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The murder mystery was not so mysterious...
Secrets in the Snow
Young Adult Fiction
Chronicle Books
October 4, 2016
288
Jane Austen's family is eager to secure her future by marrying her off. But Jane is much more interested in writing her novels, and finds every suitor lacking—until the mysterious Mr. Lefroy arrives. Could he be the one? Before Jane can find out, she must solve a murder, clear her family's name, and face a decision that might cost her true love.
Secrets in the Snow follows Jane Austen as she navigates her family pressing her to find a husband while she is content to be alone. She tends to live vicariously through her own fictional tales. When Jane’s cousin is suspected of being a spy for the French side of the war, Jane takes it upon herself to protect her cousin and prove her innocence. She does not expect to discover a murder. While worrying about her family and trying to find the killer, with a creative mind she can’t help but find excitement in the situation surrounding her. Ultimately, her loyalty to family, friends, and her first romantic entanglement are all tested with every action she takes.
This book sounded exciting to me despite being historical fiction (not my go-to genre). I have not read a Jane Austen novel before. I don’t think hat impacted my opinion of the book. The historical significance to these people didn’t matter in the plot of this story. There were some great ideas woven into this story. I’m not a historical fiction expert but the references to the times of this story seemed appropriate.
Unfortunately, the book fell a little flat. The murder was a little too obvious to me. It was a little to obvious to Jane as well since that portion of the story was fairly brief. The murder didn’t occur until about 70% into the story. Having read this book in its entirety I can say that I don’t think the murder itself was significant enough. I went into this book thinking she would spend most of the story solving a murder, I was wrong. It wasn’t mysterious enough and it was resolved rather quickly. Jane didn’t seem troubled by her tough choices much at all. Maybe I don’t understand Jane’s character well enough?
I wanted to give three stars to this book but there were too many grammatical, spelling, and formatting errors. Hopefully those were resolved in the official release of the book.
Kristin lives in the PNW with her husband, and three kids. She loves to read YA fiction, fantasy, and romance. She enjoys a few side-hustles, including creating bookreels/booktoks for authors. The only shows she watches are re-runs, and if she’s not reading a book, she’s listening to one.
