Jane's Harmony - Review

Jane's Harmony (Jane's Melody, # 2)

By: Ryan Winfield

Published: August 5th 2014 by Atria Books

352 pages

Genre: Adult, Contemporary

Source: Publisher via NetGalley (Thank you!!)

( Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository )

*Note: The above links to Amazon and Book Depository are affiliate links. Affiliate links support giveaways for Somewhere Only We Know readers.

Goodreads description--Starting over is hard to do.

That’s what forty-year-old Jane McKinney learns when she quits her job, sells her home, and leaves Seattle behind to start a new life and pursue the man she loves in Austin. After the death of her daughter, Melody, Jane never thought she would find happiness again – until she met Caleb Cummings. Sensitive, loving, and mature beyond his years, Caleb is a handsome young musician struggling to make ends meet. But when his fortunes take an unexpected and drastic turn for the better, Jane is left wondering where exactly she fits in.

Can you ever leave the past behind? Jane must now decide if she really is willing to commit to a new beginning with Caleb – or if some wounds are just too deep to ever truly mend.

When I read Jane’s Melody, I was completely into the story and digging the entire experience until around the 70% mark where things started to fall apart. I’d had some minor frustrations up until then, but at that point Jane really started to get on my nerves. She was making stupid decisions. And mostly she went into what I call self-sabotage. This usually happens when a character claims to be or thinks they’re being self-sacrificing (for the good of the one they love) when faced with two options, but in truth, there’s often a third option they don’t consider that doesn’t require self-sacrifice self-sabotage at all. And so I ended Jane’s Melody disappointed. That left me torn on whether or not to pursue Jane’s Harmony, but I ended up deciding to read this book because I did enjoy Jane’s Melody for the majority of the book, and I was hopeful that Jane’s Harmony would end up being better than Jane’s Melody. I’m sad to report that this wasn’t my experience…at all.

Jane’s Harmony frustrated me from early on. Let me take just a moment for a comparison. I read The Infinite Sea by Rick Yancey immediately before Jane’s Harmony. Both of these books had parts that frustrated me, but I want to explain why one worked and the other didn’t. In The Infinite Sea, the characters face life and death situations nearly constantly, but what Rick Yancey did well was give me, the reader, hope for the characters and good things possibly happening, despite repeatedly falling short of the results the reader and the characters hope for and despite facing such dire situations. Where The Infinite Sea was frustrating, there was hope. But Jane’s Harmony was the opposite for me. I was frustrated almost throughout the entire book because I didn’t feel hope for these characters to avoid the conflict I saw coming from the very beginning. As a matter of fact, I was frustrated because I had to watch the characters face the conflict before they actually did since it was that obvious. I predicted almost every single conflict that came up in this book and I’ve got highlights and notes in my kindle to prove it. So The Infinite Sea is like watching a car chance crossing the railroad tracks before the train can get there. And Jane’s Harmony is like watching two trains on the same track set on a collision course—totally unavoidable. Readers need to have hope that the characters they’re invested in can avoid, survive, and/or overcome potential conflict.

While I've discussed my overwhelming feeling of frustration while reading Jane’s Harmony and I mentioned this before, I have to really emphasize how truly predictable the conflict was. Some of that is due to clichés, but mostly what I think Mr. Winfield was aiming for foreshadowing with was essentially out and out telling the reader what was to come. I think of foreshadowing as breadcrumbs leading you, but instead of breadcrumbs, Mr. Winfield left chunks of steak along the path.

On top of being easily predictable and frustrating, I just didn’t connect with these characters either. I struggled with Jane in Jane’s Melody, and that didn’t change in Jane’s Harmony either. Caleb was the most likeable character for me in both books, but even he was a struggle for me in this one.

I don’t know guys. I really don’t enjoy bashing a book, and that’s not what I’m trying to do. I know Mr. Winfield worked hard on this novel, but I just didn’t connect with it. On any level really. The one positive thing I will say is that the sentences flowed smoothly. But other than that, this just wasn’t the book for me. I’m giving Jane’s Harmony 2 Stars. Have you read Jane’s Harmony? What did you think? Let me know!

Waiting on Jane's Harmony

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

Jane's Harmony (Jane's Melody, # 2)

By: Ryan Winfield

Expected Publication: August 5th 2014 by Atria Books

352 pages

Genre: Adult, Contemporary

( Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository )

*Note: The above links to Amazon and Book Depository are affiliate links. Affiliate links support giveaways for Somewhere Only We Know readers.

Goodreads description--Starting over is hard to do.

That’s what forty-year-old Jane McKinney learns when she quits her job, sells her home, and leaves Seattle behind to start a new life and pursue the man she loves in Austin. After the death of her daughter, Melody, Jane never thought she would find happiness again – until she met Caleb Cummings. Sensitive, loving, and mature beyond his years, Caleb is a handsome young musician struggling to make ends meet. But when his fortunes take an unexpected and drastic turn for the better, Jane is left wondering where exactly she fits in.

Can you ever leave the past behind? Jane must now decide if she really is willing to commit to a new beginning with Caleb – or if some wounds are just too deep to ever truly mend.

What are you waiting on this week? Let me know!

Jane's Melody - Review

Jane's Melody (Jane's Melody, # 1)

By: Ryan Winfield

Published: June 16th 2013 by Birch Paper Press

336 pages

Genre: Adult, Contemporary

Source: Publisher via NetGalley (Thank you!!)

( Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository )

*Note: The above links to Amazon and Book Depository are affiliate links. Affiliate links support giveaways for Somewhere Only We Know readers.

Goodreads description----New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal Bestseller--

What boundaries would you cross for true love?

That's the question a grieving mother must answer when she takes in a young street musician she believes can shed light on her daughter's death—only to find herself falling for him. A sexy but touching love story that will leave you both tantalized and in tears, Jane's Melody follows a forty-year-old woman on a romantic journey of rediscovery after years of struggling alone.

Sometimes our greatest gifts come from our greatest pain. And now Jane must decide if it's too late for her to start over, or if true love really knows no limits.

I went through a spell a while back when I read several emotionally heavy books in a row, and that caused me to be in a bit of a reading slump. So I turned around and read a couple of lighter books that I could blow through quickly to help me get out of that slump. I’d been eyeballing Jane’s Melody for a while because it sounded like a book that I would enjoy, yet I kept holding off on starting it because it seemed like it might be emotionally heavy with Jane’s daughter Melody having recently passed away.

Now, I’m not a mother yet. And obviously therefore haven’t experienced the love a mother feels toward her child. By default, I haven’t experienced what Jane has, but I do know several mothers who have. Having said that, I expected there to be more intense grief within the pages of Jane’s Melody. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not sure I wanted more grief, but I expected it given the circumstances.

The description tells you that Jane and her young musician have an age difference—about fifteen years. Age differences don’t typically bother me because my husband is twelve years older than me. But Jane kept getting stuck on how much older she was than Caleb. It made her insecure despite how frequently Caleb told her that it didn’t bother him. There was one instance in particular where Jane’s insecurities over her age cause her to behave in a way that had me cringing. I believe I was actually blushing and embarrassed for her. This was the only time the age difference made me feel off balance.

Caleb was a great character to read about. He’s one of the good guys. I found it difficult to reconcile that he was a perfectly decent guy with intellect and skills yet he was homeless when Jane first met him. Sure, being a street musician won’t always pay the bills and there’s something to be said for following your dreams and doing what you love, but then he readily accepts Jane’s plan to offer him a place to stay in return for working around her house. The two sides of him—the before Jane version of Caleb, and the after Jane version—were at times hard to believe.

I was trucking right along with Jane’s Melody, enjoying it—blowing through it really—when I got smacked at the 70ish% mark with stupidity. Jane’s insecurities cause her to do the whole self-sacrifice/self-sabotage thing. She acts like she’s making her decisions for the greater good of their relationship—for Caleb’s good--out of love and all that jazz. When really she’s just hurting them both. The whole thing is stupid. But without said stupidity there would have been no conflict for this book—or at least their relationship—that needed solving. I felt like this being the author’s chosen conflict almost cheapened the book. I mean you’re telling me that the woman who has survived the death of her child can say that she might not survive a breakup. If you wanted to play the angle that Jane felt as if she’d already experienced too much loss then that at least would have been believable. But what actually happened in the book wasn’t that approach and just not exactly believable for me.

I will also say that Jane’s Melody was pretty graphic. I have a lower tolerance for this than some, but Jane and Caleb were at it like every third scene it seemed like. Each encounter wasn’t necessarily graphically detailed, but some were. I would just caution readers who might have a low tolerance for this.

Jane’s Melody ended with one those perfect red little bows tied around everything. Meaning...happily ever after. Everything was clean, neat, tidy, and happy. Now don’t get me wrong, I enjoy a happily-ever-after just as much as the next person, but this one was a little too neat and pretty. I’ve found lately that books in a series where book 1 ends nice and neat with everything resolved doesn’t always lend toward me being excited about the next book in the series. I know more conflict is to come. It has to. The book description for the sequel, Jane’s Harmony, essentially leads the reader to believe that what was wrapped up in the perfect happily ever after ending of Jane’s Melody will need to be reopened and dissected in order to create needed conflict to move this story into the next book. I don’t really enjoy rehashing details I feel have already been handled. This obviously might be a chase of me jumping the gun and making too many assumptions, but all that leaves me feeling reserved about starting Jane’s Harmony any time soon.

Favorite quote: "I remember reading somewhere that you have to learn to learn yourself before you can love someone else. But I don't think it's true. I think you have to learn to forget yourself before you can love someone else."

Jane’s Melody didn’t take long to hook me. It was an enjoyable read until the climax and major conflict. At that point I began rolling my eyes a bit. Mixed with my graphic tolerance and other minor issues I had leave me giving Jane’s Melody 3.5 Stars. It wasn’t bad. It wasn’t overly good. I can see many people enjoying this book immensely though. Have you read Jane’s Melody? What did you think? Let me know!