Jane, The Courageous

Saga of the Phenwick Women #2

by Katheryn Kimbrough

Jane, the Courageous
is one f the spell binding novels in the greatest series of gothic romances ever conceived. You won't want to miss the others, all exclusively in Popular Library editions.

When young, breathtakingly lovely Jane Munsk was adopted into the Phenwick family, she was told she should be grateful for the gift bestowed on her. Now the motherless girl would bear the proud Phenwick name, and be heiress to the Phenwick wealth, power and position.

But from the moment the great doors of Phenwick closed behind her, Jane realized how perilous her new place in life would be. For in this home of many secrets and dark violence she was a puppet in the hands of the tyrannical mistress of the manor - and enslaved by a helpless passion for the handsome, haunted man who was her brother in name only, and who led her down a twisting path of danger to the ultimate betrayal of her love....

Genres: Gothic

256 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1975

About the author

Real name John M. Kimbro - also wrote as
Kym Allyson, Ann Ashton, Charlotte Bramwell, Jean Kimbro. He was the author of over 80 books including the 40 book Gothic series The Saga of the Phenwick Women.

Reviews

[Sarah Mac · Rating 2 out of 5]

As with book 1, the blurb is completely inaccurate. I'm sensing a pattern with these Phenwicks. My theory? Contrary to what you'd think, the editor actually read them. He then decided they were badly written & terminally dull, which meant nobody would follow them for five installments, let alone forty. He therefore made up his own plot, borrowed a couple character names, & blurbed his imaginary story. Haunted houses! Occult! Ghosts! Dangerous romance! Monuments to undying love! Shivers & chills & drafty attics, oh my!

BLURB FOR BOOK 2: "I sound so exciting & gothic!"
SARAH: "Bring it on, yo."
ACTUAL BOOK: "Here's 220 pgs of stilted, repetitive recapping conversations between cardboard non-entities. Boring, boring, booooring.... *twiddles thumbs* Oh hey! Here's 20 pgs of something tense! And the heroine keeps a jack-o-lantern in her room, see? GOTHIC! And... eh, nevermind. It's just the mansion getting raided by mustache-twirling evul British sailors who rape all the women & fail to get any of Augusta's infamous hidden treasure. Then our main couple starts getting it on while there's a dead guy sprawled in the hallway. The end."
SARAH: "....Hm. That was badly written & terminally dull."
BLURBS FOR BOOKS 3-5: "Ah, but we sound so exciting & gothic!"
SARAH: >_______>


Seriously, though. This was bad. It was even worse than the first one. Ouch.

[Michele · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is cliched and predictable and pretty awful, but it doesn’t take long at all to read. One of the biggest criticisms I have is that the characters are not well rounded. They do not have nuanced motives or personalities and behave in the expected way in every instance. A reader can’t develop a closeness with a character, so it is hard to care when terrible things happen. I don’t recommend this book to anyone.

For a full review visit http://ireadalotofbooks.com/jane-the-...

[dejah_thoris · Rating 1 out of 5]

So awful. At least three trigger warnings.

Warning 1: Adoption issues

Aunt Augusta adopts Jane and her brother immediately after their mother passes because they're the two youngest children and her boy has turned "strange" after his kidnapping in the previous book. Later, when her natural son dies, Augusta immediately shrugs it off in favor of her adopted children, especially Jane, whom she's obsessed with making into a Phenwick Woman (whatever that means).

Warning 2: Anti-gay subplot

It's never explicitly stated, but Augusta's natural son, Daniel, must have been raped during his kidnapping and captivity in the previous book. Unfortunately, that's all anyone ever focuses on because it has made him timid and "strange". Even when he dies, his own mother thinks that it was probably for the best. I'm not sure if it gets much more anti-gay than that.

Warning 3: Brutal rape

In addition to the allusions of what happened to Daniel every time his name is mentioned, there's also a brutal group rape near the end of the book. Many women are lodging at Falmouth House when it's attacked by some randy British. The rapes themselves are not covered, but the description of the aftermath Jane stumbles into is gruesome.

I'm sure there's plenty more to dislike, but I've read more books since finishing this one that have blocked out the details.

[Robert Fontenot · Rating 1 out of 5]

God this book is homophobic. And boring. Very boring. I have the next to books I the series but I am not going to bother with them. I didn't realize I was signing up for a dull historical soap opera full of homophobia and talks of manliness. How did this make it to forty volumes?

[Lisa Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

I never particularly cared for Jane. I loved Edward. I know why she was important to the series, but she was just so ho hum. She was so boring I don't even remember her husband's name. I don't remember what her peril was either. YAWN. I did like her friendship with Margaret (Titter). And the strong bond between Eddie, Mike and Danny. The brother and sister relationships in Katherine Kimbrough's novels are always a tad strange. Eddie and Jane, and Mike and Titter. The more I write about the series the more I am remembering.