I thought Lost in Austen was a lot of fun. Read my full review at http://www.bostonbibliophile.com/2009... ( )

I was very excited when I started reading this book. It's great fun for at least the first hours, although don't bother keeping scores: it takes the speed out of reading and isn't really necessary, although I thought it was fun for the first 100 pages.
After reading half of the book though, I couldn't help but feel disappointed. Here it was, apparently you can create your own Jane Austen story when reading this book, but all you really seem to be doing is either re-reading Pride and Prejudice written in the "you" form: "you feel this, you do this, etc" or you get taken into other Jane Austen novels, which you will then proceed to re-live.. or you will choose alternative options, like accepting Darcy the first time: but those never seem to be as good as the other stuff, maybe those options could have done with some more thought. Although, I have to admit, some of them were funny. In the end most were short and melodramatic (as fannyprice said in an earlier review - melodramatic really is the right word). Over all these options could've done with a bit more indepth writing of the author herself: if it isn't part of a Jane Austen novel, the alternative options are usually only 1 page long.
The nice thing about the book was having the option of making different dicisions, for somehow I couldn't help but feel curious. Yet you can't help but feel the options aren't really realistic options.
*SPOILER*
For example, if you choose not to visit a concert in Bath at once, it seems Wentworth is engaged to another woman, while if you do go there at once, he still loves you and pines for you. And I really couldn’t see Elizabeth committing suicide.
Also, I didn't really like the ending. I knew the author has this idea that all Jane Austen novels give you the idea that interesting life ends when married. I had read it before in an interview. Thing is, I just don't need that morale at the end of the story. I enjoy Jane Austen's novels because I love dreaming of happy endings, even if in some people's minds it is wrong that books show that once you are married your life is over. Couldn't help it, it really put me off.
I was fairly happy when I ended up marrying Mr. Darcy or Mr. Knightly though. Got a bit annoyed that apparently marriage to Wentworth could never be more than average.
*END OF SPOILERS*
I want to try and read this again in a few months time, maybe I will like it better. In the end, it was fairly enjoyable. ( )

A very enjoyable book, although probably more enjoyable to devotees of all Austen's work (I am only very familiar with [b:Pride Prejudice|1885|Pride and Prejudice|Jane Austen|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1158963071s/1885.jpg|3060926] and [b:Sense Sensibility|14935|Sense and Sensibility|Jane Austen|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1212611360s/14935.jpg|2809709]) and to devotees of choose-your-own adventures. Personally, I'd have sprung for an anthology of crossover fanfic between Austen's various novels - but this was probably about as close to such a thing as I'm going to get! ( )

A very enjoyable book, although probably more enjoyable to devotees of all Austen's work (I am only very familiar with [b:Pride Prejudice|1885|Pride and Prejudice|Jane Austen|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1158963071s/1885.jpg|3060926] and [b:Sense Sensibility|14935|Sense and Sensibility|Jane Austen|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1212611360s/14935.jpg|2809709]) and to devotees of choose-your-own adventures. Personally, I'd have sprung for an anthology of crossover fanfic between Austen's various novels - but this was probably about as close to such a thing as I'm going to get! ( )

I LOVED this book.

It is a Jane Austen Choose-your-own-adventure book. (Here is a link to Choose-your-own-adventure, if you're not familiar with them: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choose_Y...)

Knowing the story turned out to be very important as I worked my way through Regency England: If one follows the path that Elizabeth Bennett did in the book, one will be successful and marry appropriately, for money and love. If you stray from this path (which I did sometimes just for kicks), all sorts of interesting things happen.

I once wound up dead with a broken neck - I ignored Mr. Darcy to the point of going outside into the winter and slipping on the ice. I also wound up marrying Mr. Collins and killing him by throwing a bible at him.

One must be very careful! I agreed to marry Mr. Darcy at one point, before the whole Lydia thing happened. Without the Lydia episode, Mr. Darcy hadn't yet proven how wonderful a man he really was. He and Lizzie spar constantly and they wind up unhappy. So not only do you have to do the right thing...you have to do it at the right time.

One completely unexpected thing happened: I found myself on a picnic with Jane Fairfax and Mr. Knightley. I somehow wandered out of Pride and Prejudice and into Emma. Apparently, Mr. Knightley is equally as good a match as Mr. Darcy.

I think this book would be a STELLAR review tool if one was reading Pride and Prejudice for school. If you don't know what Lizzie did when Mr. Collins proposed, you'll wind up married to him and failing in your mission. If you don't know what Old Money is, you'll make an ass out of yourself in front of society. If you don't act prudently and in the best interest of your family, you might find yourself wasting away in a debtor's prison. Beware!

One other thing - this book encourages you to keep track of Confidence points, List of Superior Connections, and things like that. It seemed too fussy for me and I didn't keep track. The book read just fine without keeping tabs on my Fortune points and things like that.

Oh, and I really disliked the pictures. Everyone kind of looked like an evil villain. But, they were easy to ignore.

All in all, FUN BOOK. Find it and read it. ( )