Review: Not my favorite of the series but still worth reading...
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 01 1, 2014
If you haven't read Jane Austen's Mansfield Park or the previous books in the Jane Austen Diaries series, this review might contain some spoilers.After reading the rest of the series in March 2013, I became a big fan of Jenni James's Jane Austen contemporary retellings.  I waited impatiently for 9 months for Mansfield Ranch wondering how she would fit Mansfield Park into the series. And when it was finally released, I reread the previous books in chronological order (I waited on Northanger Alibi since it comes later chronologically) before finally reading Mansfield Ranch.  I have to admit, I was a little disappointed.  Part of my disappointment may have stemmed from building the series up too much in my anticipation of this book but that wasn't the whole problem.  This book disappointed me for a few reasons.First: Sean and Lilly were not as likeable as the main characters of previous books.  Sean lost some of the playful confidence he had in Persuaded and came off as a little cruel with how he treated Lilly.  I had to wonder how much he really loved her if he was willing to repeatedly hurt her so much.  And why didn't he ever contact her while she was away, not even after she reached out to him?  Lilly was brash and while there's nothing wrong with being frank with people, I guess I would have preferred a bit more grace with her frankness.  She just used words like idiot and moron too often for my liking.  They weren't unlikable characters.  I just had to exercise a bit more patience and forgiveness than usual in order to like them.Second: Mansfield Ranch wasn't as romantic or satisfying as the others.  In all fairness to Jenni James, I felt the same way about Mansfield Park.  Too much of the book was spent tearing their romance down and not enough building it up.  I started to hope Harrison Crawford won her after a while (even though I knew that wasn't going to happen and ultimately he didn't really deserve her) because I spent so much of the book reading about his love for her and so little reading about Sean's love. And seriously, why didn't Sean contact her while she was away?  He didn't even initiate contact at the end of her isolation.  And he never explains why he ignored her.  That just bugged me.  There would have been many reasons his lack of contact would have been forgivable but I needed to hear an explanation from him.  Then at the end, I just felt like "that's it?" because the climax and conclusion are too brief, didn't resolve enough, and weren't as romantic as I would have liked.Third: I'm confused by the continuity.  How did this book fit into the series timeline?  Was this two years after Persuaded? One? The school year after that summer?  It seemed like the only way this story fit was if it was happening at the same time as Emmalee the school year after the summer of Persuaded but even that didn't fit exactly right.  I'm sure there's a way to explain away inconsistencies in order to make a timeline fit but it shouldn't be the reader's job to do that.  It should be the author's job to make it clear enough that it's a non-issue.  I know I should forget about the timeline and just go with it, but I can't help but be distracted by it.Four: The previous books did a better job of connecting each book in the series through the characters.  Since this book was set in a different town, the only time anyone from the other books showed up was at the very end with Greg and Amanda.  In Persuaded, both Lilly and Sean gave the impression that they had a whole lot more contact with Greg than they did in Mansfield Ranch. Greg isn't even mentioned until the end and based on the way Greg and Amanda explained what they had been up to, there hadn't even been contact that the reader wasn't privy to though the book was set over at least 6 months if not more. I know Greg and  Amanda had gone off to college but you'd think there would at least be the occasional email or text to or from Greg.  I mean, Lilly was lonely enough to begin to overlook her dislike of Harrison while she was away.  You'd think she would have reached out to her favorite foster cousin.Mansfield Ranch was not a bad book.  It just didn't  hold up to the previous books.  Mansfield Park was one of my least favorite of Austen's novels too which probably didn't help Mansfield Ranch's cause.  If the complaints that I listed above wouldn't bother you, you'd probably love it as much as the others who gave it 4 and 5 stars. And even if they would bother you, I would still recommend reading it.  The series as a whole is good.  Especially for those who enjoy a good retelling of Austen's novels.  I still definitely look forward to reading the next books in the series.  I'm glad she decided to extend the series to include retellings of Austen' s less popular works.  Here's  hoping we  won't  have to wait another 9 months for Sense  and Sensational.