Scan barcode
A review by sollie
Most Ardently by Susan Mesler-Evans
3.0
My head just feels kind of empty as I finish this. I have never read or watched any pride and prejudice media before, I only know pop culture references and the like, so my lukewarm feelings on this book aren't coming from me loving/defending the source material. I spaced out a lot listening to the audiobook (maybe because the narrator sounded pretty bored idk) and even when I was engaged I was just... eh.
The good:
*The story made good commentary on adults praying on teenage girls, it completely and openly smacked down on any arguments made in defense of the predatory adults, I think that was very well done and it condemned the shit out of those adults and supported the victims and I think that's super important, that subplot had me legit invested and nervous and angry
*The dialogue was fun
*Bi latina protag, black lesbian love interest, it was nice to read
*A good protagonist for the most part
The eh:
-Characters blended together for me
-The setting could feel really out of place sometimes (because of the source material being set in a different time period, I assume), and the reactions/actions could get really confusing. I mean it did feel a bit extra for the mother to a character to rant like "oh how dreadful, butler, throw it to the poor, this piece of filth does not deserve to speak to my son!! she is a piece of trash, hear me, a piece of filth!" like how is this still in a modern American setting
-Some subplots could have gone with some extra development I think, but I also didn't want them to because I was already kind of bored with most of them
It was a fine contemporary lgbtq+ romance but for me, it just lacked *focus* somehow. I'd still recommend it if the premise sounds interesting to you, but 3 stars seemed to be a good middle ground for me on this one.
The good:
*The story made good commentary on adults praying on teenage girls, it completely and openly smacked down on any arguments made in defense of the predatory adults, I think that was very well done and it condemned the shit out of those adults and supported the victims and I think that's super important, that subplot had me legit invested and nervous and angry
*The dialogue was fun
*Bi latina protag, black lesbian love interest, it was nice to read
*A good protagonist for the most part
The eh:
-Characters blended together for me
-The setting could feel really out of place sometimes (because of the source material being set in a different time period, I assume), and the reactions/actions could get really confusing. I mean it did feel a bit extra for the mother to a character to rant like "oh how dreadful, butler, throw it to the poor, this piece of filth does not deserve to speak to my son!! she is a piece of trash, hear me, a piece of filth!" like how is this still in a modern American setting
-Some subplots could have gone with some extra development I think, but I also didn't want them to because I was already kind of bored with most of them
It was a fine contemporary lgbtq+ romance but for me, it just lacked *focus* somehow. I'd still recommend it if the premise sounds interesting to you, but 3 stars seemed to be a good middle ground for me on this one.