The following post includes affiliate links. More details here.  As you’re doing your Amazon shopping, we’d be ever so grateful if you’d use our affiliate link to do so as it helps pay the bills around here!

We like to start strong here at Heart. Wants. Books.  For the blog, that means starting the year with a whole month of titles surrounding a fabulous Jane.  For book club, that means selecting not one, but 3.5 titles and for those titles to be among the most reread in our personal libraries.  We do hope you’ll join us for a discussion of Sarah J. Maas’s A Court of Thorns and Roses series to kick off your reading year (check out the bundle here, which was a great deal over the weekend, and may still be).  And, as a bonus, during book club (or DM us if you can’t make it and are interested), we’ll be discussing the potential for a follow-up on A Court of Silver Flames.  I hope you’ll join us on Friday, February 12 at 7:30 p.m. CST for some fun conversation, that may or may not include a comparison of grand entrances and / or spring weddings.  (It will, and also more spoilers, you have been warned. <3, A.)

I know we alluded (or more) to this a few times, but consider this your formal announcement:  Heart.Wants.Books. is pleased to announce our Jane of the Blog, 2020, is none other than:

Jane Eyre!

Oh dear readers, Ashley and I have been planning and plotting and considering which Jane to share with you this year.  You may recall 2019’s selection, Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice. This January, we’ll be passing our time with Jane Eyre, the titular character of Charlotte Bronte’s most famous work.  Why Jane in January you ask?  Well, we considered Austen in August but decided that was too limiting.  Jane in January accomplished our task last year and gave us many more Janes to choose from as authors, characters, and historical personages, so there you have it.  We like variety and options, especially in our reading lives.  Jane Eyre, much like the Bennett sisters, is a beloved literary character, so we had to narrow our options greatly, and finally selected the titles below from ten that made our short list.  

Many are likely familiar with Jane Eyre, as the story follows Jane’s struggles to find her place as an orphan, but we still hope to bring you something new this month.  We’ll bring you three adjacent titles as well as comments on screen adaptations and thoughts on the original work.  I’m struggling not to overshare because I’ve already finished the original, I HAVE SO MANY FEELINGS.  The best part, this is at least my third time to read Jane Eyre and they’re new feelings.  This is why we love a reread around here, and fully support it!  (See also I have read ACOTAR at least five times, including once on audio.)  So, if you want to read along with us this month, we’d love to be friends on Goodreads so you can track us in real time, and here’s what we’ll be sharing with you here, and when.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
January 7

Mr. Rochester by Sarah Shoemaker
January 14

Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
January 21

Re Jane by Patricia Park
January 28

We hope you’ll join us on this journey with Jane, as we explore just what her lasting mark is on readers and literature nearly 175 years after she was introduced to the world.  

What’s a book you’ve read that hit you very differently upon a reread?  

~Nikki

PLEASE SUPPORT US WHEN YOU SHOP BY FIRST CLICKING ON THE IMAGES BELOW: