I gave this book a 3 1/2, but only because I liked the last two stories. The funny thing is that I love the first two authors (Mary Balogh and Colleen Gleason), but I didn't care for their stories. I love Gleason's Gardella series, but I really didn't find much to like in her female lead. She was so silly, melodramatic, and immature that it was really hard for me to see the male lead developing any kind of interest in her, except as a scatter-brained pest. I did enjoy the last two stories by Krinard and Mullany, who I had never read before. For Krinard's story, it helped that I like Pride and Prejudice and the whole Darcy/Lizzy tension and storyline. The plot carried over well for this kind of redoing of the original story. Darcy being a vampire provided a good basis for the whole mystery surrounding him and his background; it also supported how quiet and serious and suspicious his character was. Mullany's story was a cute version of Emma reworked to include the supernatural. She was able to create likeable characters even in the short space of an anthology. Her story was good enough that I want to look up and read more of her books.

To be honest, although the anthology provided somewhat fun reading and was good enough to pass the afternoon, the stories really mean more if you are familiar with the original Jane Austen stories and can picture more of the backgrounds and plots of the stories. If you are not a fan of the original stories, you probably won't get much out of these.

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Now I know why I don't like anthologies -- at least this one. I love Mary Balogh, I like the other authors. I just had a hard time pushing myself to finish each story. I gave it (the book) my best try. Boring and who cares what happens to the protagonists in all four selections.

So why do I keep getting anthologies? I'm an optimistic romantic, that's why.

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I admit I got this book for the Colleen Gleason story. I was disappointed overall. Northanger Castle starts slowly and gets a little better as it goes on. This isn't something I would read again.

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Didn't finish - which isn't surprising since I don't like anthologies and I don't like paranormal. It was fluffy and corny.

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4 stars based on Mary Balogh's story, Almost Persuaded, since that was the only one of the four that I read. Wonderful short about two lovers' repeated reincarnations and how they work towards being together in each lifetime. It was very romantic; very well done and I loved it!

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I should mention first that I don't like Jane Austen pastiches - I've never seen one yet that got the language, the social attitudes or the snark right - one that convinced me that the author really got Austen's mindset. Perhaps 200 years on that would be impossible. So I stick to the canon.

I'm not crazy about romantic paranormals either.

I bought this book mainly because Mary Balogh has a story in it - a paranormal version of Persuasion, based on the notion of two lovers who are meant to be attached throughout time and history, who must reincarnate many times on their way to ... whatever. It was a well written story - her prose is always impeccable - but I wasn't emotionally engaged, and that's bad because that is Balogh's strongest quality: the ability to suck the reader in to an intense emotional relationship. The qualities I like in her writing are much better shown in Red Rose, The Secret Pearl and A Precious Jewel. This one just felt too sugary. I did, however, finish it.

I sampled the other three stories but couldn't get interested in any of them.

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Read the book since I usually love stories by Susan Krinard and wasn't familiar with the other authors. I am a fan of romance, particularly paranormal romances. The premise of these stories sounded really interesting, the reworking of classic tales. However, I must say that I was extremely bored reading these stories. I only managed to finish b/c I made myself. I really wanted to like the stories, but there just wasn't much to like. Romance stories are supposed to have heat and steam and tension between the characters, which to me means there needs to be love scenes, descriptive ones. Only one of the four stories had any of those and that was pretty much glossed over. Not my kind of romance, but if you are into quite chaste romance stories, this may be for you.

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