Mary Jane by Jessica Anya Blau is a coming-of-age story. Mary Jane is a twelve/thirteen year old with a summer babysitting job. From the first moment she enters the Cone's home, she knows it is different, but she has already fallen in love with her charge, Izzy, who is an adorable five-year old curly-headed girl. The place is in chaos, but Mary Jane starts immediately putting it to rights, and involving Izzy every step of the way and making it all fun. They collect boos from all over the house. They fold clothes and, at least, Izzy's get put away. Izzy is given a bath regularly, something new. Mary Jane and Izzy do all the grocery shopping and gradually they take over the cooking. Guests arrive: Jimmy, a rock star, and his starlet wife, Sheba. But it is a big secret. Turns out Dr. Cone is a psychiatrist and Jimmy is an addict, here to recover. A new world opens to Mary Jane. The Cones had been odd but Jimmy and Sheba were odd and fun!

As all good things, must, this babysitting came to an end, but not before the Cones and Jimmy and Sheba had had a huge impact on Mary Jane, and she on them. They saw her in a way her parents never had. Well, to be fair, her parents had never looked. The impact was not only on Mary Jane, but on her mother as well. It was all-good. This was an amusing book. There is so much going on for everyone that is was sometimes almost overwhelming. There was so much introduced to Mary Jane in just a couple of months: she had had no idea. It was a terrific read. It was so easy to identify with each of the characters and so empathize, but at the same identify with some of the other characters. What a wonderful insight into the workings of a teenage mind. It made me smile. It made me laugh. It made me cry. Mostly, it made me excited for Mary Jane's life.

I was invited to read a free e-ARC of Mary Jane by Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #netgalley #maryjane

WARNING: RANT AHEAD
Can we please stop comparing every book that has a storyline involving music to "Daisy Jones & the Six"? The should be judged on their own merits. Like MARY JANE, a wonderful coming-of-age story that's so much more than the comparison allows for.

It's 1975s in suburban Baltimore during and 14-year-old Mary Jane gets a summer job as a mother's helper to the free-spirited Cone family. Dr. Cone is a psychiatrist who will be spending three months treating a drug-addicted rock star named Jimmy who moves into the Cone house along with his movie star wife, Sheba, in order to keep the therapy a secret. Over the course of the summer, straight-laced Mary Jane tries to impose some order on bohemian Cone household while also learning about the world of sex, drugs and rock and roll and recognizing for the first time that there's more to life than very sheltered one she's been living.

I adored this book! There were moments that made me laugh out loud (Izzy, Mary Jane's five-year-old charge, was especially hysterical) and others that really touched me. All of the characters were multi-dimensional and felt so real (Mary Jane actually seems like a 14-year-old instead of teen being written by an adult) and I loved the trip back to the 1970s. There's an innocence to the time before cell phones and social media when we didn't know everyone's every move. And while she tackles lots of issues of the time like racism, anti-Semitism and sexism, what Blau does most successfully is capture that moment where teens lose their naivite, realizing that they don't see the world exactly as their parents do and that's okay.

I read an interview with the author that said she starting writing this book after working as a ghostwriter for a celebrity and her first-hand knowledge of Hollywood living definitely shows in Jimmy and Sheba. But the real star of this novel is Mary Jane who you can't help root for her as she confronts the person she's been raised to be while trying to figure out who she wants to become. This book does focus on music but in a totally different way than Daisy Jones - it's a sweet, nostalgic and slightly naughty story that makes for the perfect summer escape.

Thanks to William Morrow, Custom House and NetGalley for a copy to review.

Mary Jane is the story of fourteen year old Mary Jane Dillard and the summer that changed her life. She begins her summer working for The Cone family as their nanny. She finds herself in a home that is openly liberal with very few rules for their daughter. Mary Jane comes from a conservative family, as the days pass she finds herself becoming responsible for many of the household tasks. All the while discovering that there is so much more than her strict, conservative upbringing. And truly discovering herself and her voice.

This book has been compared to Daisy Jones & the six, although some of the themes are the same, the books are very different. I enjoyed this book, however, I found the writing style to be a bit odd. The author wrote the book in the first person as Mary Jane, which made the writing feel Young Adult. Even though the content of the book was adult. For some reason I had a hard time getting passed that aspect of the book.
Overall, I enjoyed the story, it kept me engaged and I was very interested in how the book would end. I gave this book 3 stars, meaning, I liked it and would most likely recommend to someone.
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

A huge thank you to Netgalley for the ARC of this book, which releases today!

After seeing Erin’s review of this book, I had to get my hands on it. It’s also advertised as Almost Famous meets Daisy Jones, which happen to be my favorite movie and book. Did I go into it thinking I would love it? Yes. Did I love it? Also yes.

This book just makes you feel happy. It’s calming, not stressful, interesting, and nostalgic. Do you ever feel nostalgic for a time period you didn’t live in? That’s how I felt about this book, with the exception of the racism and gender roles that were so vastly accepted.

Mary Jane is a 14 year old, church going, naive girl with a great voice and even greater heart. She goes to nanny for a family nearby and soon realizes that this isn’t going to be your typical babysitting job. She quickly becomes the primary caretaker for Izzy, age 5, while the other adults are home. Izzy’s mom doesn’t give into gender norms and has no interest in cooking and cleaning. Izzy’s dad is a therapist who has taken on a high profile patient, a rockstar and his famous wife. These two will be living with them for the summer, which makes Mary Jane’s nannying role even more interesting. Soon after she becomes the primary caretaker for them all, it seems.

This book is character, not plot, driven, and it’s excellent. Absolutely get your hands on this one!

Mary Jane is coming of age in 1970s Baltimore, and she lands the perfect summer job. She's going to nanny for a local psychiatrist. How simply, how respectable, right? Not exactly. Behind closed doors, things are a mess. Oh, and did I mention there's an addled rockstar drying out for the summer at the psychiatrist's house? And his wife shows up. Straddling the line between two deeply different worlds, Mary Jane grows up quickly this summer, and gets a grip on the trajectory she wants her life to take - though it may not be the one she thought she'd always wanted.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for advance access to this title!

Mary Jane by Jessica Anya Blau is a novel that dips its toes into several genres—coming of age story, social commentary, humor, and rock and roll.
The setting is Baltimore in 1975. The 14 year-old protagonist, Mary Jane, is the only child of parents who value social status and appearances above all. They are portrayed as serious and judgmental. Then Mary Jane becomes the summer nanny for the 5 year-old daughter of a local psychiatrist and his wife, and her world changes. This household is the antithesis of all she has known: it is messy, disorganized, spontaneous and open-minded. As Dr. and Mrs. Cone open their doors to Jimmy, the aging rocker and his movie star wife, Sheba, Mary Jane is exposed to new ideas, new music, and new attitudes and social mores.
The writing is deft and the story moves along nicely, so it was an entertaining novel. It reads like a screenplay for a TV movie or a sit-com. For me, the premise of the story—that Mary Jane’s parents are old-fashioned and prejudiced, while the other family/friends are open-minded and admirable—feels shallow. It moves this book into a YA novel realm, stereotyping the preteen/teen view of “parents who just don’t understand” and also stereotyping the “open minded, open marriage, drug addict rock star” as the cool guy.
I think that sells short many of the more important points raised—social stigmas, racial prejudice, religious stereotyping, age-appropriate activities—that could have been explored in more depth. This book could be read by parents and their young teen child, and then discussed together to explore their feelings and positions about the issues that are raised.

Thank you to HarperColllins Publishers/Custom House and NetGalley for the ARC. This is my unbiased review.

Mary Jane is a 14 year old girl from an affluent, strict, and religious White family in Baltimore in the mid 1970s. She takes a summer nanny job caring for Izzy Cone, an adorable an exuberant 5 year old girl with unusual parents. Her father, Dr. Cone, is a psychiatrist, but he works from the family's garage; her mother is a bit of a free spirit who doesn't really cook or clean the way that Mary Jane expects a wife and mother to. She expands her responsibilities for the family to include cooking for them (she has to tell her own mother that Mrs. Cone has cancer, as serious illness is the only excuse that Mary Jane's mom can accept for a wife and mother to not cook or keep house). Things are kicked up a notch when Jimmy (a rock star struggling with sobriety after a heroin addiction) and Sheba (his famous actress/singer/all around celebrity wife) come to live with the Cones for a more intensive treatment option for Jimmy. The house gets louder and bigger and everyone loves and relies on Mary Jane. This is really the story of Mary Jane finding herself and who she really is, coming to some uncomfortable realizations about her parents (who are super racist and just generally very judgmental of anyone different), and trying to figure out what it means to be part of a family. I kept waiting for some kind of major traumatic or life-changing event to occur, as I often see in coming of age stories, but this was really more like coming of age through a thousand smaller (but still significant) events, which is probably more relatable to many.

As I read Mary Jane by Jessica Anya Blau, I was transported back to a memorable time period in my own life. I could appreciate all the cultural references and relate to Mary Jane's conservative upbringing. Mary Jane certainly got an education during her summer as a nanny in a more liberal household. Thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for the opportunity to preview this coming-of-age story.

Oh Mary Jane, how I will miss you.

The summer of Mary Jane's 14th year on this earth would change her life forever. She could never have known what that summer would hold when she accepted the job babysitting little Izzy Cone up the street. When she told her mom about the opportunity, watching a doctor's daughter, it seemed completely respectable.

There was no way for her to know what would come next.

Innocent Mary Jane comes in to her own in the free spirited home where popsicles are supper, showers are an after thought, and rock n roll is king. Dr. Cone and his wife lead a very different way of life than Mary Jane has ever known and she comes to realize, it is everything she could have ever wanted. Her influence on the chaos at the Cone's home is even more realized when super stars Sheba and Jimmy move into the house to continue treatment with Dr. Cone.

This book made me miss being a kid. It made me remember summers at friend's houses learning how they lived with their families and adjusting to new atmospheres. It made me remember what it was like to be changed by outside influences at such a pivotal age in my life.

This book will always stick with me. It is by far a top 10 for my 2021 reads. I already miss Mary Jane and the Cone family. I loved living among them and only wish I could have a few more chapters with them.

Thank you to Netgalley for this amazing book. I will forever be thankful.

📆 Release Date: May 11 (Digital ARC provided by William Morrow, Custom House, and Netgalley)

📖 Blurbed as “Almost Famous meets Daisy Jones and the Six” and loved by Nick Horny=by, meaning it is exactly in my wheelhouse. Fourteen-year-old Mary Jane spends her summer as a nanny for the young daughter of a local psychiatrist. It is a classic clash between 1970s conservatism and the opposing culture of drug, sex, and rock-and-roll. And Mary Jane finds herself caught between both worlds and a very formative time in her life.

👍 This is the kind of historical fiction I gravitate towards. The sweet spot for me is the latter half of the 20th century because it feels just recent enough that authors don’t feel obligated to write like Nathanial Hawthorne. I also think this is the rare book that gets the child’s voice right. Izzy is 5 and she talks like a five year old instead of an adult writing a precocious twelve year old.

👎 There are parts of this story that definitely drag, but I have a feeling it will be a great one to listen to on audio. I think one of the major drawbacks is that, even though this novel is in the center of my Vin Diagram of interests, it also feels like something I’ve read before.

📚 The Final Revival of Opal and Nev by Dawnie Walton & How to Kill a Rockstar by Tiffanie DeBartolo

This was such a fun read! When I first started reading Mary Jane by author Jessica Anya Blau, I wasn’t sure what to expect. The storyline is really different than anything I’ve ever read before and maybe that’s why I liked it so much. There were parts that actually had me laughing out loud. It’s the story of 14 year old Mary Jane who is an only child whose parents are as boring and straight-laced as can be. They attend church, are members of a country club and live their lives trying to live up to the standards of others. Mary Jane gets hired to be a summer nanny for Izzy, the 5 year old daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Cone. Dr. Cone is a psychiatrist which Mary Janes parents are not aware of. The Cones have a drug addict rocker and his famous wife come and stay with them for the summer to try and council him with his addiction. Mary Jane soon learns that people live very different lifestyles in different homes. I won’t go into too much detail and ruin the story but just want to express how much I really enjoyed reading this and believe a lot of others will too. If you enjoy music and remembering the 1970’s then I’m sure you will connect with this story. I’d like to thank The Book Club Girls Early Reads Program and William Morrow Marketing for the opportunity and NetGalley for the arc to read, review and enjoy. I loved reading this, it was fun and brought back memories. I hope to get the chance to read more by this author in the future. I’m giving this a 5 star rating.

I loved this book. Give me a coming of age novel, mix in a dysfunctional family (in this case more than one) and I’m a happy reader! This book is being compared to Almost Famous and Daisy Jones but I think it completely stands on its own.

1970’s Baltimore, Mary Jane is 14 years old and hired by a neighborhood family to nanny for the summer. Mary Jane comes from a “proper” family: country club lunches, church choir, women putting dinner on the table. The family she nannies for introduces her to sex, drugs and rock & roll. She begins to learn who she is, who she wants to be, when out of the restrictions imposed by her parents.

This would make a great book club selection, so much to talk about: which was the more dysfunctional family? How would this play out today vs 1970s?

This was a 5 star read for me until the very last chapter. Without spoiling anything, I’ll just add that I hate when books are wrapped up with a big bow at the end.

Mary Jane by Jessica Anya Blau grabbed my attention immediately with that cover. The premise sucked me in: A coming of age novel set in the 70s with rocker vibes? Count me in!

Mary Jane is fourteen years old, living in Baltimore in the 1970s. She has grown up in a very conservative and religious household — before every dinner, the family says their prayer and always makes sure to pray for President Ford, whose portrait hangs on their dining room wall. Mary Jane’s life involved helping her mother, the country club, and school. She takes on more responsibility to become the nanny for the new family in town. Her mother loves that her daughter is taking on a job, helping out a doctor's family.

The book starts with Mary Jane meeting the Cones and, wow, does that set the tone! This respectable family’s house looks nice and clean on the outside, but inside is chaos. The daughter, Izzy, barely has any room to walk in her room. There are books and trash everywhere. The kitchen doesn’t even appear to be used for its purpose. Mary Jane isn’t sure what she has signed up for, but she must see it through. When she meets Izzy, she becomes immediately attached to the adorable girl and seems very curious about this family that lives in a way so different from her own.

After a little while of working for the Cones, Mary Jane learns a secret: The doctor will be working from home helping one of his patients, a rock star and his movie star wife. He is a recovering addict and they believe that the constant therapy away from the spotlight will be very beneficial for him. Mary Jane must keep this a secret; no one in town should know they are here.

Mary Jane finds herself taking over as the lady of the house, basically. She does the laundry, folds the clothes, irons the clothes. She cleans and organizes the house. She finds that she doesn’t want to leave, so she offers to start cooking dinners for the family. To get the okay from her mom, she has to lie. Mary Jane has to lie a lot during this summer job. Mary Jane loves being able to help the family and loves learning from both the Cones and Jimmy and Sheba, the famous couple staying with them. Together, these two couples open Mary Jane’s eyes to new perspectives on life. It is amazing to really watch her as she realizes just how different she is from her parents — something most teenagers go through.

Mary Jane is going to end up being one of my favorite characters of the year, if not all time. She is a character I would love to hear more from as she grows older. One of the aspects that I liked so much about this book is it really felt like it was being told from a fourteen-year-old’s perspective. Her parents come across as dull because that is how Mary Jane sees them. The Cones come across as fun because that is how she sees them. Both families have their pros and cons, like any family: Mary Jane’s mother loves her daughter very much but maybe does not show this to Mary Jane in the way that she wants to be shown; the Cones life is so dysfunctional that I’m not sure it is safe for Izzy, the five-year-old, to be there, even with Mary Jane to support her.

This book was billed as Daisy Jones & the Six meets Almost Famous. To me, this book does relate to these two only because it makes me feel the same way that book and movie do, and of course the rocking 70s setting. Having said that: Mary Jane is its own story. Fans of both will most likely be fans of this. This is a strong coming-of-age novel with a fantastic setting. The author does an amazing job of bringing you into the story. When I finished, I found that I really missed these characters. It has fantastic pacing and is just a delight. I will definitely be buying my own copy soon.

This is a fast-paced, historical fiction piece perfect for fans of fictional bands, coming-of-age stories, and strong protagonists. I promise, once you read it, Mary Jane will steal your heart, too.

This novel comes out tomorrow (May 11, 2021) and I hope that you will grab yourself a copy so we can talk about it! Thank you to William Morrow and Custom House for the free eARC via NetGalley for my review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I received this book for free from Netgalley. That did not influence this review.

I’ve been reading a string of “contemporary” novels lately, and thought this—Mary Jane by Jessica Anya Blau—was another, until I realized the setting is 1970s Baltimore. So it’s about fifty years ago, which puts it more into the historical realm, even though it feels contemporary to me. (The fourteen-year-old narrator refers to the back of the station wagon as “the wayback,” a nostalgic jolt. I don’t think anyone calls it that anymore.)

Mary Jane is from a straight-laced, uptight, Roland Park family. Her father is a lawyer who ignores her. Her mother is a housewife who keeps house rigidly, and who has taught Mary Jane how to cook with a military precision, as well as how to behave properly. When Mary Jane is asked to be a summer nanny for the five-year-old daughter of new neighbors, her mother agrees since the father is a doctor. (They don’t know he’s a psychiatrist. They are disturbed by the fact that he’s Jewish, but her mother decides his being a doctor makes up for that.)

Mary Jane is shocked and excited by her first day of work. The parents are relaxed to a fault; the house is a mess; there is no cooking or cleaning, No discipline. But the whole family is kind, warm, and loving and the precocious daughter is a delight. After a short time, the real reason they need a nanny is revealed. The couple will be hosting one of Dr. Cone’s patients, the rock star Jimmy, and his wife, the movie star/singer Sheba for the summer. Jimmy is a recovering heroin addict and Dr. Cone is his therapist. The couple needs to remain incognito, and Mary Jane is sworn to secrecy.

This is a heartwarming coming-of-age story. Mary Jane quickly learns that there is a wide world outside of her experience. She learns what parts of her upbringing to appreciate and what parts to shed. She is incredibly naive in many ways, but also wise beyond her years. The ending is a bit abrupt, with a rather pat reconciliation with her mother, but otherwise, it’s a fine look back at being a kid and growing up in the seventies.

I so enjoyed this book! I don’t typically read books where the main character is a teen, but Mary Jane’s story really resonated with me. It reminded me of that time in life that I realized that everyone’s family was not like mine and that I was going to get to decide for myself what I believe and what my life was going to be like. A beautiful novel!

This was such a charming, soulful book. It's not a story we've ever heard before, but the characters felt fully realized. The focus stayed on Mary Jane, highlighting how special she was even amid all of the shining stars of the Cone house. Izzy felt like a fully realized 5 year old and the world building of the neighborhood did its job. I flew through this in a few hours - the perfect vacation read.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow Books for this ARC of Mary Jane by Jessica Anya Blau in exchange for an honest review.

I was amped to read this book. When you compare a book to Daisy Jones and the Six I’m going to have super high expectations because I LOVE that book. I think because of my super high expectations it’s possible that I am being more critical than normal. That being said, Mary Jane did not quite meet the mark for me.

Things I loved:
The setting, all of the Baltimore references 🙌🙌 (I live just outside of Baltimore)
Between the music and clothes references I definitely felt the 70s vibe. ✌️

The premise is a coming of age story of a fourteen year old girl, Mary Jane, in the 70’s with a foot in two very different worlds - her conservative, reserved home life in comparison to the home of the family she nannies for. The family that Mary Jane nannies for has a very famous couple staying with them for the summer because the family is treating one of the celebrities for his addiction recovery.

Overall, the story was enjoyable but my expectations going into this book were super high and it unfortunately did not live up to them. The whole idea of a famous couple living with their therapist while being treated seemed far fetched to me but maybe it wasn’t for the time period 🤷🏻‍♀️ I also don’t know if I bought the ending 100%. One character in particular seemed to change their tune a little to easily.

Conservative meets progressive in this coming of age story set in the 1970s. Fourteen-year-old Mary Jane lives a sheltered, quiet, orderly life with traditional roles and hidden emotions. Hired as a summer nanny for the Cone family, she gets exposed to everything her house lacks -- chaos, disorder, emotional outbursts, and many shows of affection. Not to mention the drugs, sex, rock & roll, and group therapy!

"Two different households with two different value systems"
During the best summer of her life, Mary Jane experiences additional responsibility and freedom, which allows her to evolve into a freer, less afraid version of herself. It causes her to think for herself, and she begins to question her parents' views (and those of other adults) for the first time. Her self-confidence grows, and she matures significantly.

With the Cones, Sheba, and Jimmy (the two famous rock stars staying with the Cones for the summer in secret), Mary Jane finds a second family. For the first time, she feels seen and as though she matters.

I loved how the book shows that you don't have to be one thing or its opposite. You can find a happy medium between the two that fits you best.

With its Almost Famous vibes, Mary Jane is a light, sweet, entertaining coming of age story that I highly recommend!

Thank you to NetGalley, William Morrow, and Custom House for a copy to read and enjoy. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

The “coming of age” of a conservative teenager in the early 1970s, as she babysits for the young child of a hippie set of parents. During the summer, the psychologist father treats a rock star and his actress wife, who add another layer of discovery to the titular Mary Jane’s summer.

The writing is fluid and nuanced, and the characters were likeable. However, they were also unbelievable. I had a hard time believing that a 14-yo would be so responsible and straight laced, a 5-yo is that cute and precocious without any annoying features, a couple would be completely open about their hippie lifestyle with a 14-yo who isn’t their own and oblivious to what they are doing and asking of her, and that her own parents would be so racist and abominable without any complicating character traits. In other words, all of the characters were pretty flat, one-noters.

Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Oh, man, I really wanted to love this book but it was just kind of a miss for me. To be honest, it’s one of those books that I’m not really sure whether I liked it or not—I just feel kind of ambivalent about it. I didn’t connect with Mary Jane as a narrator; at times she was unconvincingly naive and then she also seemed way too mature for her age. I think the shock value of going from her home to the Cones’ home was unrealistic at times. I don’t feel like everything that happened worked to advance any particular plot. I’m not sure who thought Almost Famous and Daisy Jones & the Six were fair comparisons here, but they really missed the mark. It was fine, but I don’t know that I’ll be recommending it.