I was pleasantly surprised with the new book Jane Bites Back by Michael Thomas Ford. As a stereotypical Pride and Prejudice fan, I was initially a bit cautious; I had expected a trite, shallow story that obviously played off Austen’s historical novels. Fortunately, what I got was a well cultivated tale with great character development that holds its own against the real-life history of its main character, Jane Austen.

The story begins with a modern day Jane Austen – now known as Jane Fairfax – running a bookstore in a small university town in New York State. She’s a vampire, having been turned by a handsome stranger back in the 1800’s and she’s spent the last 150 years keeping her identity a secret, while trying to get a new book published. Needless to say she’s not been successful with that endeavor. However to add insult to injury, since she now owns a bookstore, she sees firsthand how other writers are profiting by using her characters in unauthorized sequels and spin-offs of her work. As you can imagine, she’s not too happy about this.

However she does have a few admirers of the male persuasion. The scandalous Lord Byron, the person responsible for turning her into a vampire, wants to court her. And a local friend and widower Walter Fletcher, makes it clear he’d like to spend more time with her.

And then finally, after hundreds of rejection letters (remember, she’s been submitting this manuscript for decades) she finally connects with a publisher who’s interested. And that’s when the excitement begins. Jane is suddenly thrust into the whirlwind world of celebrity authors where book signings, interviews and talk show appearances prevail. But that’s not the only attention her sudden fame brings her; an old rival begins stalking her and a dead body turns up in her hotel room during her book tour.

With a crazy poet declaring his love for her and her need to “come clean” and tell Walter about her vampire lifestyle, not to mention the stalker problem which threatens the safety of those around her, it’s no wonder that Jane feels overwhelmed and a bit desperate to live a normal and peaceful life.

What will Jane choose – the secretive vampire lifestyle or risk exposing herself to the humans closest to her in an attempt to save their lives? You’ll have to read it to find out . . .

Jane Bites Back just went on sale this week at Amazon. Check it out to find out how Jane deals with her problems – and learn the secret identity of the stalker!