Title: Jillian Dare
Author: Melanie M. Jeschke
Genre: Christian Fiction, Contemporary Fiction
Publisher: Revell Books
Source: Purchased
Parental Warning: none

“Hoping someone would be home, I stood on the broad porch of the bungalow and knocked on the front door.  I hadn’t realized how exhausted I was until that moment.  Not only had I not slept well in days, but I had not yet recovered from jet lag and the trauma of the recent events.  Since I had stolen away from Carter Plantation before anyone else had awakened, I had neglected to eat any breakfast.  Famished and fatigued, I nearly collapsed in Sharon’s arms when she answered the door.”

Summary:
Jillian Dare moves to a rural Virginia plantation to care for a wealthy man’s daughter while he makes regular trips between the United Kingdom and the United States.  Alone for the majority of her life she is taken by surprise when she falls in love with the father of her young charge.  That is until she finds out that the life they begin to lead is all built on a foundation of lies.

Embracing her faith as a guide she attempts to find her way through the the murky waters of friendship and love to hopefully arrive at her happy ending.

Opinion:
As a modern retelling of Jane Eyre this story didn’t quite grab me.  I can’t be exactly sure why that is but most likely it falls upon the fact that I already knew the story.  I found myself constantly comparing it to what I already knew of the plot and characters of the original.  I imagine this is a pitfall of any re-telling of a classic but in this case it was difficult to overcome.

The speed with which Jillian finds herself professing her love to Ethan was abrupt to say the least.  One day they were friends the next engaged to be married.  I thought the transition between her being an employee to her being his betrothed could have been a bit smoother and certainly worth exploring the in between moments a bit more.

Lastly, I wasn’t at all fond of the section of the story that had Jillian staying with the Brookes.  Mainly because it was here that the book got to it’s most preachy and cliched.  Up until this point faith and God did play a role but it was subtle.  Once Jillian arrived to live with the Brookes and became somewhat involved with John it got extremely overbearing.  He was definitely the domineering caveman in the story where if they did get married Jillian was sure to be the subservient wife doing as she was told.  Yea, that is totally not my bag.

What worked for me?

I thought the part of the story involving Ethan’s wife was well paced and told.  It was not focussed on for a tremendous amount of time but was focussed on well.  I also liked the relationship between Jillian and Mrs. Carter.  The latter became somewhat of a surrogate mother to the orphaned Jillian. She was cautious when appropriate and supportive of Jillian when necessary, even above and beyond her loyalty to Ethan.

As a first foray into Christian Fiction I’m glad to say that this book didn’t turn me off of the genre completely.  There was one element that I didn’t enjoy (ie: John Brooke) but it wasn’t enough to turn me off from reading more.  If you enjoy the story of Jane Eyre and you’re looking for a different version this certainly fits that bill.