Once again, Susan Andrews puts the “campy” in Camp Jane! Her modern-day series revolves around a group of Jane Austen story reenacters who have been hired for the summer to work at the Regency Resort in upstate New York, lovingly dubbed “Camp Jane” by the Jane Austen enthusiasts who visit every year.
Maggie Argyle has been assigned to play our beloved Lizzy Bennet, but just after the start of her storyline, she finds out that she and her co-actor Jessi, who plays Jane Bennet, are also required to step in as understudies for Marianne and Elinor Dashwood, when the girls who play them get into a nasty patch of poison ivy. This sets the stage for Maggie (subbing as Marianne) and Jessi (subbing as Elinor) to interact with the cast of Sense and Sensibility. Marianne takes an immediate dislike to the actor playing the smarmy Willoughby, but are her sensibilities being colored by his performance of the notorious rake, or is the used-car salesman-turned-actor pulling a bait and switch on his audience?
Maggie and her friends also get to experience a tour of the spooky gothic mansion Northanger Abbey, complete with its nighttime hedge maze, a truly frightening General Tilney, and a ghost from the past whose presence still haunts Camp Jane.
As mysterious events begin to unfold around the abbey and the old chapel nearby, it’s up to Maggie and her fellow LagGard gang, with the help of an enthusiastic troupe of librarians, to unearth the secrets of the past and unmask the real villains that are holding Camp Jane and its actors captive.
This was a super fun story to read! Lots of comedy and lots of great little moments for Jane Austen superfans like myself. I really enjoyed seeing some cameos of real-life Jane Austen fans who I know appear as vital characters in the story (and I may or may not have a hidden cameo character somewhere too!).
I thoroughly loved the first Camp Jane book, and the second book did not disappoint either! Can’t wait for the next installment of this series. After all, at Camp Jane, summer has only just begun.