Jane of the Damned, by Janet Mullany

Jane Austen
Novelist . . . gentlewoman . . . Damned, Fanged, and Dangerous to know.
Aspiring writer Jane Austen knows that respectable young ladies like herself are supposed to shun the Damned--the beautiful, fashionable, exquisitely seductive vampires who are all the rage in Georgian England in 1797. So when an innocent (she believes) flirtation results in her being turned--by an absolute cad of a bloodsucker--she acquiesces to her family's wishes and departs for Bath to take the waters, the only known cure.
But what she encounters there is completely unexpected: perilous jealousies and further betrayals, a new friendship and a possible love. Yet all that must be put aside when the warring French invade unsuspecting Bath--and the streets run red with good English blood. Suddenly only the staunchly British Damned can defend the nation they love . . . with Jane Austen leading the charge at the battle's forefront.

From the start, I was hesitant with this book, primarily because historical fantasies, especially ones with famous people, tend to sound extremely fake (yes, I know that they're supposed to be unreal, but there's a limit to how unreal). The idea of Jane Austen as a vampire is somewhat reminiscent of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, as well as all the other books like it. I was surprised to find that the beginning of the novel read like a Jane Austen novel, but as soon as the vampires entered it started leaning towards the modern side.

The characters were not exactly what I thought they would be like. Jane Austen was entirely too spunky and was way more knowledgeable than one would have thought she would have been. The men were thoroughly disappointing, with Jane's father being all perfect and Reverend-y, William having absolutely no personality, and Luke being so typical I felt deja vu whenever anything happened involving him. Also, his relationship with Jane moved so fast that I actually pitied Margaret, his vengeful ex, and thought that she actually had a valid excuse for what she did because after being with her for twenty years, Luke should take a break a little more than a month long before diving into a new relationship. And what was up with the whole bearleader nonsense? When I hear the word "bearleader" the last thing I think about a hunter, and in fact, Wikipedia says a bearleader is a man who led bears in the country. Not a mommy or daddy vampire who trains baby vampires to be grown up vampires. I was also disappointed in how easily Jane lost her scruples. For days she thinks vampires are totally immoral and says that she won't do any of the things they do, and then she does them.

3.9 stars. If you look closely at the cover art, you'll notice black smudges. I actually rubbed the cover because I wasn't sure if they were supposed to be there and was shocked when my fingers didn't turn black.