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3.56 AVERAGE
3.56 AVERAGE
UGH this book. I kept going back between 2 and 3 and I'm just going to say it's a 2.5.
WHAT IT DID NICE: Loved learning about the debate team and the exploration of sexism in the field. Liked how it explored different elements for some of the sub-plots like Lydia (or Lidia) and the Wickham character and the Charlotte and Colin characters romance as well as the change of Jane the sister to Jay the best friend.
WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: Lidia was still a bully and that was never addressed. DasGupta loves Austen and keeps trying to cram Austen's 1800's British words into modern American-Desi teenagers and it. Doesn't. Work. This is one of those books that has the problem of the author loving the source material so much that they couldn't let it go and it really hinders the plot. The Lady Charlotte character was completely unrealistic and honestly the whole book suffered from a very superficial plot. Also Jay and Bingley getting back together with like no details? Hated that.
It's (sadly) not it for me because, despite exploring some really great concepts, ultimately it just wasn't a good book.
WHAT IT DID NICE: Loved learning about the debate team and the exploration of sexism in the field. Liked how it explored different elements for some of the sub-plots like Lydia (or Lidia) and the Wickham character and the Charlotte and Colin characters romance as well as the change of Jane the sister to Jay the best friend.
WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: Lidia was still a bully and that was never addressed. DasGupta loves Austen and keeps trying to cram Austen's 1800's British words into modern American-Desi teenagers and it. Doesn't. Work. This is one of those books that has the problem of the author loving the source material so much that they couldn't let it go and it really hinders the plot. The Lady Charlotte character was completely unrealistic and honestly the whole book suffered from a very superficial plot. Also Jay and Bingley getting back together with like no details? Hated that.
It's (sadly) not it for me because, despite exploring some really great concepts, ultimately it just wasn't a good book.
Because when everything else fails, reread Pride & Prejudice or any derivation thereof. This was a witty fun and fast read that was really cute.
Oh. This was such a pleasant surprise of a read. I’ve never even heard of the author, but she is delightful! I learned so much about Desi culture in the US and about HS Forensics. I also learned to love P&P retellings even more! I think I’ve read about 70 at this point!
Going into it I knew that I've never been a big Jane Austen fan. I liked the Debate team more than I liked the two main characters. I also felt that the author was unclear about debate terms. Unless I totally missed it LD debate was not defined until around page 200.
So....I'll respect others' opinions, but I have to say that this was one of my favorite books so far this year. In no way was this PERFECT, but this was perfect. As someone who is obsessed with every P&P retelling out there, this was more on plot than others, but also kept it's own flare throughout the whole novel.
The story is centered around Leela and Darcy who do speech and debate. This book was an amazing desi rep, as the MC is Hindu-Bengali. That's just the start.
Most of the names were changed in this book. Houses became colleges and Lizzie's sisters became Leela's teammates. There was some plot changes, such as Lydia and Leela taking a bigger stand than ever done before, but that's what made the book unique.
I really liked this new, feminist retelling. It was fresh, but also had quotes from the original novel that made the book feel like an actual retelling. It wasn't just names: the stories were ACTUALLY similar, even if this takes place two hundred years later.
The enemies to lovers was one point. Everything was! This book was just hbgiuwegjiowjgo
AMAZING
go read now
The story is centered around Leela and Darcy who do speech and debate. This book was an amazing desi rep, as the MC is Hindu-Bengali. That's just the start.
Most of the names were changed in this book. Houses became colleges and Lizzie's sisters became Leela's teammates. There was some plot changes, such as Lydia and Leela taking a bigger stand than ever done before, but that's what made the book unique.
I really liked this new, feminist retelling. It was fresh, but also had quotes from the original novel that made the book feel like an actual retelling. It wasn't just names: the stories were ACTUALLY similar, even if this takes place two hundred years later.
The enemies to lovers was one point. Everything was! This book was just hbgiuwegjiowjgo
AMAZING
go read now
emotional
lighthearted
tense
medium-paced
A YA desi retelling of Pride and Prejudice.
🗣️
Leela Bose has been participating in speech competitions forever. Her flair for the dramatic makes her shoo in at most meets with her friends also competing in speech and debate. When she meets Firoze Darcy, a rich kid from an elitist prep school academy, he immediately rubs her the wrong way, but she’ll have to see him every weekend since they’re in the same state league. Leela continually tries to one up Firoze, while also being mad at him for actions she thinks he’s responsible for. As they learn more about one another, Leela starts to see she may have misjudged Mr. Darcy, but is it too late to fix it?
🏆
I’ve had this on my TBR forever, it seems, and I’m mad at myself for waiting to read it until now. This hit all the right notes for me to give it 5⭐️. The wonderfully diverse cast of characters, topics discussed throughout the book, and it being an Austen retelling was just so swoony. Loved it.
CW: sexual assault, misogyny, sexism, sexual harassment, homophobia, coming out (theme), classism, xenophobia, racism, body shaming, adult/minor relationship, Islamophobia, terminal illness, death of a parent
🗣️
Leela Bose has been participating in speech competitions forever. Her flair for the dramatic makes her shoo in at most meets with her friends also competing in speech and debate. When she meets Firoze Darcy, a rich kid from an elitist prep school academy, he immediately rubs her the wrong way, but she’ll have to see him every weekend since they’re in the same state league. Leela continually tries to one up Firoze, while also being mad at him for actions she thinks he’s responsible for. As they learn more about one another, Leela starts to see she may have misjudged Mr. Darcy, but is it too late to fix it?
🏆
I’ve had this on my TBR forever, it seems, and I’m mad at myself for waiting to read it until now. This hit all the right notes for me to give it 5⭐️. The wonderfully diverse cast of characters, topics discussed throughout the book, and it being an Austen retelling was just so swoony. Loved it.
CW: sexual assault, misogyny, sexism, sexual harassment, homophobia, coming out (theme), classism, xenophobia, racism, body shaming, adult/minor relationship, Islamophobia, terminal illness, death of a parent
This was a fun read. I think certain elements of Pride and Prejudice are difficult to translate into a modern plot, but the author did a good job. You can tell how much she loves the original and the BBC adaptation just from the dialogue she chooses to use and plot points she highlights. The back of the book had a sneak peek of her Sense and Sensibility book and even though I find that story more boring, the excerpt sounded kind of interesting.
This was ok. I felt like there was too much going on in it to be able to focus on any one thing in the story. I usually love pride and prejudice retellings but I didn’t care for the retelling of this one.