Wanted to love this as a huge Pride & Prejudice fan and former DC resident but oof. The social justice arguments from every character  felt so flat and performance-based. Many real issues were brought up only in a kind of Twitterbeef gotcha kind of way. And the praise for huge “nonprofit foundations” doing work abroad when those are notoriously controversial… idk. I know I shouldn’t read in too much to Romance character careers, but using actual slogans like “grab ‘em by the pussy” as a joke, and then as a reward for good sex when that rallying cry was opposing a sexual abuser from taking elected office pissed me off, as one small example. And how long must we beg authors to cut the Harry Potter references from these books. Also seems like “meme” in this book just means a viral photo half the time? A lot of the humor in this was forced, my Mr. Darcy would never make poop jokes, please…
Then there’s the narration. I know audiobook narrators deal with a lot, but would it have really taken that long to look up how to pronounce DC spots? Had to laugh when “Busboys and Poets” was read like two separate items rather than the single restaurant name that it is.
Maybe I’m too critical because the social and political issues are close to my heart, I love DC, and P&P is a long time favorite, but I hated the ending as well

If it’s a modern retelling and they can sleep together before they’re even officially dating, then why rush into an engagement? It didn’t feel right, especially with the miscommunication leading straight up to the question, and definitely after the author reminded us that the characters had only held hands a couple times before they decide to get married! Would have been much happier with them just officially dating or an epilogue flashing years ahead to the wedding. I’m normally happy with a smutty book, but the constant cringy lust paired with the miscommunications made me doubt that these two would actually make it. It’s a modern retelling, so why not let them date publicly and move in together before jumping to a wedding?