Persuading Annie

Ok I'm still giving this novel a 5 star review because i want to encourage the author on her good work this far. HOWEVER I feel I must point out, and to a certain extant defend, the American point of view here. The character of Tony is too much of a loud ugly American cliche. Then, on one page the term Father Christmas and making mince pies was mentioned by Americans. We say Santa Claus. No one uses "Father Christmas, ever. And I'd venture to guess the 90%of Americans don't even know what mince is, or even if they do they definitely do not make mince pies. Also, they don't use the term "school girls". I don't know why. It was a fun story, but every now and then I'd be abruptly taken out of the plot by some utterly incorrect anglicism being used by an American. Just have an American editor check the verbiage before going to print next time, ok?

Author Melissa Nathan continues her love of all things Jane Austen with an updated version of "Persuasion" with a couple twists to update it for the 21st century.After a home pregnancy test reveals she is pregnant, Annie Markham is ready to elope with her boyfriend Jake. But family machinations have a way of rearing their ugly heads, as family friend Susannah plants seeds of doubt in Annie's mind (Annie is an heiress, while Jake is working class). When she suddenly gets her period and is in shock, a fight with Jake results in his leaving her, thinking that she lied to him.Fast forward seven years. Annie still couldn't be more different then her two sisters, Katherine and Victoria, both of whom spend the family fortune as if it might disappear. Of course, the Markham family PR firm is finding itself in dire straights, and in need of a miracle. Enter management consulting whiz Jake Mead, the same Jake that shares a past with Annie. As Annie schemes to keep her distance from Jake, they do in fact run into each other (when she is not at her best, of course). He is still reeling that she dumped him without explanation; she cannot forgive him for walking out on her in her time of need. He reveals to his shrink that he does not want closure from Annie and her family - he wants revenge. Annie still feels a connection to her first love, but keeps the long-ended relationship a secret from her family, while they try to marry her off to the Markham CEO, and encourage Jake into a romance with the young sister of Victoria's husband.Will either of them ever have the guts to be truthful about their feelings and revisit the pain of their youth? Nathan's excellent prose peppers a truly original adaptation of a classic novel, giving it a great contemporary flavor that is sure to grasp the reader's attention.

Persuasion is Jane Austen's last novel. In this modern adaptaion Melissa Nathan attempts to capture the boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl plot found so often in modern literature. Annie is such an unlikeable character in the beginning, it was hard to get into feeling sympathy for her. I realize the author was trying to show how much Annie changes within the book, but Austen's changes are more subtle. Having her ex-boyfriend rescue her father's company is a break from the way Austen saw the relationship, but, overall, I would not turn the book down if given the opportunity to read it again. It is just that Persuasion is one of my favorite Austen works so I was hoping for so much more.

I picked up this book because I generally enjoy these re-dos of Jane Austen's work. But this one doesn't hit the mark in any way: it's slow, it's boring, and hard to finish. I just never sensed the emotion or passion between the hero and heroine and the result is that one just plain doesn't care. Stylistically, there is a lot of "head-hopping" which one doesn't see that often and which was interesting to read; but in fact it is a bit confusing and my conclusion was that I don't need to read this style again. In all, this was a disappointing read.

Recommended by a friend who loves Austen. This was a clever update to Persuasion that was close enough to 5he original story while evolving the characters in a more modern direction. Highly recommend.

The writing was terrible. I couldn't get past the horrible dialogue on the first couple of pages. Just awful. Had no interest in seeing what the story was about.

I never really liked any of the characters. Even Annie didn't have any redeeming qualities. It was just meh. Blah.

A enjoyable update of Jane Austins "Persuasion" which has always been one of my favorites. A good casual book to read. Much better than most Jane Austin redo's

It is a witty book with great characters made me laugh out loud at some points. Melissa Nathan has a way of bringing her books to life so you get lost in them and don't want to say goodbye at the end. Enjoy

It is obviously one of her early books however, and is not as well written as her later works. This suggests though that her untimely death probably robbed us of what would have been really outstanding books as her improvement continued.

An old friend enjoy

love it

Arrived in plenty of time. Gift so unable to say whether I'd like it or not, just hope my pal does.