Enjoy The Freshness of "A Breath of Eyre"

Title:  A Breath of Eyre
Author:  Eve Marie Mont
Format: Kindle
Length:  342 pages
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…  -Goodreads



Pros...
It is so easy to get lost in the story of Emma.  She is in essence a girl adrift. who literally finds herself within the pages of a book.  The fact that the story that she finds herself in just happens to be one of the greatest stories of all time...all the better.

Readers may not like Emma when the book begins and it's not necessarily due to anything that she does.  It is easy to be put off by her because she doesn't like herself.  Not to worry though, she gets better.  All it takes is a little lightening, some magic, and a reality shift of Austen proportions.

The best part of this book by far has to be the relationship between Emma and Gray.  Though the author alludes to a Rochester-like relationship between Emma and her teacher, it is really Gray who fit the Rochester bill.  He is tortured by his past and loves Emma in fear that she will never love him if she knows his past. (Rochester to the core.)
The thing that make these two so good for each other is that they are both wounded and each has just what the other needs to heal.  

There are also some really profound moments that happen between Emma and her mother that bring the book full circle in a very unexpected way.  
Please don't go into this read thinking that Emma is going to change the outcome of the story of Jane Eyre.  This is not the case.  She goes into the story and gets to learn from the actions, words and feelings of the characters.  Then uses the experience to attempt to create her own 'happily ever after'.

Cons...
Aside from the failed attempts at insinuating her English teacher into her life as more than a simple crush and the explanation of the magic; which has a tendency to be a be superfluous, this is a very good read.   
My Rating:


1 comment:

  1. This sounds like something that might interest me. I am certainly a Jane Eyre fan--one of my first classic books that I enjoyed. Thanks for bringing this book to my attention!

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