, but Austen herself makes a cameo.
Tess Bright has left her TV show to make a Jane Austen movie with co-star Hugh. They really get under each others skin, he doesn’t think an American TV star is worthy to do a British classic, and she thinks he is pompous. Tess has recently lost her mother, who adored Austen, and doing this movie makes her feel closer to her mom. An unexplained electricity accident puts them both back in the 1800’s in their period costumes. They are in and around Hugh’s family and they mistake him for his great-great-great-grandfather. Which is insane as you have 31 other sets of DNA in there (?) but for the sake of romance, let’s pretend they are identical.
What follows is a funny series of misunderstandings and cast of characters. The author has some points to make about how far we have come (and not) since this time. Hugh and Tess use their research to help them assimilate into the culture, all the while working together to find a way home, which they seem indecently confident they can get back to the present time. Naturally, as they work together they find commonalities and slowly fall in love.
I really liked Tess and I felt her emotions- Hugh, as a Brit, is a little more buttoned up, but dedicated to his craft. I really enjoyed the little boy, who was sick and then recovered. He was a very cute character, and I love the way that the audiobook narrator voiced him and all of the British accents. Only one narrator on this one but she was very engaging and really allowed Tess vulnerability in her inner dialogue.
Read if you like;
Enemies to Lovers
Austen theming
Recent loss of parent
Time Travel – fish out of water stories
Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for the ALC. Book to be published September 16, 2025.
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