Author: Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton & Jodi Meadows
Genre: Historical, Paranormal Fantasy, Retelling
Source: HarperTeen via Edelweiss
Goodreads
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. (!!!)Review by Nara
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.
My Plain Jane was a bit different from My Lady Jane in that it was sort of a retelling of Jane Eyre rather than a retelling of actual history. At the same time, it wasn't really a retelling of Jane Eyre in the fact that it focused on protagonist Charlotte Bronte (who is the actual author of Jane Eyre) and an adventure she has with her friend Jane Eyre (upon which she then bases the book "Jane Eyre"). Confused yet? Well seems like you might need to give the book a read so that this makes more sense!
I found that this book was not quite as good as My Lady Jane, but it was still a very fun one. The combination of these three authors just works so well, and I would be interested to see how they actually split the writing. The dry humour, as in the companion novel, is excellent- poking fun at the things in the original Jane Eyre that some people may not have liked or have become outdated e.g. the massive age gap.
There's a paranormal twist as in book one, but this time it's the fact that if someone has previously died and come back to life (or I guess come extremely close to death, I should say), they can see ghosts. I quite like these paranormal twists that the authors include, as it adds an interesting aspect to the plot.
To read My Plain Jane you definitely don't need to read My Lady Jane. They're completely separate books (apart from one small cameo!) and centre around different characters. You don't need to have read Jane Eyre either, although it might make it a bit easier to understand where the authors have twisted the original.
Really liked it
RatingsOverall: 8/10
Plot: 4/5
Romance: 3.5/5
Writing: 4/5
Characters: 4/5
Cover: 2/5
