From the desk of Lisa Galek:
I really love a good Jane Austen contemporary update, especially one geared at teens. There’s something so refreshing and lovely about the idea that, 200 years later, young readers are still eating up the drama between Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy.
When college student and aspiring librarian, Addie Preston, meets Blake Hansen, they clash immediately over everything. They have different tastes in books, different ideas about love… and Blake just so happens to have stolen the job that Addie had been hoping for – Assistant Librarian. Not only is this guy insufferable (and pretty well filled with pride), but he’s now also Addie’s new boss.
But, this isn’t the only reason Addie has to be upset. She’s been through a lot in the last year. Her father died just a few months ago and her family is being forced to move from their home. Soon, she suffers another blow – her beloved library is closing. Cutbacks in staff and the need to move quickly into a new location force Blake and Addie to work together. Addie slowly realizes that Blake isn’t the uptight (if well-read) jerk she thought he was. Now, just one final thing stands in the way of their love – Blake’s fiancée.
Since most of Addie’s life revolves around the library, this setting really takes center stage in the novel and becomes kind of like a character in its own right. There are some really humorous scenes of Addie’s misguided attempts to protest the library’s closing (like when she accidentally assaults the mayor with a placard). But, otherwise, there’s almost too much going on in the library with no real purpose. We get information on cataloging books, screwing in shelves, discarding worn out titles, which (as much as I love a library) sort of detracts from the romance.
No sparks really fly between Addie and Blake until the very end of the novel, so there’s not a lot of the will-they-won’t-they drama that makes Pride and Prejudice so fantastic. This is mostly owing to the introduction of Blake’s fiancée, the Caroline Bingley-esque, Tara. Though she’s completely wrong for him, Blake is far too good of a guy to even consider ditching or cheating on Tara. (Darcy never would have gotten mixed up with her in the first place). For a while it looks like Blake is about to take a large Edward Ferrars-shaped bullet in the name of Love and Honor and Wedding China.
The author does have a really good ear for dialogue and the characters are always cracking jokes or having fun swooning over their favorite books. Just about every single person in the story is well-drawn and relatable and you’re truly rooting for it all to turn out right in the end. It was also nice to read a young adult novel featuring college-aged character, too (which is, surpsingly rare). It makes more sense, for this story at least, to have older characters contemplating life and love without worrying if they’re going to make it to fifth period geometry on time.
Overall, Turning Pages is a bit of fun for anyone who loves a sweet romance or a well-stocked library. Its ties to Austen’s original are slight — there’s some boy-and-girl-don’t-initially-get-along tension and a tiny Wickham-esque subplot – but the novel has enough other good traits to recommend it on its own.
4 out of 5 Stars
BOOK INFORMATION
- Turning Pages, by Tristi Pinkston
- Walnut Springs (2nd edition, December 4, 2019)
- Trade paperback & eBook (248) pages
- ISBN: 978-1712200292
- Genre: Austenesque, Contemporary Romance, Young Adult Novel
We received a review copy of the book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Cover image courtesy of the publisher © 2019; text Lisa Galek © 2012, austenprose.com, an Amazon affiliate. Updated 04 January 2024.
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Austenprose 
This sounds wonderful!
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Sounds good to me!
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I am going to buy this book and read it. Excellent review.
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Above everything else I read I prefer a good romance and this one looks like it fits the bill. Beautifully written review giving just enough information to pique one’s curiosity.
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I love that young generations are being exposed to works similar to Jane Austen!
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I usually don’t like Austen knock-offs–always so painfully inferior to the original– but I’m charmed by the idea that young people might read this new book as an entryway into the pleasure of books and talking about books.
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For the most part Austen sequels and re-tellings are well-done! I look at them as extending the story with characters that we love. This sounds like a sweet romance! Thanks Lisa, for a great review!
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