Audio Book Review of The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim

Read for: Audio Book Challenge/ Borrowed Book

Synopsis: "A recipe for happiness: four women, one medieval Italian castle, plenty of wisteria, and solitude as needed.

The women at the center of The Enchanted April are alike only in their dissatisfaction with their everyday lives. They find each other—and the castle of their dreams—through a classified ad in a London newspaper one rainy February afternoon. The ladies expect a pleasant holiday, but they don’t anticipate that the month they spend in Portofino will reintroduce them to their true natures and reacquaint them with joy. Now, if the same transformation can be worked on their husbands and lovers, the enchantment will be complete." 

My Review: When I set out to read 5 classics this year, I came across this one and thought it would be fun to read it in April. It is definitely a classic in the fact that it is overly descriptive with details that don't relate to the story but are simply flourishes. The characters are at times entertaining and the setting is beautiful. I also enjoyed the fact that the joy and hope in the story builds as the story continues, and it almost takes on a bit of a comedy of errors theme towards the end. Luckily, it was a fairly short book so it did keep the nonsense tangents to a relative minimum but the romances written in this time period really do not appeal to me that much. It did however really make me think that I just might need a month long get away with my girlfriends!

My Rating: While this classic was better than the Austen books in my opinion, it wasn't much better.  I really think that maybe classic romances just aren't for me.  I give it a rating of Two Paws.