Yes, but what do the critics say?
This week I've been doing a blog post featuring the different pages of the midnight in austenland section of my website. Today's turn is the reviews section. Too goofy to list review blurbs? Avoid in the future? I always feel like a dork retweeting any nice things people say about my books on twitter, and then I feel ungrateful if I don't. Ah, the tortured soul! So you have to tell me if this is too goofy to get away with. Anyway, don't forget the book launch at The King's English this Saturday and other upcoming events.
ps. So grateful for book bloggers! Thank you! In a time when review space is hugely limited, and newspaper reviews almost unheard of for women's literature and children's books, book bloggers reach out to readers like no one else.
"Hale's fans will be thrilled to revisit Pembrook Park and reunite with its regulars. Hale provides a welcome, witty glimpse of a side of Austen rarely explored in the many contemporary riffs on her work."
PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY
"Hale's light romantic comedy will appeal to chick-lit fans as well as Austenites who have grown weary of the never-ending sequels to Pride and Prejudice and are looking for a fresh way to explore the author's enduring legacy."
LIBRARY JOURNAL
"A smartly plotted mystery"
KIRKUS
"[A] wonderful read...a quick and fun novel sure to whet the appetite to read the Austen novels if one has not, and to reread them if one has."
VOYA
"Midnight in Austenland is the kind of book to read on those days you just want to wrap up in a blanket and eat three pounds of chocolate."
DESERET NEWS
"[I]nteresting characters, and a fabulous ending."
SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL
"How does she do it? How does author Shannon Hale evoke so much emotion from me? How does she make me feel like I have butterflies flying all through my body. I got that feeling when you're just about to be kissed for the first time, you remember don't you? I LOVE that feeling!"
THE SWEET BOOKSHELF
"If you like Austen, buy this book. If you like Shannon Hale, buy this book. If you liked 'Austenland' buy this book. And if you are a fan of feisty, intelligent and very funny heroines, buy this book....one of my highest recommended books for the coming year."
THE REVIEW DIARIES
"The plot is fun, with a little bit of a murder mystery, gossip, and plain Jane Austen fun. (With a healthy dose of Shannon Hale humor). Oh, and a bit of heartbreak and romance. Because, next to being married, a girl likes to be crossed in love a little now and then."
EMILY'S READING ROOM
"I will freely admit to much giggling and some hand clapping."
BOOKS BEFORE BED
"It was witty, hilariously funny, and the personal growth that Charlotte experiences was even more wonderful than Jane's in the first Austenland."
SQUEAKY BOOKS
"Hale's novel is at times poignant, mysterious and funny. I love a book that makes me laugh."
BOOKFAN
"If you love Jane Austen or a fun, romantic mystery, you'll be utterly charmed by Midnight in Austenland."
EXAMINER.COM
"I totally loved it. Not as frothy as AUSTENLAND, this one still made me laugh out loud. A lot."
NIGHT WRITER
"[A]n unpredictable, fun, thrilling and adorably romantic page-turner of a book."
BOOKS: A TRUE STORY
"Midnight in Austenland is witty, charming, has the right amount of romance, a strong female lead character and a murder mystery to be solved."
MUNDIE MOMS
"[C]lassic Shannon Hale...it has a strong heroine, is laugh out loud funny, poignant, thought provoking, adventurous and has just the right amount of swoon."
CONFESSIONS OF A FAN GIRL