Book review: My Plain Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows

My Plain Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows

Rating: ★★★☆☆
Links: Amazon • Goodreads • TBD
Publication Date: June 26, 2018
Source: Borrowed

You may think you know the story. After a miserable childhood, penniless orphan Jane Eyre embarks on a new life as a governess at Thornfield Hall. There, she meets one dark, brooding Mr. Rochester. Despite their significant age gap (!) and his uneven temper (!!), they fall in love—and, Reader, she marries him. (!!!)

Or does she?

Prepare for an adventure of Gothic proportions, in which all is not as it seems, a certain gentleman is hiding more than skeletons in his closets, and one orphan Jane Eyre, aspiring author Charlotte Brontë, and supernatural investigator Alexander Blackwood are about to be drawn together on the most epic ghost hunt this side of Wuthering Heights.

First things first, I feel like I should say two things:

1. I absolutely adored My Lady Jane, and
2. I have not read Jane Eyre.

I don’t think that not reading Jane Eyre really had any impact on my feelings about this book. The authors really did a great job of retelling the story in a way that doesn’t rely on any prior knowledge of the book. But adoring My Lady Jane? I think that made my hopes a little too high.

You see, MLJ was a nearly 500-page book that I finished in (if I remember correctly) two nights. I flew through it, laughing and smiling and swooning over a man who randomly turns into a horse. MPJ took me about two weeks to finish despite being a little shorter.

I think the biggest thing for me was that, despite more or less enjoying the plot, I just didn’t feel any connection with the characters. Sure, Jane and Charlotte and Alexander were all great, but I always felt like they were at a distance. I never really felt immersed in their story, which meant that I never really felt like picking it back up and reading more.

I don’t have a ton of things to say about this book. It was a pretty solid four for me until the last quarter or so, when it seemed to drag a bit and I had to force myself to keep reading.

#killingthetbr: 6 months on shelf
#ps19: a retelling of a classic
#romanceopoly: memory lane

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Have you read My Plain Jane? Have you read any good retellings recently? Let’s talk in the comments!

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