"In this fresh reimagining of Charlotte Brontë's classic novel by acclaimed author L. L. McKinney, Jane Eyre and Bertha Mason must save each other from the horrifying machinations of Mr. Rochester in this intrigue-filled, empowering young adult romance.

Jane Eyre has no interest in a husband. Eager to make her own way in the world, she accepts the governess position at Thornfield Hall.

Though her new employer, Edward Rochester, has a charming air - not to mention a handsome face - Jane discovers that his smile can sharpen in an instant. Plagued by Edward's mercurial mood and the strange wails that echo through the corridors, Jane grows suspicious of the secrets hidden within Thornfield Hall - unaware of the true horrors lurking above her very head.

On the topmost floor, Bertha Mason is trapped in more ways than one. After her whirlwind marriage to Edward turned into a nightmare, he locked her away as revenge for withholding her inheritance. Now his patience grows thin in the face of Bertha's resilience and Jane's persistent questions, and both young women are in more danger than they realize.

When their only chance at safety - and perhaps something more - is in each other's arms, can they find and keep one another safe before Edward's dark machinations close in around them?"

THE Jane Eyre reimagining we've ALL been waiting for.

First-person, rotating dual POVs of Jane Eyre and Bertha Mason

Takes place mostly in Thornfield Hall, with the main characters Jane & Bertha dreaming of escaping to New Orleans with the young ward, Adele

Tropes: reimagining, slow burn, secret letter exchanges, secret romance, period romance, shared trauma, queer awakening, romance suspense/escape!

Representation: Black female main characters, sapphic romance

Thoughts
I really enjoyed this YA romantic suspense/thriller and felt it properly paid homage to the original, yet standing strong enough on its own. L.L. McKinney quietly built everything in this book (it seems intentionally so, as it worked for me!), with the suspense slowly building (even though we know Mr. Rochester has Bertha in the attic! But Jane doesn’t know for a bit! It’s interesting to watch her slowly question and figure him out!). I just adore that this iteration of Jane is too smart, wholly uninterested, and utter unimpressed with Mr. Rochester. She attempts to set professional boundaries with him multiple times, and she does not fall for his scam.

McKinney also does this slower building with the romance between Jane and Bertha. They actually don’t meet until about 50% in the book, but the first 50% was necessary for Jane to begin to question the strange happenings at Thornfield Hall on her own accord through her own interactions with Mr. Rochester.

I thought the letters between Jane and Bertha were especially fun and swoon-worthy. I think some people may think that this is “info dumping” but I felt it was a clever, appropriate way to learn about Bertha and Jane’s pasts, including Jane’s late girlfriend. I adore that their friendship and budding romance gives each other even more impetus and motivation to escape and live a life that they have full autonomy over.

I loved this story of young women risking it all to take their power and lives back, and as a bonus, they found true love!

This book had all the spooky parts of actual Jane Eyre, mixed with fixing what I hated about the original. I absolutely devoured this book, it was so gripping and I was so stressed the entire time (but in a good way). I did predict the plot twist, but that's more because I am familiar with the beats of YA thrillers and not because the writing was bad.

I was aware that this was a YA retelling of Jane Eyre going in, but I was still pretty surprised at how young this felt. The complexity of the writing was accessible, but wasn't quite high enough to portray the story or characters in a compelling way. I also really had trouble telling who I was reading from--their narrative voices were so similar, at least for me, that I could never remember what POV I was in, especially if I had put the book down and come back to it. The world-building was okay, but considering the story takes place in largely in one location I was expecting more detail of the house and characters.
The romance didn't really work for me only because their chemistry both didn't really exist and wasn't super believable. They meet nearly halfway through the story, and while they do share a common goal (get Bertha and escape), they don't really spend any time building a relationship/getting to know each other at all. I also wish that the characters themselves were more fleshed out as everyone felt a bit surface level--there wasn't a lot to them. Even Mr. Rochester didn't really feel like a fleshed out character--he was just a villain, with nothing else going on and no real depth.
I can see why people may like this, and I am still really interested by the idea of the story. I do think that a lot of teens will really enjoy this with how accessible the writing is, even if the meat of the story and some of the details suffered because of that.
Overall, I definitely didn't hate this but I didn't really like it either--I felt pretty neutral about this story, but I would pick up more from this author, and I would pick up more set in this world just to see how it plays out and if there's any more depth to the story.

Jane Eyre accepts a governess position from Edward Rochester at Thornfield Manor, eager to forge her own path in the world. At first, all seems fine on the surface; Rochester is charming and easy to work with. But Jane quickly learns that his good mood can change in an instant.

When Jane starts to hear strange sounds around the manor, she decides to investigate. What she doesn’t expect to find is Rochester’s ex-wife, Bertha Mason, hidden in the upstairs attic. Now, Jane is determined to get them both out of the clutches of Rochester. As long as he doesn’t catch on to them first.

Thanks to NetGalley and HarperTeen for an advanced copy of Escaping Mr. Rochester by LL McKinney to review! Jane Eyre is probably one of my favorite classics, so I always like to see the ways that it gets adapted. This might be one of my more favorite adaptations of the story!

First of all, I just want to say, imagining Rochester as the villain isn’t necessarily new–I’d consider him the villain of the original story, honestly. I mean, he trapped his wife in the attic. Immediately villain status. But I liked the way McKinney took that sort of nugget of an idea and brought it to life in this one, with the way Rochester’s mood changes so quickly. He’s a very sinister character, and I honestly don’t trust him from the beginning.

I did appreciate the way the romance was developed here, because it’s not easy when one of the characters is being hidden away in the attic. The letters included were a nice touch, and added to the overall character development. You definitely come to care about both Jane and Bertha by the end, and there’s definite hope for the future.

McKinney did a good job capturing the overall tone of Jane Eyre in this book as well, and it was an easy book to get drawn into. Definitely keep an eye out for it when it comes out next January!

Delivers pretty much exactly what the cover blurb promises, and I love it for that. A sapphic YA Jane Eyre retelling that's a solid, quick read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc! Opinions are my own.

Consumed this in a day I could not put it down. Jane accepts a position as a governess at Thornfield Hall she loves her charge Adele but the darkly brooding Mr. Rochester and secrets of Thornfield bring her to the trapped Bertha. Bertha wants her freedom and is willing to do anything to get it and when both Adele and Jane get to working on freeing her all three are in danger. I loved the shift in perspectives between Jane and Bertha since we get to know both characters as they go through the challenges of Thornfield. Adele is a treasure. I hated Mr. Rochester and wanted all the terrible things to happen to him. Such an engaging story I could not stop reading it.

Escaping Mr. Rochester is a YA retelling of Jane Eyre, in which Jane and Bertha team up to escape Rochester. I must admit I've never read Jane Eyre in its entirety; I've started it several times over the years but never seem to get around to finishing it. Still, I had a general idea of the plot and decided to pick this up to see if it would give me any motivation to return to the original.

I knew this was a YA retelling going in, but the writing felt younger than I expected. I had trouble distinguishing between the two POV characters, as there wasn't much of a difference between their voices. For a book that is set entirely in a house, I also expected more detail in the setting and worldbuilding. Our main characters don't even meet until halfway through the book, which makes their romance hard to believe. It didn't seem like they spent much time truly getting to know each other, as their goal was to save Bertha and get out, and I felt they lacked chemistry. I was really intrigued by the idea of Jane and Mr. Rochester's wife falling in love, so I'm disappointed the relationship didn't work for me. I think part of the problem was that I didn't really feel like I knew any of the characters at all; no one felt really developed and there wasn't as much of a backstory as I wanted. Everyone felt very two-dimensional, including our villain, Mr. Rochester. I think there was a lot of promise with this story, but it could use a few more rounds of editing and a lot more detail for it to live up to that promise.

YA has been thrilling this year with amazing stories. This retelling was so much fun! There is suspense, adventure & my favorite romance. Even though the romance is more of a subplot in my opinion vs the mystery of everything going on. I, highly enjoyed this.

Thank you to NetGalley for the arc

Escaping, Mr. Rochester falls into the trap that most retellings where it struggles to balance the original story and the new elements the author brings. That being said, I found this a rather fun read to explore the idea of what if Mr.Rochester was the true villain of Jane Eyre—having Jane and Martha team up to destroy the man that has imprisoned them in more ways than one eventually having them fall for one and other. My only other complaint about the book is that I wished it led more to horror aspects of Mr.Rochester and how these young women suffered at his hands.

A retailing of Jane Eyre that focuses on the women who are central to the story, Jane and Bertha. While the plot follows Jane Eyra fairly closely, there are many twists in this book.

Jane and Bertha are powerful characters who fight for freedom despite thea manipulation of those around them. The ending of the book is rushed, but readers will be glad to see both Bertha and Jane get happy endings.

Escaping Mr. Rochester by L.L. McKinney is a reimagining of Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. I loved reading a diverse story with a different take--a young woman who can see through the crap created by an egomaniacal man out to make a fortune off of the backs of women. I appreciated how the women banded together to save themselves. If you want to read a story suspenseful story about women reclaiming their power, read Escaping Mr. Rochester.
Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and publisher for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

A YA reimagining of Charlotte Bronte’s classic novel that asks: what if the real villain of Jane Eyre was actually Mr. Rochester?

For starters, the real villain of Jane Eyre *was* Mr. Rochester. But beyond that, this was a fun re-imagining of a classic tale. Not my usual fare, but I didn't hate it.

Escaping Mr. Rochester
4/5 rating

Disclaimer: I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to HarperCollins and Netgalley!!

I love that McKinney wasn’t afraid to stray from the original material and I think the novel is better for it. I quite enjoyed the romance and was grateful that the author didn’t brush over Bertha’s trauma when it came to their relationship. I also think she did a wonderful job fleshing out all the characters including Adele.

The only reason I did not give this novel 5 stars is because I would have liked more worldbuilding-and some of the language used felt a little off for the time period which took me out of the story.

But altogether it was a fairly enjoyable novel and I will definitely be checking out some of the author's other work!

This time, Jane fights back.

"Jane Eyre" is my all-time favorite book. I probably need to revise that assessment (though—in my defense—I have never liked Rochester; I'm in it for Jane's agency), but for now it stands...and it's such a delight to see new takes on the novel. Especially ones that are queer, especially ones that treat Rochester as the ass that he is, and especially ones with POC heroines. And "Escaping Mr. Rochester" delivers on all three counts.

This is "Jane Eyre" in an alternate history: There's a queen on the British throne (perhaps Princess Amelia of the United Kingdom? In the book it's Queen Amelia the Second); Bertha hails from New Orleans rather than from Jamaica; Jane (canonically plain, whatever that means) and Rochester (canonically harsh of feature) are both described as stunning/handsome/etc.; Jane and Bertha are both Black. And this Rochester is cruel, far crueller than the original book would have him—though of course, in the original book, he is cast as a hero.

McKinney is not shy about adjusting the original story as she sees fit, and the book is better for it. I've gone on record many times before arguing that adaptations of classics almost always work better when the writer doesn't feel obliged to hew too closely to the original—things that made sense in the early 1800s don't always make sense in the 2020s, after all. Here, McKinney flicks away side characters if they're going to get in the way, recasts Helen as someone who was something other than a perfect angel child, and of course turns the love story of the original on its head.

Jane is warier here, but not necessarily more street smart—if anything, she verges at times on reckless as she and Bertha get to know each other. In many ways she's not really Jane; she's an original character dropped into the Thornfield world to do battle with Rochester's extra-slimy stepbrother. (I never wanted to marry Rochester...but I really, really wouldn't want to marry this Rochester.) I do wish there'd been a bit more depth to this version of Rochester: villains are at their most interesting when they're allowed some good parts alongside the bad, and villains whose entire existence seems to be dedicated to villainy (not even high-level villainy, but low-level nastiness) have never brought me as much joy. I'd also have *loved* to see a bit more worldbuilding for this alternate universe, because a lot of the language is quite modern, but there's much that isn't explained (race relations, how visible queer people are, what happened that we ended up with a Queen Amelia the Second), and I'm chronically, terminally curious.

Three cheers: one for queering Jane, one for diversifying her, and one for escaping the dread Rochester.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.

A retelling of Jane Eyre with both Jane and Bertha Mason Rochester coded as Black -- and working together to defeat the villainous Mr. Rochester! Yes, please!

Many of the main elements of the original are retained in this retelling. Jane, an orphan, goes to Lowood for her education under the false piety and economy of Mr. Brocklehurst, though here she endures mistreatment based on her race, and her friendship with Helen becomes something more. Instead of teaching at Lowood, Jane goes directly to Thornfield Hall, hired as a governess to Rochester's ward Adele, and she immediately discovers an unsettling and mysterious quality to the household.

But in this version, Jane is far too smart to be taken in by Rochester's apparent charm, little Adele is far more clever, and Bertha -- the not-really-mad woman in the attic -- has tried repeatedly to escape and has almost given up hope when Adele introduces the two young women. How these women work together to uncover the truth and escape their prison is a treat to read, with considerable excitement by the end of the book. And yes, there is a budding romance between Jane and Bertha that gives them both reason to survive.

Some of the language/phrasing feels a little modern for a historical novel, and certainly there are modern sensibilities driving the main characters, but if you're a reader who sees Rochester as a toxic character and wants some vengeance, this book will definitely appeal. 4 stars.

Thank you, HarperCollins and NetGalley, for providing an eARC of this book. Opinions expressed here are solely my own.