Austenland and Midnight in Austenland, by Shannon Hale

       

Not recommended due to the "flame in the veins" factor. I've been told Austenland is mild for Chic Lit, but it doesn't interest me to get those feelings from reading.

Austenland is a beautiful story of finding oneself and breaking out of a self-imposed mold. The flames are limited to a few make-out sessions.

Midnight in Austenland was a fun murder-mystery romance in a modern Agatha Christie style, but the main character was quite a bit more open about her feelings and thoughts about others' feelings throughout the book. There is value in the story of a divorced woman coming to terms with her new life/love life, but I fell any benefit from the story is more than negated.

While I do not recommend reading the novel, I did find several things in it that I pondered:

• On page 68 Hale comments "Even stories need a chance to sleep." I thought that was interesting from all sorts of view points, especially given that I often read a story in one sitting.
• A fun analogy on page 84 about murderers: "She would make a horrible murderer, more afraid of her victims than they were of her, a feeble spider trembling on her web. Stay away, flies! Please, stay away!" 
• Another thought-provoking nature analogy I found on page 116: "Wind made everything opaque--wind made everything move." The whole paragraph about the differences between wind in the city and wind in the country was beautiful and ominous.
• She is drawing the silhouette of a gentleman and thinks, "It was an odd exercise. While she worked, he was free to gaze upon her, but she could only observe his shadow. She supposed that was always true--he saw her, the real Charlotte, while all she knew of him was the shadow of himself, this character he played. The thought gave her a shiver." (p 131)
• A final thought provoking moment from page 180 - she remembers playing chase with her mother in childhood: "Upon the shout of "Safe, safe!" any non-carpeted place automatically would become safe--a chair, a stool, a bed, a book, a blanket. They'd need a moment to know they were okay, but they'd never stay still for long. Seconds later, they'd take off again, hoping Mom was on their heels. / What fun was safe?" An ominous memory in the middle of a murder mystery...