THE PERFECT HERO by VICTORIA CONNELLY - REVIEW AND GIVEAWAY

GIVEAWAY 

There's an international giveaway linked to this post granted by HarperCollins. Read my review of Victoria Connelly's second novel in the Austen Addicts Trilogy, The Perfect Hero. Leave your comment saying who your perfect hero is from fiction or real life, don't forget to add your e-mail address, and you'll have the chance to win a copy of this romantic and amusing Austenesque read. The giveaway ends on June 14th when the name of the winner will be announced. 

P.S. Many readers have been experiencing troubles logging in and trying to comment on blogger blogs. If you can't comment, send an e-mail message to learnonline.mgs@gmail.com saying you want to be entered in this  giveaway contest.  

Review and giveaway are part of the 

JANE IN JUNE II event hosted at Book Rat by Misty.

MY REVIEW 

“Maybe Jane Austen’s fans are destined to be disappointed by love because nothing could ever live up to the happy endings created in fiction”. 

This is what Adam Craig, one of the main characters in Victoria Connelly’s latest novel, thinks. The same can be said of the perfect hero: who might live up to Mr Darcy’s charm or Captain Wentworth’s passionate loyalty? Maybe... your favourite actor? Someone you admire and dream about? Imagine that  he, a real dream-come-true, arrives where you have just opened a B&B and is one of your first guests with the director and a bunch of colleagues.  Imagine also that he starts flirting with you disguised as Captain Wentworth since the cast you host  is shooting Persuasion. Add to these facts that this dream man is the most handsome you’ve ever laid eyes on, with his blond hair and blue eyes. Wouldn’t you think the perfect hero has landed into your real life? I’m sure that, like Kay Ashton,  you would.

Let’s cool our enthusiasm and give this story some order.

Die-hard romantic  Kay Ashton uses her inheritance to open a B&B in the seaside town of Lyme Regis in Dorset and is dumbstruck when the cast and crew of a new production of Persuasion descend, needing a place to stay. Kay can’t believe her luck – especially when she realises that heart-throb actor Oli Wade Owen will be sleeping under her very own roof!

Meanwhile, co-star Gemma Reilly is worried that her acting isn’t up to scratch, despite landing a plum role. She finds a sympathetic ear in shy producer, Adam Craig, who is baffled by the film world as she is. Kay thinks the two, Gemma and Adam, are meant for each other and can’t resist to try herself at matchmaking like Austen’s  Miss Woodhouse.

Then when Oli turns his trademark charm on Kay, it seems that she has found her real-life hero. But do heroes really exist?  Or do they only exist in movies and books?

Kay is a lovely heroine who reminds partly Emma,  in her funny attempts at matchmaking,  as well as Marianne,  in her romantic, passionate, naive vision of love. Oli Wade Owen in Wentworth’s uniform has the aspect of Rupert Penry Jones (on the left) and  the impertinence of  George Wickham.

Gemma Reilly  recalls Anne Elliot in her initial little self-confidence overcome little by little in her journey through the book.  

Adam Craig ... well, Adam -  not to give away too much -  is ...  my favourite character together with his hilarious grandmother, Nana Craig. She is funny, colourful and terribly nosy.  She has hated actors since she was left by her husband,  in search for fame in the movies,  for a  beautiful actress.  She has brought Adam up and their relationship is definitely unique.

Could I not like a romance set in Lyme Regis, with a glamorous cast shooting Persuasion involved, written with  a light touch and witty prose, featuring  gorgeous heroes and beautiful sensitive heroines? There’s too much of what I like best  not to recommend it to all of you, Janeites like me,  or fond of romances in general. 

If you liked, A Weekend with Mr Darcy, you can't miss this!