A Breath of Eyre ~ Eve Marie Mont

Emma Townsend has always believed in stories—the ones she reads voraciously, and the ones she creates in her head. Perhaps it’s because she feels like an outsider at her exclusive prep school, or because her stepmother doesn’t come close to filling the void left by her mother’s death. And her only romantic prospect—apart from a crush on her English teacher—is Gray Newman, a long-time friend who just adds to Emma’s confusion. But escape soon arrives in an old leather-bound copy of Jane Eyre…

Reading of Jane’s isolation sparks a deep sense of kinship. Then fate takes things a leap further when a lightning storm catapults Emma right into Jane’s body and her nineteenth-century world. As governess at Thornfield, Emma has a sense of belonging she’s never known—and an attraction to the brooding Mr. Rochester. Now, moving between her two realities and uncovering secrets in both, Emma must decide whether her destiny lies in the pages of Jane’s story, or in the unwritten chapters of her own…

☆☆☆☆

Ok, confession time – I love classical literature but I have never actually gotten around to reading Jane Eyre . . . and after reading this novel I feel like it has kind of been ruined for me – not that it will stop me from reading the original of course.

So I originally thought that this was going to be an easy young adult read however it was so much more. There were so many serious teen issues thrown into this novel – suicide, mental illness, drinking, accidental teen death, inappropriate teacher-student relationships, not to mention the typical teen relationship issues of sex which complicates everything as well as trying to fit in at school and having to deal with those “mean girls” on a daily basis.

I have to say that I enjoyed this novel but it did take me a little while to get into it. The first time Emma “travelled” into Jane’s story – I didn’t like it – I was much more interested in her real life story, but after a few pages I grew to enjoy that part of the story as well, and thankfully the “travelling” between lives didn’t bother me for the rest of the novel. I can honestly say that I am excited for the other two books in the series – more twists on classical literature.