Jane Bites Back: A Novel

A light, fluffy read. The concept of Jane Austen as a vampire has great comedic potential, but this book failed to live up to the expectations I had for it. While there were certainly a few moments where I laughed out loud, there were many other moments where I nearly completely lost interest. The character of Jane Austen in this novel is not one-tenth as witty as the real Jane Austen.

Fun, entertaining book!

Jane Bites Back was an interesting idea. I'm not sure exactly how I feel about the execution of the novel, but it's certainly an entertaining story line. I found that I simply couldn't put the book down, particularly after Jane Austen was joined by the seductive (if annoying) Lord Byron, and the bitter and obsessed Charlotte Bronte. A delightful read.

A funny send up of Jane Austen "sequels" and vamire novels. Quick read that makes for a pleasant diversion.

A good giggle.

The book has a cute and, at times, witty chick lit story but is certainly not the best or brightest book on the shelf. Jane Austen is alive today, but as a vampire named Jane Fairfax, and running a small bookstore in a backwoods town somewhere in New York State. She's written a wonderful new book, but has received 116 rejection notices from various publishing firms, despite the fact that the...more

The book has a cute and, at times, witty chick lit story but is certainly not the best or brightest book on the shelf. Jane Austen is alive today, but as a vampire named Jane Fairfax, and running a small bookstore in a backwoods town somewhere in New York State. She's written a wonderful new book, but has received 116 rejection notices from various publishing firms, despite the fact that the Austen craze is still going strong. Anyway, one publisher finally accepts the manuscript and Jane must deal with her newly growing fame. Simultaneously, a local contractor in her town is trying to court her, despite her protestations, (she's afraid her "condition" might scare him off). Meanwhile, the vampire who turned her, the charismatic Brian George, who actually turns out to be Lord Bryon, comes back to reclaim her love. This all inevitably leads up to Jane having to reveal her "condition" to her assistant bookstore keeper and her love interest, while trying to promote her book and fend off the increasing persistence of Lord Bryon's declarations of love. Also, the story throws a little of the Bronte vs Austen drama in the mix. I enjoyed the guest appearances of famous authors, but this book felt crafted from the same mold as the rest of what I call "Wal-Mart" stories: quickly written stories published at precisely the height of a particular subject craze (the subject in this instance being the Austen-turned-into-horror-stories fad) and lacking that special uniqueness characteristic of great novels. In addition, the ending was so obviously left open for a sequel, which is also promoted at the end of the book, as to be ridiculous. I mean, really, why does this story need to be made into a series? In my opinion, another way to milk money out of a fad.   hide

I had a hard time believing the character Jane Austen as a vampire in our present day world. Also while reading the book, the majority of the time i was trying not to fall asleep. If you're interested in reading the book...i think it would be better to borrow it from a friend or library, it's not worth it if you have to pay. The only thing i liked about this novel is the cover, very eye catching.

Jane Austen gets naked with Lord Byron on page 19 of this opus, which tells you everything you need to know about its verisimilitude. And, yes, I know that my mentioning lack of realism in a novel where the lead character is the vampirized icon of 19th century chick lit made anyone reading this snort soda out of their nose, but just because you're an author brilliantly cashing in on two of the...more

Jane Austen gets naked with Lord Byron on page 19 of this opus, which tells you everything you need to know about its verisimilitude. And, yes, I know that my mentioning lack of realism in a novel where the lead character is the vampirized icon of 19th century chick lit made anyone reading this snort soda out of their nose, but just because you're an author brilliantly cashing in on two of the biggest fads to hit publishing in the last ten years doesn't mean you can't take a minute to honor your source material. (Or, you know, effect a little internal consistency in your plot.) Instead we have an unconscionably rude - and, what's worse, unwitty - Jane doing things like worry if finding a fresh corpse in her hotel room is going to impact her shopping time. A running gag about the author of Pride & Prejudice being unable to get a book published in the current market should be hysterical but falls flat due to poor handling, and the romance…well, it’s hardly something you’d see Colin Firth signing on to play. All in all, Michael Thomas Ford manages to make an excellent argument for why men should never attempt to write in Austen's voice. It'll be a miracle if Austen does not, in fact, rise from her grave to prevent the proposed sequel, "Jane Goes Batty."   hide

Nice for a quick read and suspended reality.