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littlecornerreads's review
2.0
"We’ve been friends our whole lives.”
She chuckles. “So why’d you kiss him?”
My cheeks burn and I pull my legs into my chest. “I…temporarily lost my mind. He’s…well, he’s a very attractive man…and it was dark in the middle of nowhere…I’m under a lot of stress.”
“Okay.” Yeah, she’s not convinced.
“I fell in love with him when I was seventeen. But that ended.”
“You just turned it off like a switch, huh?”
“He is solidly in the friend zone, I assure you. He has to stay there.”
(In case you were wondering, this book contains brief allusions to alcoholism and mentions of gun use)
I knew this was not going to be great, but I'm so desperate for some modern Emma that I'm still reading this disappointing series because there are only so many times you can watch the BBC miniseries. Which is how I ended up watching yet another author butcher dearest Emma.
This is actually the most faithful rendition of the trio, though it's not like it had stiff competition. But while it was actually a somewhat decent representation of the original story, Brown missed the most important part.
Yet again we have a story where Emma is hopelessly in love with her best friend. Apparently Emma's "girlish crush" led to a disastrous kiss that nearly ruined their friendship when she was a teenager, so she has to bury her feelings. In case you can't tell, I am rolling my eyes so hard. I love the Emma/Knightley dynamic, but modern authors seem intent on ruining it by turning it into some fake unrequited love thing. The "crap-I-love-him" scene is the best because Emma spends the whole book thinking she's little Miss Know It All and then she realizes she's been so blind and it's amazing.
So it's annoying when authors decide to kick off their books with an Emma attracted to Knightey because it totally ruins the story. Like I get the unrequited love x childhood friends trope appeal, I really do, but if you want to write about that can you just make your own story and not pretend you're modernizing Austen's? Anyway, halfway through the book,
None of the characters were particularly interesting. Jillian Fairfax is way too cheery and perky. Emma is as self-deluded as ever but doesn't really have the endearing goodness to make it tolerable. Knightley is...I don't know, a generic love interest? He's not really grumpy or critical and is actually kind of a pushover. It's all so disappointing.
I have some other complaints, but I'm starting to feel like a broken record. Bad writing, cheesy plot, random female-bashing
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