An often engaging story with dark and sensual elements.
A young woman falls for her mysterious employer in Warren’s modern, erotic reimagining of Jane Eyre.
All Jane Mendoza wants is to help others. Not long out of high school, where she was valedictorian, she dreams of going to college to become a social worker. After the death of her beloved father, Jane was bounced through the Texas foster care system until she was 18 and then worked two jobs in Houston to make ends meet. A new opportunity to provide live-in care for Paige Rochester, a troubled first grader who’s also lost her parents, requires a move to Maine but will provide Jane with the funds she needs for her future. When she arrives at the Rochester estate on a stormy night, she immediately butts heads with Paige’s uncle Beau, a shipping magnate and former playboy who isn’t thrilled with his new role as Paige’s guardian or Jane’s presence as her nanny. Almost immediately, however, the sizzling shared chemistry between Jane and Beau is obvious to both of them, and a clandestine physical relationship ensues. As Jane forges an emotional connection with little Paige and struggles with feelings for her boss, she begins to realize that not all at the Rochester home is what it seems. Romance author Warren possesses a love for Charlotte Brontë’s 1847 classic that’s beautifully apparent throughout the book, from Jane’s explorations of the forbidden attic space to her breathtaking, weighted exchanges with the modern-day Mr. Rochester. Jane is a compelling heroine from beginning to end—a young woman with a wealth of real-world experience and a dream to make the world better for kids facing circumstances that she herself barely survived. Her relationship with Paige, always one step forward and two steps back, feels realistic and eventually quite rewarding, and her attraction to and frustration with Beau make the novel a page-turner. Some readers may wonder about the appropriateness of a boss-employee romance although Jane and Beau’s connection feels consensual.
An often engaging story with dark and sensual elements.Pub Date: March 5, 2021
ISBN: 979-8-71-702158-6
Page Count: 282
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: March 23, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An entertaining love story with moments of depth.
What would you do if you knew your romantic destiny?
When Daphne Bell receives a card that says the word “Jake” and nothing else, she’s pretty sure she’s about to meet the man she will spend the rest of her life with. In many ways Daphne is your average 30-something, with a middling career as a producer’s assistant in Hollywood and a loving family and friends. But Daphne has received a little extra-special gift (mandate?) from the universe: Near the beginning of romantic relationships, she somehow receives a note bearing the name of a man and the exact amount of time they will date. This began in the fifth grade with a postcard saying, “Seth, eight days.” Since Jake’s card lacks a duration, Daphne jumps to the only logical conclusion: He must be “the one.” When Daphne finally meets Jake Green, he turns out to be sweet and sexy and has the delightful quirk of jotting down in a notebook every time he sees someone wearing Doc Martens, so she decides to put her faith in fate and go all in. But, of course, it can’t be so simple. First, Daphne is hiding significant secrets from Jake. And second, there is Hugo (3 months), Daphne’s ex-boyfriend and current best friend. Although Hugo is always dating some woman or other, when he and Jake meet, the awkward encounter makes it clear that not everyone is okay with Daphne and Hugo’s universe-sanctioned breakup. Ultimately, it’s up to Daphne to decide how much she’s willing to risk to take control of her future. Nothing groundbreaking here, but Serle provides an interesting conceit and a healthy dose of wit that readers will appreciate.
An entertaining love story with moments of depth.Pub Date: March 19, 2024
ISBN: 9781982166823
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
A heartfelt look at taking second chances, in life and in love.
Two struggling authors spend the summer writing and falling in love in a quaint beach town.
January Andrews has just arrived in the small town of North Bear Shores with some serious baggage. Her father has been dead for a year, but she still hasn’t come to terms with what she found out at his funeral—he had been cheating on her mother for years. January plans to spend the summer cleaning out and selling the house her father and “That Woman” lived in together. But she’s also a down-on-her-luck author facing writer’s block, and she no longer believes in the happily-ever-after she’s made the benchmark of her work. Her steadily dwindling bank account, though, is a daily reminder that she must sell her next book, and fast. Serendipitously, she discovers that her new next-door neighbor is Augustus Everett, the darling of the literary fiction set and her former college rival/crush. Gus also happens to be struggling with his next book (and some serious trauma that unfolds throughout the novel). Though the two get off to a rocky start, they soon make a bet: Gus will try to write a romance novel, and January will attempt “bleak literary fiction.” They spend the summer teaching each other the art of their own genres—January takes Gus on a romantic outing to the local carnival; Gus takes January to the burned-down remains of a former cult—and they both process their own grief, loss, and trauma through this experiment. There are more than enough steamy scenes to sustain the slow-burn romance, and smart commentary on the placement and purpose of “women’s fiction” joins with crucial conversations about mental health to add multiple intriguing layers to the plot.
A heartfelt look at taking second chances, in life and in love.Pub Date: May 19, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-0673-4
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Jove/Penguin
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
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