Seeking Mansfield by Kate Watson is a charming, modern take on Mansfield Park that brings plenty of heart and humor. It follows Finley Price, a theater-loving teen navigating love and ambition while living with her godparents. With relatable characters and sweet romance, it’s perfect for fans of contemporary YA with classic twists!

I was quite excited for this book. I loved the synopsis and the hint at BFF to more. Sadly I was either bored or annoyed while reading.

I kept reading because I wanted to see how it all worked out, but i probably should have DNF'd. I doubt I'll be reading the next book.

I love Austen retellings, and went through a period where I binged them constantly. It's kind of weird, since I've never actually read a Jane Austen novel. Anyway, I can't compare this book to Mansfield Park, but I do want to read it now so I think that's awesome. The romance seemed a little clunky and forced, rather than flowing, but I still enjoyed the book as a whole!

North Star Editions and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of Seeking Mansfield. I voluntarily chose to review this book and my opinion is freely given.

I did not realize that this was a modern retelling of Mansfield Park by Jane Austen, as I have not read the aforementioned book. In a lot of ways, Seeking Mansfield is a typical YA romantic/realistic fiction. The main character, Finley Price, has not let herself settle in and be happy because she does not want to risk her precarious position in her adopted family. There is the requisite love triangle and the equally predictable mean adult that wants to keep Finley in her place. As the story progresses, Finley does come to certain realizations about herself, which does give the character some well needed depth.

Overall, Seeking Mansfield was a quick read, but it just checked off too many of the typical boxes for me. I liked Finley, but her doormat ways seemed a little over the top. Her story was predictable and, in the end, not all that indistinguishable from the many books in this genre.

I'm not sure how I feel about putting such a doubtful character in a modern adaptation of a Jane Austen novel. I appreciate how Watson chose an underrated Austen novel to update, but I don't know if it's doing anything fresh and new to it.

I absolutely loved this book. I have never read the original Mansfield Park, so I can't speak to the fact that this is supposed to be a retelling. What I can say is that I absolutely loved the plot and both of the characters in this book. It was so well written and the relationship development was so well done. Awesome read!

I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher via NetGalley. This in no way impacted on my view.

As soon as I read the synopsis of this book, and saw the title on NetGalley, I was buzzing. Any form of Austen retelling, no matter which of her books it's based on, is automatically a book I want to read. I haven't seen many based on Mansfield Park, which I will admit isn't one of my favourite of Austen's, but I knew this was one to try.

In Seeking Mansfield, Finley has had a difficult upbringing, but she devotes herself to the theatre and putting on the best show that she can. Living with her godparents, the Betram's, and best friend, Oliver, is the only place that she feels as if she's seen, but she's happy with flying under the radar and living in the shadows at school. However, that soon changes when actor siblings, Emma and Harlan Crawford, arrive at her school, and they get in between Finley and Oliver's friendship. It also seems as if Harlan likes her, but is that just wishful thinking as her longstanding crush on Oliver is even more unrealistic when he gets with Emma and starts to ignore Finley and treat her like dirt. But, can she win back Oliver, if she just steps into the limelight and gets his attention.

I did really enjoy how the author modernised the original in this book. Every part of it that was made different, such as the Betram's being Finley's godparents, and not aunt/uncle, and the Crawford's being famous as actors rather than just really rich. Finley was such a well done character, and I adored her chapters. She was so self deprecating, and felt like she needed to do everything and anything to repay the Betram's for their help and support, but I loved it even more when she stood up for what she wanted. Oliver's chapters were a bit more annoying, to me, but sometimes a nice reprieve from Finley's inner-monologues.

As I knew the source material, I obviously shipped Fin and Oliver, but at times I did see the appeal in Harlan. Yes, we have a lot of bad decisions made, and lack of communication that could've been dealt with so much faster and solved a lot of problems, but I was expecting it. I did feel like there were times that Finley and Oliver's romance was forced, but all in all, I enjoyed the book, and will definitely be reading the sequels when they are released.

I didn't enjoy this one. The story failed to draw me in, while the character's never stood out enough for me to become attached. I ended up DNFing this one 25% of the way through after struggling and forcing myself to get that far.

A received this book free for review, but my review is completed honest and unbiased, all opinions held are my own.

Seeking Mansfield is a contemporary YA novel following a girl called Finley, who moves in with her godparents following the death of her father. Fortunately, her best friend is also her godbrother, Oliver. Her goal is to go into performing arts like her father, while staying quiet and out of the way.
However, things get a lot more complicated when stunning and popular teenage filmstars Emma and Harlan Crawford move next door to the Bertram's and Harlan enters into a challenge to make Finley fall in love with him.

I haven't read Mansfield Park by Jane Austen before, but after reading this, it is definitely on my extensive TBR. This book was wonderful. I really enjoyed the plot and the characters were developed well and likeable. They were easy to love and hate, especially at the right moments, (and particularly Harlan).

Although I am not always the biggest fan of love triangles, the ones in this book were tastefully done, despite being so complicated. I wasn't the biggest fan of the resolution; I part liked it and part hated it- but seeing as this is an adaptation of a classic, I don't want to comment too much on that.

I felt like there were some serious themes in the book which could have been addressed more, e.g. Finley's parents. I think that would have created a wider scope of emotions for the audience to delve into and made the book a little more realistic and cathartic.

Kate overall did a brilliant job on this book and it was a pleasure reading it. It made me feel tons of emotions and I would completely recommend it.

I must admit that i loved this book and i would definitely recommend this to anyone who likes books in this genre as it was different from most things that i have read before. The characters and the plot were amazing and the book gave me more than i expected

5 stars for certain

Theater! Jane Austen! Yes, I was down for this one and it was pretty good.

A fun new retelling of Jane Austen's Mansfield Park, Seeking Mansfield is an enjoyable modernization of a classic that seems to be underrepresented in the retelling game. Austen fans who double as YA Contemporary readers(you know, like me!) will love this story of Finley Price - a teen girl with her eyes on the prestigious Mansfield Theater, but also prefers to live outside the spotlight. Her relationship with her best friend is put to the test when teen movie star siblings move in across the street, and Finley must then decide what she really wants and whether or not she has the courage to go for it. Not giving the story away, but I definitely recommend!

https://www.bustle.com/p/15-obsession-worthy-ya-contemporary-novels-hitting-shelves-in-2017-38635

I absolutely adored this modern-day retelling of Jane Austen's Mansfield Park. I could not put it down.

I found it very hard to write this review because some of the things I don't like about Seeking Mansfield are more to do with the original Austen novel than anything Kate Watson wrote. I will say that this was a really good modern day retelling of Mansfield Park. How everything was modernised for today but still having the same context (like Finley coming to stay with the Bertrams, the Crawfords being famous and desirable) was done really nicely.

Taking the book as a novel itself, I really wasn't such a fan. I felt like it dragged a lot towards the end, although that might because I knew how it would end (the trouble with faithful retellings) and I wasn't so happy with how it was coming about. I really liked Finley, I liked how she grew and developed into her own person and I was cheering for her at the interview at the end. I liked how someone (I think it was Liam?) pointed out how black and white her thinking was, though I wish the book had focused on that a little bit more as well as Finley having the courage to know what she wants. The other characters were varied, I liked Nora as a villain and I liked Harley and Emma as not entirely evil, just not great at recognising consequences for what they had done.

That said, by the end of the book I didn't want Finley to end up with anyone. Oliver's POV turned me right off with him with how possessive he seemed of Finley. I'm thinking of a scene where Harley is comforting Finley and Oliver thinks about Harley is only stopping by and when he goes, Oliver will still be with Fin. The way he scolded Harley for talking over Fin and assuming he knew what she wanted, but then Oliver went and did the same thing. Neither of them were right for Finley and I wish she hadn't ended up with either of them in the end.

A fun, but slightly convoluted modernization of Austen's classic, "Mansfield Park". Watson seemed to struggle early to find who her characters truly were, but the early waffling gave way to really nicely developed characters. Some of the plot points from it's source material were abandoned which I think benefited the overall arc. Overall, a fluffy little romp.

Set in present day Chicago, this book is a reimagining of Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park. After her famous actor father’s death, aspiring director Finley Price moves in with her best friend Oliver Bertram’s family. She and Oliver are close and he is encouraging her to chase her dream of applying to the prestigious Mansfield Theater’s directing program. When teen stars Emma and Harlan Crawford come for an extended visit with their aunt, who is the Bertram’s next door neighbor, they threaten Oliver and Finley’s stable relationship. Emma flirts with Oliver and Finley realizes she might actually have romantic feelings for him herself. Although Harlan clashes with Finley at first, he ultimately claims her as his girlfriend, much to Oliver’s dismay. In alternating chapters Finley and Oliver dance around their feelings for each other. Although the outcome is predictable, the clever retelling is an enjoyable journey about the courage to go after what you want professionally and personally.

Personally I couldn't really get into this book. I lacked connection with the characters and the book seemed to drag for me. I ultimately sat it aside to read something else and the prospect of having to force myself to finish it just really put me off. I know plenty of people who really enjoyed this so I'm just going to say everyone should at least give it a chance.

This is a fantastic retelling of Mansfield Park!

I always love a good Jane Austen retelling and I’d heard good things about this book, so I was super excited. The issue I had with the original Mansfield Park is that I felt like Edmund just randomly decided to like Fanny in the end. Like, what was going on? Fanny deserves better than Edmund shrugging his shoulders going, “Well, I guess I’ll just marry Fanny now since that last relationship didn’t work out.” So I was hesitant going into this book in case it was the same thing. To some extent it was, but I did like the ending of this retelling better than the original ending. One thing that really bugged me is that I don’t feel like Harlan would have acted how he did towards Finley if he really respected her dad as he said he did. There was also a lot of angst that I could have done without