Review of Jillian Dare by Melanie M. Jeschke
May 24, 2009
This is one of those books I wanted to like from the second I saw the cover. And I did. Jillian Dare is a modern take on the classic Jane Eyre, and it’s a very fun escape novel, whether or not you like Jane Eyre.
Jillian is a likable heroine. She’s grown up in foster homes and has been fortunate to have lived with a good family for the last few years. Now she’s a very mature young adult on her own and she’s landed a job working for wealthy Caden Remington as a nanny for his young daughter.
If you’re familiar with the story of Jane Eyre, then you’re going to be somewhat familiar with what will happen to Jillian. But even knowing the plot of Jane Eyre (I like the novel Jane Eyre more than the novel Pride and Prejudice), I still read on, eager to see what would happen to Jillian. This is a great escape book because it takes you to worlds the vast majority of people will never see — a Virginia mansion and English castle with anything needed on hand. And we see it through Jillian’s eyes who appreciates it and is blown away by it as much as anyone else would be.
The one flaw I saw in the book was that the language was sometimes too formal, almost like something you would read in Jane Eyre. I don’t know if that was done on purpose to be a reflection on Jane Eyre or not, but at times it made Jillian seem a bit unreal in a modern-day story. To me, it would have been better if Jillian hadn’t been quite so formal.
Either way, I still enjoyed Jillian Dare. And it made me want to go back and read that classic story again. But from now on I think I’m going to have to read Jane Eyre and Jillian Dare together. Both are stories I’ll be reading again and again.
Comments
One Response to “Review of Jillian Dare by Melanie M. Jeschke”
Oh, I love Jane Eyre! So this sounds right up my alley. Maybe the formal tone was trying to stay in line with the gothic atmosphere? Don’t know without reading the book, of course.