Rate this book

Emma, Mr. Knightley, And Chili-Slaw Dogs (2013)

by Mary Jane Hathaway(Favorite Author)

3.72 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

0615827292 (ISBN13: 9780615827292)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Gumbo Books

series

Jane Austen Takes The South

review 1: This is not my typical kind of book. I don't mind a little romance, but when the basic plot is "when and where will they become a couple", I pass it by. But! Emma is my favorite Jane Austen book, so I had to try this one out. I was very pleasantly surprised, I even stayed up late to finish it. The plot was very similar to Emma, but with a modern update that really flowed well and wasn't forced. I also thought the dialogue and relationship between Brooks and Caroline was very natural and flowed well. The romantic parts were not overly done like in most romance novels. I also very much enjoyed how Brooks' personality was so similar to Mr. Knightley's and that we got to see "his side" of the relationship, since in Emma everything is from her perspective. The author also put i... moren names that were either the same or reminded you of names in Austen's Emma. The ONLY thing that really bothered me about this book were the errors. There were a ton of grammatical errors, common homophones, and sentences that were missing words. There were also several inconsistencies in the storyline. For instance, when Caroline and Debbie Mae first discuss having a Regency Era party, Caroline suggests having it at Christmas or New Year's Eve so that it isn't just another weekend party, but then suddenly it's spring/summer and the party is set for sometime at the beginning of summer. Also, when Brooks is justifying in his mind why he is attracted to Caroline he blames it on the busy semester and says when the Fall semester is over he'll be able to get better control of his feelings, but then several chapters later suddenly it's almost summer and he is planning on staying home all summer. It seems to me like there were some changes for the story's sake (the story goes better in the summer than winter) so the author changes the scenario, but somehow the beginning did not get changed. Or, because it was a free Kindle download on Amazon, the final editing did not get translated to the e-version of the book. That's why these mistakes did not change my rating of the book as a whole. Regardless of those inconsistencies and annoying grammatical mistakes I still immensely enjoyed the story and the writing. It wasn't deep, and it didn't challenge me mentally (except trying to remember every detail of Emma to compare it to) but it still was very entertaining.
review 2: I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.This is the story of Brooks and Caroline who have been friends and neighbors all of their lives and throughout the course of the story realize they are in love with each other. The story takes place in the south and there are a lot of references to Civil War history. Of course, there are all sorts of miscommunications between Brooks and Caroline and they don’t realize each other’s feelings until the end of the book. The novel mimics the basic plot of Jane Austen’s Emma. I thought that the similarities of plot that the author tries to draw between the two books was a bit forced. The Regency themed party that one of the characters throws in the middle of the book seemed terribly out of place. I read Pride, Prejudice and Cheese Grits and I think that Hathaway’s first attempt at a modern Jane Austen was much more successful than this one. less

Download links for: Emma, Mr. Knightley, and Chili-Slaw Dogs

Advertising