I was thrilled to read this review earlier this week.  I reached out to Rachel, a book blogger and fellow Christian and Austen lover, on the off chance that she might be interested in the new book.  She was interested in the Guide, and also in A Walk with Jane Austen. And, as it turns out, we appear to have been living eerily similar lives.  She immediately connected with Walk with Jane, and wrote the kind of review every writer dreams of.  This is the thing that makes writing worth it, when you really connect with someone, someone you’ve never met before, who just happens to have your book in their hands.  Thank you, Rachel, for this beautiful — and beautifully written — review.

There are certain books that tug your heart strings and catch your throat and make you squeal aloud at every moment where you realize that the author has taken words and thoughts out of your mouth and heart and slapped them on a page. A Walk with Jane Austen is very much A Walk into Rachel’s Psyche.  It is Smith’s blatant and commendable honesty, her frustratingly poignant stream-of-consciousness and her willingness to spill her thoughts and pangs like a tipped-over inkpot that make this story the most poignant caption of a literary infused life I think I have ever read.  (read more)

Thankful for the unexpected blessing of connecting with a new friend.