Dear Jane

Thank you to Black Rose Writing for the arc of this book.
This is a “heavy” book, as in regards to the subject matter, it is very well written, and I enjoyed watching Elektra become who she was meant to be,.

This book hooked me from the beginning and I knew right away that it would be different from any other novel I had read before. I also knew it would not be a happy book because of that first page. It was hard NOT to connect with the main character as she told her story through her journal entries and by the end of the book, you feel as if you know Kit Kat as the person she wants to be, not who she was when she became adopted.

The quotes from Jane Eyre before each new chapter helped connect Kit Kat to Jane through the different experiences and I think that some younger readers may think about picking up Jane Eyre to read in order to find out more about this character who helped Kit Kat embrace herself and learn about who she is. By having the novel formatted into journal entries, it really allows the reader to get into Kit Kat's mind in an unguarded fashion which I think is crucial for a novel like this. Instead of painting graphic and detailed situations, you see more into the mind of her and learn the complex feelings she is going through. Even though she is still a child in many ways, you can see the places where she has been forced to grow up and it tugs at your heart. Not all adoptions end in happiness, and I think this novel is an important piece of literature that needs to be shared in hopes that those people who need to see they aren't alone get ahold of this book and can connect with a character and reading. The world of reading is painted beautifully in this book and shows that everyone belongs in that world.

Dear Jane is such a hard-hitting, heart-wrenching book describing the awful childhood of Kit-Kat, a young girl originally from Greece. I found parts extremely difficult to read and it's horrible knowing there are so many children that go through exactly what she does. I liked that Marina DelVecchio gave our character solace in Jane Eyre and Charlotte Bronte and that she could see herself in both women. It was definitely a comfort for Kit-Kat and someone that she felt could understand how she was feeling and what she was going through.

I must admit I did find quite a lot of this difficult to read and although I wanted to give up on the book just because it was upsetting for me, I couldn't give up on Kit-Kat as I needed to see that she finally found happiness and the love she so much deserved.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I went into this book with high hopes. A story about a Greek girl who loves Jane Eyre? That's basically me. There were certain things I enjoyed about it: generally I found myself very gripped by Elektra's story, and was glad to see how she would turn out. I found her relationship with her adoptive mother interesting, if a bit flat. It was told entirely from Elektra's perspective, and she had good and bad (but mostly bad) things to say about the woman, but I was interested in knowing their story, why she behaved the way she did, her motives, etc. In this book nothing really happens, it's just a teenage girl telling you her story. I know there are people out there with lives like hers, but there were parts that felt deeply melodramatic, that each time something bad happened to Elektra I was almost laughing at how comically miserable her life is. Most of it is told from the POV of a 15 year old Elektra, and a lot of definitely reads like a young teen wrote it. I'm not sure whether that's a good thing or not. A lot of it just felt like a college essay from a teenager, with a lot of explaining and repetition and analyzing of her own life. Overall though I did enjoy the story and think a lot of young women would benefit from it.

I really enjoyed this story. It made me not want to put it down it sucked me in. I would highly recommend this book. I will read more by this author.

I was around the same age as Kit Kat when I picked up Jane Eyre. I expected it to be dull; another classic in which the patriarchy dominates and women are isolated within the walls of their home. However, Jane Eyre was nothing like I had read before. As a result, I connected with Dear Jane straightaway.

A journal is a place where you offload all the thoughts, emotions, and random musings you have swimming around your mind. Thus, what we have is an unclouded insight into Kit Kat's mind through each of her diary entries, By having access to her innermost thoughts, we can truly grasp the emotions she endured through the toughest of occurrences throughout her upbringing and adoption. I did find certain parts difficult to read, bringing to light the fact that there are so many children who suffer exactly as she does. Nonetheless, I admired how both Jane Eyre and Charlotte Bronte were an escape from the darkness for Kit Kat. They were a source of comfort. This demonstrates the true power of literature.and the great impact books can have on an individual's life, particularly in times of suffering.

Overall, although difficult to read at times, this was a heart-wrenching story which I couldn't put down. Thanks to NetGalley and Black Rose Writing for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for the e-ARC of Dear Jane by Marina DelVecchio. This was a story about a young child suffering abuse and responsibilities beyond her age. The main character, Kit Kat, made it through her childhood and teenage years by reading the book Jane Eyre and identifying with the main character. Identifying with this fictional character allowed her to find her way out of the darkness that surrounded her. It was a very good book.

Dear Elektra,

I am saddened to read about how rough going your childhood had been but I am glad that you found comfort and strength in Jane Eyre. I am sorry that you could not find love in your adoptive mother nor an explanation why she couldn't love you. It was strange to me that as an adopted child herself that she could not accept you as you are. It makes me wonder how her relationship was with her own parents. I can only assume it was a good one if she adopted you with the idea of "giving back" and even wanted to name you Kathryn after her mother. As a woman hoping to adopt someday it broke my heart that even finding a stable home you were still missing the element of love. I could never imagine treating a child poorly. There seemed to be a huge disconnect between the two of you that I believe a good family therapist could have helped bridge. If for anything else I am happy though that you are fighting for yourself and refusing to be around anyone you deem toxic.

Best Wishes,

Stephanie

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Dear Jane was a gripping novel about a young girl from the streets of Greece who was adopted by a woman from America. In the book we are brought face to face with some pretty disturbing and violent scenes between many of the characters. It was hard to read but my desire to know what happens next kept me going. I wanted so much to learn why Elektra's relationship with her adoptive mother was so strained. I was left a bit unsatisfied here but expected to be since the story is only being told from Elektra's point of view through a series of letters.

Thank you Netgalley and Black Rose Writing for providing me an advanced copy in return for an honest review.

Dear Jane
by Marina DelVecchio
Black Rose Writing
General Fiction (Adult) , Teens & YA
Pub Date 03 Jan 2019


I am reviewing a copy of Dear Jane through Black Rose Writing and Netgalley:

Kit Kat wasn’t born in the U.S she born in Athens Greece her Mother had been a prostitution and their protector had been a pimp . Her early childhood had been marked by violence and homelessness as well as an orphanag. wWhen she is eight she is adopted by a Greek American Woman who moves her to New York but things are far from a dream, her new Mother has a way of making her feel small!


Charolette Brontw’s book Jane Eyre saved her life after trying to commit suicide when she was thirteen and at fifteen she begins writing letters to Jane Eyre.



Dear Jane is a book about one girl discovering who she is and finding the value in who she is as well as being able to put the broken pieces back together again.


I give Dear Jane five out of five stars!


Happy Reading!

This book was received as an e-ARC from Black Rose Publishing and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

3.75 Stars
A hard hitting story about Kit-Kat's (Kathryn) life in Greece and finding solace in reading and connecting to Jane Eyre. To read what happens is heart breaking and is tough subject matter. I loved the chapter heading as quotes from Jane Eyre. Although nothing major happens it's still a wonderful story of perseverance.

Thank you for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

I did not end up finishing this novel, while I did enjoy the format I could not feel for the character.

I couldn't seem to bond with the main character in this story. I think a big part of that is because of the graphic talk of suicide. This became a triggering book fairly quick.

For what I read I realized it was more it's me not the book. The book seemed intriguing, it was just I couldn't relate or bond.

Amazing read! The author wrote a story that was interesting and moved at a pace that kept me engaged. The characters were easy to invest in.

Dear Marina,

Thank you for writing this book. It's not one that I would normally have picked out for myself, but here we are, after a roller-coaster of emotions.

It's taken me a while to get through this book. The first reason is that it is INTENSE; the narrative is chock-full of heavy themes, and had I tried reading all of this in one go I think it would have been too much for me to handle. That being said, not once did the book ever lose its ability to compel me onward - I read the second 50% of it today, just because I finally had the time and mental capacity to get on with it.

(On that note, I would advise anyone who is easily upset to perhaps give this one a miss. Trigger warnings include suicide, rape and physical/verbal abuse in amongst others.)

There are a few little things that jarred slightly as I was reading; a couple of times I thought Kit Kat was talking about one mother, then a few pages down the line it turned out to be the other one (though that's probably more of a me thing, since for the most part it was pretty clear which one she was referring to.) Another thing was that at one point a nun says "Yup."; at first this felt pretty unreal, but then I remembered that this is a diary and that Kit Kat is probably paraphrasing and putting her own words in.

The second reason it's taken me so long to read is that I've been at uni, and haven't had as much time on my hands as I do at home. This part does play into my review a little bit, and this is why: parts of that final chapter could have been written by me. I'm currently the same age as the protagonist, studying English Lit, and I'm constantly learning about myself and trying to "write my own narrative."

The whole theme of living for yourself, and not for those who you should 'owe' is especially close to me at the moment. There's a part of the book that rang especially true, to the point I highlighted it:

"As the writer of my narrative, I write my own story, my way. Just like Jane. Just like you."

Isn't that such a lovely notion? Being able to write your own way through life?

I also appreciated that this isn't a 'happily ever after' kind of book in the stereotypical sense; it does, however, revolve around the protagonist paving the way to her own 'happy ending', which I guess is left up to us to ponder.

The whole pages dedicated to literary analysis of Jane Eyre in comparison with Kit Kat's life were BRILLIANT, might I add (though I've never actually read Jane Eyre), and I can't wait to read this again at some point in the future once I've read the other, so that my understanding of this book might be illuminated.

"You didn't desert me, and, in turn, I have not deserted myself.
I have not forgotten who I am."

Yours,
Lost

A young Greek girl, born to her prostitute mother, homeless, and with a pimp as a father figure, was adopted by a stable single woman in the USA. That might have been wonderful had this woman not refused to discuss or even acknowledge the girl’s previous life. The girl turned to books for solace, fell in love with Jane Eyre, and proceeded to write letters to Jane in which she detailed the horrors of her early childhood. This was quite a difficult read and included abuse by neglect as well as sexual abuse.

I appreciated the chance to read this and admire the inventiveness the author employed in the use of letters to allow the reader get into the head of the girl.

This book was provided by NetGalley in return for an honest review.

This book had the most amazing writing I have read in such a long time, maybe forever. It was glorious, and it just flowed so well. It just sucked me into Elektra's life, and bore me through her life of horrors in a way so well explained and detailed. It made me hurt for her, to cheer for her, to cry for her and for the childhood she had, but I love the way she connected with Jane Eyre so purely, and all the connections she was able to make between herself and not only Jane Eyre, but also Charlotte Bronte. I am so glad I requested this book, it was perfect.

This was a very raw and emotional book. One gets to see all the hardships that the author went through and it's so touching to see her persevere through all the hardships. I would recommend this to anyone that enjoys reading books that will teach you life lessons. .

The ARC of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book tells the story of a fifteen-year-old girl who tries to survive a violent childhood and a distressed adoption in New York. She finds confort in Jane Eyre, who becomes her favourite literary character and an inspirational figure.
I'm a huge fan of Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre", so when I bumped in this book I was really curious to read it. Ireally liked the concept and idea behind this novel.
"Dear Jane" is not an easy book to read and some parts of it were really hard. It's awful to become aware of the fact that there are children in this world who go through what she experienced.
Despite all that, I couldn't really connect with Elektra's character. Half of the time I found her thoughts too melodramatic and exagerated. At the beginning I found very difficult to dive into this story.
If you're a fan of "Jane Eyre", then you shoul definitely give this book a try!

As a lover of Jane Eyre I was instantly drawn to this book and it did not disappoint. Before reading this book I considered Jane Eyre to be about forbidden love, a byronic hero and a commentary on social class, Dear Jane has made me appreciate how different people can read the same thing very differently. ‘Kathryn’ was an interesting narrator showing both insight beyond her years as well as hints of childhood naivety that made her so engaging. This book was difficult to read at parts but the ending felt like a resolution for both the protagonist and reader. This book enlightened me to the other side of Jane Eyre and was a great way of exploring the many roles of females within society across centuries.

I wanted to read this novel because I love Jane Eyre, so the idea of a book about a girl who also connects with the classic seemed ideal. Whatever my expectations had been about this book before I started reading it, they were exceeded in every way. Kit Kat writes letters to Jane Eyre because she feels that Jane would understand her due to some similar circumstances. I think it is important to go into this book without knowing too many details, so I will avoid those, but it is fair to say there are trigger warnings for abuse, sexual violence, and abandonment. I think that presenting those topics in a straightforward way is something that Delvecchio does extremely well. Because we are hearing the details in letters describing her past, we hear not only the events but the consequences of those experiences. The family history, and our protagonist future are revealed along the way and truly feel like a growing friendship between her and the reader. Again, I don’t want to give anything away, but the ending pleased me because it did not attempt to wrap things up in an unrealistic way or redeem characters who did nothing to grow. I look forward to more books from this author!

Thank you NetGalley for an early copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Dear Jane; Wow! What a story. It is at once an immersive and bitterly disturbing story, you can't look away or put it down even for a minute until you've absorbed every word of it. I've read books on child abuse, but it never gets any easier whether it's fiction or non-fiction. It's always hard to contemplate that anyone would be filled with such self-hate that they would project such violence and hate onto their own children.

I love that the story brings with parts of the Classic tale of Jane Eyre (<strong>definitely have to go give it a reread</strong>), each page begins with a quote from this wonderful classic. It is indeed true that books have a difference in many of us bibliophiles lives at one point and in one form or the other.

This is also true for our protagonist Eketra Koutros, now renamed Kathryn by her adoptive mother. What would it be like to know your name and then lose it, only living on within your memory? Is it the right thing to do to a child at an age where the child recognizes their original name is changed because the parent(s) feel more comfortable?

I love that Kat tells us what each person's Greek name means and how she views that person by that meaning.
<blockquote>"Her name was Athanasia Koutros. She was my mother. The one who gave birth to me. In Greek, her name means "the immortal one," and I find this quite ironic, because, even though I left her so many years ago, the memory of her crawls back to me, burrowing beneath my skin, cementing itself against my ribs so that I find it hard to breathe. Whenever I think of her, my breath gives way, my chest heaves with force, and words escape me, since I cannot reveal her existence."</blockquote>
Kathryn or Kit Kat as her friends calls her finds solace within the pages of Jane Eyre, she's living a life similar to the character of Charlotte Bronte and so she writes to her after almost harming herself, because of all the rage she feels inside for the way she's been treated from childhood to present day living in America after being adopted; she's haunted by a past that is filled with loathing and abuse at the hands of some those closest to her.

Charlotte Bronte becomes her most trusted friend, her confidante, her role model and she tells her everything she cannot voice to her adoptive mother or anyone else, in this way we learn about her childhood through her college years. For she fears retribution because she was forbidden to speak about her past before and paid the price. Her adoptive mother, Evangelia "Ann" a single woman, with an unimaginable cold disposition, "what a bitch". I mean what kind of mother would be hell-bent on silencing a child's voice and her memories because she wants a child with a clean slate as if that can happen with a child who already knows part of herself at that age.

Within the pages of this diary, Kat confesses her deepest and darkest secrets, she narrates in an earnest and strong voice as she tells us everything that has taken place in her life from the age of eight. There comes a time when all of us who haven't yet find our voice will do so and when that happens, we realize that in doing so we've not only helped our selves but others as well.

The subject matter within these pages are dark and complex, it's realizing the instance you've lost your voice and having the courage to find it again.

This book is about the loss of self/identity, loss of family, love and the absolute power books have in saving a life when it's needed the most.

If you haven't read this book, I highly recommend it.

Very interesting book! I read this over the course of a few days and just couldn't put it down. The narrator was a likable character, who I found myself sympathising with constantly.

"Dear Jane" is not an easy book to read and some parts of it were really hard. It's awful to be aware of the fact that there are children in this world who go through what she experienced.

This is a love story devoted to the strength that can be found within yourself. She finds truth, balance and parallels through the endearing novel “Jane Eyre”, to her own life experiences.

The quotes from Jane Eyre before each new chapter helped connect Kit Kat to Jane through the different experiences and I think that some younger readers may think about picking up Jane Eyre to read in order to find out more about this character who helped Kit Kat embrace herself and learn about who she is.

Thank you to NetGalley, Black Rose Writing and Marina DelVecchio for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

So true and heartfelt this will tug at your heartstrings right from the very start. Compelling and gripping. A real page-turner from start to finish.