I hate to review books that I DNF, but I gave up on this after 20%. I could not make myself finish this. I just did not like the main character, and it wasn't worth finishing. I hope someone else enjoys it.

Marnie relates better to the characters in books that people in her life. She feels out place in her family and has no friends. But now she has a roommate at school who wants to be friends. She wants to win the Hunt Prize, but that means working with others and public speaking, as well as having an amazing project. When Marnie is confronted with being too much like Mary Bennet, she decides to change herself. As a fan of Pride and Prejudice and Anne of Green Gables, I just love this one. Her dilemma is real, and the changes she tries for are realistic rather than a complete do-over. A wonderful story of self-discovery, friendship, romance, and literary references. I wonder a bit if I would enjoy it as much if I hadn't read every book Marnie talks about, but I have, so I thoroughly enjoyed it.

If you were the type of kid that spent your weekends reading books in your bedroom instead of going to parties, this book and the main character Marnie will speak to you. With her constant literary references that readers will get a chuckle out of, Marnie is both lovable and believable as a bookworm that lacks a social life. Once she realizes that she is the "Mary Bennet" of her family of all girls, she uses that realization to push herself out of her comfort zone. I found Marnie's relationship with her sisters to be the driving force of the book, which gave it lots of heart.

This book was a little difficult for me to rate. The synthetic voice audiobook version I received from NetGalley was okay, but nothing like having a real narrator. Despite this, I enjoyed the premise of the story.

Marnie Barnes is often compared to Mary Bennet, the bookish, socially awkward middle sister from P&P. She’s pretty unlikable at first and it’s a wonder that anyone wants to be her friend. Attending a preppy high school in San Francisco, her main goal is to come up with a project to win a coveted academic prize that her sisters have won previously. After her new roommate tries to befriend her and she meets a cute boy at the animal shelter where she’s doing her project, she realizes she doesn’t want to be Mary Bennet anymore. She’s determined to reinvent herself.

This started out as a cute romcom. There’s the typical high school mean girl, surprisingly helpful/loyal best friend, angsty self doubt, plenty of awkward situations and miscommunication, cute dogs and animals from the shelter, an older guy crush, and all the up and down emotions of a first love. As the story progresses, there’s some intense situations which allow Marnie the growth she needs to break the Mary Bennet stereotype. But, just when you think she’s grown beyond Mary Bennet, she’s tempted to retreat back to her old self. While I didn’t like her much in the beginning, I grew to appreciate her by the end. The author does a great job of humanizing her and making her more likable. It’s definitely a creative modern twist on Mary Bennet.

There were some things I didn’t like about the story. I didn’t appreciate the swearing. There were several unnecessary uses of the “F” word as well as other swear words such as the “s” word, the Lord’s name in vain, and other milder swear words. There’s also an adult who sleeps with a high school student. It’s briefly mentioned with no details, but I found this disturbing that no charges are filed against him and everyone just kind of brushes it off other than him losing some clout and getting bad press.

On the whole, it’s a spot on attempt at a modernized Mary Bennet. Sensitive readers should note that beyond the swearing and inappropriate relationship, there’s a car accident, underage drinking, and the death of a baby. I received an advanced copy of a synthesized audiobook version from the publisher through NetGalley. All opinions are my own and I was not required to provide a positive review.

I really will read anything that has to do with Pride & Prejudice. I loved this book! I loved Marnie and found this book to be really charming.

I honestly wasn't aware that Being Mary Bennet by J.C. Peterson was a debut novel until I listened to the Acknowledgements section. I really enjoyed the YA rom-com--I flew through it--and the cover is very cute. The eBook version is 384 pages. I'm listing a few CWs at the end of this review, but I think the topics are handled pretty well.

Our heroine is seventeen-year-old Marnie Barnes, who wishes she was Lizzie but wholeheartedly believes she is more like Mary Bennet from Pride and Prejudice. She is a bookworm and feels like the odd child out in her large family, headed by her socialite mother and technology bigwig father in San Francisco. While managing a huge project tying together animal adoption and bookmobiles to vie for the prestigious Hunt Prize, Marnie decides to reinvent herself at the same time. Thankfully, she has the help of her fashion-minded boarding school roommate, Adhira.

Watching Marnie blossom out of her curmudgeonly shell and learn how to develop her various familial, platonic, and romantic relationships felt very true to life for me. I identified with this character a lot; she made quite a few decisions (and/or mistakes) that I probably would have also made in her shoes. I didn't find her completely unlikeable at the start because I've been in her shoes, and she goes through a LOT of personal growth throughout the novel.

Tropes: retelling from other POVs, friends to lovers, boarding school, dysfunctional family

CW: casual body and food shaming, racism, bullying, pregnancy/infant loss, off-page car accident, mention of inappropriate relationships between adults and minors

Being Mary Bennet was a charming retelling of a familiar story, almost like a fractured fairytale. We finally get to see the “underdog” of sorts in the spotlight, which was a fresh and fun take. My only wish was that I could have read it. The audiobook was hard to understand at times because of the TTS voice. I found myself having to rewind it often to understand what was going on.

Regardless, thank you to the publishers for letting me enjoy this story!

So, I will admit that I did not know this was a contemporary take/twist on the beloved Pride and Prejudice, and I think it’s actually good that I didn't. I have dabbled in Austen’s works but would never dare profess to be a die-hard fan - I’d need some serious re-reads to really understand all the nuance, but enjoy the memes that float around bookstagram all the same.

So let’s pretend this isn’t a twist on the classic novel. It’s a story about Marnie Barnes, a high school senior, except it’s fancy so she’s a private prep-school nestled in San Francisco, a far cry from rural England. The opening scenes of the book are in the school library, where Marnie is clearly most comfortable among the silence and books. The orderliness of the space and strict rules clearly suit her. There’s even an early mention of a cell-phone defenestration (i.e. throwing it out the window) with that specific word use (applause!), which was the first of many brilliant word choices on the part of Peterson.

I should also say that I listened to an audio-galley of this book, an interesting concept because the voice was rather robotic but it kind of worked out because I feel like I combined that with Marnie’s narration and it became part of her character. In my mind she could speak no other way.

Peterson’s prose is excellent and I didn’t write down as many of the amazing one-liners as I should have, perhaps I’ll have to get my hands on a physical copy once it’s out and copy some down for posterity. For example: “If I waffle anymore I’ll be covered in syrup.” I may be misquoting here as I hurriedly typed this out as I listened to Marnie convince herself, once again, to do something out of character.

So, back to the plot. Marnie is a high school senior with her eyes on the prize, the Hunt Prize. It’s an illustrious prize that her own elder sister, Lindy, (aka Lizzie Bennett) won some years ago, launching her documentary film making career and earning her the attention of daddy dearest, Silicon Valley tech giant.

And then there’s Hayes, the apple of Marnie’s eye. Except that he turns out to be a bit of a rotten apple, which doesn’t take much figuring out (why I’m including this spoiler!) and as clear as it might be to you and I reader, it takes a long while for Marnie to (a) figure this out and (b) be ready and able to do something about it.

But back to that prize, Marnie launches (with the support of many!) Bark Books, a program where school children read books to dogs at a local animal shelter. A local animal shelter where Whit (a very non-rotten apple) meets Marnie. I’ll let you read more about this relationship but it also takes Marnie a while to figure it out.

Why you ask? Because she’s a teenaged girl who’s grown up in a house full of women who are all VERY busy trying to figure themselves out, so naturally she’s gotten lost in the shuffle and found solace in her books (not a bad thing). Except that in doing so, she’s become (and I quote): “Trapped in a tower of [her] own making.” And we all know, or at least some of you will, how hard it can be to challenge yourself and the perceptions others hold of you, a life you’ve carefully constructed that you thought was right - brick by brick - just to have it prove you wrong. And so at the tender age of 18, Marnie learns a bit too much about the ways life and people can be cruel.

But don’t worry, it all ends well - just a few blisters, tears and long walks up hilly San Francisco!

Marnie Barnes constantly feels like an outsider, at home and at school. Marnie Barnes is a student at Pacific Crest Academy. trying to make a break from her old life.. A snafu in residence life lands Marnie a roommate. Adhira Fitz is determined to be friends with Marnie. Unfortunately, friendship is also something Marnie is awkward about.

This young adult novel has many great messages about friendship, social awkwardness, family dynamics, the importance of communication, first love, and so much more. You will not be disappointed reading this book. The characters are relatable.

I love a Jane Austen retelling of any sort, and I especially loved reading a Mary Bennet story. This book had just enough parallels to Pride and Prejudice to satisfy all retelling wants but was unique enough that it felt fresh and new.

This book was easy to fall into, with a funny and real main character who grows a lot throughout the book.

Excited for this one to come out. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this early!

Marnie is basically a modern day Mary Bennett. An intelligent introvert seeking her place and acceptance in her dysfunctional family. This book is very well written and engaging. Every character is fully developed. You definitely don’t want to sleep on this one. Definitely worth the listen or read!

Our protagonist has always felt like a dim Mary Bennett next to her accomplished and vivacious sisters. Moving into student housing and competing for a prestigious prize give her enough of her own experiences to see that they are no better or worse than she is. In light, realistic, and funny first person narration, she deepens family relationships, develops genuine friendships, and a tentative romance. And realizes that she deserves to be the protagonist of her own story.

Being Mary Bennet is going straight into my comfort read collection!

Marnie is such a relatable character. She's a bookworm who feels isolated and inferior to her sisters, has a strong drive to prove herself to others, but a faltering confidence in herself. As she faces the differences between who she wants to be and who she sees herself as being, she learns to trust herself to show the caring, snarky person she is - one who recognizes her own shortcomings and works on loving herself anyway.

While this story isn't a straight re-telling of Pride & Prejudice, a watchful reader will find plenty of parallels between that classic and this reimagined story. Lines straight from P&P and bonus mentions of several other classics will keep fellow bookworms feeling happy and nostalgic.

This was really cute and enjoyable--better than expected, honestly. I know my students will enjoy it too.

This was a cute story with relatable characters; that I got through in a little over a day; since it was one of those books that was easy to sit back and enjoy; without having to overthink or anything.

I admit at first the main character Marnie did get on my nerves a bit; but she ended up growing on me, and I always love some good character development; so that was a major plus for me.

Another major plus for me was how much I found the plot itself (minus the unrequited love aspects) relatable.

Overall an easy enjoyable read; that I recommend.

A fun debut YA rom-com complete with dysfunctional families, mean girls, crushes, and humor. Even if you never read (or saw) Pride and Prejudice, you get the idea of how Mary Bennet played her part in the novel. Marnie Barnes, total geeky bookworm, decides she will no longer be the quiet, never had friends Mary Bennet character when she goes to the private boarding school and ends up with an outgoing roommate determined to help her.

Being Mary Bennet is one of the better modernisations of The Bennett family I've ever read. The story focuses on Marnie Barnes, the middle daughter from a family of 5 girls and how she struggles with feelings of loneliness and worries she'll never live up to her older sisters, but learns to be confident and comfortable with herself and her family. While the plot doesn't follow Pride and Prejudice, the familiar characters are all recognizablein the Barnes family.

Being Mary Bennett by J.C. Peterson is a great young adult, coming of age fiction that I really enjoyed.

I am reviewing the audiobook with this review. The version I listened to unfortunately just had the robotic speaker, so as to the newer version, I cannot speculate on its quality.

From a literary standpoint, this was a nice upper teen/young adult novel that has a lot of elements to it: romance, witty one-liners, coming of age concept, and threads of Pride & Prejudice. It isn’t heavily steeped in P&P characters and concepts unfortunately, but I appreciated it for all the things it did have.

Marnie Barnes is the main character, and she is being compared to Mary Bennett from the novel throughout. She does have similar qualities, but she has her own identity, passions, hopes, dreams, flaws, and life…it just takes trial and error and some growing up to find these things. This progression and growth is what this novel is mainly about, and with this, its most redeeming qualities.

I liked this book and I think that anyone that is trying to find their way in this world should enjoy it as well.

4/5 stars

Thank you to Harper Audio for this arc and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.

I am posting this review to my GR and Bookbub accounts immediately and will post it to my Amazon, Instagram, and B&N accounts upon publication on 3/15/22.

Thank you NetGalley for this eARC!

This book surpassed my expectations. I was thinking it was going to be a cute Pride and Prejudice spin-off, but it was so much deeper.

Marnie Barnes is a senior at an elite boarding school in San Francisco. The middle child, she has felt like an outsider in her own family her entire life. Her solace came through books, which she tends to prefer to real humans. However, an extravert of a roommate, a school project, and family developments lead Marnie to wonder- is a bookish life enough?

I loved this book. It made me laugh, it made me cry… if I hadn’t been listening to it on my phone, it would’ve made me through the book across the room in frustration! JC Peterson examines the how and the why behind our ‘Mary Bennet’ acts the way she does. There’s such solid (and not immediate) character development, even with side characters. Of course the bookish crowd will love getting all of the references to various literary works (although the only one really ‘needed’ is Pride and Prejudice).

I thoroughly recommend this book- what an incredible debut!

I did not enjoy this audiobook. I found Marnie to be a bit annoying though she did grow on me a bit. I do think this is partly because I admit my judgement might be colored by the fact that I thought it would be more Pride and Prejudice-y.