Ironskin (Ironskin #1) by Tina Connolly

Jane Eliot wears an iron mask.

It’s the only way to contain the fey curse that scars her cheek. The Great War is five years gone, but its scattered victims remain—the ironskin.

When a carefully worded listing appears for a governess to assist with a "delicate situation"—a child born during the Great War—Jane is certain the child is fey-cursed, and that she can help.

Teaching the unruly Dorie to suppress her curse is hard enough; she certainly didn’t expect to fall for the girl’s father, the enigmatic artist Edward Rochart. But her blossoming crush is stifled by her own scars, and by his parade of women. Ugly women, who enter his closed studio...and come out as beautiful as the fey.

Jane knows Rochart cannot love her, just as she knows that she must wear iron for the rest of her life. But what if neither of these things is true? Step by step Jane unlocks the secrets of her new life—and discovers just how far she will go to become whole again.

This is a retelling of Jane Eyre. I usually enjoy those and found myself having fun putting together the people of the classic book to the one's in this book. The characters do have similarities, but there are major differences. In this book, there was a war with the Fae and our Jane is not plain, but injured in a fae attack. One that disfigured her face and gave her a curse from the fae. She tries to deflect both with an iron mask. Like the other Jane, it is her preoccupation with her beauty (or lack of it) that dominates some of her internal strife although it is much more pronounced in this book. However, it is her internal strength of spirit that endures all types of hardship that also stays the same and gives us our heroine.

The slight changes in the characters, especially Edward, I enjoyed. I admittedly never did understand why Jane fell so hard for someone who treated her so oddly, but there was a bit more explanation of Edward's behavior as to why he treated her thusly. Still, there were times when I thought Jane should wash her hands of Edward because he also inspired her weakness within this tale. In the end I was glad that Edward captured her heart and I hope he earns it in the next book in this series in a more earnest way.

I had some problems within this book. One was that the fae had to take over bodies to exist in this realm. I didn't quite get how that would work if they were killed by iron and we have iron in our blood. It would negate some of the ways to kill the fae while in our bodies. Apart from that, I have to also say that I was disappointed in the ending. One that I will not reveal, but my disappointment comes from the philosophy of masks we wear and who we are despite our outer coverings. A philosophy that could have fully been realized but was weakened by the ending. There were also other philosophical directions it could have gone, but the work decidedly didn't stray far from the shallows.

I give this book 3 1/2 stars. I enjoyed this retelling of Jane Eyre and I'm curious as to where this series will go next. I may be disappointed in failed philosophy, but I fully admit that is personal and does not fully deflect from my enjoyment of the whole book as entertainment. It ended up being quite entertaining to me.

I received this eARC from NetGalley and Tor and no compensation for my review was given.

Dark Companion by Marta Acosta

Orphaned at the age of six, Jane Williams has grown up in a series of foster homes, learning to survive in the shadows of life. Through hard work and determination, she manages to win a scholarship to the exclusive Birch Grove Academy. There, for the first time, Jane finds herself accepted by a group of friends. She even starts tutoring the headmistress’s gorgeous son, Lucien. Things seem too good to be true.
They are.

The more she learns about Birch Grove’s recent past, the more Jane comes to suspect that there is something sinister going on. Why did the wife of a popular teacher kill herself? What happened to the former scholarship student, whose place Jane took? Why does Lucien’s brother, Jack, seem to dislike her so much?

As Jane begins to piece together the answers to the puzzle, she must find out why she was brought to Birch Grove—and what she would risk to stay there….

This is an imagined retelling of Jane Eyre, of sorts. In some ways many of the characters are familiar, situations the same, but quite modern and mixed with some paranormal. We have Jane, our heroine who is stuck on being plain but finds reasons to made her life better by sheer will and tenacity. She wants nothing more than to survive, but finds that her heart really wants more to life than mere survival. You could even see a bit of Rochester in Jack. You also have a fire and a crazy woman to deal with, but the resemblance ends there. Oh you can also see the other characters as amalgamations of various characters but I find the secondary characters to be a bit more flushed out than the original tale. Not criticizing the original, but there is that difference.

There are moments in this tale that you may hate. There are moments you are yelling at her to wise up and see what is really going on. However, it would not work any other way. Jane may be mature intelligently, but her emotional growth was severely stunted by past pain and abuse. She had to learn in increments and she does so. You'll be happy to know that by the end she does get it and I feel her emotional growth read pretty realistic. In fact this quote reveals who Jane is when she arrives at Birch Grove:

     By the time I'd left Helmsdale City Central High, I'd transformed myself from an inarticulate loser foster kid to a college-track student who aced every test. I still sat in Hosea's old place in the cafeteria, but the others didn't ignore me anymore.
     Now when people met me, they saw an unassuming, hardworking, well-spoken girl. But inside I was still shrieking with rage for everything that I'd had to do merely to have the crumbs that the others carelessly dropped.
     I'd pressed down my fury until it metamorphosed, as soft messy carbonate does, into a diamond so hard it can cut through steel and with such clarity that I could use it as a lens to see the world as it truly was, cruel and capricious.
     It was rage that got me to Birch Grove Academy for Girls and out of Hellsdale. I nestled into my bed, knowing that rage would help me survive here, too. (p. 32)

I do want to say something about Jack. Our Rochester. He really reminds me of Pan. The mythical Pan of the woods. He even latches on to that first accusation Rochester gave Jane of being a fae. I found that interesting and even more so when the author expounded on that idea. Oh I wanted to know more about that!

I give this book 5 stars. I don't think that everyone will love it as much as I did, but I do think you'll enjoy this re-imagining. It's a journey about growth and having the veil lifted from your eyes and seeing situations and people in a new light. Oh there really is so much more I'd love to say about this book but won't because I'm in danger of spoiling it for you. So if you are in the mood for a dark tale, give this one a try.

I received this book from TorTeen and no compensation for my review was given.

Jane Slayre by Sherri Browning Erwin Blog Tour

From the book:

“ READER, I BURIED HIM . ”

A timeless tale of love, devotion . . . and the undead.

Jane Slayre, our plucky demon-slaying heroine, a courageous orphan who spurns the detestable vampyre kin who raised her, sets out on the advice of her ghostly uncle to hone her skills as the fearless slayer she’s meant to be. When she takes a job as a governess at a country estate, she falls head-over-heels for her new master, Mr. Rochester, only to discover he’s hiding a violent werewolf in the attic—in the form of his first wife. Can a menagerie of bloodthirsty, flesh-eating, savage creatures-of-the-night keep a swashbuckling nineteenth-century lady from the gentleman she intends to marry? Vampyres, zombies, and werewolves transform Charlotte Brontë’s unforgettable masterpiece into an eerie paranormal adventure that will delight and terrify.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë has to be one of my all time favorites classic books. So, I was excited to learn that someone took that book and made a paranormal out of it. Sherri Browning Erwin has made what I believe as a successful adaptation of the Jane Eyre. I enjoyed this book a lot.

I can also see why some people may not like it. The purists who hate to have a classic “messed” with might not have the same fun that I had with this book. The main story of Jane was altered a bit and not just by the paranormal parts. Jane had a more amiable time with the humans in her life than in the original book. Her fortitude seemed to come more from the frightening circumstances in her life before she was old enough to handle such things. Even Mr. Rochester was more likable from his introduction into Jane’s life. It still was not a happy childhood, and Rochester is still forever the antagonist, but the main turning points in her life still held. It is as though a fan just tweaked parts of her life we would have all liked for our heroine. That I understand completely. :)

I do recommend this book for those who want to have a bit of fun with their classic version of Jane. Finding a new way to cheer for her. For those that are purists of classic literature, I suggest you pass this one and read the original Jane Eyre. I gave this book 4 stars and had fun reading it.

Below is a bit from the author and how she came to write Jane Slayre.


Some of the other blog tour participants:

Revenge of the Book Nerds
Drey’s Library
Crazy Books & Reviews
Book Junkie
The Cajun Book Lady
I Heart Monster
Books Gardens & Dogs
Just One More Paragraph
Gnostalgia