An Enjoyable and Hilarious Young Adult Jane Eyre Retelling

It is the middle of the night and I have just finished a book. I was so impressed with the story, creativity, and ending that I had to stay up and write a review on just how much I loved it!

“My Plain Jane” is a very loose re-telling of “Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Bronte. What is unique about “My Plain Jane” from the start, is that it is written by three different authors (Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows) and the story is told from three different perspectives: Jane Eyre (of course,) Charlotte Bronte, and Alexander. 

The authors or the Lady “Janies” as they call themselves weave tons of humour throughout the book, just like they did with their first novel entitled “My Lady Jane” (another excellent read.) The Lady “Janies” have some feminism weaved in, a sprinkle of historical notes, as well as some apologies for what they do to one of the world’s best loved works. 

Once I got into the second round of perspectives for each character, I could not put the book down. From start to finish the book takes some crazy turns, some obvious and many not so obvious events occur. The characters you think you know from the classic, that you believe will be straight forward, will continue blowing your mind until the very end. There are events you know have to take place to keep the story going and I loved the creativity in how they made these events happen.

I love how they took “Jane Eyre” (one of my favourite novels of all time,) and did a very well done re-telling. It was different enough to keep me engaged but contained similarities that kept me invested, very invested, in the story. 

The ghosts that you can “physically” see during the story (at least as the reader) give the book an extra eeriness. Lastly, I loved that all of my questions were answered, but one was not answered until the very last page. The writing propelled you to the end and kept me completely engaged until the very last line. Usually by the end of the book, I am done and out because I think I have it figured out and there is nothing new to tell. Yet another delightful aspect to this book.

I am glad I waited to read this until after reading “Jane Eyre.” Many of the aspects I enjoyed about the tale were due to having read “Jane Eyre,” but it is completely unnecessary to have read the inspiration for “My Plain Jane” to enjoy this book. 

This is an easy 5 out of 5 stars to give. 

I received “My Plain Jane” initially in my July 2018 Owlcrate Box. Below is a photo of the entire box. It is probably one of my favourite boxes I have ever received from Owlcrate. I also loved the colour on the cover more than the original. I felt the cover loaned itself more to the spooky, gothic accents in the book.

If you are interested in trying Owlcrate, please sign up using my link here. I am in no way being sponsored or endorsed by Owlcrate. I am just sharing a box I loved!

Happy Reading!