My Plain Jane (The Lady Janies, #2)

by Cynthia Hand

This meant that Alexander’s side business was actually the revenge business, though to be completely honest he had just the one customer: himself.

What this meant was that they needed a plan. Not just any plan, but a good plan. A smart plan. A plan that would guarantee success and end happily for everyone. Mr. Blackwood clearly needed one of Charlotte’s plans.

I love that Alexander isn't afraid to acknowledge that Charlotte is smart and an asset to the team.

She threw the door open, propriety be darned. But right before she did, she made sure her nightgown was buttoned all the way up, because propriety shouldn’t be totally darned.

What an awful thing to have to tell her. How exactly does one tell one’s friend that the man she’s in love with could be a nefarious villain?

Helen’s mouth fell open. “What. Is. Wrong. With. The. Living?!”

“He was an evil man who treated you terribly,” Charlotte said. “I know,” Jane said. “It’s just that my heart hasn’t yet received that information.”

There was only one conclusion Jane could draw from the style and design of the dress and it was this: it had to be thought up by men. Then women could in no way outrun them, and with the lack of oxygen to the brain due to a rib cage the size of a fist, they could not outthink them. And with the bright colors, they couldn’t hide. No running, no thinking, no hiding. But she had given her

A radiant girl with red hair caught Charlotte’s eye. She was dressed in a gorgeous embroidered, jewel-encrusted gown and an Elizabethan headdress. In her hand she held a book. She smiled sweetly at Jane, and reached for the man beside her, who, to Charlotte’s total astonishment, suddenly turned into a horse. The horse transformation alarmed the poor guards, especially.

“I have a thing for Rochester,” confessed Jane. “It’s not healthy.”