I almost feel like I don’t need to tell you anything at all about Jane Austen Goes to Hollywood. You already know if this is a book you might like.
It is exactly what it sounds like — a modern day retelling of a Jane Austen story, that happens to take place in Hollywood.
Wanna know more? Ok.
This particular re-telling is a version of Sense & Sensibility. Not my favorite Austen, but certainly not my least favorite, either. I was game for an update, knowing I probably wasn’t getting something of the same quality as say, Clueless, or Bridget Jones’ Diary.
And it wasn’t as good as those. But honestly, it wasn’t that bad. I even enjoyed it.
Our story centers around Grace and Hallie, sisters living in San Francisco with their artist mother when their father dies at the beginning of the book. Hallie and Grace find themselves pushed aside by their new stepmother, the awful Portia. And as time passes, they find that Portia will stop at nothing to ensure that Grace and Hallie are left with nothing. They inherit nothing (their fathers vast fortune will be left entirely to their half-brother, Dashwood), and they lose their house. They aren’t even sure where they’ll end up living, until a distant cousin in Hollywood comes to their rescue.
Their “Uncle Auggie” produces Lifetime TV movies in Hollywood and lives in Beverly Hills. He and his very young wife have a guest house sitting empty. And so the girls and their mom find themselves living jn a strange new house in a strange city filled with even stranger people.
And so the story chugs along, offering up few surprises, but still entirely pleasant. Of course we know that Portia’s awesome brother won’t end up with that horrid British nanny, Lucy. And we can see from a mile away what’s going to happen when Hallie falls for a musician trying to get a record deal, instead of the sweet Brandon who loves next door.
This book goes for about $2.50 on Kindle, and really, I’m not complaining. I think I got my money’s worth.
Interesting. It sounds pleasantly harmless. I may have to pick it up sometime. Thanks for drawing my attention to it!