best friends and their books

Mary Jane is an amazing coming of age novel of a fourteen year old girl growing up in a straight-laced home located in the wealthy neighborhood of Roland Park, Baltimore.

I actually lived in Baltimore City for five years (almost eight, if you include my time at Towson University in Baltimore County!) And while I no longer live there, it was so cool to see how this story played out – with places I have ACTUALLY been to!

Mary Jane and her family live in the prosperous neighborhood of Roland Park. I used to LOVE driving by the big, beautiful homes in Roland Park on my drive to work in the city when I was in college! Sometimes I would take that route rather than the quicker, highway route just so I could drive by and daydream about living in those homes.

In this book, Mary Jane starts a summer babysitting job for her eclectic neighbors, Dr. and Mrs. Cone. The Cones are everything her family is not – loud, messy and free. Mary Janes world is opened up when she meets one of Dr. Cones patients (a famous rockstar) who is fighting addiction. He and his wife are staying with the Cones for the summer, while Dr. Cone treats his addiction.

With both of Izzy’s parents being occupied by their summer guests, she and Mary Jane become incredibly close and form a really special bond. Mary Jane did everything for Izzy that summer, and in return she really found herself and her voice!

I really liked this book and rated it 5 ⭐️‘s, but I will say, if you were looking for a book with a lot of twists and turns or some big reveal, then this probably isn’t the book for you. It was honestly so funny though, I actually caught myself laughing out loud during many parts of the book.