Review and Giveaway! "Emma and The Vampires"

"Emma and the Vampires"

by Jane Austen and Wayne Josephson

Source: ARC provided for review by Sourcebooks

My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

My Review:

Take Jane Austen's original novel, "Emma", and make all the leading men vampires while Emma and her female companions must decide which vampires and good and which are worth marrying. Emma and Harriett even get to put a few stakes through some undead hearts!

This was my first mash-up novel, Jane Austen or otherwise. I was a little disappointed in this one just because it wasn't what I was expecting. I didn't feel like enough was changed from the original "Emma". Yes, the men were vampires, but the story followed the exact same plot with all of the exact same scenes, only with a few vampires attacking after dinner parties, etc.

However, I read the author's note at the end of the book, and Josephson said that one of his main motives was to make the original "Emma" more accessible to modern readers, especially teens. I appreciate his intentions, and I can see why he wanted to stay so close to the original. I do think he achieved this goal, because if you had never read Emma before, you really would have a great understanding of the original after reading this book. I personally just wanted to see more of story 'inspired by' the original, instead of a re-write.

Mr. Robert Martin is my favorite character in the original "Emma" and I loved the author made lots of mention of the gentle farmer here. Robert Martin, the vampire, even throws a cow over his fence in his frustration over Harriet's marriage refusal! That alone was worth reading the book, in my opinion!!

Main Characters: 4/5
Supporting Characters: 4/5 (sigh, Mr. Martin...)
Setting: 4/5
Romance: 3/5
Uniqueness: 3/5
Cover: 5/5 (love it!)
Writing: 4/5

Bottom Line: Having read the original novel, this book seemed too much of a rehash with not enough new elements. However, since the original is much unchanged here, maybe new readers unwilling to try the Austen classic would get a chance to read the story here.

GIVEAWAY RULES:
Liz at Sourcebooks has generously provided a finished paperback of this book for readers of my blog!

All you have to do is follow my blog publicly and leave a comment on this review with your email address!

Please follow publicly or I can't tell that you are following :) Also, if you aren't comfortable leaving your email here, go ahead and leave a comment and then send me an email with your email addy.

Extra Entries:

• +2 Tweet this contest (leave link in comment)
  
• +2 Post link in sidebar of your blog (leave link in comment)
• +2 Answer the question: What do you think of the mash up books out now? Have you read any??
  

Rules:

• US only
  
• Must be a follower to enter
  
• Extra entries are optional and can all be left in the same comment
  
• Leave a comment with your email address
• Book will be mailed by me :)
  
• Ends Friday August 27
  

Thanks to everyone for entering! Good luck!