I’m so glad the guy I’m seeing loaned this to me (even if it did throw off my schedule a bit) and I was even happier to find out that I have a Jane Austen fan-fiction novel on my shelf he wrote, Jane Bites Back. I was hesitant to read it with the whole vampire thing, but I’m looking forward to it now I’ve read this one!
I’m confused (and sad) about why there aren’t more reviews of this awesome novel on Goodreads! On the other hand, I’m glad that there aren’t that many reviews because people would leave idiot responses (including gifs) about it and then I’d just be grumpy. Not only did I love this book because of Ford’s incredibly witty and hilarious one-liners, but I enjoyed it because of how many of the books he referenced that I’ve read. From Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland to Maupin’s Tales of the City. I’ve clearly earned my “gay-card,” according to some of the characters.
I know I say this regularly, but I can’t do justice to this book in my response. The more I think about it (I finished reading it last Wednesday), the more I realize I don’t know how to talk about it.
Honestly, I’m sad I didn’t like this as much as I thought I would. Seriously, I’ve given it the lowest rating of the year so far. I bought it in one of my bulk buys at the 2011 Boston Book festival and haven’t thought of it since. It came up on my list when I used 
It is very rare that a second novel, let alone a middle novel in a trilogy, can surpass the first. In this case, not only has Shepherd done it, she’s surpassed an incredibly well written debut novel with an even more creative, intense and harrowing follow-up. It is NOT a place holder as many middle books are in trilogies and I was incredibly impressed.
I hope you never get tired of hearing it, but books like this are why I’m so glad Caroline and I took the chance and joined the random book group at our local library. I know I would never have picked up this book (and most of the books we read). They’re so different and I’ve enjoyed almost all that we’ve read! Sometimes, I’m not so sure about the book or I’m hesitant about the movie, but this book was great and I can’t wait to see how they adapt it to the film!