I think that I got this at the ALA convention back in the summer of 2018, but I can’t remember for sure. It has been sitting on my pile of ARCs that I needed to get to, but never got organized enough to fit it in. Now that I’ve started planning out all my ARCs as I get them, I am going back and trying to work in what I can. This one I decided was perfect to read during February – Black History Month. And once again it was a book that once I started reading I was so mad at myself for not picking it up when I first got it.

I do love retellings, and this Pride and Prejudice retelling had so much that not only connected it to the original story, but also had a ton of new and cultural changes as well. It was also fun to read the setting of New YorkCity, especially when I had actually visited at least one of the places talked about in the story.

I liked all the characters and how the author gave them not only the P&P traits, but also ones that were modern and very culturally relevant for this story. There were even some characters that were outside of the original Austen tale, and so that made the story its own unique tale. I loved the landlord of Zuri’s building, she was so interesting. And then their dad was also so very neat. Somewhat like the dad in the Austen tale, but not exactly. He had his own reasons and ways he behaved about his daughters meeting men or what they did with their lives.

And then there was all the different types of food that they talked about for their family traditions. One thing that I love about reading books with cultures I don’t know a lot about necessarily is learning about new foods that I can’t wait to get out and try!

I also have realized that I do NOT have this book in my school library, and I don’t know why not, but it is on my first order list for next school year’s budget money.

Review first published on Lisa Loves Literature.