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4.04 AVERAGE
4.04 AVERAGE
This book wasn't annoying. I was very surprised, because the Lydia in the videos was very obnoxious. I liked getting to know Lydia on a deeper level. The only thing I didn't like is the fact that Mr. and Mrs. Bennet didn't really seem true to the way Jane Austen originally portrayed them. They seemed a little off. Other than that, the rest of the characters seemed modern version of the originals. I loved this video series so much, and this book was a great continuation!
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As I have mentioned in my review for the prequel of this book, The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet, I simply love the webseries The Lizzie Bennet Diaries. If you haven't seen this amazing show – or have read the book – you definitely have to because else you will be spoilered here.
Plot
After everything Lydia Bennet has been through, she thought she learned out of her mistakes and do better in the second go. Deciding to leave old Lydia behind, she inscribes at college for a Psychology degree in San Francisco and is determined to meet her acquirements by finishing community college. But as life always has other plans as thought, San Francisco doesn't end up being an option as Lydia slowly falls back to her old, harmful self, spiraling down into a dark, self-destructive hole. But Lydia wouldn't be Lydia if she wouldn't decide that a non-fun, non-glittery life isn't her idea of future.
Opinion
I mainly bought this book because I wanted closure on The Lizzie Bennet Diaries. Lydia was never my favorite character, so I kind of doubted I would like this book too much.But I was wrong since Lydia is now the main character and she shows so much more depth and personality than in the books. You got a pretty good idea of Lydia in the first book, no doubt, but you never really have dealt with her that much because you never had the insights like the one you had with Lizzie.
So naturally after the whole incident and drama towards the end of Book One, you start off with The Epic Adventures of Lydia Bennet finding a destroyed Lydia. Okay, not totally destroyed but her mindset has changed a lot. Even after all the mistakes she makes in this one, the reader just knows that this isn't the same Lydia as in the past events. She can deal with problems much better and more in an adult way, even if it takes some time.
And because she calmed down a bit, I started to like her more, I guess. Mainly because I started to get her more. The writing style helped too since it's very much a Lizzie Bennet Diaries style. Also because some other characters appear that made my heart jump because I simply love them all. Well almost all of them, but that series simply grew on me.
One thing I can't quite agree on in this book is the title. The Epic Adventures of Lydia Bennet implies to the reader for having a super fun Lydia Bennet having super epic, different adventures when it's simply a darker Lydia dealing with the aftermath of George Wickham. That's one good adventure, yet it's probably not that kind of adventure most of the readers might expect.
And that's a good thing because this story has an plot, not randomly chosen adventures lined up. Good for the reader and good for the book.
Conclusion
After all, I still give The Epic Adventures of Lydia Bennet 5 out of 5 stars because I enjoyed it loads and quite surprised me as well. Can we have a Jane Bennet book now, please?
xo Annina
As I have mentioned in my review for the prequel of this book, The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet, I simply love the webseries The Lizzie Bennet Diaries. If you haven't seen this amazing show – or have read the book – you definitely have to because else you will be spoilered here.
Plot
After everything Lydia Bennet has been through, she thought she learned out of her mistakes and do better in the second go. Deciding to leave old Lydia behind, she inscribes at college for a Psychology degree in San Francisco and is determined to meet her acquirements by finishing community college. But as life always has other plans as thought, San Francisco doesn't end up being an option as Lydia slowly falls back to her old, harmful self, spiraling down into a dark, self-destructive hole. But Lydia wouldn't be Lydia if she wouldn't decide that a non-fun, non-glittery life isn't her idea of future.
Opinion
I mainly bought this book because I wanted closure on The Lizzie Bennet Diaries. Lydia was never my favorite character, so I kind of doubted I would like this book too much.But I was wrong since Lydia is now the main character and she shows so much more depth and personality than in the books. You got a pretty good idea of Lydia in the first book, no doubt, but you never really have dealt with her that much because you never had the insights like the one you had with Lizzie.
So naturally after the whole incident and drama towards the end of Book One, you start off with The Epic Adventures of Lydia Bennet finding a destroyed Lydia. Okay, not totally destroyed but her mindset has changed a lot. Even after all the mistakes she makes in this one, the reader just knows that this isn't the same Lydia as in the past events. She can deal with problems much better and more in an adult way, even if it takes some time.
And because she calmed down a bit, I started to like her more, I guess. Mainly because I started to get her more. The writing style helped too since it's very much a Lizzie Bennet Diaries style. Also because some other characters appear that made my heart jump because I simply love them all. Well almost all of them, but that series simply grew on me.
One thing I can't quite agree on in this book is the title. The Epic Adventures of Lydia Bennet implies to the reader for having a super fun Lydia Bennet having super epic, different adventures when it's simply a darker Lydia dealing with the aftermath of George Wickham. That's one good adventure, yet it's probably not that kind of adventure most of the readers might expect.
And that's a good thing because this story has an plot, not randomly chosen adventures lined up. Good for the reader and good for the book.
Conclusion
After all, I still give The Epic Adventures of Lydia Bennet 5 out of 5 stars because I enjoyed it loads and quite surprised me as well. Can we have a Jane Bennet book now, please?
xo Annina
Didn't end up finishing this and never quite got into the mood to do so after half a year, so I'm just going to pass it to read to mark that I have this in my library but didn't finish listening.
Graded By: Alix
Cover Story: Brown Bag It
BFF Charm: Yay!
Swoonworthy Scale: -eleventy billion and also 2
Talky Talk: MKW!Lydia
Ambivalence Factor: PTSD
Bonus Factors: Cameos, New York, Chris the Bouncer
Relationship Status: I’ll Be Your Goth Cousin BFF
Read the full book report here.
Cover Story: Brown Bag It
BFF Charm: Yay!
Swoonworthy Scale: -eleventy billion and also 2
Talky Talk: MKW!Lydia
Ambivalence Factor: PTSD
Bonus Factors: Cameos, New York, Chris the Bouncer
Relationship Status: I’ll Be Your Goth Cousin BFF
Read the full book report here.
Halfway through 'The Epic Adventures of Lydia Bennet' (literally), the first line reads “I’m Lydia freaking Bennet. And I’m done being lame” and I think that pretty much sums up the second and my favourite half of the book, the second half being what I had expected from this book after watching the LBD diaries and reading the 'The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet'. I didn’t expect the first half and I am glad to be pleasantly surprised by the realistic approach to therapy, mental health and summer classes. Good on Rorick and Kiley!
Whilst reading, I thought Cousin Mary would have played a key role in this book, seeing how close Lydia and she are but after fully reading it, I'm happy with Mary's presence however small. This is Lydia's story and I truly believe that the best amount of character development is achieved when Lydia is by herself. However, I did continue to dislike their friendship in parts, especially with Mary's lack of communication. It felt dragged. This leads me to George and the very-badly-finally-come-to conclusion that Lydia has about him. It would have made sense if this book was set directly after the Sex Tape incident but it wasn't and again the book felt dragged.
This book sometimes read as what could have happened to Christine after the end of the film 'Ladybird' - these similar characters are both so pleasing to go on a journey with. I liked the very meta-comments that Lydia made on the genre of Young Adult Diary Entry novels - it was my kind of humour. This book also did a great job at writing the characters we know, sorry Lizzie Bennet but I could literally hear Jane and Lydia in every line they spoke. There are new characters and I enjoyed them - I see nothing wrong with expanding the LBD universe and no one felt out of place either.
However to finish, I wish Lydia’s explanation as to why she didn’t post one last video on her YouTube Channel was better than what was given to us. I didn’t know what the real reason was until I read the interviews in the back (that the creators didn’t have the time to film them but had written the scripts and it’s what we see in the novel) but I felt Lydia's reasoning was rubbish. How come Lizzie managed to make two more videos for her favourite teacher but Lydia who had more to say at the end of her arc was silent? It takes reading this book to find out what happens to her and that doesn't fit well with me.
Whilst reading, I thought Cousin Mary would have played a key role in this book, seeing how close Lydia and she are but after fully reading it, I'm happy with Mary's presence however small. This is Lydia's story and I truly believe that the best amount of character development is achieved when Lydia is by herself. However, I did continue to dislike their friendship in parts, especially with Mary's lack of communication. It felt dragged. This leads me to George and the very-badly-finally-come-to conclusion that Lydia has about him. It would have made sense if this book was set directly after the Sex Tape incident but it wasn't and again the book felt dragged.
This book sometimes read as what could have happened to Christine after the end of the film 'Ladybird' - these similar characters are both so pleasing to go on a journey with. I liked the very meta-comments that Lydia made on the genre of Young Adult Diary Entry novels - it was my kind of humour. This book also did a great job at writing the characters we know, sorry Lizzie Bennet but I could literally hear Jane and Lydia in every line they spoke. There are new characters and I enjoyed them - I see nothing wrong with expanding the LBD universe and no one felt out of place either.
However to finish, I wish Lydia’s explanation as to why she didn’t post one last video on her YouTube Channel was better than what was given to us. I didn’t know what the real reason was until I read the interviews in the back (that the creators didn’t have the time to film them but had written the scripts and it’s what we see in the novel) but I felt Lydia's reasoning was rubbish. How come Lizzie managed to make two more videos for her favourite teacher but Lydia who had more to say at the end of her arc was silent? It takes reading this book to find out what happens to her and that doesn't fit well with me.
I loved the Lizzie Bennet Diaries and the Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet, so I was looking forward to this book. I was not disappointed. Although Lydia's spunk and rebellion are plain, she also gets a chance for redemption in this well-thought out sequel.
I am very, very happy that I decided to read this book. Lydia has always been a character I hated, but after reading this I actually understand, care, and like her a lot. All of the characters, especially the one's we have never met before, were all very well-developed and believable. I enjoyed Lydia's story a thousand times more than I thought I would and for once, I actually think book 2 in a series was better than book 1. Check this series out!
Look, I loved the crap out of The Lizzie Bennet Diaries. I still do. So I was pretty excited when I heard that this was coming out because while Lydia wasn't one of my favourite characters in the series, Mary Kate Wiles' iteration was a dramatic improvement on basically every other version of Lydia Bennet.
ANYWAY.
This was surprisingly feelsy. Lydia went through so much in the course of the LBD, and seeing her make bad decisions here was...painful. Her sisters are both off living their lives with their new rich boyfriends, and Lydia's still where she's always been: at home with her parents, struggling through her last few subjects of her associate's degree, and still not entirely dealing with the whole Wickham situation.
I loved how much Lydia grew up over the course of this. I loved the little sneak peeks into Lizzie and Jane's post-series lives. I loved Mary's story. It's not a perfect book. But it definitely feels in character and it was a compelling and very readable story.
ETA: It makes me sad that Gigi doesn't turn up at any point during this book. Because really? If anyone can understand what Lydia went through with George, it's her. And I want them to be BFFs. Sigh.
ANYWAY.
This was surprisingly feelsy. Lydia went through so much in the course of the LBD, and seeing her make bad decisions here was...painful. Her sisters are both off living their lives with their new rich boyfriends, and Lydia's still where she's always been: at home with her parents, struggling through her last few subjects of her associate's degree, and still not entirely dealing with the whole Wickham situation.
I loved how much Lydia grew up over the course of this. I loved the little sneak peeks into Lizzie and Jane's post-series lives. I loved Mary's story. It's not a perfect book. But it definitely feels in character and it was a compelling and very readable story.
ETA: It makes me sad that Gigi doesn't turn up at any point during this book. Because really? If anyone can understand what Lydia went through with George, it's her. And I want them to be BFFs. Sigh.
An excellent continuation of the story. I love Mary so much