April Lindner

Since she was very young, Chelsea had been told that her mother Catherine had died. Upon learning that Catherine actually ran away, Chelsea sets out to discover the truth about her mother's disappearance. Her search takes her to the hip nightclub where Catherine grew up -- and to Hence, the club's bitter, withdrawn current owner. There's some history between Catherine and Hence that Chelsea is only beginning to discover -- does he know why her mother ran away all those years ago? Does he show more know where she is now?

The story is told in alternating viewpoints, switching back and forth between Chelsea's adventure and Catherine's teenage romance with Hence. Readers who are familiar with Wuthering Heights (upon which this book is based) will not be surprised to learn that it doesn't end well for Catherine and Hence -- but they may be surprised at how Lindner evokes sympathy for the tempestuous pair. I remember Wuthering Heights as basically a perfect storm of dysfunction (hilariously caricatured by Jasper Fforde in the group therapy scene in The Well of Lost Plots), but in this book teenage Hence has moments of genuine likability. There are a few issues, of course -- Chelsea is not the most fully realized character, and most of the choices she makes over the course of the book are bad ones (at least from this adult reader's point of view), but I was definitely engaged to the very last page. I'd recommend this to both fans and detractors of the original, as well as those who have never read it but have a vague idea of what the story is about. show less

I stopped and started this book too many times, because I wanted to give it the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps I love Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte too much to have given this book a fair chance. It is not a bad book, but all it did was make me want to reread Jane Eyre! I will recommend this book to any teen girl who is looking for an intense and drama-filled book, because this story is intense and dramatic. The characters are fleshed out, and Jane's POV is very relatable to every girl/woman show more who never felt pretty or strong enough. I just can't say that I loved it. It was like drinking a Diet Coke when I really wanted a regular Coke. It tastes similar to Jane Eyre, but in the end, it just wasn't. show less

I love Jane Eyre and was very intrigued at a modern retelling. Lindner somehow manages to capture the feel of Charlotte Bronte's narrative style through the voice of Jane Moore.

I honestly wasn't sure I would like this. There are so many things about the original story that I was certain couldn't translate believably to the modern day. And yet... there is suspension of disbelief, but then there has to be in any fiction.

I sped through this and while reading the book, the story lived dreamily show more in my head after I had put the book down to go about my day, and I couldn't wait to get back to it.

Fabulous. show less

Having read, what, five books since I read this one, I figure it’s time to review it before I forget what happened.

Plot: 4.5/5
This book runs along two timelines, one timeline narrated by Catherine as a teenager falling in love with Hence (Heathcliff) and such. The other timeline is narrated by Chelsea, Catherine’s daughter, who is searching for her. Honestly, I liked what was happening in Chelsea’s timeline better. There was mystery AND a little romance. Catherine’s timeline was JUST show more the romance, and Catherine’s timeline was capitalized on more than Chelsea’s.
This IS a retelling of Wuthering Heights. When I tired to read Wuthering Heights, I got a total of 84 pages in (there being 400 something pages in my copy). I FOUGHT to get page 83. Wuthering Heights was just not doing it for me. Whilst reading this book, I had a discussion with friend of mine (Who had read Wuthering Heights in it’s entirety; I asked her to give me a synopsis of the story) and we got to talking about why I didn’t finish WH, and I chalked up to the narration of WH. Who was the Narrator? A neighbor. Did the neighbor play any role in what happened in WH? No. SO I got bored and stopped. Nothing was ACTIVELY happening, it was just the neighbor HEARING about what happened form several different people.
Anyways, I DID read some of WH, and there was scene in this book, that I recognized straight off from WH, and that was the ghost-at-the-window scene. Man, that sent chills down my spine.

Characters: 4/5
Hence: Was SOOO Heathcliff. There’s no other descriptor that applies.
Catherine: Mmm. Don’t really remember what I’d intended to say about her.
Quentin: Oh, my, whoa. Wow. Bipolar, dude?
Chelsea: WAS the main character, I don’t care if The book is titled Catherine, or that Catherine has more chapters than she does, Chelsea was the Main Character. Chelsea was DOING things She went out and SEARCHED and TALKED to people and DID stuff and was ACTIVE, Catherine just let shit happen to her.
Cooper: I think we have a winner. I love this little bundle of male. He’s more believable as a person then Hence, though Hence was exactly what he was supposed to be. If Hence had been different, I’d have been disappointed in this book.
It just goes to show, YOU CAN’T PLEASE ME.

Romance: 2.5/5
Mkay, so we have Catherine-and-Hence. Their Romance was the WHOLE point. I didn’t really like it. It seemed very wrong at points, and then it went and had a sort of typical rocker-boy-romance ending. WTF?
I really liked Chelsea and Cooper’s dynamic better, but that wasn’t capitalized on! We barely saw it!

Overall Grade: 11/15

I liked this. It was Wuthering Heights, but in a more modern-reader-friendly way. show less