Reviews - Most Ardently: A Pride & Prejudice Remix

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4.23k reviews for:

Most Ardently: A Pride & Prejudice Remix

Gabe Cole Novoa

4.01 AVERAGE

littlerthings's review against another edition

5.0

emotional lighthearted

Truly delightful!!!!
This was so wholesome. The perfect gay + trans retelling the world needed.

Oliver and Darcy deserve all the happiness in the world!!!

Content Warnings

roznn's review against another edition

4.0

hopeful reflective relaxing medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

rebecca_is_book_hooked's review

4.0

medium-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

totheidiot's review

3.0

i think i should get an estate to my name too. very fun book but was ehhh

fernisworm's review

5.0

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Absolutely gorgeous novel! As others have stated, this is very much a remix and not a retelling. But I honestly love that. Novoa captured such a genuine and interesting queer story that makes me wish there were more historical romances like this one! As a trans person myself I related on so many levels to Oliver, and as such I did find myself crying while reading at least once. The ending is slightly idealistic/wish-fullfilling but I personally don’t think it takes away from the story itself—I was just really glad to see these characters get the happy ending that all queer people deserve :)

I don’t often reread books but I will definitely be rereading this!

Content Warnings

softiejace's review

3.0

emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Chalk it up to personal taste or more likely not being the target audience (a younger or newly out trans person might find it more rewarding), for me, the book was too singularly focused on Oliver's transness. I did not need to be explicitly reminded every other sentence why he felt uncomfortable in settings where he was to pretend to be a girl. It rather felt like the author didn't trust me to make that connection myself.
I also felt that the author's present-day understanding of gender was imposed onto the historical setting, making it feel rather inauthentic. In particular, the seemingly effortless understanding extended to him by several people read as very unrealistic to me and broke my immersion. While I understand that the author wanted to write a hopeful story, I personally would've preferred a more historically grounded exploration of someone in Oliver's situation rather than what felt a bit like wish fulfillment pride and prejudice fanfiction to me.

Content Warnings