Dark Blue Waves by Kimberly Sullivan

A young Jane Austen scholar travels back in time to Regency England in Kimberly Sullivan’s romantic Dark Blue Waves, a captivating story about finding love and discovering where you belong.

Janet Roberts is destined to be an architect because it’s the family business, but she would much rather study nineteenth-century literature. When she lands a spot in a prestigious seminar on Austen, she jumps at the chance to learn in Bath, England, far away from her father and his assistant’s prying eyes. However, her plans suddenly change: after a chance encounter with a famous painting and a nasty head wound, she wakes up in the year 1813.

Janet might be an expert in the literature of the time period, but mastering the social expectations of Austen’s age is daunting, which makes for some delightfully fun situations. While Janet becomes fast friends with the lady of the house, her Mr. Darcy-esque brother is a much tougher egg to crack. As Janet attends balls, discusses Napoleon’s campaigns, and intervenes in toxic arranged marriages, she begins to wonder if she wants to go home after all.

Sullivan’s novel is absolutely enchanting, and it’s a joy to see Janet reassess her contemporary prejudices, such as understanding why women in gothic fiction are always fainting after being forced into a corset, offering a compelling take on both the time period and on period literature. While the novel is a bit lengthy and some plot twists seem unrealistic, Dark Blue Waves is an effortlessly charming novel about following your heart, which is recommended for all fans of Austen and historical romance.