Fables&Wren

The Ladies Janies #02: My Plain Jane

/ 05 STARS, CA JM BA YA THE LADY JANIES

My Plain Jane Book Cover My Plain Jane
The Ladies Janies
Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, Jodi Meadows,
Young Adult Fiction
HarperTeen
June 26, 2018
464

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 one dark, brooding Mr. Rochester—and, Reader, she marries him. Or does she? Prepare for an adventure of Gothic proportions in this stand-alone follow-up to My Lady Jane, which was called “an utter delight” (ALA Booklist, starred review), and “an uproarious historical fantasy that’s not to be missed” (Publishers Weekly, starred review).

Once upon a time there were three authors that got together and went “how can we make sure that Wren will completely and utterly obsess over a series a books” and then out came The Lady Janies.

Why do I love these books so much? Because they are goofy and fun. Most books in the fantasy and paranormal genre for Young Adult readers are dark, moody and dramatic (which I love, don’t get me wrong). It is nice to get a break from the heavy reads and jump into something that can just literally make you laugh out loud and make people stare at you when you are waiting for your hot chocolate at Starbucks.

So as My Lady Jane was about Queen Jane and her short reign, My Plain Jane is about Jane Eyre. The difference is though, that there are ghost and there are ghost hunters. So think time-period, classic novel meets Ghostbusters, and you’ll have the genre setting for My Plain Jane.

There are three points of view: Jane Eyre (obviously), a boy who is, like, really good at ghost hunting, and then Charlotte Bronte who just really has a lot of stories to tell and thinks that Jane might be a very interesting protagonist (oh, the irony). I believe that each author, though writing the whole book together, takes lead on a different character; so one writes for Jane, one for the ghost-hunter, and the other for Charlotte. I had a lot of fun trying to figure out who was writing what and I can honestly say I still am not completely positive I am correct.

So this society that hunts ghosts is running low on funds and really needs this super rare type of person who can actually control ghosts. And can you believe it, it’s Jane? But, Jane is under the impression that they are actually killing (for a second time?) ghosts and her best friend happens to be a ghost and she wants to keep her.

This book touches on some topics like feminism, friendship, and family, but what I like about it, is that they use it in a way that still makes you think while keeping it light and still making you laugh.

So if you have read Jane Eyre, you will get a lot of the spoofs and you’ll be laughing really hard. If you haven’t read Jane Eyre, you won’t get many of the spoofs and you’ll be laughing really hard anyway.

Overall, I think the five editions I will be getting of this book is completely normal and I loved this book and why can’t My Calamity Jane come out now instead of two years from now? I mean, it’s a western… it’s going to be the most hilarious one yet.

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How I Rate Books:
All of my books start at three stars ★★★☆☆.
This is different than most because people usually start a book at five stars ★★★★★ and trickle it down from there. I believe this doesn’t actually leave room for a book to grow from my expectations. This leads to some five stars being on the same level as other five stars that I actually ended up enjoying more. Starting at three stars ★★★☆☆ leaves me room to have more control of my ratings.

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Moldara #01: Secrets of Moldara

/ 03 STARS, BEARHART MOLDARA

I went into this book blind and not really knowing what to expect. Sometimes, it is good to go into a book like this, and I had a feeling if I read reviews and talked to people who read this book, it would have tainted how I would feel about it.

The book took place in a small town in Virginia. The protagonist, Lotty, recently moved back to her childhood farm after her grandmother passes away. Since she has been back, she has started to remember things from when she was younger, like stories her grandfather told her before he mysteriously disappeared.

With these pieces of memory coming back to her, she starts to search for the missing puzzle pieces of her memory. With the help of some new friends, she uncovers some truths, but more questions unanswered.

The plot was a little slow for my taste, but it did pick up as the book went on. The world building was very slow as well, and thankfully not an information dump. I do like the world this was set up in, even though it read like a fantasy instead of a paranormal.

Side Note: Paranormals are set in our own world with magical elements. Fantasies are set up in an entirely new world. So when I say this kind of read like a fantasy, it means that it really didn’t feel as if it was set in “a small town in Virginia,” but in its own little world.

This book very much read like a romance to me with some mystery and paranormal/fantasy elements sprinkled in. I am not one that likes to read books with heavy romances; but, overall, I did enjoy the book and would love to read the second one when it comes out next month.

I do have to say that I did not feel as if I was reading from a seventeen-year-old’s point of view, but from someone older. This is something I see a lot of in young adult books, and I am not sure if this is just because in these types of settings, people are tougher and have to grow up more or if it is just because the protagonist is usually put through hell which makes them grow up faster. Either way, I did enjoy Lotty when I didn’t put an age with her.

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How I Rate Books:
All of my books start at three stars ★★★☆☆.
This is different than most because people usually start a book at five stars ★★★★★ and trickle it down from there. I believe this doesn’t actually leave room for a book to grow from my expectations. This leads to some five stars being on the same level as other five stars that I actually ended up enjoying more. Starting at three stars ★★★☆☆ leaves me room to have more control of my ratings.

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Brooklyn Brujas, #02: Bruja Born

/ 03 STARS, CZORAIDA YA BROOKLYN BRUJAS

Bruja Born Book Cover Bruja Born
Brooklyn Brujas
Zoraida Cordova
Young Adult Fiction
Brooklyn Brujas
2018
EBook ARC
352

Still feeling broken after her family's battle in Los Lagos, Lula invokes a dark spell to bring her boyfriend and others back after a fatal bus crash, but unwittingly raises an army of hungry, half-dead casimuertos, instead.

This book is the ownvoices, and something you don’t see a lot of in the book world. If you are wanting something fresh, possibly a setting you may not be as familiar with and also stuff with supernatural things like vampires and zombies, look no further! Well, actually yes look a little further.. to book one and start there because this is book two. So look to book one and THEN look to this book!

This book was such a ride. I have to tell you, something I love about 2018 is the fact that a lot of books are coming out with the underlining story being something along the lines of a familial bond and how important they are and how self love is one of the most important things to being happy. The sister’s bond and strength in this book, Lula, Alex and Rose, is something that I really connected with. My sister and I are pretty close as well, and I always feel a strong pull to stories that have a focal on sisters.

I was a little put off by this being a sequel told in a different view, Lula instead of her sister Alex, but I slowly did come to enjoy the book. I did not connect to Lula well, and I am not actually sure why. I think it might have been more of the writing for me than the actual character. Some writing styles I can’t get on board with, which is nothing against the author at all. That only means that what doesn’t work for me, may REALLY work for you.

Lula’s journey to finding herself and loving who she finds is something every person, no matter your gender or race or age or orientation, should learn from. More books need to contain aspects of self love and the struggle to get to that point.

Something that I thought really was portrayed well, was the PTSD. The PTSD was translated to the reader really well, which is something I think is hard to do as an author. It is hard to take how one person reacts to something, and have it work for anyone who picks up your book and have them be inspired. If you read the snippet at the top, you see that Lula deals with a lot of deaths in this book. A lot of her friends and loved ones die in a crash and she can’t heal them even though healing is basically what she defines herself as.

Side Note: I also think that finding out that “even though you have a healing power, you can’t heal everything” is something that can be taken as a learning point to anyone. Like even for boring people like me who’s only super power is getting all cats to sit on my lap. I took it as “Even though you are a great listener, you can’t fix everyone’s problems,” which is something that I personally struggle with more than I should. Maybe it should also be “even though you have great skills at getting cats to love you, maybe don’t jump the fence at the zoo in hopes the tiger will cuddle with you”.

In conclusion, I do believe this is a series that young-teen readers should dive into. Not only does it touch on grief and PTSD, but it also shows you how important familial and self love are to be happy. Be aware though, there are some graphic scenes with self-harm, gore, deaths and … well a lot of death.
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