One Good Book Deserves Another

Genre: Contemporary Fiction (Mostly)
Series: N/A
Rating: 4 Stars
Length: 352 Pages, 4995 Locations
Formats: Paperback, Kindle


As a sophomore in high school, Ellie Barnett is tormented by Sam Blaine. He makes her life miserable with all his teasing and taunting. What makes it worse is she's crazy about him. She's known him since kindergarten but lately he just keeps prodding and poking at her, always goading her. It's driving her crazy. Then her English teacher passes out the book for the semester's reading assignment and as she picks up her copy of Pride and Prejudice, she hears a sound of derision. A scoff. Then words. In her head. Jane Austin, in fact, expressing dire warnings about Sam and general bits of wisdom about life, love, and propriety. And Ellie Barnett will never be the same again.

Having the ghost of a famous author rattling around in her head acting as confidant and best friend isn't a free ticket to fun and happiness, however, and as the years pass, no amount of advice and insight into human character helps Ellie with years of disappointment in relationships and what's looking more and more like ultimate failure in the romance department.

This quirky, odd book is difficult to classify. Technically, having a lead character who converses with the dead author of classic literature would start pushing it towards a paranormal...or denote insanity, but nothing in According To Jane would seem to indicate Ellie is suffering from a mental illness, and yet, the style of the writing and the plot lean more heavily towards contemporary woman's fiction. Maybe contemporary romance, though even that is more of a stretch for a couple of reasons that would be spoilers if I listed them here. Regardless of genre, Brant has put together a cute jaunt through the romantic psychosis of a woman whose biological clock started ticking when she was about sixteen. Since then, with Jane's help, she's navigated the unfriendly waters of love with an overly optimistic and fanciful hope for happily ever after with a modern prince charming. Needless to say, it hasn't been going well.

With a narrative that flows seamlessly through Ellie's past and present, transitioning randomly, and peppered with various heartbreaks and romantic tribulations, the story unfolds and is layered with a hopefulness and yearning for happiness that isn't dulled even during Ellie's darkest days. I have to give Brant credit for this imaginative, original book and the dedication and research put into Jane as a character. Her dialogue and her personality felt very authentic and was vital to the success of the story.

I do think the plot was a little limited and seemed one dimensional. While I understand that the span of time in the book covered years, the glimpses of various stages of Ellie's life were so focused on her yearning for true love and family that it seemed almost pathological in intensity and there was little else to define and enhance her character beyond that. It got a bit tiresome for me in a few places. I also found Jane's vehemence against Sam to be poorly supported by the explanation given. It seemed too much vitriol, especially later in the book. I also thought Jane's explanation came a little late and I would've figured Ellie would've asked Jane sooner why she was so unflinching in her abhorrence.

I loved Sam, though, and thought Brant did a really good job subtly defining him and showing his interests in the few scenes that he was in. My favorite parts of the book included him and Ellie and I wish there had been a few more - but that's not a complaint. It's me being greedy.

According To Jane is a quirky, cute book and other than those few issues, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I found the concept of Jane Austin as a cross between a guardian angel, sounding board, and best friend was intelligent and original and added an odd but definitely unique aspect to this read. I may have gotten a little tired of Ellie now and then, but overall I wanted her to have that happily ever after for which she so desperately yearned.

Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Series: N/A

2.5 Stars
Apparently I'm NOT So Easily Amused

Lola is almost thirty. About four months ago she inherited a house following the death of her Great Aunt. The reason she inherited and not another member of her family is still a mystery, as they weren't close. She loves the house, but she's beleaguered by neighbors with a too-active interest into hers' and everyone else's life. Loves living alone and having her own space (she's been stuck with more than her share of bad roommates)...until her best friend Hubert is quite forcibly removed from his now ex-girlfriend's pad and has no place else to go. She loves her job, but isn't crazy about her co-workers. Loves her other best friend, Piper, but can't really be bothered to care overmuch for Piper's child or her husband, whom she thinks doesn't have nearly enough of an active roll in raising said child. In short...and unfortunately in total, Lola is just not that nice of a person. And that's a big problem because Easily Amused, what I believe is supposed to be a light romantic comedy but in truth is anything but, is told in first person POV. Lola's POV.

Giving credit where it's due, I have to admit, once I started Easily Amused, I couldn't seem to put it down. The narrative is oddly compelling and the story told in smooth prose that flows quickly and is rather easy on the mind, if not the conscience. It's populated by some rather adorable and quirky secondary characters. Personally, I wish they'd rubbed off a little more on the self absorbed, critical, judgmental, and immature Lola. I think they were supposed to...or by the end we were supposed to believe they had...but I can't say that part of the plot - or any part, really - really worked for me in any realistic way. The plot was not as well developed or interesting as one would hope, and mostly revolved around the rather idiotic idea that to get her sister Mindy back for mentioning Lola's birthday at the wedding Mindy was having on that day, she would bring a studly piece of arm candy to the event and announce her own "engagement," thus stealing Mindy's thunder and ruining her attempts to humiliate Lola by pointing out in front of family and friends that Lola is thirty, unmarried with no prospects, whereas Mindy herself is getting hitched to her high school sweetheart.

Seriously. What are they...twelve?

Lola is a woman who criticizes everything and everyone in her life, even her best friends. She's hypocritical - leaving a blistering voicemail for Hubert for some imagined thoughtlessness, then being utterly thoughtless herself more than once. She's utterly self important - when she needs to vent to her best friend Piper she's annoyed at the obligations of the new mother for her child. She's hideously judgmental - raking each of her neighbors over the coals in her mind, neighbors that come to her aid at the drop of a hat again and again just out of a sense of neighborliness. She's spiteful and utterly childish in relation to her sister - whose character, admittedly, makes Lola look almost saintly, but that doesn't excuse the behaviors.

I didn't like Lola. I loved Hubert, that sweet and caring man, and I loved the colorful neighbors with their good intentions and their kind souls. I even liked Mrs. Kinkaid, a member of Lola's staff. Ryan - the dashing love interest, and Lola's sister Mindy were developed more like caricatures than characters, her sister in particular as a stereotypical venomous, vicious little bitch and had she been my sister I would have long ago disowned her. That Lola hadn't given the list of shenanigans Mindy pulled off throughout her life made Lola seem sort of pathetic on top of all the other issues there were.

It's a shame that this book hadn't been written from a third person perspective, because Lola's questionable character and unappealing personality could have been muted with some broader strokes given to Hubert and the neighbors. It's also a shame that the plot hadn't had more thought and care given to it, or evidenced more of a change in Lola's personality as it progressed. A less subtle epiphany would have been enough to pull my rating up because it really does all depend on Lola's character development. As it's written, however, I found nothing much to recommend it and sadly, was not amused.