Reader, I Murdered Him

Living with her mother in a brothel in France, Adele had seen many things, including the cruel ways of men. As her mother neared her death, Maman convinced a previous lover, Mr. Rochester, supposedly Adele’s father, to take Adele to England to start anew. There Adele discovered the secret in the attic and met Jane Eyre, her governess and, eventually, Mr. Rochester’s wife.

Following the marriage, Adele was sent to the Webster, a school for girls, to learn all the finer skills of being a wife. However, when she realizes the boys and men are just as horrid as those who visited the brothel, she decides someone needs to protect those unsuspecting souls, and she just might be the one to do it, with just a little help from new friends.

As an original tale, this queer romance is swashbuckling fun, but Jane Eyre purists will not be happy with this story as it twists character traits and exploits relationships to fit a different narrative. The excessive detail is more in line with an adult book, and the background building slowed the pace of the book. Entertaining but needed more vigilantism and less Jane Eyre.