Due to a past where the only characters she could trust were fictional, Samantha Moore has developed a habit of retreating from reality when things get tough. Her life is peppered with "she does not relate" comments and rejections. Now, faced with one last chance for a better future, she is not only pushed into a graduate major she doesn't want, but she is asked to write regular letters to her anonymous donor. Can she find a way into this future, or will she continue to seek solace between the pages that have encompassed her past?
I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about this book; I liked the idea of Sam's character, who felt more comfortable with fictional characters than real people. However, and I hesitate to even admit this on a book blog, I am not really a fan of Jane Austen, so most of the references to her works blew by me without adding anything to the book. Once Sam began to be more of herself and reveal more of her past, she became much more interesting to me, and I became engrossed in her search for how to handle real relationships. While I saw the ending coming fairly early on, it didn't seem ridiculous that Sam did not. I could really appreciate Sam's efforts to pull herself out of her fictional world and engage with the people in front of her, especially her self-realizations that she had hurt others by retreating.
I give this book 3 stars. If I were a true Jane Austen fan, I think that my rating would not fall in the middle; I would either hate what the author had done with Austen's fictional characters, or I would love the story with the added understanding of the wealth of quotes and characters.
You can find Dear Mr. Knightley HERE.
You can find the author's website HERE.
I received a copy of this book from Thomas Nelson, as part of their BookSneeze program, in exchange for my honest review.
No comments:
Post a Comment