Review | I Was Jane Austen's Best Friend by Cora Harrison

When shy Jenny Cooper goes to stay with her cousin Jane Austen, she knows nothing of the world that Jane inhabits. At 15, Jane is already a sharp observer of the customs of courtship. So when Jenny falls in love, who better than Jane to help her?

     I Was Jane Austen's Best Friend took me a long time to get through. It was kind of draggy and it was only once in a while that it hit actual parts of interest. Strangely I didn't mind this. It was a comfortable read that didn't make me have a heart attack of excitement, but it sat there and I liked it. Like donuts, I don't get excited over them, but I like them just the same. The best part of the book was the authenticity. The time period is very well written and intricate. The author's note at the end  how much time Harrison put into the book as she explains the origins of the plot. The passion flows through her voice and shines through the book.

Review: Waterfall (River of Time, #1) by Lisa T. Bergen

 What do you do when your knight in shining armor lives, literally, in a different world?

Most American teenagers want a vacation in Italy, but the Betarrini sisters have spent every summer of their lives among the romantic hills with their archaelogist parents. Stuck among the rubble of the medieval castles in rural Tuscany, on yet another hot, dusty archaeological site, Gabi and Lia are bored out of their minds...until Gabi places her hand atop a handprint in an ancient tomb and finds herself in fourteenth-century Italy. And worse yet, in the middle of a fierce battle between knights of two opposing forces.

Suddenly Gabi's summer in Italy is much, much more interesting.


Waterfall was a wonderful start to a great series. I had heard and seen a lot about this series and have been wanting to read it forever. Gabi had a nice voice that echoed in my ears when I read. Her entrance into the past was unexpected and thunderous, but she took to it well. Meeting Marcello after being dropped through time wasn't that bad either. He invites her into his home to rest, but Gabi really has to find her sister, Lia. She is not like any woman the men have met and even though she's in the past, she never becomes or plays a weak girl. I loved Marcello. He was a gentleman, but strong and forceful when it came the time. He was not shy at all and when he feels something between he and Gabi, he confronts her outright and tells her about himself. Though, the past isn't as easy as I make it sound and Gabi and Marcello must fight to be safely together. In the end, I was sad to turn the last page of this book and see Marcello and Gabi go, but am ecstatic to read the next books!