It’s too bad when a concept that has so much promise falls completely flat on its face. I’ve read a lot of Pride and Prejudice retellings. A. LOT. And one of the things I find that many retellings lack is a believable modernization of the storyline and settings.

When I heard about this book I was intrigued. Going through a young woman’s preparation for a debutante ball and debut into society actually seemed like a good translation to me. Unfortunately, the execution was seriously lacking.

What I liked:

1. The concept. See previous paragraphs.


What I didn’t like:

1. The writing. Everything here was so surface level. This book was one big example of telling, not showing. The dialogue isn’t as funny as it thinks it is. I was expecting something with a bit more wit. It lacked depth. Depth concerning the characters, the setting, everything. Weeks fly by in the course of a sentence. Everything just feels rushed. It’s like the authors were trying so hard to hit all the different story beats of the source material that they forgot to write a complex story around it.

2. Romance (or lack thereof). When I read a Pride and Prejudice retelling, I expect some angsty hate-to-love goodness that gives me all the feels. This book did have that aspect, but I felt nothing. Andrew and Megan have only a couple of moments when they actually speak to one another, and all of the sudden he’s in love with her? There is no basis for it. Furthermore, Andrew isn’t even officially introduced in the move until almost 1/3 of the way through the book.
Megan spends the entire book dating and sleeping with Hank, the Wickham-like character. And I’m sorry (not really), but the authors deciding to have Megan and Hank engage in a sexual relationship but never to actually give us any real intimate moments between them is just silly. I mean, the way we learn that they’ve had sex is that Megan says something like, “We’ve gotten closer in the last couple weeks...if you know what I mean.” Then there are two or three instances of them being naked in bed together and her talking about his bare ass. But never any actual romantic moments. I get that he ends up being a piece of shit, but she doesn’t know that at the time, so you’d think that she would have SOME sort of romantic thought about him.
Also, Julia and Zach (the Jane and Bingley of this mess) have almost no foundation because none of these characters nor their relationships are developed. He’s got about ten lines in this entire book.

3. Characters. As previously stated, there is zero depth to the writing of these characters. Also, their characterizations just don’t feel consistent. Megan is in college and there is a lot of talk about sex and other adult situations, but she seems far younger than that. Her inner monologue and the way she interacts with others seems very high school to me. I kept having to remind myself that we are talking about a 21 year old woman.

I didn’t care about any of the characters, mostly because they were developed at all. Even Megan, who is the protagonist, is pretty shallow. I know she likes soccer and loves her family and eats a lot. If it was mentioned what she was studying in college I don’t remember.

Other odds and ends.

1. This story had so many little subplots that just weren’t fleshed out or resolved. I guess Julia’s story with her ex was intriguing, but it just felt very rushed. I’d totally forgotten who Tyler was when they brought him back up. Also, what about Megan’s soccer career? We get no resolution on that. And the little subplot with her and her friend squabbling? Why should I care? I know ZERO about the friend at all and she’s only in like three scenes. Same thing goes for Sydney. At the end when she thanks Megan for ‘not telling’ it took me a second to remember what the heck she was talking about because it was mentioned at the beginning of the book then never again until the end.

2. So Megan’s debutante ball is a fundraiser for a charity that fights violence against women. Sounds great. She raises all sorts of money for this cause and it’s awesome...and then she hauls off and punches some guy in the face, breaking his nose, which kicks off a huge public brawl...at the party. But because it was violence against men it’s okay??? 🙄🙄🙄
(Yes, the guy was a piece of shit, but still. Not the right place.)

3. When she goes to see Andrew she remarks that he lives on the top floor in the penthouse. In the next paragraph she is stunned when the elevator opens into his foyer instead of a hallway, and says, “They didn’t live in some tacky apartment with a number—they lived on the entire top floor!”
Ummm...what part of ‘penthouse’ are you not understanding?!?!

4. Tired of the ‘female protagonist is clumsy’ trope.


This one is really disappointing. I wanted so much to like it but it let me down.