Austenland

Shannon Hale usually writes the sort of kid's books that aren't really just for kids. She's branching out into adult novels in Austenland, and she explores the grown-up themes of the quest for true love and the despair of ever really finding it with grace, sympathy, and a lot of really funny one-liners. The heroine, Jane (of course), is a sweet, witty, under-confident graphic designer with a ridiculously awful relationship history and a deep secret crush on Mr. Darcy. A rich distant relative ferrets the secret of her obsession out of her before her death, and leaves her as an inheritance an all-expenses-paid trip to Austenland. Jane's not sure what to think of this resort where the guests immerse themselves in Regency culture, costume, and manners, and are discreetly charmed and "wooed" by male actors, but finally she resolves to take the opportunity as a kind of immersion therapy to put her crush on unattainable male perfection to rest. But can she, really?