Jolene tells the story of Anna May Lewis, the daughter of a coal miner who has been sick since she was young. Her Aunt Jinny sends for her, telling her parents that she can heal Anna if Anna will come and stay with her for awhile. After a bit of convincing on Anna's mom's part, her dad agrees. And so off Anna goes, leaving the only home she's ever known. Under her aunt's house, Anna discovers that she has magic ("the Glory," as her aunt calls it), and Jinny starts training Anna in the ways of magic and potion-making (as well as farming). Along the way, Anna meets Josh, a young carver who lives next door and who takes a fancy to her, as well as Jolene, a mysterious red-headed enchantress who starts to teach Anna a few magical things as well. But when Billie McDaran, a local mine foreman with a twisted Glory of his own, takes notice of Anna's power, it will take the help of her friends and her magic to outwit him.
The one thing I realized fairly early on was that the main plot wasn't going to happen until the end of the book. I'm pretty sure that's what happened in The Gates of Sleep as well (though it's been a long time so I don't really remember The Gates of Sleep). But most of the book was Anna and her aunt figuring out their lives together, then Anna learning from people, and finally Anna and Josh getting closer and starting to court. I don't think Billie McDaran was even mentioned until about halfway through the book, and at that point he had no idea Anna even existed. So that was kind of annoying because it felt like the book's blurb wasn't completely honest about the story (even though the things it mentions do eventually happen, kind of - Billie McDaran's interest is very quick and sudden, there was no real build-up to it happening).
Another thing that needs to be said: the accents are really, really annoying. Most of the time, people in the book talk with a really thick accent that can be tough to read (there were a few times where I was left puzzling out what someone was saying). Most of the time it's understandable, but I think a few select words would have better gotten the accent across, rather than the whole, thick, every-word version that Lackey went with. The book lost a star on my Goodreads rating for the accent alone, it was that annoying (if you're interested, I gave it a 4/5, rounding up from 3.5).
I did enjoy reading Jolene. There were some interesting things happening in the story, and I liked the characters. But it wasn't really anything exciting - it mostly felt like the story of a young woman falling in love (wow did she pine for Josh when she couldn't see him for a day or two) while also learning a few useful skills. I remember feeling like that with The Gates of Sleep, too; for that reason, I much prefer Lackey's Heralds of Valedmar books to the Elemental Masters ones that I've read.
