Shades of Milk and Honey is a pleasant (if slightly insipid) homage to Austen. I enjoyed all the trappings of the Regency era - the genteel pastoral views, the concern with propriety, the phrasing (complete with archaic spellings)... but the novel itself feels hollow. 
 It's missing the social commentary that made Austen so beloved. The characters felt like stock characters, with uncomplicated, predictable wants and desires. Jane, the main character, spends most of the book as a boring doormat with next to no personal agenda, allowing her life to be ruled by her obnoxious younger sister. And although the setting is charming, sometimes descriptions seemed over-aware of its novelty to the modern eye (look, we ride horses and own silver trays and eat nuncheon!) rather than being viewed through the eyes of someone for whom these things are merely a part of the everyday landscape. 
 The pacing seems totally off as well, since all the action is saved for the last 1/4 of the book. That's right: the entire first 3/4 of the book is a slog of watching the characters sit in drawing rooms, dance at balls, or chatter away at vapid pleasantries (how lovely the weather is! but what will the neighbors think!?). There are no mysteries beyond wondering who secretly loves whom. This might be all right if I had signed up for pure historical fiction, but this was supposed to be historical fantasy! I really wanted the glamour to figure more strongly into the plot... but alas, the history / social implications of glamour (i.e. potentially the most interesting parts of the story) are left completely unexplored. The magic in this book could easily have been substituted with painting, or anything similarly artistic. 
 The message of "with passion comes great art" is cute, but the ending is (view spoiler)[an annoying deus ex machina: the poor romantic artist is secretly a rich man's son, suddenly safe to marry and live with in material comfort. Ugh...really? (hide spoiler)] 
 Illusionist ladies in Regency England is wonderful idea, but this particular execution is greatly disappointing. It could have been so much more!