Reason and Romance (The Austen Series, Book 2) [Paperback]

Debra White Smith (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2004

First Impressions revealed the soul of Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Now, echoing the themes in Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, Debra White Smith crafts a delightful, contemporary story about passion and love.

When Ted arrives, Elaina assumes he can’t be interested in her. But Ted surprises her. Attracted by his charming personality, Elaina dreams about love. But then comes shocking news. Has she made a mistake?

The handsome Willis hints at engagement...and Elaina’s sister, Anna, is delighted. But when he is called away, he doesn’t leave a forwarding address. Brokenhearted, Anna falls into depression. Will she love again?

Readers will be enraptured by this story about the joys and follies of infatuation and how faith in God reveals true love.

Product Details

• Paperback: 324 pages
• Publisher: Harvest House Publishers (June 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0736908773
• ISBN-13: 978-0736908771
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,161,332 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Modern Christian Version of Sense and Sensibility, March 17, 2005

By 

Meredith "Austenesque Reviews" (Wilmington , NC USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

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This review is from: Reason and Romance (The Austen Series, Book 2) (Paperback)

This book is a modern version of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility with some Christian undertones. The characters have different names, such as Marianne Dashwood is now Anna Woods and Edward Ferrars is Ted Farris. Some characters are completely missing like the Palmers and Margaret Dashwood. But the theme of Sense and Sensibility and a lot of the plot are still there although slightl adapted to fit modern times.

Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility is such a masterpiece and a wonderful story. It is great to see an author likeDebra White Smith, who admires Ms. Austen take her masterpiece and try something very original and unique with it. Where some sequel writers are including sex scenes and portraying the characters very differently then Jane Austen intended, it is nice to see an author write a modern adaption of S&S without profanity and wild behavior. Instead, she focused on the very central themes of love that Jane Austen did she just portrayed them in a contemporary style. For example some events in the plot of S&S would not have the same result or affect if they happened today. Like breaking engagements in Jane Austen's time would be a huge social blunder, but in our time period it would not. Furthermore, if you were disinherited in Jane Austen's time there is little you could except marry someone for their money, in our time period you would have to get a job.

The scenario: Elaina (Elinor) and Anna's (Marianne) father passed away, and their mother needs to move out of their family home because of their prenuptual agreement. Elaina's half brother Jake (John Dashwood) and his wife Faye (Fanny) obtain the estate and the bulk of his father's worth. Elaina is an English professor at a Christian University where one of her students is her sister-in-laws brother! They flirt with each other and definitely have some chemistry, but then Ted breaks things off with no explanation. Anna on the other hand falls in love hard with a model named Willis Kenney (Willoughby) who is romantic and a dream come true to her. But then he breaks things off with her with no explanation. These poor sister battle their grief over disappointed love, placing others before God, and learn life lessons about trust and integrity.

I enjoyed reading a modern adaption of Sense and Sensibility. I loved the portrayal of the characters in contemporary times (e.g. Elinor as a professor, Colonel Brandon as a doctor, Edward Ferrars as a pianist). In addition, I loved how Debra White Smith tied God into S&S without it becoming to heavy and preachy. Could the story have been stronger? Yes it could have, there are some typos and perhaps a little weakness in the development of events. However, there is no one else attempting to adapt Jane Austen's books in to Modern Christian stories so this to me is worth 5 stars!

The good news is this is a series of books called the Jane Austen Series. Here's all 6:
1. First Impressions (The Austen Series, Book 1)
2. Reason and Romance (The Austen Series, Book 2)
3. Central Park (The Austen Series, Book 3)
4. Northpointe Chalet (The Austen Series, Book 4)
5. Amanda (The Austen Series, Book 5)
6. Possibilities (The Austen Series, Book 6)

If you liked any of Debra White Smith's books and are interested in keeping a good and loving relationship yourself you may like: What Jane Austen Taught Me About Love and Romance

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Modern Day Sense & Sensibility, January 29, 2006

By 

A. Conner (OKC, OK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Reason and Romance (The Austen Series, Book 2) (Paperback)

Debra White Smith has done a wonderful job of brining Jane Austen's Sense & Sensibilty to modern times. She has done a wonderful job in her characters and keeping true to the story line. This was a wonderful read! I'm continuing on to read her other Jane Austen series! I would recommend this book to anyone!

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars So bad, I couldn't bring myself to read the whole book., January 25, 2008

By 

I. Livetoread (Vancouver, B.C. Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Reason and Romance (The Austen Series, Book 2) (Paperback)

Thank goodness I took the book out of the library. Had I ordered the book this would have been the first and only book I sent back in disgust at the writing style. To even refer to Jane Austen and this book in the same breath is an insult to Austen. The writing is stilted, dull and frankly, written to a level of a third grader. There are much better "Austenesque" books out there - and I would much rather read "Sense and Sensibility" for the tenth time than this drivel. I wanted to give it "zero" but can't!