Jane's Affliction: A Novel

Realizing her recurrent visions are just one of her supernatural abilities, a teen falls in love with a ghost and finds herself the target of a sinister presence in Kerr’s (Magnetic, 2015, etc.) paranormal romance.

When a neighbor reports that 17-year-old Jane Anderson is often home alone, social services puts the Texan girl on a train to live with distant relatives in Hartford, Connecticut. Escaping an abusive, neglectful mother, Jane is initially wary of Dean and Joanna Rochester. But as she grows to trust her surrogate family, she’s disturbed by the fixer-upper that will soon be the Rochesters’ new home, which she had already seen in her dreams. The teenager’s frequent visions and lucid dreams have likewise predated her running into handsome blond Will in the nearby woods. The same-aged boy, as well as younger Nadine, Ethan, and Emmett, stayed at the house back when it was an orphanage—during the Great Depression. They’re benevolent ghosts with whom Jane, unlike other humans, can make physical contact. That’s good news for Jane and Will, who quickly fall in love and surrender to mutual lust. Unfortunately, there’s another persistent spirit, homicidal rapist Frank Sullivan, who, along with wife Pearl, tortured and murdered the children. Frank possesses humans to assault Jane, until he realizes he need not “borrow a body” to get his grubby hands on her. The novel is an impressive blend of romance and tension. Jane bounces back and forth between affection for Will and anxiety over her inevitable confrontation with Frank. Jane confides in Dean, her honorary stepfather, who suggests Jane hone her gifts. Despite Frank’s reprehensible deeds, Kerr avoids lingering on violence, and though Jane and Will can touch, sex scenes concentrate on emotional “fireworks” and “breathless bliss” over bodies intermingling. Hints of secrets in Jane’s lineage and her untapped potential set the groundwork for another book.

Nimbly tackles dual genres in a tale that will appeal to fans of any age.