sophia_sol | Midnight in Austenland, by Shannon Hale

Or: Austenland does gothic romance. It was a really fun book! And overall rather charming, which is not a word I would usually expect to use for a gothic. But I was glad to have checked the end early on in the game so I knew a) that yes there really was a murder, and b) who the murderer was. And then I quite enjoyed it. The main character, Charlotte, is great, and I love the narrative tone of voice. I could take or leave the romance itself, but it's fine and there's nothing about it I actually object to.

Also: I seem to recall having found Miss Charming rather annoying in the first book but this time I came round to being 100% in favour of Miss Charming. SHE'S GREAT. I mean I'm sure I would find her really super annoying in person but she's genuinely a good and capable and caring person.