Review brought to you by OBS staff member Angie

Jane Slayer is a sweet and wonderful love story of a woman who finds herself falling in love with a man not her equal in societal status. She can’t believe he would ever be able to return her feelings. And just when she thinks that all is as it should be, fate takes him away from her. Jane must decide if she is going to follow the path that fate has chosen for her, of if she’ll defy her roots and take what she wants.

Jane Slayer is an orphaned infant taken in by her uncle, Mr. Reed. He is attacked on his way home with her and finds himself a vampyre. His wife is unable to stand the thought of ever growing old and not having her husband by her side so she begs him to turn her. He obliges her and soon after, their three children are turned, as well.

After his untimely final death, Mrs. Reed is sworn to keep the girl, Jane, and raise her as one of her own. But of course she doesn’t. Jane is never given the same luxuries as her cousins, and they will not turn her nor eat her as she is considered a “commoner” and Mrs. Reed abhors commoners. Jane is sent away to a boarding school at age 9 where she learns that vampyres are not the only monsters in existence. It is at this boarding school that she is taught the ways of a slayer and that she has an uncanny ability in this activity.

Throughout this book we find Jane discovering her talents and herself. Nearly everyone she has ever had to rely on has left her or betrayed her in one way or another. Thus, she’s become a strong woman both in body and in mind. The fact that she uses her intellect more than her brawn, though, shows us that often times we overlook and underestimate that which seems weak on the surface.

I thoroughly enjoyed this story and found the language to be very authentic of the 19th century; the cadence, the vocabulary, the formality. Erwin did a phenomenal job. It was beautifully written and I was brought to tears on more than one occasion.  It was not over-seasoned with the current spicy trend of vampires, werewolves and zombies, but instead served just the perfect amount of zest to spark the supernatural senses without overwhelming.