𝑭𝒖𝒏! 𝑭𝒖𝒏! 𝑭𝒖𝒏! I love a good coming-of-age story and 𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐘 𝐉𝐀𝐍𝐄 by Jessica Anya Blau (5/11) is exactly that. The year is 1975 and 14-year old Mary Jane has been hired to be the summer nanny for 5-year old Izzy, daughter of the young and hip Dr. and Mrs. Cole. Mary Jane has wonderful parents, but they just happen to be very strait-laced and buttoned-up. Over the course of the summer Mary Jane’s eyes are opened to a whole lot of things she never expected, including the alternate meaning of her own name. Things really heat up when a rehabbing rockstar 🎸 and his actress wife move in on the sly 🕶 for some intense one-on-one therapy with Dr. Cole.⁣
⁣
Now the premise might seem a little unlikely, but Blau handled it beautifully. She provided the perfect balance between Mary Jane changing and growing, seeing many parts of her world differently, and the adults around her being influenced by the calm, organized presence that was Mary Jane. The ending was a tad neat and tidy for my tastes, but I still loved it. If you’re looking for a summer read that is pure fun, you need to read 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘑𝘢𝘯𝘦. This is a book that has it all, sex, drugs and rock & roll!

Thanks to Net Galley and William Morrow for this fun ARC! This novel follows young Mary Jane through a summer where she discovers who she really is and becomes comfortable in her own skin. She comes from a very conservative, strict family and gets asked to babysit a child in the neighborhood for the summer. What a different life she encounters! Such a fun time seeing the relationship between Mary Jane and Izzy and all the adults in the Cone home. Enjoyed this!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I loved all the characters in this book but especially 14 year old Mary Jane. Mary Jane comes from a very straight laced hime where she enjoys reading, singing im church choir, cooking with her mom. Her house is always clean and perfect.

Mary Jane lands a job as a nanny for the summer to the daughter of a doctor. Her mom is happy for her as this is a respectable job.

The doctor is a physchiatrist who will be housing a drug addicted rock star and his movie star wife while he is in recovery. His household is nothing short of chaotic and very liberal, the opposite of Mary Jane's current lifestyle.

I loved so much the way Mary Jane takes care of Izzy and how she is constantly teaching her things as they go about their daily activities. She is slowly teaching her cooking and cleaning and life skills while they are having fun. The relationship that develops between these two is precious.

I love that Mary Jane is the glue around which these four adults in the household come together. They all love her and she sees a different type of family than her own. One that speaks their minds and is fully involved and comfortable with each other.

While she is caught in between the strict home she is brought up in and this vastly different home where she works, she discovers things about herself and who she wants to be.

Mary Jane, a sheltered young teenager leads a stepford-esque life in her Baltimore suburb. She helps her mom around the house and sings in the church choir. Her Dad, a lawyer, never speaks unless he's saying grace before meals. Hoping to earn enough money to buy a record player for her "showtunes of the month" records, she agrees to be a summer nanny for a new neighborhood family. Dr. Cone is a psychiatrist, Mrs. Cone doesn't do anything the other wives do. Their daughter, Izzy, runs around naked and hungry. Mary Jane steps up to try and put some order into the chaos that is the Cone's life. Then Jimmy and Sheba come. Jimmy is a recovering heroin addict who needs Dr. Cone's help to stay clean. Sheba is his wife. Jimmy is a rock star ( Gregg Allman?) while Sheba is undeniably based on Cher. Mary Jane begins to lie to her family so she can spend more and more time with the eccentric Cones and their guests. Things go well until the end of the summer, when a trip to the record store brings it all crashing down. A fabulous read.

The year is 1970, the place is Baltimore.
We are introduced to Mary Jane Dillard, a teenager whose life is filled with cooking with her mother everyday, singing in her church choir, and listening to show tunes. She is a soft-spoken girl who lives with her strict family and conforms to ideas and rules set down by her parents, especially her mother. When asked to be a nanny for another family for the summer, her parents agree. After all, the other home is respectable and that's what counts the most.
Jessica Anya Blau’s sweet, coming of age story is a tale wherein Mary Jane's life hugs aren't a thing, love isn't spoken about and dinners are planned to the T. But when the 14-year-old enters the palatial house of the Cones she's in for quite a surprise.
The Cones are nothing like the Dillards. They do they fit into any box or conform to any rule set down by her society or what Mary Jane has seen in her life. The Cones are outspoken, love is spoken about as freely as are the cusses.
When Dr. Cone, a Psychiatrist, takes on a special client, a rockstar and his effervescent wife for the summer, Mary Jane’s life becomes even more interesting. Together, this makeshift family bonds together, with Mary Jane becoming the central character. Mary Janes cooks and looks after the whole lot of them like her own. All her mother's ways and rules help her along the way but subconsciously she imbibes certain qualities and ways of the Cones as well. Mary Jane's relationship with Izzy Cone stole my heart. Mary Jane without realising becomes an elder sister/mother/confidant and friend of the Five-year-old Izzy Cone.

The book shimmers with a sweet coming-of-age in which everyone, young and old, come of age. The story set in the 70's makes you realise that life, relationships and people's thoughts and approach were so different and not every relationship in this novel is picture-perfect,

Eventually, Mary Jane, truly learns what life can be like. Blau highlights something every teenager goes through and every reader can relate to whether you were born in the '70s or not. This is a book with mother-daughter relationships, honest portrayals of marriage and the ways they can differ and yet be the same.

4.5 stars rounded up to a solid 5 for this tale.

Thanks to the publishers, William Morrow and Netgalley for sending a Digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Wow I loved this book, someone compared it to "Daisy Jones and the Six" which I deeply disliked and now honestly don't really get the comparison, so I wasn't optimistic when I started reading this book, but it's truly a really really good read. The characters are vibrant and well fleshed out. the story captures your attention very quickly, and the quirkiness of several of the characters endears you to them very quickly. Definitely recommend!

I loved this book! I adored the character of Mary Jane and would love to read another book about her.

Mary Jane is a teen in the 1970s. The book focuses on the contrast of her strict, upper middle class parents, and the free-wheeling family down the street for whom she nannies. I loved the duality of the two households and how each had positive and negative influences on Mary Jane.

This book was just fun! With the inclusion of a famous actress, recovering musician, song lyrics, a "witch", and parents who are just trying to figure it all out whle letting a 14-year old take care of them! The author's writing style is an easy read.

Mary Jane will be a great summer of 2021 read!

Fun, quick, fast paced story about a 14 year old girl who takes a nanny job for a very interesting family.

I loved the main character and her relationship with 5 year old Izzy. It was cute, funny and relatable.

The only thing that was a bit strange for me, was just how the Cone family had their household set up. It was a bit worrisome to read about the fridge being packed with rotten, expired food. The household was extremely chaotic with a famous drug addict living in the house, but still smoke Marijuana. The house had junk everywhere and people couldn't even find the phone. Maybe its because I'm a new mom and I have experience living in chaos as a child without structure and it was very detrimental to my growth as a kid, but I don't know.

Overall I still enjoyed the writing style, the story and the characters.

Thank you to Netgalley and William Morrow and Custom House for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Who doesn't want to escape the current pandemic and social/political climate with a retreat to a perfectly evoked 1970s complete with references to L'eggs, station wagons, record stores and nightly prayers for Gerald Ford? I loved tagging along with Mary Jane as she becomes acquainted with the Cone family and their glamorous guests, Jimmy and Sheba. Through this new "family" she sees her own home life with fresh eyes, appreciating the structure her parents provide while also learning that their attitudes towards people who are not like them is racist and problematic. I particularly enjoyed the closeness between Izzy and Mary Jane, and the dialogue was always fresh and pitch-perfect. This book could easily be YA, but I think people my age who grew up in the seventies will appreciate the references to another time. I'd love to see the movie version! I'm a new fan of Jessica Anya Blau.

I loved this book! That took me by surprise due to the books it was compared with. This book doesn't need those comparisons. It's fun, 70's, music and life.

Mary Jane is 14 in 1975 and about to nanny the child of a doctor for the summer. And she does only she is also nanny to the parents and the secret houseguests soon to arrive. Yes, famous people hiding out there while the husband gets help from the doctor. Mary Jane has her hands full but does it all so sweetly and kindly as she really is the adult in this group. Keeping everything from her parents is hard but it mostly works out until the end. I mean, secrets do come out!

I loved the times, the clothing, the music...it all made me smile. I think this will be a popular book this summer.

Thank you William Morrow and Netgalley for the chance to read and review.

I liked Mary Jane, but found myself getting bored at times, skipping large swaths of descriptions to get to the action. I was drawn to the comparison to Daisy Jones, but I don't see that at all. Sure, they're both female-centered pieces set in the 70's, but that's about it. The style is completely different, and I didn't feel like I ever got into the titular character's head in Mary Jane the way I did with Daisy Jones. The concept here is intriguing, and I think it would actually make for a good movie, because the physical details, which bogged it down, would be immediately visible on film. Several of the lower rated reviews have slammed this for the (lack of) moral stance here, but that's absolutely silly. I love the care free family, and I think they're what make it feel fresh-- after all, great period pieces serve as not only a reflection of their times, but also act as a commentary on the culture and climate of the era in which they're released.

Enjoyment factor - 5 stars
Problematic parenting factor - 1 star

I will start by saying I really enjoyed this book and read it in less than a day. Thanks to @bookybethw for the great review that made me *NEED* to read this immediately!

Mary Jane is a bittersweet coming-of-age story set in the summer of 1975. Fourteen-year-old Mary Jane is a Good Girl from a Good Family - she does well in school, sings in the church choir, helps her mother cook and clean, and doesn’t seem to have a rebellious bone in her body... Until she starts babysitting for the progressive Cone family and sees how much different life can be - fun & warm & loving, with lots of singing ... and also totally chaotic.

I had some issues with the “carefree parenting” displayed by the Cones. I get that they were meant to blatantly contrast with Mary Jane’s extremely uptight, creepily conservative family, but omfg with the drugs and neglecting their kid. No food in the house, screaming fights, relying on a 14-year-old babysitter to be the main caretaker in a household of adults... yikes.

The things that Mary Jane brought to their family were all of the things she found stultifying and boring about her own family (homemade meals, order and cleanliness, regular bathing) and I loved that by the end of the story, it seemed like she’d found a way to span both worlds. I’d love to read another book by @jessicaanyablau - this was extremely enjoyable.

This would be a great book club book & a perfect summer read!

In 1975 in Baltimore, Mary Jane is a 14-year-old whose friends are away for the summer, so she feels lucky to find a nanny position for a 5-year-old girl in the house of a local doctor and his wife. The doctor's household is nothing like her own--no one cooks, the place is a mess, and the doctor has two house guests for the summer--a famous rock star and his famous movie star wife. The rock star is an addict, and the doctor, a psychiatrist, is supervising his rehab.

Mary Jane's strait-laced parents would be livid if they knew about the situation, but Mary Jane loves the fact that she can contribute (and make money) by preparing home-cooked meals for the family and her guests, washing and ironing, and growing to love her miniature charge. She flourishes in this relaxed (some would say too relaxed) atmosphere, where everyone embraces and appreciates her for herself and her talents (she's a terrific singer, too). It's a coming-of-age story, fun to read and with a satisfying ending

I devoured this book in a day. It was a captivating coming of age story set in the 1970s. Mary Jane is a 14-year old girl who has been sheltered for her entire life. Her parents are traditional, Church-going folk and conservative. That's all she's known.

Until one summer, she starts nannying for a 5-year old girl named Izzy. Her parents are Bonnie (Mrs. Cone) and Dr. Cone, who is a psychiatrist. This summer, he's cleared his entire work schedule to cater to a rock star named Jimmy and his wife, Sheba, who is a famous actress.

Mary Jane hears these people talk so freely about their sexuality, drugs, and the world in general. They show her a world of new music, that doesn't include Broadway shows or music she sings in Church.

Mary Jane has to tell a few lies to keep this nannying job. She chooses to stay late to cook the family dinner because Mrs. Cone doesn't know how to cook or keep a household. Her mother would be mortified if she knew what was going on; A mother that doesn't cook or clean, rock and roll, skimpy clothing, talking about sex. How scandalous!

This book was absolutely captivating and transported me back to the 1970s for a day. 5/5

Thank you NetGalley and Custom House for the ARC. I thoroughly enjoyed this coming-of-story set in a summer in the 1970’s. I’m not exactly sure which year it was supposed to be; however, I feel as though there was one flaw. The main character, Mary Jane, who I absolutely adored along with Izzy, mentions only knowing of rich people from Dallas and Dynasty. Dallas first premiered in 1978 so that could work; however, Dynasty premiered in 1981 which would mean that it could not be the 1970’s. I did however thoroughly enjoy the story and the relationships that were formed particularly the relationship between Izzy and Mary Jane. A sweet, easy read that I would recommend when it is publish on 5/11/2021.

I flew through this coming-of-age story! Mary Jane takes one a summer job nannying for a doctor's family, a family that is nothing like her own. When the psychiatrist father takes on a new rock-star patient, who moves into the home with his movie star wife for intensive addiction treatment, Mary Jane's summer takes an unexpected turn.

I obviously didn't live through the 70s, but I thought the decade's influence was infused throughout, with tons of musical references that I loved. There's a lot of questioning what's appropriate on behalf of basically every adult character but that didn't bother me.

I enjoyed reading the story from Mary Jane's perspective, her naivety and her perceptiveness actually added to the story for me. I found the writing descriptive and was really able to visualize the characters and scenes.

Thank you to The Book Club Girls Early Reads Program, Net Galley, William Morrow and Custom House for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book, in exchange for my honest review.

This book had me right from the start. I couldn't put it down. I wanted to know what would happen next. Mary Jane had a certain way she had been taught by her parents and when she started being a nanny for a little girl, her eyes were opened up to a new way of what life could be like. She used what she had been taught especially when she prepared meals for the family of the little girl and the two other people living there, but they also taught her new things in a positive way, other than a few things she shouldn't have been shown. I was rooting for her to be a part of that family rather than her own because of how loving and encouraging they were towards her as a family ought to be, she didn't get that at home. Here eyes were opened to a new way of looking at things and she certainly wouldn't have got that from her own parents. Rules of society were rigid with her parents, but with this other family, rules were not rigidly taught. This is definitely a great coming of age novel and it being set during the 60's made it even more great!

I am so grateful to Net Galley for the chance to read the ARC of Mary Jane. I LOVE this book! For a few days I was transported back to the 70's with the crazy clothes, interesting hair, and fabulous music!! Mary Jane is a fourteen year old girl growing up in Baltimore. She sings in the church choir, listens to her Showtunes of the Month albums, helps her mother clean and prepare meals. Her father comes home from work and reads the paper, at the table, during meals. Mary Jane is a good, responsible girl who tries to do what is right and never causes any trouble. That is until she gets a job as a nanny for five year old Izzy Cone who lives down the street. From day 1 Mary Jane knows the Cones are different. Their house is a mess, Mrs. Cone can't cook, and Mr. Cone is a psychiatrist who sees patients at home. Mary Jane has her first takeout hamburger, listens to her first rock and roll album, and walks to the store with little Izzy all on her first day. Soon the family is learning as much from Mary Jane as she is from them and she is accepted fully. None of this she shares with her mother, fearing disapproval and an abrupt end to the job. Then Mr. Cone, she is to call him Richard, clears his summer schedule to be able to help a rock star recover from addiction. The star moves in with his equally famous girlfriend and the summer family grows to include them and Mary Jane. She learns so much about herself and real life and her ideas grow and change as she does. Jessica Anya Blau writes excellent dialog. The conversations between Izzy and Mary Jane were hilarious. Mary Jane's surprise and sometimes shock as she encounters things she never dreamed of were written so well I felt fourteen again myself. This book is an excellent read for anyone who enjoys well-crafted, entertaining prose. There were a few graphic descriptions, nothing too offensive or abusive to Mary Jane, but I wouldn't recommend this to anyone younger than High School. The rest of you please read, enjoy and rock on!!!

This was a well done coming of age story set in 1975 Baltimore.

I read Mary Jane in 2 sittings. When I finished the first two chapters in the first sitting I thought it would be an enjoyable story. When I picked it up the second time I realized it was a story I would devour.

It can be difficult to get the narrative correct when writing from the perspective of a teenager. Jessica Anya Blau seems to hit every mark correctly with her presentation of Mary Jane’s perspective and telling of her transformative summer.

It can be difficult as we grow up to realize our parents and family are not perfect and to start to see that we are not always the person that our parents want us to be. Blau writes about Mary Jane’s struggle to find her unique identity’s for voice and her realization that her parents may not be the people she thought she was with honesty and integrity.

I found the relationships of everyone in the book to be realistic and interesting. Each character seemed to have their own voice and identity, though Mary Jane’s father seemed the least fleshed out and most like a caricature. I enjoyed the juxtaposition between Mary Jane’s home life and the freedom she found that summer at the Cone’s house.

I would definitely recommend this to other readers.

Historical fiction that takes us back to the 1970s, where a girl from a traditional family takes a babysitting job with a family that has a lot to teach her in terms of culture. I look forward to recommending this one!