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FindingJane
Oct 17, 2014FindingJane rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
Meet Harper Jane Price, a polite Southern society girl, who’s just been handed an unusual destiny. All she wants to do is attend her Cotillion, wear a lovely white dress and dance on the arm of the sweetheart she’s been dating since high school. Instead, she’s been randomly selected to be a tough protector for a boy she doesn’t even like. Think “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” meets “Gone with the Wind”. Genteel, well spoken and an ace at shopping, Harper isn’t happy about her new role as warrior, especially if it means she might die young. When she rejects it, we understand her decision because the author does a bang-up job of letting us know Harper’s dreams, plans and inner desires. She’s not some feckless, reckless teenager wanting to sow her wild oats. She’s a scholastic over-achiever and has genuine plans to attend college and carve out a brilliant future. Being a superhero was not on her agenda. Harper’s increasingly desperate attempts to keep her life on some even keel while practicing to be a Paladin are funny, painful and ultimately uplifting. Here’s a girl who tries, for better or worse, to fulfil her duty while carving out her niche in life. She’s—let’s say it—spunky, endearing, strong and feminine right down to her pearls and high heels. She’s proof that storybook heroines come in all sorts of shapes, sizes and accessories and that you can be kick-ass in diamonds, organza and lace as well as leather, jeans and steel-toed boots.