The club members navigate time apart, first romance, and Charlotte Brontë in this sixth book in the acclaimed Mother-Daughter Book Club middle grade series. The girls of the book club are living out their own adventures: Megan on a dream trip in Paris for Fashion Week with Gigi, Emma and Stewart teaming up to support Mrs. Wong in her campaign for mayor, Jess competing in the a cappella finals with the MadriGals, and Cassidy’s team playing in the national hockey championships. Still, they find time for their spring break reading, along with their Wyoming pen pals, who have come for a visit. Together, they dive into Charlotte Brontë’s classic Jane Eyre . While the gothic romance plays out on the page, real-life romance blooms in the lives of the readers. Becca may have found a Mr. Rochester of her own, and then there’s the matter of a certain wedding. The book club girls, their families, the British Berkeley brothers, and even Annabelle Fairfax (a.k.a. Stinkerbelle) will be attending the ceremony, which means there might be some bumps in the road before the bride waltzes down the aisle… The book club girls are now 16 and reading Jane Eyre. Though boyfriend and work dilemmas have crowded the usual friendship issues the girls work through, the core of the series remains the same: girls with apparently little in common come together to support one another, overcome their differences, and read great literature with their mothers in a highly structured book club. Young teens and tweens who have grown fond of the girls will enjoy this visit with old friends, including those from outside of Concord introduced in Dear Pen Pal (2009) and Pies and Prejudice (2010), though little new is offered to entice new fans. Grades 5-8. --Heather Booth “Young teens and tweens who have grown fond of the girls will enjoy this visit with old friends.” -- Booklist Heather Vogel Frederick is the award-winning author of the Mother-Daughter Book Club series, the Pumpkin Falls Mystery series, the Patience Goodspeed books, the Spy Mice series, and Once Upon a Toad . An avid fan of small towns like Pumpkin Falls, Heather and her husband live in New England, close to where Heather grew up. You can learn more about the author and her books at HeatherVogelFrederick.com. Wish You Were Eyre Megan “ . . . if she were a nice, pretty child, one might compassionate her forlornness; but one really cannot care for such a little toad as that.” —Jane Eyre “Would you like fries with that?” I frown at the menu. Since when had my grandmother started serving french fries at the tea shop? I look up to see Becca Chadwick tapping her pen against the notepad she’s holding. “Gotcha,” she says, grinning at me. I swat her with the menu. “Dork.” “Hey,” she replies, “who’s the one with the job, huh? Who’s the one earning money right this instant? Speaking of which, you are planning to leave me a big tip, aren’t you?” This is Becca’s first day as a full-fledged waitress at Pies & Prejudice, the wildly successful tea shop my grandmother opened here in Concord last year. Things got so busy that Gigi decided to hire some extra help. Becca’s been her assistant since the beginning of January. She started out working on Thursday evenings at Gigi’s new cooking classes, and today is her first shift waiting tables. “A big tip?” I pretend to think it over. “I guess it depends if you give me extra whipped cream on my hot chocolate.” “You want a little cinnamon sprinkled on that?” Becca’s all business as she writes my order down. “Of course.” “Got it. Back in a flash.” She trots off to a neighboring table to take another order, her apron strings fluttering behind her. Like my grandmother, Becca is wearing the Pies & Prejudice uniform: black dress, frilly white apron, frilly white cap. Gigi had me design them, but I hadn’t imagined someone my age actually wearing one. Becca looks kind of like a French maid in a bad sitcom. She’s being a really good sport about it, though. She wanted this job so badly. Her father’s been unemployed for a while, and working here has been a way to help her family out. My gaze drifts over to the window, and I note gloomily that it’s started to snow again. This has to be some sort of record. Usually this time of year we get New England’s famous January thaw, but the month’s almost over and so far there’s been no sign of it. We’ve missed more school this winter than any other year I can remember. Not that I’m complaining. A little while later the bell over the door jangles and Emma Hawthorne and Jess Delaney come in, stomping their snow-covered boots on the mat. They spot me and wave, then cross the room to my table. “Hey,” says Emma, taking a seat. Jess does too. “Hey back,” I reply as Becca reappears with my order. “I’ll take one of those,” says Jess, pointing to the hot chocolate that Becca sets down in front of me. “Ditto,” adds Emma. “But hold the cinnamon.” Jess shrugs off her jacket, giving Becca th