Reviews with content warning for Suicidal thoughts - Most Ardently: A Pride & Prejudice Remix

This was a wonderfully charming book! Oliver’s internal struggle and the trauma of being misgendered is not overlooked, but the author is sensitive with the topic, crafting this sweet story about the bravery of sharing who you really are. For anyone who likes classical retelling, this is a must read!

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mirandyli's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

An adorable quick read that is a queer, trans retelling of Pride and Prejudice. The author also provides some historical context on queerness and transness in that era. I'm looking forward to reading other retellings in this series.

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goldseamedglass's review

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emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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beanaroni's review against another edition

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lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

not officially rating this one because I'm glad young queer people get to read books about themselves and I am starting to recognize that I, personally, need to stop reading books for teenagers. there was a lot I appreciated here from the perspective of a queer trans dude, but Oliver's experience is pretty far removed from my own and I honestly found being in his head a little irritating sometimes. grateful that this exists though.

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aunteaandbiscuits's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Everyone knows me as a glacial reader, but I devoured this book in four days flat. Easy to read, heartwarming, and page-turning. Loved every minute.

A content warning to anyone who’s sensitive to self-unaliving thoughts

there are about two instances of Oliver saying he’d rather be dead than to live life as a woman. It’s said with sensitivity, I think, but I wanted anyone who sees the content warning to know the extent of it

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amarreth's review against another edition

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funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

This book is cute and fun, wistful and endearing - but it is also barely “Pride and Prejudice”. The day-players are all here, but the story is still mostly unique. Overall, I think this is nice, as it gives Oliver his own story, rather than simply switching some names around and calling it a day. Additionally, there is a wash of queer-positivity in the story. Societal issues with queerness and transness are referenced and known, but the characters are still surrounded by love and acceptance. Is this historically accurate? No. But I very much don’t care. The transphobes are villains, and we are not asked to give them sympathy or further complication that this.

Reading Oliver and Darcy’s love story was delightful way to spend an evening.

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ravensandpages's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

ARC received in exchange for an honest review. Thank you, NetGalley and Macmillan!

First of all, I am overjoyed to announce that I am starting 2024 as a healed man. I read 91% of this book in one day/sitting, and I have never felt better or more fulfilled. If I reset my reading challenge to 300, look away.

Second of all, it is my absolute pleasure to introduce MOST ARDENTLY to you, the ninth installment in Feiwel & Friends' young adult remixed classics series. I've been watching this project attentively but hadn't been brave enough to dip my toes into trying them until MOST ARDENTLY, a reimaging of Pride & Prejudice with a trans Bennett boy falling in love with a gay Darcy. I blacked out and when I opened my eyes, the ARC had been requested and was open on my Kindle. I cannot thank past me enough.

Those like me who already love Pride & Prejudice will recognize the bones of the story: an overbearing mother of five pushes her oldest to catch the eye of a new neighbor, his friend is prideful and arrogant and enters into a push-and-pull relationship with the second oldest Bennett, and said Bennett suffers a series of awful proposals. It keeps many of the core story beats of the source and many of my favorite scenes, but also carves out its own original space inside the world of Pride & Prejudice in a lighthearted and engaging way.

Die-hard Austen fans who are expecting a 1:1 remix are not going to find that here, and of course they won't. MOST ARDENTLY is not intended to be, and it's honestly exactly what I was hoping for. The writing and dialogue preserve the Regency era feel, but the story has been expertly condensed to a YA pace and . I simply couldn't put it down once I truly got into the groove, and it was all I was thinking about every time I had to pause for even a moment.

If you're a fan of Pride & Prejudice, of trans boys finding love and happiness, historical romances, and happy endings, I cannot recommend this one enough, but do be sure to read the author's note at the beginning for content warnings. Please preorder and support this wonderful series!

❧ 4.5 ★

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readthesparrow's review against another edition

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hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

Thank you to the publishers for providing an e-ARC through Netgalley!

REVIEW
I have conflicted feelings about Most Ardently.

On one hand, it was a quick, fluffy read, which did an excellent job at portraying the suffocating experience of being queer and closeted in an extremely hetero normative, misogynistic, gender essentialist society. I liked Oliver's relationship with Jane--I always love to see healthy, supportive sibling relationships in fiction.

The narrative is, at its core, YA wish fulfillment featuring a gay trans man x Pride and Prejudice. It's an easy, quick read.

Additionally, as someone who has no strong feelings about the Pride and Prejudice novel, nor has watched the 2005 movie, I still enjoyed the book as I read it and feel that, in this particular case, having read the original brought very little extra to the retelling reading experience. So this can totally be read without having read the original.

On the other hand, once I thought about the narrative beyond that very surface level wish fulfillment, I found to have several problems with Most Ardently.

I'll get the less in-depth one out of the way first.

As other reviewers have pointed out, the last quarter of the book feels very rushed. The ending is a happy one, yes, but I personally found it unfulfilling due to how rushed it was. For example,

Mrs. Bennet--despite being extremely gender essentialist throughout the novel and disapproving of Oliver wearing trousers--immediately turns around and not only fully accepts but fully understands the concept of Oliver being a man. I'm not saying she should have rejected Oliver or not been accepting, but the choice to felt in opposition to her character. As a queer person, I would have liked to see a more realistic moment of an accepting but uneducated parent, rather than the sudden, perfect about heel to being cool with Oliver not being a woman that we got.

The more in-depth issue I have has to do with how the narrative handles gender.

First, most of the female characters essentially stop being characters at all. The sisters (beside Jane) barely exist, and Mrs. Bennet is even more shallow and annoying than she is in the original novel. Oliver's friendship with Charlotte, as discussed more in-depth below, is purely a device to have a side conflict.

Pride and Prejudice is such an iconic novel because of its sharp, witty social critique. While this novel retains most of the wit from the original, particularly in the dialogue, it only offers social critique on a very basic surface level: misogyny bad, queer people should be able to be happy.

There are moments where the novel begins to approach that social critique. Conversations between Oliver and his best friend, Charlotte, explore what it means to be a queer AFAB person in this society.

Charlotte's position is that marriage is a matter of survival, especially for people who are of a lower social class, and that marriage is an option that Oliver may eventually have to consider. Oliver's position is that marriage would be suffocating for him, and that entering a marriage would not be survival but death.

Both of these stances are valid. As a queer person, I am intimately aware that choices about gender expression, marriage, and financial support often have to be made as a question of survival, and the answer to those questions differ depending on the person. On the other hand, queer people do deserve joy and acceptance, and shouldn't have to hide themselves simply just to survive. However, deciding to come out and choose "authenticity" is not an option for many, many people.

However, the novel does not fully explore this dichotomy in a nuanced, caring way.

This conflict comes to a head in an argument between the two when Charlotte tells him that she is marrying Collins. (Quote taken from the e-ARC copy. May differ in final version.)

"But you aren't friends with Lu!" Oliver protested. "How will you ever be happy pretending to love someone you never could? You're in love with Lu, not Collins!"

"But I can't marry Lu, can I?!" Charlotte cried. Oliver's mouth snapped closed as his friend wiped at her glassy eyes. He'd never seen Charlotte cry before, and he'd certainly never imagined the first time would be because of him.

"Of course I would marry Lu if could, Oliver, but it's impossible!" she went on. "And even without marriage—which, by the way, would be crushing to me in and of itself—we'd never survive on our own. I can't—" Her voice tightened with emotion, tears spilling down her cheeks. "I can't live in a fantasy that will never happen. It's time to grow up. This is the best I could possibly hope for."

Oliver was frozen, his friend's pain blazing hot in his chest, mingling with his own. It wasn't until he tried to speak that he realized his own voice was strangled with the tears he was fighting to keep at bay. "I can't accept that," he said. "I refuse to settle for a future that will deny me the happiness I deserve-the happiness we both deserve."

"Then don't," Charlotte said, her voice frosting over. "But if it never comes to pass, don't say I didn't warn you."

(Emphasis mine)

Charlotte has to make a horrible, difficult choice--the best choice she can make, considering her position.

It's not an easy choice to make, and if she could marry the person she actually loves, it's clear she would. She makes it very clear she is talking about her own circumstances. Oliver's response? Take it as a personal attack and tell her that this horrible, difficult, heart-breaking decision is her 'settling.'

Ew.

After the wedding, Oliver visits Charlotte; during this visit Charlotte says that

being married is great, actually, and she's super happy being Collins' wife. She loves maintaining the estate and Collins lets her girlfriend visit whenever so actually this is great!

Charlotte and Oliver then trade apologies.

Charlotte apologizes for "implying" Oliver would never find happiness (something which, mind you, she did Not Fucking Do during that argument), while Oliver apologizes for not supporting her.

After this scene, Charlotte

completely disappears from the narrative, only being mentioned briefly in passing by other characters.

In other words, once that specific argument between them is over, the narrative washes its hands of her. The reality of Charlotte's difficult choice, the danger it inherently puts her in, and

Collins' willingness to forcibly out Oliver have for Charlotte's safety is given nary a thought, either by the narrative or by Oliver.

That last point also leads me into another, minor complaint; Oliver is extremely self-centered, in a way that seems unintended. This makes him extremely dislikable in moments when we are supposed to empathize with him (see discussion re: Charlotte).

The ending also does not reckon with or consider the power Oliver now holds as a man, nor does its characters actively challenge gender roles. For example, the fact that Oliver can now inherit property is a gender-affirming moment, not a horrifying reflection of misogyny. Oliver does not consider how he can use his manhood to help those around him, or the new power it gives him over his sisters and how that may change his relationship with them.

FINAL THOUGHTS
Ultimately, Most Ardently is just fine and that's it. Inoffensive if you don't think about it and might hit that feel-good wish fulfillment vibe for some readers. However, if you want a well-written woman or a thoughtful, nuanced exploration of queerness, you'll need to look somewhere else.

Thank you again to the publishers for the e-ARC!

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