Sharon Lynn Fisher

When I hear Jane Eyre retelling but make it witch-y and and even more gothic horror you can bet I am immediately interested. Jane Eyre is a classic gothic romance that holds the standard for the genre as a whole in my eyes, and anything attempting to retell it has very big shoes to fill, this author seems to have almost made it with just a few tweaks that could make the story feel both more real and true to the original.

In this novel Jane 'Aire' starts out our story teaching at a school for orphaned girls that is known for turning out witches, the school always struggles for funding and so when a chance comes for the headmaster to earn the school some funds by her taking a job for a Mr. Edward Rochester he takes it. Jane is weary of the job, rightly so, and as she investigates the shadow over Thornfield she finds there is more going on then she may have though but with Thornfield and herself.

The romance in this novel shows through as a winning trait of the book, and feels honest and just as tender as the original. However the pacing feels somehow both rushed and too slow all at once. The book takes place over about a week to two weeks at most with most of the book taking place over a three day period. Now I can suspend belief for much but the type of love these two have forming over a week feels rushed and like the author wanted to condense everything in where as the original works best partially because of its slow pace and build up. This novel jumps right in with no real build up and it shows in how deeply connected you feel to the leads.

The gothic and horror/mystery writing is where this book really shines, I was second guessing my self and jumping at small noises while reading as the suspense built itself up slowly. You start off second guessing everything and by the end its become a page turner you need to finish right away just to see what happens. It reads like a tv show that starts slow but then you binge the second half of the season because you can't put it down.

Overall I would recommend this book to those looking for:

- Gothic Romance
- Jane Eyre retellings
- Spooky Romance
- Gothic's with a cozy feel
- Historical Romance lovers
- Witchy Novels
- Atmospheric Gothics

I received an advance review copy of this book and I am leaving this review voluntarily and all thoughts and opinions are wholly my own and unbiased.… (more)

This one is more like GHOST PLANET then THE OPHELIA PROPHECY, even down to the paranormal component. Largely I spent the book confused by anything not directly related to the character emotional relationships with each other.

Basically this was much "harder" scifi then I'm accustomed to in my scifi romances. Words, theories and suppositions were all tossed around as if I should understand the underlying concepts.

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This one is more like GHOST PLANET then THE OPHELIA PROPHECY, even down to the paranormal component. Largely I spent the book confused by anything not directly related to the character emotional relationships with each other.

Basically this was much "harder" scifi then I'm accustomed to in my scifi romances. Words, theories and suppositions were all tossed around as if I should understand the underlying concepts. I love parallel world stories. Just look at my love for A THOUSAND PIECES OF YOU by Claudia Gray or UNRAVELING by Elizabeth Norris. But what I love more is some sort of understanding of how the parallel world works.

So let's instead focus on what I did enjoy. Tess is interesting in that she's obviously smart; we're told as much, but she proves it more than once in her analysis and comprehension. She catches on quickly to what the circumstances surrounding Jake represent. She's also a victim of her own brilliance in terms of her and Ross' relationship. Social cues mean little to her so she takes everything on face value. Ross made a snarky comment about something she believes in, so obviously he thinks everything she does is ridiculous. Even as she recognizes the skepticism others have she holds him higher.

Ross meanwhile is very much "Listen to what I mean, not what I say" sort of person. More than Tess we "hear" his regrets in how he has handled their first meeting and how they get along thereafter. But he doesn't understand what she's looking into and he doesn't know how to get around that. So he waits and he pokes about trying to find a way to get her to understand.

Jake is antagonistic, somewhat petty and wholly over his head. I never quite understood Tess' attraction to him, and I'd argue she never felt romantically towards him. Still we can thank him for Tess and Ross, since Ross' jealousy towards him prompt him to act.The change in their relationship is a shock, since it just sort of happens, but from his point of view made sense.

Fisher does address the inconsistency on Tess' end, as to that point she spent much of the book worried over what her research could mean and how Ross kept getting in the way (or rather the group Ross represented), then any lust she felt towards him. Given that their first time together is rather...extraordinary and opens up a host of new things for Tess to investigate, I was rather glad there wasn't a whole lot of time spent on regret.

The "Echoes" like Jake represent a link that, as anyone who is versed in any sort of paranormal books that involve the government can attest to, offers quite the juicy prize. "You can travel across dimensions you say hmmm?" is the gist of at least one government official's commentary as he twirls his imaginary mustache. Rule number one in dimension hopping never trust the government. Yours or the one on the other side.

In the end this wasn't enough for me to whole-heartedly enjoy. The mechanics of it didn't interest me as much as they should have and Jake's grating presence wore thin on my patience.
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In Fisher's first book, GHOST PLANET, I had a few qualms with the narrative style. It was rather confusing honestly. I'm happy to say that this second book, not related to GHOST PLANET, kept me riveted to my Kindle (of which I read the e-ARC on).

The premise is pretty simple - humans f'ed up by creating a race of beings to be their second class and it turned out very very badly. For everyone. For the "Manti" (which is really a short form of anyone with mutagens basically...yes we managed to be even more offensive towards our creations by labeling them all the 'same') it sort of worked out. Kind of. For the humans...well...they live in gilded cages. Or hunted. Or they disappear. Really the options aren't so great in the beginning (they get moderately better sounding towards the latter half).

We open to both our heroine (Ash) and our Hero (Pax) waking up on the shore of an offlimits lake. Ash is dressed in a flimsy dress and Pax is naked having at some point gone into defensive mode. Neither remembers how they got there, why they are there, why Pax was in defensive mode, why Ash is in a flimsy dress outside the confines of her city or why they're anywhere near each other. Unfortunately for Pax his mating instincts kick into overdrive with Ash, but he does everything short of putting himself inside of a cage to keep her safe from his...courting shall we say.

Which I'll give Fisher credit, even though Pax is very very keen to get with Ash he is also very very keen to gain her trust, help her recover her memory, keep her safe and untangle the web they're in. So while his body (which is part insect) is urging him to make her his, his mind (and heart) are like OMG STOP. TELL THE SHIP TO SHOOT YOU IF YOU TRY.

There's a lot packed into this book--we have the memory issues, the truth of what lies between the Manti and the humans, the rebel faction, the religious faction, the religious rebel faction, Ash and Pax's...relationship and the truth above all truths. While I found some of it a bit repetitive and the truth behind Ash's memory loss to be a bit of an eyeroll handwave, I genuinely was interested to know what was going on. I wanted to see where the whole thing with Pax was going, what was going to happen with his sister, why it was so damned important for Ash to risk everything on a gamble that could have turned out badly (spoiler: she has 9 lives, I swear it).

I was also genuinely pleased with how Fisher handled Pax and Ash's evolution towards their trust. It felt organic and well paced, with only a little bit of impatience with Pax on my end (his urge to mate with Ash had him making...tactically unsound decisions at times, but it was all right, his sister was there to hit him upside his head for it).

Definitely give this a shot, fans of Linnea Sinclair especially will enjoy this.… (more)