It took me less than twenty-four hours (way less) to finish reading this book; and a lot of it was because I was focused on getting to the end and seeing how the story played out. I held off on reading this book because at the time I'd gotten it, I was too overwhelmed with all the other Jane Austen-based books I'd gotten my hands on (and how can there be enough, right?). 
 After finding her husband playing games with her teaching assistant atop her kitchen table, Emma disappears to London at the invitation to stay from a cousin living there. Leaving behind the nasty divorce which resulted in her professional career being completely destroyed, all Emma really wants to do is start over. And to meet with the woman she'd been corresponding with for a while over Jane Austen and missing letters she'd written to her sister before her death. She hadn't expected to run into her former best friend, Adam, in the middle of her cousin's living room. Her former best friend, who apparently broke their friendship after she'd agreed to marry Edward. Awkwardness aside, Emma decides to puzzle over all of that later and goes to meet with Mrs. Parrot, the lady she'd been writing to and fro with. 
 After speaking some more with her at length about Jane Austen and these missing letters, Emma's pretty positive that Mrs. Parrot's just a touch shy from insane. This book is filled with intrigue and mystery as Mrs. Parrot sends Emma off on tasks throughout England, leaving her to figure out the puzzle of Jane Austen and the photocopies of the letters given to her. The more tasks she completes, the more Emma gets closer to getting her hands on original letters and exposing the truth for the world to see. And thereby, reclaiming her position in the professional world. 
 Which at this point is all Emma wants. 
 My first impression of this book before I'd even read it was a humorous, chick-lit romance. Probably a woman moaning about how Jane Austen ruined her life by allowing her to assume that life would end up the way they would in the books. All that romantic drivel set to preserve the notion of happily-ever-after. Or something like that. There was some of that to a certain degree. But despite Emma blaming the writer for a lot of her misconceptions of what love and life actually entails, a lot of the book was steeped in history. And mystery. A lot of mystery. 
 A large part of why I couldn't stop reading the book was because I had to know what was going on. I had to know why out of all the people in the world, Emma was chosen to undertake the task of figuring out Jane Austen's secret that the world didn't really know. I had to know what the letters contained. I had to know what Emma was going to end up doing with the letters - if she was going to break her promise to Mrs. Parrot about keeping them safe, or was she going to expose everything for her own selfish gain. I had to know what became of Jack Smith. I had to know what the hell was going on with Emma and Adam. I had to know all of this. 
 Hook, line, and sinker. 
 I saw everything being played out as I read the book. I could feel Emma's frustrations and some of the pain she was feeling. I could even feel the shit she was feeling while she on all these trips to the places that Jane Austen herself had been. I found myself wishing I could be there just to drink in all the sights, but the verbal description had to do for the meantime. All in all, I really really enjoyed the book. I wasn't too sure about that ending, I felt it was a little anticlimatic, but it left room for speculation and maybes. Which is half the fun of these types of books, after all.