In which experienced West End actress Freddy Carlton takes on an Austen-inspired play, a scandal at a country estate, an enthusiastic search for a passion outside of acting…and the (some people might say icy*) heart of London’s most feared theater critic. *if those people were being nice “Grade: A, for Absolutely Delightful and Adorable and Also I read it twice in a row.” –Smart Bitches, … it twice in a row.” –Smart Bitches, Trashy Books
Freddy Carlton knows she should be focusing on her lines for The Austen Playbook, a live-action TV event where viewers choose the outcome of each scene, but her concentration’s been blown. The palatial estate housing the endeavor is now run by the rude (brilliant) critic who’s consistently slammed her performances of late. James “Griff” Ford-Griffin has a penchant for sarcasm, a majestic nose and all the sensitivity of a sledgehammer.
She can’t take her eyes off him.
Griff can hardly focus with a contagious joy fairy flitting about near him, especially when Freddy looks at him like that. His only concern right now should be on shutting down his younger brother’s well-intentioned (disastrous) schemes–or at the very least on the production (not this one) that might save his family home from the banks.
Instead all he can think of is soft skin and vibrant curls.
As he’s reluctantly dragged into her quest to rediscover her passion for the stage and Freddy is drawn into his research on a legendary theater star, the adage about appearances being deceiving proves abundantly true. It’s the unlikely start of something enormous…but a single revelation about the past could derail it all.
London Celebrities
Book 1: Act Like It
Book 2: Pretty Face
Book 3: Making Up
Book 4: The Austen Playbook
Book 5: Headliners
more
What’s not to love? A great romance, a fun mystery, a take-no-prisoners heroine, and not one, but TWO old mansions. I don’t reread much, but Lucy Parker goes on my TBrR shelf!
Once upon a time, there was a great stage actress in the making. By all accounts, the theater was in her blood and her family history backed that up one hundred percent…but sometimes what we WANT to do and what we OUGHT to do are two different things, and therein lies the conundrum.
Honest to goodness, for me it was initially a little rocky to get into, but once things clicked…I was hooked! With memorable characters, a multilayered story, a bloody good romantic interlude, and an ending that just felt right…why I do believe Ms Austen herself would be proud. While it is the fourth book in the series, it does work fine as a standalone…but then again, the more the merrier! You’ll enjoy the theatrical performances both on and off stage, the witty repertoire, the Darcy-esque moments, and the general FUN to be had throughout the story, while being drawn in deeper, and deeper to the unexpected mystery at the heart of it all.
Recommended for Contemporary Romance readers, theater fans, and Austenites alike.
*eARC received for review; opinions are my own
Austen and theatre plus one of my new favorite storytellers. Highly entertaining.
4,5 stars
“I received a free, advance copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my unbiased review”
Lucy Parker is one of my favourite slow burn writers, just like the writer Mariana Zapata, she knows how to write intense, slow burn romance stories. I especially love her ‘London celebrities’ series very much. I just adore the fact that the stories take place in England and in the world of acting. So I was very looking forward to ‘The Austen playbook’.
Just like in the previous books, it took me a little time to get into the story but once I was in, I was totally IN! There were several things that I liked in this story. The fact that the story took place in an estate in the English country, that it was a live action TV event based on an Austen play. But what intrigued me most were the characters in this story. The main characters Freddy and Griff couldn’t have been more different from each other. Frederica ‘Freddy’ is this happy, energetic, friendly, ‘people pleaser’ woman and James ‘Griff’ is this English stiff, cold, criticize, ‘not good with people’ man. Where Freddy loves to hug people, Griff doesn’t like it at all! But even so, somewhere along the way Freddy and Griff open up to each other, they grow closer and somehow they click. They become each other strength and comfort and the chemistry between them is great too.
Griff’s younger brother Charlie is also a very likeable and entertaining character. It is wonderful to see how each character grows during the story, how they connect more with each other.
You get both POV’s in the story and there is an epilogue too. (I love those!)
‘The Austen playbook’ is a great story.
While I still haven’t read Act Like It, book 1 in the London Celebrities series, I had loved Pretty Face, book 2; disliked Making Up, book 3, and I took a chance on THE AUSTEN PLAYBOOK. So, no need to summarise, the blurb is sufficiently explicit. Lucy Parker possesses phenomenal writing skills, her characters are vibrant and real, the physical environment as clear as HD TV, the dialogues snappy and realistic, and she displays a biting sense of humour.
The whole show business angle is fascinating, as is the case for the whole series; I love it. But the romance was very problematic for me. I felt it was never given a chance to develop organically; I kept being told there were sparks where I felt none; I felt no chemistry between Griff and Freddy. There was this whole theatre story to be told and there had to be a romance. Freddy was interesting; at 23, she is at a crossroads: should she do what she really wants or what is expected of her. Her romantic interest, Griff, to be polite, left me cold; I found him completely lacking in charisma, stiff, mostly unpleasant and unengaging; to put it bluntly, I found him exceedingly dull. We’re never told how old he is; his brother Charlie is 26, Griff is older, but how much older? To me, he seemed much, much older. I presume he is in his thirties, but I saw an old fuddy-duddy. Also, Freddy is 23; Charlie 26; and it’s written, at some point, that he is “several years older” than her. I beg to disagree: three years is literally a couple of years plus one; that does not constitute “several”.
There are numerous characters, and while it’s not difficult to keep track of who’s who, I got the impression that the author was setting up an entire series, with all the subplots for at least a few more enemies-to-lovers books down the line. I did love Charlie and Dylan; they were entertaining and charismatic, if very different.
At around 30%, I started to get bored, and I don’t quite know why. Possibly because the romance failed to captivate me or because so many subplots started to crowd the main plotline. There’s the obligatory mean girl, whose meanness should have been limited to a couple of characters instead of being mean “because”. The promising mystery became extremely convoluted, and one big reveal was so farfetched, I can’t believe someone would be so stupid. Then around 75%, I grew increasingly annoyed at all the drama; it was one thing after another, the intrigue was bogged down in superfluous details and the mean girl’s shenanigans; I thought the book would never end. This along with the overlong epilogue and its fairytale solutions had me shave a star from my rating. Freddy grew as a character, but Griff very little: he never did anything about his problems with his parents; it was magically resolved, and part of it was rather puzzling with regards to another character. I love Lucy Parker’s writing and her priceless insights in the world of theatre and show business, but will I read another book in this series? At the moment, I doubt it. THE AUSTEN PLAYBOOK had all the ingredients for a fabulous story, but it just didn’t work for me.