Review: Plain Jayne by Laura Drewry

Title: Plain Jayne
Author: Laura Drewry
Series: Friends First, #1
Publisher: Loveswept
Date Published: April 8, 2014

In Laura Drewry’s funny, heartwarming Loveswept debut, a man and a woman learn the hard way that a little bit of love makes staying friends a whole lot harder.

Worn out from the long drive back home, Jayne Morgan can only smirk at the irony: Of course the first person she sees from her old life is Nick Scott. Once best friends, they lost touch when Jayne left town at eighteen, but nothing could keep them apart forever. Jayne has returned to take over her grandmother’s bookstore, determined to put all her bittersweet memories and secret disappointments strictly in the past
—until, that is, Nick insists she bunk at his place.

Nick never did care what people thought about having a girl for a best friend—or the “scandal” she caused by showing up to his wife’s funeral four years earlier—so he’s got no problem with the gossips now. Jayne was always the one person he could count on in his life. Now Nick is starting to realize that he never wants her to leave again . . . and that being “just friends” isn’t going to be enough anymore.

Includes a special message from the editor, as well as an excerpt from another Loveswept title.

My Thoughts:

This is my first book by Laura Drewry, and I have to say, I really enjoyed Plain Jayne. Unfortunately, I've had this on my kindle for a while now, and I am kind of upset at myself for not picking it up to read it sooner. I know that one of the reasons that I had decided I wanted to read it was because of the title alone. There have been so many times when I have felt like a Plain Jane (Jayne), so I was curious what this character was like. Would I be able to relate to her?

The answer is, Yes! Jayne is very reserved and cautious around people. She is not quick to show her emotions or feelings, both physically and verbally. And she has a valid reason. She had a pretty sad upbringing, in which she felt unloved and unwanted, and was often rejected by those around her. Thankfully, she had a best friend, named Nick, who was just the opposite. He was kind, affectionate, and sympathetic, and did not care about what others thought of her. I am so glad that Jayne had Nick as a friend, otherwise, I am certain her life would have taken a turn for the worse.

The last time Nick and Jayne saw each other was four years ago, when he asked her to leave. Although, they had spoken on the phone since then, they still had some things to resolve.  In the beginning of the story, Nick tried to bring up what happened and to make amends, but Jayne would not even let him say what he had to say or even try and settle things. After that, it wasn't really brought up later in the book. This really surprised me because what Nick did really hurt her. Enough to make her move across the country for four years. I was just kind of hoping that Jayne would tell him he she felt. Maybe she thought Nick already knew?

As I said, I could understand why Jayne could be kind of prickly at times, and not very affectionate. Something that kind of bothered me about 75-80% of the way in, was how abrupt Jayne's personality seemed to change, and I don't mean character growth. She just seemed to do things that were uncharacteristic to the Jayne we knew for most of the book. Jayne was a very private person, yet when she met up with a group of girls she hardly knew, for drinks (two short meetings), she was automatically telling them all her secrets and divulging things about herself, as if she knew them for years and was bff's with them. It didn't even bother her when they would pry so early on in their friendship. This struck me as odd, because she could barely even confide in Nick at times, and she seemed so unsure of herself.

With that said, I really did enjoy this book! It was a quick read, with great small town setting in Canada, and fun characters. One of my favorite characters was Nick's cousin, Carter! There was just something about him that was intriguing and fun, and I cannot wait to read more about him in the next book, Prima Donna.