I loved this book! 

I thought the conversation Anne has with the captain at the end was very interesting in that it doesn't make any sense from Anne's perspective, or at least within her own family. Mary doesn't like her kids and doesn't seem to like her husband at all. Elizabeth seems to have no interest in having kids, or a husband, and doesn't like Anne (or, presumably, Mary, or anyone but herself). Her father, Sir Walter, has never remarried and some of it is definitely due to his vanity and high standards hardly any woman could meet probably, but some might assume part of it is because he misses his wife who died long ago. It was weird to equate longing and yearning to a gender when there are so many examples to the opposite within her own family. I guess Anne might be a vehicle for Austen to make us think of how this doesn't make sense, beyond Wentworth writing his famous, "half-agony, half-hope letter," (which is so good!!!!). I think it's nice how much stock Austen points into her love interests writing letters to the main characters, even/especially those written in the heat of the moment and with great fear! Anne deserved and more!

Austen is amazing at writing loneliness even in the midst of so many people, people who have known you your entire life. Poor Anne, I'm so happy she found the truth in the end and can be married to someone she loved and comfortably so. She was right to wait, and able to happily marry the love of her life! Not a lot happens in this book, but it is done so masterfully you find patience and tension in the most mundane of scenes. Really happy I read this!