REVIEW: “Jane of Lantern Hill” by L.M. Montgomery

About the book…

*Title: Jane of Lantern Hill

*Author: L.M Montgomery

*Genre: Classics, historical fiction

*Series: No, a standalone novel

*Recommend for: Girls aged 13 & up

My Personal Rating

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

📖Synopsis

The Happiest Summer of Her Life

Her whole life, Jane had believed her father was dead. It was, therefore, quite a shock to receive an invitation to stay with him for the summer on Prince Edward Island. From their very first meeting, Jane falls in love with her charming father and his whimsical cottage on Lantern Hill. A whole summer of fun and adventure, meeting neighbors, and making friends―far away from her grandmother's dreary house in the city. If only she could get her mother to come too.

As Jane juggles her love and loyalty for both parents, she dares to dream...a dream that she and her parents could live together without Grandmother directing their lives―of a house where they could all find home.

💭My Thoughts 

While this wasn’t my absolute favorite standalone book by L.M. Montgomery (that would be The Blue Castle or Kilmeny of the Orchard!), it was overall a very nice read! I liked that there was no romance centering around the main girl; rather, it was simply a sweet story about family, healing, and love, particularly focusing on the parents and daughter relationship. And of course, Montgomery’s exploration of nature, and the beauty and magic of Prince Edward Island I loved as always- In all of her books, but this one especially, I could really feel the love she had for her land.

I do admit that I never really felt overly attached to Jane. Perhaps that is because she felt quite young compared to Montgomery’s other heroines? And though her character development was fair, I rather wish there was more development for the other characters, particularly Jane’s parents. I almost thought that Jane’s dad was too good to be true…he just seemed to be much too perfect. Everything else, too, seemed to work out a little too flawlessly.

Well, maybe I’m just being nit picky- it is a work of fiction, after all! Altogether, it was still a very nice read that I enjoyed as an avid L.M. Montgomery fan.

⚠️Content

Unkindness, ill-treatment, bullying and misunderstanding; marriage & divorce are talked of many, many times; Jane says she dislikes the Bible until her dad changes her mind; says “God is no good” but later repents; people repeatedly tell Jane she never should have been born; a starving, suffering kitten is depicted; mention of a dog that possibly was poisoned by Jane’s grandmother; another cat dies; Jane says at one point that she wouldn’t mind falling over the edge of a body of water; Jane’s dad smokes a pipe; Jane’s dad jokes once that there must be such a thing as witchcraft because Jane seemed to be in three places at once; name calling including “bossy snip”, “foxy-head”, & “stuck-up minx”; Jane’s dad says that he once told her mother to “shut her head”; he admits that he used to say that Jane had the face of a monkey as a baby; a character who has a heart condition believes she's dying; someone says he must be drunk because of something he saw; a couple discusses adopting a child & aren't quite correct about what they should be looking for & what makes a child worth adopting; Jane gets dangerously ill; "darn" & "idiot" are each used once.

❤️ This book is for you if…

You love L.M Montgomery and are looking for a short, sweet story about family.

🌼 Was this review helpful? If so, please consider following The Boundless Bookshelf and/or signing up for my newsletter! (If on mobile, click "view web version to access those features)

Bookishly yours, 

Lottie M.