{"id":16454,"date":"2018-04-24T05:00:48","date_gmt":"2018-04-24T12:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailywaffle.com\/stage1\/?p=16454"},"modified":"2018-04-23T21:32:09","modified_gmt":"2018-04-24T04:32:09","slug":"my-oxford-year-review-julia-whelan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailywaffle.com\/stage1\/my-oxford-year-review-julia-whelan\/","title":{"rendered":"MY OXFORD YEAR by Julia Whelan | 4-star review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"my<\/a><\/p>\n

Review copy provided by the publisher<\/em><\/p>\n

Julia Whelan’s debut, My Oxford Year, captures that rom-com magic; I loved it.<\/strong><\/h2>\n

I can\u2019t resist a good American living abroad story. Julia Whelan\u2019s MY OXFORD YEAR is just that. It\u2019s a charming tale in the tradition of some of the best American + Brit rom-coms. And before you even ask, yes, it\u2019s in development. Hallelujah.<\/span><\/p>\n

American Ella Durran is a Rhodes scholar set to spend a year in Oxford, while balancing a\u00a0<\/span>consulting gig for potential presidential contender Janet Wilkes. <\/span><\/p>\n

Our Ella\u2019s a bit of a fish out of water as she arrives in Oxford, and nearly gets run down by some playboy in an Aston Martin. After a (not so) meet cute in a fish and chip shop, he turns out to be the lecturer for one her classes. (I love this already!)<\/em> Her newfound friends, a delightfully quirky crew, are quick to warn that said lecturer, Mr. Jamie Davenport, has left a trail of broken hearts from Cambridge to Oxford (By the way, there\u2019s no frowning on fraternization). And so it begins.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jamie is exceedingly charming \u2014 maybe it\u2019s the British accent, maybe it\u2019s the mini-monologues, but he\u2019s a passionate academic who never veers off into windbag territory. His subject of study? Tennyson.<\/span><\/p>\n

MY OXFORD YEAR is utterly delightful. It captures some of that rom-com magic by focusing on the emotional and intellectual connection between its main characters. It\u2019s all a bit unexpected, but Ella and Jamie agree at the outset, her time in Oxford is finite. This thing, it\u2019s casual. (Until it’s not). Which is fine. (Until it\u2019s not). What\u2019s lovely about this story is that yes, these are two hooking up, there\u2019s no question about that, but at various points, Whelan lets you fill in the blanks in a way that\u2019s sexier than laying it all out:<\/span><\/p>\n

“You always meet at his rooms in college, which you find preferable to your humble attic abode. After all, you have a twin bed and a shower you can barely fit in; he has a double bed, a clawfoot tub and a corkscrew. What else do you need?\u201d <\/em>(Indeed, dear author, indeed!)<\/p>\n

Although what came to mind as I was reading were 90s rom-coms, mostly of the Hugh Grant variety, MY OXFORD YEAR is thoroughly a contemporary novel. Not just for it\u2019s texting and using Skype to talk to people back in the States. The potential presidential candidate Ella works for is a woman and quickly, the issues Ella advises on are outside her initial purview. Without spoiling anything, I\u2019ll just say, it\u2019s current and timely enough to make you sigh, if only. IF ONLY.<\/span><\/p>\n

Others have said it, both as a complaint and a complement, but My Oxford Year is right up your alley if you\u2019re a fan of Jojo Moyes\u2019 work. At its heart, My Oxford Year is about choices and growth and life. The fling with a charming, handsome Tennyson scholar who gets under Ella\u2019s skin is the conduit, almost the icing on the cake. <\/span><\/p>\n

One of the things I love about this book is that the epilogue is not 10 pages long. It doesn\u2019t tack on all the usual things you find in an epilogue, tying up everything in a pretty little bow. It allows Ella and Jamie\u2019s story to be what it is. I dare you not to cry. <\/span><\/p>\n

Get MY OXFORD YEAR on Amazon<\/a> | iBooks<\/a> | The Ripped Bodice<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Read an Excerpt from MY OXFORD YEAR<\/a><\/p>\n

P.S. The actors originally rumored to be attached were Melissa Benoist (fully support) and Sam Heughan (love him, but he\u2019s already an iconic Jamie). I think there\u2019s gotta be someone in their early 30s toiling away overseas. I firmly believe Jamie\u2019s gotta be played by a Brit or Irishman or Scotsman. There are too many cringeworthy possibilities on the American list. <\/span><\/p>\n

Fave line: <\/span><\/strong>\u201cYou\u2019re the hyper competitive American, a Rhodes scholar no less, who sees Oxford as a series of hurdles to clear like levels in some video game, and I? I\u2019m the hypocritical poetry scholar, espousing grand theories of one whilst shagging a different wench every night. Brilliant, glad we got that sorted. But who are we, really eh? We\u2019ve told each other what we think, but we\u2019ve no idea what we feel. That requires a conversation. Having words, having language, to connect us to ourselves and each other.\u201d<\/span><\/p>

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\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Review copy provided by the publisher Julia Whelan’s debut, My Oxford Year, captures that rom-com magic; I loved it. I can\u2019t resist a good American living abroad story. Julia Whelan\u2019s MY OXFORD YEAR is just that. It\u2019s a charming tale in the tradition of some of the best American + Brit rom-coms. And before you…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16455,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[149],"tags":[1171,2009,2010,2007,2008,2011,1133,388,2012,1987],"class_list":["post-16454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book-reviews","tag-book-review","tag-ella-durran","tag-jamie-davenport","tag-julia-whelan","tag-my-oxford-year","tag-oxford","tag-romance","tag-uk","tag-university-of-oxford","tag-womens-fiction"],"yoast_head":"\nMY OXFORD YEAR by Julia Whelan | 4-star review - DailyWaffle<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Julia Whelan's debut, MY OXFORD YEAR, is a must if you can't resist a British accent, 90s rom-coms and\/or a good bottle of Bordeaux.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Michelle\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailywaffle.com\/stage1\/my-oxford-year-review-julia-whelan\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailywaffle.com\/stage1\/my-oxford-year-review-julia-whelan\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Michelle\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailywaffle.com\/stage1\/#\/schema\/person\/699f5bbc3243018b1b4177972fd4c932\"},\"headline\":\"MY OXFORD YEAR by Julia Whelan | 4-star review\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-04-24T12:00:48+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailywaffle.com\/stage1\/my-oxford-year-review-julia-whelan\/\"},\"wordCount\":766,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailywaffle.com\/stage1\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailywaffle.com\/stage1\/my-oxford-year-review-julia-whelan\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/dailywaffle.com\/stage1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/My-Oxford-Year_DailyWaffle.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"book review\",\"ella durran\",\"jamie davenport\",\"julia whelan\",\"my oxford year\",\"oxford\",\"romance\",\"UK\",\"university of oxford\",\"women's fiction\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Book Reviews\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/dailywaffle.com\/stage1\/my-oxford-year-review-julia-whelan\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailywaffle.com\/stage1\/my-oxford-year-review-julia-whelan\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dailywaffle.com\/stage1\/my-oxford-year-review-julia-whelan\/\",\"name\":\"MY OXFORD YEAR by Julia Whelan | 4-star review - 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