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4.04 AVERAGE
4.04 AVERAGE
Prepare for a messy review, because I don’t think I can be articulate when it comes to this book.
The ways this book depicts mental illness, especially deep anxiety and trauma responses, is painfully accurate. To my experience, anyway. One of the themes of the books is failure. How to define failure, how to respond to it, how to learn from it. And moreover, how to not let a past failure define you.
Although I don’t think the word is ever used in reference to what George Wickham did to Lydia Bennet, the word that kept coming to mind as I read through this book was that what he did was “assault.” He took advantage of an insecure young woman, manipulated her into being vulnerable with him, into proving she loved him enough to make a sex tape, and then tried to sell their tape on the internet. Something that hit me so hard in this book is Lydia’s confusion. She talks a lot about the difference between understanding something with your mind vs. understanding it with her heart – Lydia really applies her new psych classes well here --- and something she struggles with is understanding how her relationship with George ended. She knows logically that he left her and betrayed her, but she can’t reconcile those actions with the man who made her feel so loved and protected. Her heart can’t understand how it happened and changed so fast. There are a lot of facets of Lydia’s journey and healing in this book, but I’d say the biggest is Lydia reaching an emotional understanding of what happened, knowing this wasn’t her fault, and it was completely George in the wrong. She originally told her story to the LBD fans with careless abandon because it seemed fun, but then George and the internet ripped her agency away from her and tried to write their own ending.
They silenced her.
And in all the months since then, Lydia is trying to find a way to reclaim her agency, her story, and tell it in a way that encompasses who she was and who she now is, so that she can live with it and feel some kind of peace.
The original web series had a lot of compassion for Lydia Bennet and her situation, and that comes through in this novel as well. This novel, which gives closure to her story, is a way of letting Lydia take back her dignity after countless people took it away and stomped all over it. It’s impossible not to read this and extrapolate its messages out to anyone else who has suffered a trauma or been betrayed: Be kinder to yourself. You are trying to heal. And It’s okay not to be “over it.” Be kinder to yourself.
And as someone who needed to hear that message more than a few times in her life, I am so grateful this book exists and that Lydia found her way out of it. Lydia is a kind of blueprint for surviving traumatic relationships.
The ways this book depicts mental illness, especially deep anxiety and trauma responses, is painfully accurate. To my experience, anyway. One of the themes of the books is failure. How to define failure, how to respond to it, how to learn from it. And moreover, how to not let a past failure define you.
Although I don’t think the word is ever used in reference to what George Wickham did to Lydia Bennet, the word that kept coming to mind as I read through this book was that what he did was “assault.” He took advantage of an insecure young woman, manipulated her into being vulnerable with him, into proving she loved him enough to make a sex tape, and then tried to sell their tape on the internet. Something that hit me so hard in this book is Lydia’s confusion. She talks a lot about the difference between understanding something with your mind vs. understanding it with her heart – Lydia really applies her new psych classes well here --- and something she struggles with is understanding how her relationship with George ended. She knows logically that he left her and betrayed her, but she can’t reconcile those actions with the man who made her feel so loved and protected. Her heart can’t understand how it happened and changed so fast. There are a lot of facets of Lydia’s journey and healing in this book, but I’d say the biggest is Lydia reaching an emotional understanding of what happened, knowing this wasn’t her fault, and it was completely George in the wrong. She originally told her story to the LBD fans with careless abandon because it seemed fun, but then George and the internet ripped her agency away from her and tried to write their own ending.
They silenced her.
And in all the months since then, Lydia is trying to find a way to reclaim her agency, her story, and tell it in a way that encompasses who she was and who she now is, so that she can live with it and feel some kind of peace.
The original web series had a lot of compassion for Lydia Bennet and her situation, and that comes through in this novel as well. This novel, which gives closure to her story, is a way of letting Lydia take back her dignity after countless people took it away and stomped all over it. It’s impossible not to read this and extrapolate its messages out to anyone else who has suffered a trauma or been betrayed: Be kinder to yourself. You are trying to heal. And It’s okay not to be “over it.” Be kinder to yourself.
And as someone who needed to hear that message more than a few times in her life, I am so grateful this book exists and that Lydia found her way out of it. Lydia is a kind of blueprint for surviving traumatic relationships.
Because another thing he has failed at doing is taking my identity, and taking my voice. Those are mine. And with them, I can always turn my failures into strengths.
A satisfying follow-up to The Lizzie Bennet Diaries that finally gives the series' scene-stealing breakout character a chance to tell her own story - and continue it, on her terms. Lydia is a fun, clever, engaging first-person narrator: it's impossible not to root for her as she attempts to redefine herself, pursue meaningful new adventures, confront her personal demons, and deal with the emotional fallout of trauma - all while retaining the sense of humor and zest for life that made viewers fall in love with her in the first place.
The familiar cast (Mary is integral, with a compelling subplot of her own, and Lizzie, Jane, Bing, andeven George all make appearances) is fleshed out with memorable new faces that put Lydia in interesting new scenarios and add fresh dimensions to her character. In authentically resolving old storylines while setting the stage for new ones beyond the final page, authors Kate Rorick and Rachel Kiley have given fans closure and definitively done justice to The Lizzie Bennet Diaries' most complex and sympathetic character. Highly recommend!
A satisfying follow-up to The Lizzie Bennet Diaries that finally gives the series' scene-stealing breakout character a chance to tell her own story - and continue it, on her terms. Lydia is a fun, clever, engaging first-person narrator: it's impossible not to root for her as she attempts to redefine herself, pursue meaningful new adventures, confront her personal demons, and deal with the emotional fallout of trauma - all while retaining the sense of humor and zest for life that made viewers fall in love with her in the first place.
The familiar cast (Mary is integral, with a compelling subplot of her own, and Lizzie, Jane, Bing, and
This sort-of sequel to The Lizzie Bennet Diaries was extremely satisfying to read. Lydia Bennet is a generally unlikable character, a silly flirt conceived by Jane Austen. But Mary Kate Wiles brought so much life to the character in her portrayal in the web series, with thanks to the writers, especially Kate Rorick and Rachel Kiley, and that really shone through in this book.
In the aftermath of the despicable G Dubs, we find Lydia. Hurt, lost, but holding out hope for a great life past her pain. She’s looking to study psychology, she is in counseling, she is connecting with her family in a way she hadn’t before. But she also feels... smothered? Like everyone around her treats her like she’s fragile, one wrong move from shattering completely, and she doesn’t know what to do with everyone walking on eggshells around her.
I understood Lydia from the start. As hard as she is on herself, as confused and betrayed as she is, as much grief as she’s feeling, she can’t stand the overt carefulness her family has adopted around her. Above all else, she fears letting her family down. Again. And so she feels this pressure to succeed, to the point where it trips her up and she falls farther.
I loved that her path to achieving her identity, reclaiming her voice, was not linear. She went through so much, but she’s ridiculously strong and she pulls through. She’s not perfect or completely fixed/healed by any means, but it’s so realistic I couldn’t help but hurt and laugh and cry.
Honestly, this book was everything I wanted and didn’t realize I wanted out of a Lydia Bennet story. And I think you should really read it.
Tip: while this could be a standalone novel, I HIGHLY recommend watching the Lizzie Bennet Diaries on YouTube for context. I firmly believe that it heightens the experience of Lydia’s story at large.
In the aftermath of the despicable G Dubs, we find Lydia. Hurt, lost, but holding out hope for a great life past her pain. She’s looking to study psychology, she is in counseling, she is connecting with her family in a way she hadn’t before. But she also feels... smothered? Like everyone around her treats her like she’s fragile, one wrong move from shattering completely, and she doesn’t know what to do with everyone walking on eggshells around her.
I understood Lydia from the start. As hard as she is on herself, as confused and betrayed as she is, as much grief as she’s feeling, she can’t stand the overt carefulness her family has adopted around her. Above all else, she fears letting her family down. Again. And so she feels this pressure to succeed, to the point where it trips her up and she falls farther.
I loved that her path to achieving her identity, reclaiming her voice, was not linear. She went through so much, but she’s ridiculously strong and she pulls through. She’s not perfect or completely fixed/healed by any means, but it’s so realistic I couldn’t help but hurt and laugh and cry.
Honestly, this book was everything I wanted and didn’t realize I wanted out of a Lydia Bennet story. And I think you should really read it.
Tip: while this could be a standalone novel, I HIGHLY recommend watching the Lizzie Bennet Diaries on YouTube for context. I firmly believe that it heightens the experience of Lydia’s story at large.
Fun fun, Lydia! I had no idea this book was even coming out. Makes me nostalgic for the videos again! For this being about Lydia, it was predictably light and fun, but really tackled some serious issues (mainly unhealthy relationships) very well, and added some unexpected depth. I wasn't sure where her story would go, but it surprised me in all sorts of ways. Quite a delightful read.
Lydia Bennet became somewhat of an internet celebrity when her older sister Lizzie's vlogs, made as part of her graduate project, went viral in a major way. Always happy to be the centre of attention, Lydia made her own videos and loved the attention she got on YouTube, Twitter, Tumblr and other social media sites. Unfortunately, when she fell in love with and trusted a man who took terrible advantage of her, she also had to face her private life being open for all to see, and her name became synonymous with "that girl whose boyfriend tried to sell their sex tape to make money". Then her sister Lizzie's powerful boyfriend paid to have the whole ugly situation go away, and Lydia was left traumatised, humiliated and heart-broken.
Now Lydia is trying to rebuild her confidence and look to the future. Still living at home with her parents while her two older sisters have found love and moved to big cities, Lydia is completing summer courses at community college in preparation for transferring to San Francisco, where she'll study psychology and live with her taciturn Goth cousin Mary. Trying to re-build your life in a place where everyone is aware of who you are and what mistakes you've made isn't easy, though, and Lydia is so worried that everyone around her is just waiting for her to screw up again that she retreats back into the carefree party girl persona she used to be so comfortable with. All she needs to do to get accepted at the prestigious San Francisco university she wants to transfer into is write her application essay about a time when she experienced failure and what she learned from it. That shouldn't be too difficult, should it?
While Lydia's had to grow a lot since her first serious relationship crashed and burned extremely publicly, she's still has a lot of healing and maturing to do. Clearly feeling inadequate in comparison to both her sisters who are working in the fields they're most passionate about, Lydia is still not entirely sure what she wants to do with her life. While she likes the idea of studying psychology, she also has doubts and gets very insecure when she realises how many years the education is likely to take. She tries to cling to her old life while being impatient to move on to a new and better one, yet is uncertain and afraid of screwing up badly again. She's also struggling to rebuild the trust of one of her best friends, her cousin Mary, as well as her sisters and her parents.
[b:The Epic Adventures of Lydia Bennet|23492735|The Epic Adventures of Lydia Bennet|Kate Rorick|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1421753482s/23492735.jpg|43082899] is a sequel to both the highly successful YouTube series The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, which re-imagined [a:Jane Austen|1265|Jane Austen|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1380085320p2/1265.jpg]'s [b:Pride and Prejudice|1885|Pride and Prejudice|Jane Austen|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320399351s/1885.jpg|3060926]for the 21st Century (which if you haven't watched - what are you doing with your life?) AND the book [b:The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet|18775255|The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet|Bernie Su|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1394475850s/18775255.jpg|26680388], which gave us a lot of extra insight into protagonist Lizzie and further re-imagining of a lot of the scenes from the original novel that didn't appear in the series. In the Austen novel, Lydia is the obnoxious and oblivious flighty youngest sister who elopes with Mr Darcy's childhood friend and later nemesis, Mr. Wickham and seems quite happy to have ended up married to him.
In the modern re-imagining, Lydia may have started out similarly wild and irritating, but thanks in large part to the immense charm and skill with which actress Mary Kate Wiles portrayed her, Lydia grew to be a huge fan favourite and because the fate of Lydia Bennet of 200 years ago simply wouldn't work today, the show's writers took her story in a different direction. Running off with a man to whom you are not married wouldn't raise so much as an eyebrow in today's society, but being betrayed by your lover with the release of a sex tape would absolutely cause a stir similar to that of a Regency elopement. In both the book and the YouTube series, Mr. Darcy eventually comes through and sorts things out for the Bennet family in an attempt to make life easier for Lizzie, the woman he loves. In the YouTube series, however, Lizzie and Lydia tearfully begin to re-build their somewhat dysfunctional relationship in the aftermath of the tragedy and Lydia not trapped forever in a relationship with Wickham.
[a:Kate Rorick|7390378|Kate Rorick|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1396389513p2/7390378.jpg] and [a:Rachel Kiley|13017050|Rachel Kiley|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png], two of the writers of the show, write in the acknowledgements that fans kept asking for Lydia's continued story and wanted to see that she had a chance at the same happy ending that her two sisters got. This book shows us what how Lydia's life progressed after the scandal that nearly ruined her life. There are appearances from Lizzie and Jane, but the most important supporting character is Mary, who in the YouTube re-imagining is the Bennet sisters' gloomy cousin, rather than their sister. Mary only appeared in a couple of episodes in the main YouTube series, but was quite prominent in Lydia's own videos (a spin-off of the main series). In this book she's working in a coffee shop off campus of the community college, waiting for Lydia to finish her courses so they can move to San Francisco together. She has a lovely sub-plot where she becomes the bassist of a local band, mainly through Lydia's machinations.
Having listened to the audio book of [b:Pride and Prejudice|28271343|Pride and Prejudice|Jane Austen|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1450848938s/28271343.jpg|48318745] at the end of last year and then read [a:Jo Baker|965819|Jo Baker|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1245007916p2/965819.jpg]'s [b:Longbourn|17380041|Longbourn|Jo Baker|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1452268403s/17380041.jpg|24080996], it's interesting to have three very different versions of Lydia Bennet and her story in my head. The modern version is the only one I'd really be interested in reading more about, though, and I'm really glad that Rorick and Kiley decided to pen the continuing story of the youngest Bennet sisters, to give fans of the show an idea of what the future brings for her. It was absolutely nice to catch up with the older sisters and seeing where their lives had taken them, but getting more Lydia and Mary was more fun than I was expecting. Like in the series, Lydia occasionally really annoyed me and I kept wanting to shake her for some of the choices she was making, but slowly but surely, she figures out what she wants and who she wants to be, and in many ways, that was even more satisfying than her sister's Lizzie's development. Lydia's views on [b:Dracula|17245|Dracula|Bram Stoker|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1387151694s/17245.jpg|3165724] were also hilarious. Absolutely a worth-while book to pick up if you liked The Lizzie Bennet Diaries.
Now Lydia is trying to rebuild her confidence and look to the future. Still living at home with her parents while her two older sisters have found love and moved to big cities, Lydia is completing summer courses at community college in preparation for transferring to San Francisco, where she'll study psychology and live with her taciturn Goth cousin Mary. Trying to re-build your life in a place where everyone is aware of who you are and what mistakes you've made isn't easy, though, and Lydia is so worried that everyone around her is just waiting for her to screw up again that she retreats back into the carefree party girl persona she used to be so comfortable with. All she needs to do to get accepted at the prestigious San Francisco university she wants to transfer into is write her application essay about a time when she experienced failure and what she learned from it. That shouldn't be too difficult, should it?
While Lydia's had to grow a lot since her first serious relationship crashed and burned extremely publicly, she's still has a lot of healing and maturing to do. Clearly feeling inadequate in comparison to both her sisters who are working in the fields they're most passionate about, Lydia is still not entirely sure what she wants to do with her life. While she likes the idea of studying psychology, she also has doubts and gets very insecure when she realises how many years the education is likely to take. She tries to cling to her old life while being impatient to move on to a new and better one, yet is uncertain and afraid of screwing up badly again. She's also struggling to rebuild the trust of one of her best friends, her cousin Mary, as well as her sisters and her parents.
[b:The Epic Adventures of Lydia Bennet|23492735|The Epic Adventures of Lydia Bennet|Kate Rorick|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1421753482s/23492735.jpg|43082899] is a sequel to both the highly successful YouTube series The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, which re-imagined [a:Jane Austen|1265|Jane Austen|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1380085320p2/1265.jpg]'s [b:Pride and Prejudice|1885|Pride and Prejudice|Jane Austen|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320399351s/1885.jpg|3060926]for the 21st Century (which if you haven't watched - what are you doing with your life?) AND the book [b:The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet|18775255|The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet|Bernie Su|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1394475850s/18775255.jpg|26680388], which gave us a lot of extra insight into protagonist Lizzie and further re-imagining of a lot of the scenes from the original novel that didn't appear in the series. In the Austen novel, Lydia is the obnoxious and oblivious flighty youngest sister who elopes with Mr Darcy's childhood friend and later nemesis, Mr. Wickham and seems quite happy to have ended up married to him.
In the modern re-imagining, Lydia may have started out similarly wild and irritating, but thanks in large part to the immense charm and skill with which actress Mary Kate Wiles portrayed her, Lydia grew to be a huge fan favourite and because the fate of Lydia Bennet of 200 years ago simply wouldn't work today, the show's writers took her story in a different direction. Running off with a man to whom you are not married wouldn't raise so much as an eyebrow in today's society, but being betrayed by your lover with the release of a sex tape would absolutely cause a stir similar to that of a Regency elopement. In both the book and the YouTube series, Mr. Darcy eventually comes through and sorts things out for the Bennet family in an attempt to make life easier for Lizzie, the woman he loves. In the YouTube series, however, Lizzie and Lydia tearfully begin to re-build their somewhat dysfunctional relationship in the aftermath of the tragedy and Lydia not trapped forever in a relationship with Wickham.
[a:Kate Rorick|7390378|Kate Rorick|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1396389513p2/7390378.jpg] and [a:Rachel Kiley|13017050|Rachel Kiley|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png], two of the writers of the show, write in the acknowledgements that fans kept asking for Lydia's continued story and wanted to see that she had a chance at the same happy ending that her two sisters got. This book shows us what how Lydia's life progressed after the scandal that nearly ruined her life. There are appearances from Lizzie and Jane, but the most important supporting character is Mary, who in the YouTube re-imagining is the Bennet sisters' gloomy cousin, rather than their sister. Mary only appeared in a couple of episodes in the main YouTube series, but was quite prominent in Lydia's own videos (a spin-off of the main series). In this book she's working in a coffee shop off campus of the community college, waiting for Lydia to finish her courses so they can move to San Francisco together. She has a lovely sub-plot where she becomes the bassist of a local band, mainly through Lydia's machinations.
Having listened to the audio book of [b:Pride and Prejudice|28271343|Pride and Prejudice|Jane Austen|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1450848938s/28271343.jpg|48318745] at the end of last year and then read [a:Jo Baker|965819|Jo Baker|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1245007916p2/965819.jpg]'s [b:Longbourn|17380041|Longbourn|Jo Baker|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1452268403s/17380041.jpg|24080996], it's interesting to have three very different versions of Lydia Bennet and her story in my head. The modern version is the only one I'd really be interested in reading more about, though, and I'm really glad that Rorick and Kiley decided to pen the continuing story of the youngest Bennet sisters, to give fans of the show an idea of what the future brings for her. It was absolutely nice to catch up with the older sisters and seeing where their lives had taken them, but getting more Lydia and Mary was more fun than I was expecting. Like in the series, Lydia occasionally really annoyed me and I kept wanting to shake her for some of the choices she was making, but slowly but surely, she figures out what she wants and who she wants to be, and in many ways, that was even more satisfying than her sister's Lizzie's development. Lydia's views on [b:Dracula|17245|Dracula|Bram Stoker|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1387151694s/17245.jpg|3165724] were also hilarious. Absolutely a worth-while book to pick up if you liked The Lizzie Bennet Diaries.
Shut up, I’m not crying. There’s just a tree branch in my eye. That’s all. A tree branch named Lydia Bennet. The Epic Adventures of Lydia Bennet is not at all the book I expected it to be, which was disappointing at first, but Lydia’s book was ultimately much better for that. As much as I love all of The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, my favorite thing is Lydia’s arc and the changes to her character. In The Epic Adventures of Lydia Bennet, she gets to develop even further, navigating those complicated new adult waters as she tries to figure out who she is, what she wants to do, and how to navigate all sorts of relationships.
What I expected from The Epic Adventures of Lydia Bennet was something similar to the Lizzie book. I mean, I figured it would be set after the time of that book and the show, but I figured the tone would be light and that romance would be a lot of the subject matter. It’s not, actually. That threw me for a while, and, at times, The Epic Adventures of Lydia Bennet was hard for me to read, because so much bad stuff already happened to Lydia and it really hurt to see her go through more of it. I wanted rainbows and unicorns and kissing for Lydia, with no thunderclouds or douchey guys allowed.
However, the story in The Epic Adventures of Lydia Bennet isn’t that one. Lydia’s experience with George Wickham affected her in a big way, so it makes sense that she didn’t just get over that and fall in love Jane Austen style. The Epic Adventures of Lydia Bennet really dives into Lydia’s mental health and road to recovery. Lydia’s herself, the adorbs, but she’s also muted for a lot of the book. Like towards the end of the show, she can’t be that full-on, completely confident person anymore. MY BABY.
As the novel opens, Lydia’s looking to the future, with big plans to get her associate’s degree before transferring to a college in San Francisco where she’ll live with Mary and get a degree in psychology. Mary has been seeing a counselor at her community college, and this has inspired her to consider a career in psychology. Everything’s coming up Lydia. She finally has an idea what she wants to do, and it seems within her grasp.
Only then, inevitably, things fall apart. Lydia’s spiraling back down, once again the failure her family always expects her to be. Everything ties back, of course, to all those things Lydia hasn’t quite faced down yet. It’s so painful to watch Lydia try and not get there, and then give up. How can you possibly not want the best for her? This part of the book was rough.
Eventually, though, and don’t worry I won’t give details, Lydia gets back on her feet again. The adorbs gets haltingly back into action. She recovers her dreams, in a more realistic way, and really starts to commit to them. She faces down her past with George and learns to love herself again. This book is beautiful and inspirational and goddammit that tree branch.
The Epic Adventures of Lydia Bennet is mostly about Lydia obviously, but it’s also about Mary, and I’m SO IN LOVE with Mary’s story. It’s potentially spoilery, so I’ll go into spoiler tags. View Spoiler » I just hope there will be a video at some point where I get to see Mary being fabulous and happy in person. That’s all I’m saying.
Speaking of the videos, I’m pretty sure I’ll be rewatching them AGAIN pretty soon, because the obsession is strong with this one. As soon as I do that, I’m going to buy the audiobook and listen to that because I need this book in every format. <3
What I expected from The Epic Adventures of Lydia Bennet was something similar to the Lizzie book. I mean, I figured it would be set after the time of that book and the show, but I figured the tone would be light and that romance would be a lot of the subject matter. It’s not, actually. That threw me for a while, and, at times, The Epic Adventures of Lydia Bennet was hard for me to read, because so much bad stuff already happened to Lydia and it really hurt to see her go through more of it. I wanted rainbows and unicorns and kissing for Lydia, with no thunderclouds or douchey guys allowed.
However, the story in The Epic Adventures of Lydia Bennet isn’t that one. Lydia’s experience with George Wickham affected her in a big way, so it makes sense that she didn’t just get over that and fall in love Jane Austen style. The Epic Adventures of Lydia Bennet really dives into Lydia’s mental health and road to recovery. Lydia’s herself, the adorbs, but she’s also muted for a lot of the book. Like towards the end of the show, she can’t be that full-on, completely confident person anymore. MY BABY.
As the novel opens, Lydia’s looking to the future, with big plans to get her associate’s degree before transferring to a college in San Francisco where she’ll live with Mary and get a degree in psychology. Mary has been seeing a counselor at her community college, and this has inspired her to consider a career in psychology. Everything’s coming up Lydia. She finally has an idea what she wants to do, and it seems within her grasp.
Only then, inevitably, things fall apart. Lydia’s spiraling back down, once again the failure her family always expects her to be. Everything ties back, of course, to all those things Lydia hasn’t quite faced down yet. It’s so painful to watch Lydia try and not get there, and then give up. How can you possibly not want the best for her? This part of the book was rough.
Eventually, though, and don’t worry I won’t give details, Lydia gets back on her feet again. The adorbs gets haltingly back into action. She recovers her dreams, in a more realistic way, and really starts to commit to them. She faces down her past with George and learns to love herself again. This book is beautiful and inspirational and goddammit that tree branch.
The Epic Adventures of Lydia Bennet is mostly about Lydia obviously, but it’s also about Mary, and I’m SO IN LOVE with Mary’s story. It’s potentially spoilery, so I’ll go into spoiler tags. View Spoiler » I just hope there will be a video at some point where I get to see Mary being fabulous and happy in person. That’s all I’m saying.
Speaking of the videos, I’m pretty sure I’ll be rewatching them AGAIN pretty soon, because the obsession is strong with this one. As soon as I do that, I’m going to buy the audiobook and listen to that because I need this book in every format. <3
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I loved the web series, and I am a huge fan of Jane Austen, but all the same I was expecting a less than decent book. I was very pleasantly surprised! It was funny, original, and I honestly thought it did a really great job of dealing with the topic of emotional abuse. A very satisfying read!
Full review coming soon, but if you watched either TLBD, read the Lizzie book, or love P&P read this book!!!! It's a lot of fun, and it talks about some real issues that Lydia is going through. I've never loved her, I've always loved Lizzie and Jane more even on the webseries, but here she was given a voice and a story to tell.
I wish that part with George Wickham had been longer or just different. It just didn't feel like it fit.