The Austen Escape (Katherine Reay)

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I stayed up until 1:00 am in order to read this all in one sitting, so it obviously wasn't a dud. But it also wasn't my favorite.

The Amazon synopsis:

Mary Davies finds safety in her ordered and productive life. Working as an engineer, she genuinely enjoys her job and her colleagues—particularly a certain adorable and intelligent consultant. But something is missing. When Mary’s estranged childhood friend, Isabel Dwyer offers her a two-week stay in a gorgeous manor house in England, she reluctantly agrees in hopes that the holiday will shake up her quiet life in just the right ways.

But Mary gets more than she bargained for when Isabel loses her memory and fully believes she lives in Jane Austen’s Bath. While Isabel rests and delights in the leisure of a Regency lady, attended by other costume-clad guests, Mary uncovers startling truths about their shared past, who Isabel was, who she seems to be, and the man who now stands between them.

Outings are undertaken, misunderstandings arise, and dancing ensues as this company of clever, well-informed people, who have a great deal of conversation, work out their lives and hearts.

I'm not feeling particularly eloquent tonight, so I'm going to share my thoughts in bullet point form.

• Either Reay has a background in the math/science field or she did some intensive research for this book. The technical terms and reasoning were way over my head. But it wasn't overwhelming. It made the story (and characters) believable.
• I've never read a Jane Austen book (shame, I know) so maybe I would've enjoyed this one more if I had. There were many character and literary references, as well as quotes from Austen's works - as is to be expected given the book blurb. I did enjoy the descriptions of the period dresses and grand estate. 
• I didn't like Isabel and I feel like her transformation was forced and unnatural.
• I loved Mary's dad and was worried the whole time that something bad was going to happen to him.
• The romance was nothing special, and the obstacles to their love were too easily overcome.

Once again, an entertaining read, but only 3 stars for me.

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.