My Plain Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows

I listened to My Lady Jane, the first in this series, last year, and loved it so much that I immediately cast around to be able to listen to the next one. Unfortunately, it didn't come out for another year or so, but I got this one as soon as I could. The first book took the story of Lady Jane Grey, the nine-days queen of England, and turned it completely upside down and added magic and made it way funnier and less tragic. (Spoiler: Jane Grey doesn't die in their version.) This book is a sequel in that it's written in the same style and by the same authors, but it's actually a re-imagining of Jane Eyre, with the addition of ghosts and seers and a bunch of changes to the storyline. The book is completely separate from My Lady Jane but is just as funny and fun and enjoyable as the first. So I am once again, waiting around for when the next one will be published.

I've never really liked Jane Eyre. I've read it several times and I just don't like it. Mr. Rochester isn't very nice or agreeable, and I don't really see any compelling reason why Jane should like him or he should like her, and it's all too dark and brooding and kind of creepy to me. (I think I'm much more of a Jane Austen fan than a Bronte sisters fan. I didn't like Wuthering Heights either.) This book basically takes all of the annoying things about the original story of Jane Eyre and gets rid of them or makes fun of them. And it also makes Charlotte Bronte a character in her own right (one of the three narrators of the story) and a love interest of her own. But basically, instead of Jane and Mr. Rochester getting married, she learns that he has his wife hidden up in the attic and they realize that he's been possessed by a ghost that's making him do everything, and then Jane and Charlotte and their other friends have to go stop the bad guy from possessing the King of England and everyone turns out much happier in the end. I loved all three characters who were narrating the story (Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte, and Alexander Blackwood), and I loved all the changes to the original story (since I don't like that one much in the first place). I love how the authors are happy to throw the original story/history to the wind and throw in as much random magic/fantasy/etc. into the story as much as they want. And I love how funny the asides are and how witty the book is. All in all, I think these three authors are fantastic together and I hope they write more.