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    Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict
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    Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict
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    Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict
    Ebook322 pages5 hours

    Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict

    By Laurie Viera Rigler

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    Jane Mansfield, a gentleman's daughter in 1813 England, has long wished to escape a life in which career choices are limited to wife or maiden aunt. But awakening one morning in twenty-first-century Los Angeles - in the body of someone called Courtney Stone - is not exactly what she had in mind.

    Jane must quickly get to grips with a world in which everyone thinks she is Courtney Stone: a dizzying world of horseless metal carriages, unrestricted clothing, tiny apartments, all manner of flirting,and unheard-of liberties for womankind. The only thing Jane appears to have in common with Courtney is a love for the novels of Jane Austen. But are the wise words of her favourite novelist enough to guide her through this bewildering new world? And what is she to make of Courtney's attentive friend Wes, who is as attractive and confusing as the man who broke her heart back home?

    As Courtney's romantic entanglements become her own, Jane wonders: Would she actually be better off back in Regency England - and will she ever be able to return?
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBloomsbury Publishing
    Release dateFeb 7, 2011
    ISBN9781408817834
    Author

    Laurie Viera Rigler

    Laurie Viera Rigler is the author of Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict and Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict. Laurie is also the creator of Sex and the Austen Girl, the Babelgum comedy web series inspired by Laurie's Austen Addict novels. A longtime resident of the very same Echo Park/Silverlake neighborhood in Los Angeles in which Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict is set, Laurie now lives in nearby Pasadena, California, with her filmmaker husband and their cat. Her online home is at janeaustenaddict.com.

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    Reviews for Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict

    3.5/5

    234 ratings87 reviews

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    • 5/5
      After finishing Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict I just had to find more. I love stories about Jane Austin and time travel. I loved the way this book kept going back and forth between the centuries and the confused characters. It was wonderful to follow each of them realizing where they were and how to deal in this new and so drastically different environment. I loved it!!
    • 5/5
      Excellent sequel to the first. Seeing what happened on the other side, this book completes the story that was started in Confessions. Actually, I found this book more entertaining that the first because this scenario would be so much more confusing. For anyone that is a fan of Austen's works, these books are fabulous.
    • 3/5
      Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict is a light romp through the world of contemporary romance for Austenite, Jane Mansfield. She tries devilishly hard to assimilate in California 2009, and does very well. By the end of the book, she's not only dumped a cad and bagged babe, but successfully traded lives with her modern day counterpart for good. All's well that ends well . . . I only wish there had been an unexpected turn of events or a bit more drama. I enjoyed the book but it hasn't left a lasting impression.
    • 4/5
      After reading the first book, [Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict], I was so hoping that we would get to see the other side of the switch. I was not disappointed!I could not put this book down once I started it. I was intrigued from the beginning as to how Courtney/Jane was going to adjust to modern life. I think the description of Jane and her first encounter with the television and the Pride and Prejudice movie is my favorite bit.A really fast, great read. I would recommend it to any fan of Jane Austen.
    • 4/5
      Sequels or prequels can be a tricky thing. When the first book is well received, readers have an expectation that the next book will be just as good, perhaps even better. An author venturing into such territory takes a great risk. Laurie Viera Rigler took an even bigger risk as her primary demographic is Jane Austen fans. As one myself, we can be a demanding, unforgiving bunch with very high expectations. After all, any author willing to take characters (and beloved ones, at that) that Ms. Austen created herself, or make Ms. Austen directly or indirectly the subject of their book must be prepared to be compared to Ms. Austen in some fashion. I adored Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict. I will say that I am a somewhat obsessive freak over time travel - - the idea, stories about it - - and you have read my profile, you know that I have a fascination with Jane Austen fan fic and sequels. Confessions (and Rude Awakenings) fit both molds for me. Ms. Viera Rigler made a wonderfully relatable heroine - - Courtney - - and her details of Regency life were a delight to read.I was thrilled to hear of a follow up novel and Ms. Viera Rigler does not disappoint. Rude Awakenings is a fun romp of a read - - joining Jane Mansfield, who manages to find herself in Courtney’s body, while Courtney s ostensibly in hers. The problem - - and fascination - - being that Jane is from 1813 England and is now in present-day Los Angeles. Her shock, awe and fear over our daily necessities like cars, televisions, phones and electricity is humorous and humbling. Of particular joy to me was Jane’s thrill over finding out not only the author’s name of her favorite book (Pride & Prejudice) but that she had written five more completed novels during her lifetime. Not only did Jane have to navigate a thoroughly modern world she had no experience with but also had to pick up Courtney’s life with her friends, co-workers, a job, problems with her mother and a recently broken engagement. Rude Awakenings was a worthy follow-up to Confessions, answering questions posed and left unanswered in the first book. Readers should be pleased not only with Jane’s dilemma but also with a bit of further information given about Courtney as well as more character development for Jane herself. This book was so good, such a fun read, that I raced through it in about two and a half days (and weekdays, while working). I would recommend it for all Jane Austen fans, fans of the Regency era or other historical fiction and especially anyone who has read Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict.
    • 1/5
      I let myself read over 100 pages, just to be sure I could not possibly be as wrong about a book as I was about this one. But no, the dialogue doesn't get any better, the writing doesn't improve, the characters stay ridiculous, and the premise remains utterly stupid. The best part of the book? The fabulous cover, with a woman in Regency dress holding an iPod. Quite cheeky -- but take my advice and stop there. The book reads like the worst kind of novel, completely pedestrian and sophomoric.
    • 2/5
      This book was even worse than the first one. This book follows the adventures of Jane Mansfield of regency England as she is thrust into the body and life of Courtney Stone, a 30-something living in Los Angeles in the early 2000s. While in Jane's life, Courtney had gone to parties, learned to sew, avoided parents, etc. In Courtney's life, Jane fails to pay the bills, quits Courtney's job, and gets married to someone who thinks she is Courtney. That's quite a lot to do when one is the guardian of someone else's life. Jane somehow magically knows how to do lots of things, including: a) use a computer to surf the internet and look things up on Google, b) drive a car through the streets of Los Angeles, including knowing where people live and how to get there, c) swim in the ocean, and d) use a TV and DVD player to watch movies . All of this is explained away by something called "cellular memory" in which each cell of Courtney's body remembers how to do those things. *Insert retching noises here* At the end of the second book, Jane is still happily living in Courtney's body, fucking with her life. So, they don't switch back? What's the point in "fixing" someone else's life and having someone else "fix" yours if you never switch back?? I'm not sure how that is supposed to work.This book was mildly interesting while I was listening to it, but it left a bad taste in my mouth.
    • 1/5
      A gentleman's daughter from the Regency period gets transported into the body of a modern day woman living in Los Angeles. Jane explores the tech, mannerisms and sensibilities of her new world. It's all astoundingly banal for a time-travel novel. There's a romance that makes no sense--if Wes was so deeply in love with Courtney, then why on earth would he be in love with someone who looks like her but has a completely different personality? There is no plot at all. Reading my way through this made me feel tired.
    • 4/5
      Great companion novel to the earlier Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict. This time, we get to see what happened to Jane Mansfield while the 21st century Courtney Stone is occupying her body back in 1813. Jane is transported to Courtney's LA life, where living is much more fast-paced than her days at home. I think the future would be much harder to get used to and Rigler did a wonderful job with Jane's language and shock at things like dressing yourself and exposed legs.
    • 5/5
      When I finished reading Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict I really hoped there would be a sequel. I'm pleased to report that author Laurie Viera Rigler wrote the sequel - really more of a parallel story - and it will be in bookstores on June 25, 2009. If you haven't read the first book I would recommend it as I found I could jump right into the sequel without needing to ask any questions. But, if for some reason you can't do that, let me just say that "Confessions of a JAA" is the story of a 21st century young woman (Courtney Stone) who wakes up in the body of a young woman (Jane Mansfield) in Regency England and must live her life. Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict is the story of Jane Mansfield waking up in 21st century Los Angeles in the body of Courtney Stone. Confused yet? Just sit back, relax, and enjoy the fun adventures of Courtney and then Jane in both books. Now on to my thoughts about the most recent. . .Imagine waking up in a future century where you don't understand the lexicon much less the devices, etc. of this new life you're living. That's what Jane Mansfield grapples with as well as not knowing her friends (even though they claim to know her). Television, telephones, computers, cars, refrigerators, iPods - these are just some of the things Jane doesn't have a clue about how to use. Not only that but Jane (in her former life) is used to having servants do most things for her and now (in this new life) she must figure out everything. And that includes doing her own laundry:"It is but a couple of hours later that I deposit a pile of washing upon the bed's soft red coverlet. My satisfaction in having learnt how to use the washing machine has an alloy, for despite my certainty of having followed every instruction on the lid of the device, I am left with a miniature version of a white dress that I now hold in my hands. I suppose I might pull apart the dress and make a set of handkerchiefs. Or a fichu. If, that is, I could but locate a needle and thread. I have seen neither a workbag nor a needle-case. Not even a thimble in this house.It is only upon folding the pile of garments that I discover they, too, come with instructions. It appears that each garment requires a different washing temperature and method of drying. I do hope there are a greater number of literate people in this time than there were in mine. Otherwise a great many people will find themselves with doll's clothing."I enjoyed seeing Jane become immersed in Courtney's world. Laurie Viera Rigler had me laughing much of the time and cheering for Jane as she found her way in her new surroundings and relationships. There is so much more to the book but I think you'll enjoy discovering it on your own without advance notice from me. I know I'll be reading both books again. If you're looking to be entertained by something a little different you can't go wrong with Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict.
    • 3/5
      I had a hard time with this book. Generally I enjoy this type of time-travel story, where the main character is out of her time and her surroundings are foreign to her. I thoroughly enjoyed the prequel to this book (Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict), and was looking forward to reading this. But in this story, the constant descriptions of modern items in Regency-era terms became tiring. And honestly, the main character, Jane Mansfield, seemed to become too quickly accustomed to using a computer, a coffee maker, and other modern conveniences. The plot was confusing, and quite frankly, not that interesting. I never did fully understand the relationships between Courtney, Frank and Wes. Maybe that was because it has been so long since I read the first book?Overall, I was disappointed. Maybe I should stick with stories of modern characters going back in time, rather than the other way around.
    • 4/5
      This book was exactly what I expected: fun! Actually, I was quite impressed by the amount of detail Rigler put into her book: everything from language mannerisms, to technological discoveries and reactions to customs and habits - she does a great job at creating an authentic experience which is both believable and amusing right down to the amnesia and reincarnation phenomena. There were definitely a few lapses which throw off the reader (Jane is, apparently, a fast learner). However, these are fairly rare. I also liked the parallel of eras regarding views toward marriage: not much changed it would seem and certainly not to advantage of women. A light heart-warming tale.
    • 2/5
      I loved the first book in this sequence. This one was very disappointing and hard to engage in. Much more fun to "travel" from the present to the past (as in the first book), than the other way around (this book). Nevertheless, Rigler does a passable job attempting to do so; she just doesn't quite pull it off.
    • 4/5
      In a reversal of time travel, Jane Mansfield moves from the 19th century into Courtney Stone's present day life. Trapped in this modern day, Jane is exposed to the remainder of Jane Austen's work (and loves them as much as the rest of us), learns about cellular devices, and finds that men and women associate alone? Shocking! I thoroughly enjoyed watching this 19th century character, with the actions and behaviors of a time long gone, learn about the wonderful freedoms of this modern era. I won't lie. I like it when the "time traveler" focuses on the exciting new positives of where they live, and not the traumatic, negative social differences they see. This particular story did just that, in showing how Jane became enamored with not just the things of this modern era, but the people as well. And somehow along the way, it seems Jane learns that a person's heart, regardless of time period, will always be the most important factor in finding true love.Overall, I found this my favorite of Rigler's two novels.
    • 2/5
      Slow start. Author seemed to be trying to write like Jane Austen, but with her own spin... didn't quite hit it. It had a Jane-esque ending, though.
    • 3/5
      This was a quick read. Overall, I was fairly satisfied with the story. It was definitely entertaining and the look "behind-the-scenes" of Jane Austen novels was humorous and eye opening. However, the ending of the novel left something to be desired. Rigler did not neatly tie up the ending to her novel as Austen does with hers. I was left wondering what happened to everyone and if the "body-switch" had any lasting effects on the main character.
    • 4/5
      great fun.
    • 3/5
      This was a quick read. Overall, I was fairly satisfied with the story. It was definitely entertaining and the look "behind-the-scenes" of Jane Austen novels was humorous and eye opening. However, the ending of the novel left something to be desired. Rigler did not neatly tie up the ending to her novel as Austen does with hers. I was left wondering what happened to everyone and if the "body-switch" had any lasting effects on the main character.
    • 4/5
      I know the reviews are mixed on this book, but I really enjoyed it. It was an easy read and I was done in a day and a half. May be would be a good beach read or one to take on a long weekend trip. If you ever get one of those. I found it funny and entertaining, not too deep.
    • 3/5
      When a 21st century woman wakes up to find herself in Jane Austen's England, she discovers that her romanticized view she has of the world might have left out a few things. She did recognize a woman's place in her reading, but had not realized just how rigid the class and gender constrictions were. She had no idea of the smell or the conditions, such as chamber pots and having to haul water to take a bath. A well written, readable story that does leave quite a few plot holes. Not a bad read for a quiet afternoon when you don't want to work too hard.
    • 3/5
      I wet back and forth about giving this 3 or 4 stars. I settled on 3 because, though it was a fun read, I didn't finish the book feeling like my life had been changed by it. It's a fun and easy read - so I definitely recommend it if you want something entertaining that you can veg out with and not have to think too hard about. I liked it enough I will check out the sequel "Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict".
    • 5/5
      Being a big Jane Austen fan, I just had to read this one. Courtney, a modern woman from LA, who is having man troubles, wakes up one day to find herself in a bedroom in nineteenth-century England. She is a big Jane Austen fan and remembers going to sleep while reading Pride & Prejudice. Courtney just figures she's dreaming. Sound bizarre? It gets better. Courtney finds herself being called Jane Mansfield and living with her meddling other and her father. Her mother is trying to make Jane marry Mr. Edgeworth. Courtney figures she might as well play along, since she will wake up anytime from this odd dream. Strangely enough Courtney is even talking in an English accent and is able to do beautiful needlework with no problem. As the days pass, and she doesn't awake from this dream, Courtney starts to worry. She wonders what is going on. She thinks maybe she is losing her mind. She starts to have flashbacks and memories, these are Jane's memories. Courtney starts to put the pieces of the puzzle together when her best friend and Edgeworth's sister, Mary, comes to visit her and fills her in on some details. Including Jane's recent encounter with a fortune teller when she wished for another life. I found this to be a fun, light read. It made me laugh out loud, at work no less, as I was reading certain parts. I really liked how the author refers back to Austen novels, quotes and characters throughout the story. At one point, while riding in the horse and buggy to church with her parents, Courtney...a.k.a... Jane, looks out and sees Pemberley in the distance. As for the main character, Courtney, I liked her. The annoying thing about her was that she depended upon men too much. For example, in her pre-Austen life, her fiancee is cheating on her, and when she catches him, they break up. As he's packing his things to leave their apartment, she's checking out his butt and wishing he'd stay with her. She even acknowledges being attracted to the wrong men throughout the story, and has to remind herself not to give into temptation. I found that part about her character weak. And the ending was a little weak as well. It felt a bit rushed. I would have liked a better explanation as to why and how Courtney became Jane. All in all, this was a very entertaining, very sweet read. I recommend it, especially to Jane Austen fans.'That's when I decided to order myself a large clam-and-garlic pizza and reread Pride and Prejudice. I would self-medicate with fat, carbohydrates, and Jane Austen, my number one drug of choice, my constant companion through every breakup, every disappointment, every crisis. Men might come and go, but Jane Austen was always there.'
    • 3/5
      This is a fun, light-hearted listen - - especially if you're a Jane Austen fan. Rigler writes time travel stories where the time travel isn't the main plot point in the book. Instead it's a device for getting two women to the men they'll fall in love with. This book was especially fun watching a girl from Austen's time deal with our modern day conveniences.

      These aren't spectacular books. They're just fun, clean listens. Reading is a great narrator. If you're an Austen fan, you'll enjoy these books.
    • 5/5
      you should in any case read both books, i really liked the idea, the setting and it was witty and a delightful reading.
    • 4/5
      This book was actually better than I thought it was going to be. I grabbed it onsale at BAM and decided to bring it in to work and listen to it. I found myself just sitting and listening, not even working quite often.

      The plot is pretty structured, but it has some tiny twists you don't quite expect. The main character is a tad bit predictable, and I wanted to smack her a couple of times for not editing her behavior to fit regency England, but she is a strong women and a very good character in my opinion. The plot slowed down a tad but right at the middle, around the trip to Bath, but other than that, everything flowed well and worked together I am definitely going to read the next book in this duo. Can't wait actually.
    • 2/5
      This book was a total drag. I was hoping for it to be a fun likeness to the movie Lost In Austen. I did not like the main character at all. The bits about Jane Austen and her novels just seemed to be tossed in randomly and not always relevant. Really glad this was a short one because I did not care for it.
    • 4/5
      A quick and easy read. I so enjoyed Laurie Rigler's sharp wit and sarcasm, and I liked her protagonist Courtney Stone immensely. The best Austen-inspired novel I've read to date.
    • 3/5
      Sweet, fun light as air. I shan't remember it in a week, but I enjoyed the few days I spent reading.
    • 3/5
      When a 21st century woman wakes up to find herself in Jane Austen's England, she discovers that her romanticized view she has of the world might have left out a few things. She did recognize a woman's place in her reading, but had not realized just how rigid the class and gender constrictions were. She had no idea of the smell or the conditions, such as chamber pots and having to haul water to take a bath. A well written, readable story that does leave quite a few plot holes. Not a bad read for a quiet afternoon when you don't want to work too hard.
    • 2/5
      Courtney Stone, a modern-day LA girl and addict of the Austen novels, in the midst of yet another binge following the collapse of her engagement, is suddenly -- at least mentally -- hurled back in time and into the body of Regency spinster Jane Mansfield (geddit?). She soon finds that she's living amid both the best and the worst of the era from which the novels she so adores were born. Is rich youngish widower Charles Edgeworth, whom her bitch mother wants her to marry, really the delight he seems or in fact a heartless seducer who will wed Jane and then oppress her vilely while bedding any passing miss who takes his fancy? Can Charles's sister Mary really be as ingenuous and sweet-natured as she seems? Did Jane, before the "arrival" of Courtney's personality to replace her own, bed or not bed the servant James with whom she obviously had some kind of romantic dalliance on the rebound from an earlier disillusion with Charles? Will Courtney ever be able to return to her 21st-century existence? Has Courtney always really loved Wes, whom she's thought of as merely her best friend? Is Jane's mind inhabiting Courtney's life in the 21st century even as Courtney's life is inhabiting Jane's in the early 19th? Why is Jane's artist father producing Cubist paintings over a century before the style will be invented?

      This last two questions never get answered, and nor, really, does the very vital one of how it came about that Courtney's mind made the transition through time from one body to the other, from one life to the other. It does emerge that at some stage not long ago Jane visited a fairground fortune-teller and expressed the wish that she could live someone else's life rather than her own; soon after this she fell off her horse and lay unconscious for a while until awakening with Courtney in occupation. This doesn't seem more than a mumbo-jumbo explanation, as if the author ducked the challenge; when Courtney/Jane encounters the fortune-teller again, there's no elucidation, just further mumbo jumbo along Wisdom of Yoda lines . . . or perhaps along Sarah Palin lines:

      Your problem is your mind [says the fortune-teller:], which, as I said before, does entirely too much thinking. You know, it is a little known fact that thinking is entirely overrated. The world would be a much better place if we all did a lot less of it.

      Much more interesting than this supposedly meaningful anti-intellectualism is Rigler's rationale for how Courtney can experience occasional fleeting memories of events in Jane's life before the mental transition occurred:

      My mind, my very identity, is tied up in all the memories of the life I called my own, my life as Courtney Stone. Yet that bundle of memories, that thing I call my self, is residing in Jane's body. And that body has a physical brain of its own. And that brain has memories imprinted on it -- visual, experiential, sensory memories. Perhaps the more I become used to living in Jane's body and using her brain, the more I am starting to access her memories.

      I wish there'd been lots more of this sort of thought-provoking stuff in Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict rather than what came to seem, at least to me, interminable gigglish scenes in which Courtney comes close to giving herself away or being thought mad as she voices liberated 21st-century attitudes into a Jane Austen world, or in which she speculates what might might happen here if she simply banged whichever hunky male has this time caught her fancy rather than merely flirting with him. In this context, the primary frustration is when Courtney/Jane actually runs into Jane Austen (who was publishing her novels anonymously) and, rather than having a conversation with her that might, say, expand our understanding of the background to the novels, blows the encounter by fangirlishly babbling about the movie adaptations -- references which, of course, mean absolutely nothing to Austen. If the scene were funny this might be an excuse for wasting the opportunity; as it is, this seems like just yet another ducked challenge.

      All in all, the book's moderately entertaining, in the sense that I did actually get to the end of it. But its lack of ambition, its inability to convey (at least to me) any sense of place and the fact that its central situation doesn't seem properly thought through -- all these meant I found it difficult to think of this as anything more than a bit of moderately well written fluff.