Jane Eyre

“I told you I am independent, sir, as well as rich: I am my own mistress.”

I'm so happy I finally got around to reading this. I didn't know what to expect after being told to expect a “darker Pride and Prejudice,” but it ended up being so much more than that. Jane Eyre made for a complex protagonist who was more fiercely independent and ahead of her time than any other female character of this period. She was gentle and kind, yet steadfastly herself and refused to allow the males in her life to control her. I loved that she turned down multiple proposals of marriage, even when it came from the man she knew she loved because she had to do what was right for her first and foremost, and she didn't let them convince her otherwise. The inclusion of St. John Rivers showed this clearly, I loved how Jane called out the double standard that she found in their relationship: “He seemed to think I had committed an impropriety in proposing to accompany him unmarried: as if I had not from the first hoped to find in him a brother, and habitually regarded him as such.” This was surprisingly a wonderfully feminist novel, and I didn't expect that at all but I absolutely adored it. Jane was entirely independent and individual and that was quite unique for novels of this period. I genuinely loved this book the whole way through and it will forever hold a place on my shelf of favorites.