Move over, Charlotte Brontë. The authors of the New York Times bestselling My Lady Jane are back with an irreverent spin on Jane Eyre—a tale of mischief, romance, and supernatural mayhem perfect for fans of The Princess Bride or A Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue. You may think you know the story. Penniless orphan Jane Eyre begins a new life as a governess at Thornfield Hall, where she meets … Eyre begins a new life as a governess at Thornfield Hall, where she meets one dark, brooding Mr. Rochester—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 Bronte, and supernatural investigator Alexander Blackwood are about to be drawn together on the most epic ghost hunt this side of Wuthering Heights.
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The Tudors meets Monty Python. Prepare to laugh and gasp and clutch your pearls.
History, humor, and unexpected magic come together in this marvelous story.
! 5/5 stars for this Historical Fantasy reread! You think you know the story of Charlotte Bronte and Jane Eyre, but do you? Ghosts and comedy combine in this fun story, packed with adventure! Highly recommend! Love the cover and the narration! Fiona Hardingham is one of my all time favorites!
I want to begin with saying that I really loved the first book by these authors, My Lady Jane, and went into this book with high expectations. Unfortunately, though, this just wasn’t as good as the first one. The humor (Princess Bride style) was still present and I admit that I did laugh and find it witty, but overall, I didn’t like the way they took on the retelling of Jane Eyre. The ghosts were fun and imaginative, but I wish they would have done more with them to “improve” upon the story instead of making this version a little wishy washy on the happily ever after as well. It’s not a bad read, but not as good as the first one. I don’t know if it fell flat because they were switching up a work of fiction instead of historical events. I’ll still check out the third book in the series because I do think there is potential here.
I think this was a good follow up to My Lady Jane but not quite as magical. Maybe because, as is typical of sequels, the expectations are high and the surprise is not. Jane can see and communicate with ghosts, the addition of Charlotte to the story is a fun twist, and my favorite character, Helen, is dead. I recommend at least watching a Jane Eyre movie before reading this in order to better understand the story. There’s probably more enjoyment to be had with the comparison to the Gothic tale.
I don’t hate this book, but I don’t like it. I found it to be all giggle humor- the kind of jokes you only laugh at if you’re already laughing at something else. Also, I could not tell if the actual authors did or didn’t like the original Jane Eyre, which was an odd thing. Sometimes it seemed like they were using this as a sort of critic of some of the main points/parts/themes of Jane Eyre, and sometimes it seemed like they were just making a fun parady out of love of the source material. Mostly I was confused. As far as the actual plot went, I wasn’t impressed, as it seems all the writers took from the source material was some names and places. I came to this looking for a Jane Eyre parady like A Very Potter Musical is a parady of Harry Potter, and that just isn’t what this is. And I didn’t really enjoy the ending either, which at first seemed to be a spoof off an alternative ending of Jane Eyre, and then got a bit…weird in my opinion. I wanted to like this, but I just didn’t find it funny, and I didn’t enjoy the way the authors used the original Jane Eyre material they did include. Also, they included Charlotte Bronte and her family into the story line which immediately threw me off and I never came to enjoy them being a part of the cast. I was left feeling that this book, ultimately, wasn’t about Jane Eyre at all. Which was kind of the point of reading it for me so, going to have to pass on this one.
Now I’m going to be straight and say I didn’t like My Plain Jane half as much as I loved My Lady Jane. It took me a long time to really get into this book and I realized that I did still really enjoy the story. There were a lot things that I loved that are from Jane Eyre and of course the way Cynthia Hand writes this book is always so funny. I loved the paranormal twist on the Jane Eyre story and how Charlotte Bronte comes up with her story Jane Eyre. I will admit that the fact that Jane could see ghosts didn’t interest me initially, it actually turned out to be really fun and I really loved it in the end.
I have to admit I didn’t like Jane’s character all that much. Maybe it was her motivations. She didn’t want to join The Society because she wanted to be a Governess and she still didn’t want to join because she in love with Mr. Rochester. It made her seem like a naive girl who fell for the first guy who paid her any attention. But the other characters, Alexander, Charlotte, and Bran were all fun characters that I really loved.
My Plain Jane was still really good and I really enjoy this series and the awesomely funny way Cynthia Hand writes it. This series is one of my favorite retellings ever.
I sped through My Plain Jane [MPJ]. It was fun and lighthearted. Clearly the authors don’t take themselves too seriously.
The entire idea is an interesting concept. I rather like Jane Eyre and I feel Ms. Hand, Ms. Ashton, and Ms. Meadows did her and Charlotte Brontë right with MPJ.
The relationships are fun, if sometimes rather awkward for those involved. The authors poking fun at the conventions of the day was fabulous.
The authors get some extra cool points for various pop culture references, including a brilliant Harry Potter reference. High five, ladies.
The ending wrapped everything up nicely, despite leaving a large opening for a sequel I doubt we’ll get.
I read MPJ out of order as I didn’t realize it was part of a series, but as the books are stand-alone, it doesn’t matter. I look forward to reading book 1, My Lady Jane, next.
Overall, great read. I highly recommend it.
The first book was great, and this one continues to create such a beautiful world for the readers. I’m going to break my own rules for this review a little bit and refer to myself in the first person or use the first person. I know I should not, but when I am so excited about a book it is so hard to separate myself from the review, so you are going to have to forgive me a little bit on that note.
I do you think that these authors are probably some of my new favorite authors especially Cynthia Hand she is the only author whom I have had a chance to read other works from and so far I love her. Regardless of that fact, all these three authors come together effortlessly to tell a new story.
My Plain Jane is a retelling of Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and who does not love a good retelling. I have read Jane Eyre multiple times for school, and while I like it, there are cultural and societal flaws no longer accepted that make it unlikable. That is part of the charm of this novel because it cracks jokes at all those misogynistic points of views and, in a humorous way, criticize women’s fashion and women’s place in society. The way the authors put in those criticisms in with a phrase here or there are such small-scale scenes, and yet they have such weight to them. Not only that, but they also have so much energy to them that make both the scenes and the novel stand out. These authors excel at weaving in the subtle language to tell their stories and make their voices shine. Moreover, that is what makes it so great there’s such an energy to this novel that keeps the reader captivated.
The fact that the authors can shine in the story is another part of what makes this such a good story. With the story going between three different perspectives, the authors need to make sure each perspective has their internal struggle and narrative, and make sure that they can be distinguishable from one another. Each voice is powerful, making the characters compelling, and that is important in a story such as this. These characters need to be able to stand out from one another so that the reader can see who is talking and be captivating by them. The fact that these three authors can come together and form a cohesive and uniform narrative is incredible. Their voices make the story vibrant and the way they manipulate historical details in almost minor ways, it somehow makes the story plausible, and thus riveting. Moreover, the added ghost element only serves to make the story unique in the world of YA novels. These writers show their hearts in the story; they stay true to their voices while they make sure that the story holds together. These characters are lovable and relatable, and their dynamics with one another, their character growth and internal narratives are flushed out that the reader cannot help but be captivated by them. That is how well the authors work together, and it also showcases how strong their talent it. There’s even a throwback to My Lady Jane which completely caught me by surprise and worked so well in the story.
The novel is fun to read, and fun to listen to, and if I had a choice, I think I would recommend the audiobook to readers. The audiobook is so well and to hear the different voices come to life with such a vibrancy makes the story even more compelling than it already is. The story, the characters, the voices, and tone are all so spellbinding that it is hard to find a single fault in the novel. Retellings are tricky because there is a charm that made the original captivating that can’t be lost but considering the very modern tone that slips and critiques past etiquette adds to the charm of this retellings. It does not lose what made Jane Eyre special but instead takes that material and finds other ways to explore that charm for a modern audience.
I do not think I can say this enough, but My Plain Jane is just an excellent novel. It is well-constructed, flows impeccably without losing sight of the overall story introducing varies plot twists and turns into the novel to keep it interesting with an all the humorous anecdotes that are in it. It’s safe to say that these three writers are great collaborators they know how to work together they know how to get to their end well also making sure that their own voices shine whichever perspective they are telling the story. My Plain Jane is an excellent novel.
I feel very conflicted about this book. There were humorous aspects to it and I enjoyed the retelling of Jane Eye and Charlotte Bronte’s story but with ghosts; however, I had a hard time staying interested and I never felt myself wanting to pick it up. It took me quite a long time to finish. The latter half of the story was much more interesting than the first half. I think this particular story would have been better on audiobook than ebook. I give it 3 stars.
Kind of disappointing, to tell you the truth.
I was so looking forward to this after My Lady Jane, but while there were moments where I laughed, many of the jokes and references took away from the story. The story kind of dragged and the plot was everywhere. I did love the characters, and characters can make or break a book for me. Helen, Charlotte, and Branwell were the most charismatic, but I enjoyed most of the characters. I also adored the ghost aspect and the twists.
Give it a whirl, but know that the first book was, indeed, better.
I’m so disappointed! I wanted to love this book so much more than I did. The first book by these authors, My Lady Jane, was one of my favorite reads the year it came out – it was a hysterical, ridiculous, magical romp through an alternate history where people turned to animals and Lady Jane Grey never lost her head after nine days on the throne. It was tongue-in-cheek and chock-full of clever pop culture references, and I don’t know if I’ve ever had so much fun reading a book.
In writing their followup novel, the authors seemed to misunderstand what it was exactly that made the first book so special. In My Plain Jane, there were a lot less pop culture call outs, the humor was dialed way down, and not a single person turned into a horse. Part of my feelings about this book come from the fact that I’ve only read Jane Eyre once many years ago and don’t really remember a lot of the details, so I probably missed a number of allusions and references. I’m also not generally a fan of ghost hunting, of which there is quite a lot in this book. All that being said, My Plain Jane is still a fun read and I think this group of writers are still great together, but I’m hoping their eventual book three will trend more towards the whimsy and hilarity of My Lady Jane rather than the gothic mystery of My Plain Jane.