Member Reviews
3.5 stars I was expecting a fun, light read. This was a bit depressing; I actually cried through a good portion of it. Georgie had such low self esteem and was so desperate and lonely. The tone did shift in the latter half of the story. The author did a great job at getting the reader to feel all of Georgie’s emotions. And thankfully by the end, Georgie was pulling her life together.
I felt that the characters rang true to their classic counterparts. There was good character growth. I did enjoy the second half more than the first. I think the YA crowd will really like this one.
Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press, Wednesday Books for this digital arc in exchange for my honest review which is not affiliated with any brand.
I really tried with this one, but I got bored very quickly. The characters weren't likeable at all and the rich kid vibes weren't working for me. I love Pride & Prejudice and the idea of a Georgiana retelling is great, but the execution was very disappointing.
I love P&P and I love P&P retellings! So to get a book for Georgiana is fantastic!!!
I love that Georgie is still the shy young lady, Fitz & Lizzy are also here, and Wickham is his normal douchy self.
While I enjoyed the book, I wasn't blown away by it. I think it was a book that wasn't for me at the time I read it. I'll give it a solid 3 stars.
Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an egalley in exchange for an honest review
Inspired by the characters of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, this is a contemporary YA tale centered on Georgiana Darcy( sister of Fitzwilliam Darcy). Pemberley Academy is still reeling from all the drama when Georgie got caught in the arms of drug dealing Wickham Foster last spring. As a result, older brother, Fitz has become super vigilant in his little sister's life. Georgie just wishes everyone could move on and stop treating her like a social pariah. Amanda Quain provides readers with plenty of romance and bad boy banter.
What I liked:
(1) Giving a very likeable Austen secondary character( Georgie Darcy) the spotlight. Quain's Georgie was an extremely likeable teen protagonist who has her own desires and aspirations. This is not a P& P retelling.
(2) Charles Bingley as a frat boy- HILARIOUS! He NEEDS a book!
What I didn't like:
(1) Boarding school romances are not one of my favorite types and I admit they were cute but Georgie and her love interest didn't grip me.
(2) Aside from the fact they were characters from Pride and Prejudice, the rest of the novel was pretty much like any other rom-com YA book.
I'm a big fan of Jane Austen and was excited for a new retelling, unfortunately this fell a little flat for me.
The beginning of the book started off a bit slow, with many flashbacks to Georgie & Wickham in the previous year , which became too much. I felt that the bullying and self-loathing we got from Georgie was over the top and took me out of the story. Wickham became almost cartoon-like with his villain arc.
I did love the relationship between Georgie and her brother and appreciated their ending. Georgie and Avery's relationship was cute. I also loved the callouts to Tumblr and fandom culture.
Thank you Netgalley for the e-ARC of this title. I enjoyed reading this title. Would recommend for my library.
I really wanted to enjoy this because Pride and Prejudice is my favorite book of all time, but I couldn’t get over the fact that I couldn’t stand Georgiana Darcy. She’s such a lovely character in the original book and in this she’s just a brat. I couldn’t finish it. Also, it was really annoying hearing him called Fitz And hearing his name three times every sentence
Really enjoyed this fun, modern take on the classic Pride and Prejudice. All the original characters turned sideways a bit were fun and fit well within the context of this world. (Yeah, Wickham still sucks hard.) And the addition of Avery as a friend and love interest for Georgie was sweet.
The drama and angst. This is definitely not a story for just any Austen fan. You've got to be able to put up with the teenage nonsense. But if you can, it's fun.
Georgie's self-hatred (due to a previous relationship and scandal with Wickham) was a bit much, though. Like it was sometimes hard to keep feeling sorry for her.
*Arc provided by Netgalley and Wednesday Books in exchange for an honest review.*
By far my favorite modern take on Georgiana Darcy. Struggling to live up to the Darcy name, and dealing with the fallout of her relationship with Wickham is making Georgiana's time at school downright miserable. The names and relationships are the same as the characters many know, but it's definitely something someone unfamiliar with the original would be able to read and not feel lost. The perfect mix of teenage angst and out of touch wealth.
I liked the idea of this and how they took a story of Georgie and turned it into a contemporary novel. What a nice change from a typical Pride and Prejudice retelling. I felt bad for Georgie and she had a lot of struggles. It frustrated me and it wasn't as cute and sweet as I had hoped.
I love the idea of a Pride and Prejudice retelling told from Georgiana Darcy's perspective. This one just wasn't the story for me. I do think a younger audience will love this book.
Rating : 4 out of 5
Blurbs :
It is a truth universally acknowledged that Georgiana Darcy should have been expelled after The Incident with Wickham Foster last year – at least if you ask any of her Pemberley Academy classmates. She may have escaped expulsion because of her family name, but she didn’t escape the disappointment of her big brother Fitz, the scorn of the entire school, or, it turns out, Wickham’s influence.
But she’s back for her junior year, and she needs to prove to everyone – Fitz, Wickham, her former friends, and maybe even herself – that she’s more than just an embarrassment to the family name. How hard can it be to become the Perfect Darcy? All she has to do is:
- Rebuild her reputation with the marching band (even if it kills her)
- Forget about Wickham and his lies (no matter how tempting they still are), and
- Distract Fitz Darcy — helicopter-sibling extraordinaire — by getting him to fall in love with his classmate, Lizzie Bennet (this one might be difficult…)
Sure, it's a complicated plan, but so is being a Darcy. With the help of her fellow bandmate, Avery, matchmaking ideas lifted straight from her favorite fanfics, and a whole lot of pancakes, Georgie is going to see every one of her plans through. But when the weight of being the Perfect Darcy comes crashing down, Georgie will have to find her own way before she loses everything permanently—including the one guy who sees her for who she really is.
Thoughts : Amanda Quain's debut book and my first book by her that I've read. This is a retelling of Pride and Prejudice. TBH,, I've never read Pride and Prejudice. I enjoy this book just fine. It's just YA books don't work for me and I found the angst and characters' relationship exhausting.
Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the early copy.
I haven't read the classics, so I never know how closely these retellings resemble the original source material. However, I generally don't enjoy them nearly as much as I think I will... until Accomplished. I loved every bit of this YA story that had many twists and turns and intrigue. The relationship between Georgie and the hero was adorable and nerdy and everything I want from YA couplings. The family drama and emotions were enough to wrench at your heart and is something I think a lot of people can relate to.
I am pretty sure this is the start of a series by Amanda Quain and I'm crossing my fingers for a Fitz and Lizzie story next because they stole some of the show in this book (before Georgie stole it back). I wish the conflict resolution was a bit more strong and explained better - but I think that would be just about my only complaint.
A story about familial expectations, young love, finding your way through high school, and avoiding the tempting bad boy, Accomplished is a ride from start to end and it was a great book to break my slump with.
**Thank you to Wednesday Books and Netgalley for an early copy in exchange for an honest review**
I was so enticed by this premiss, and though the book was different than I expected, I was hooked throughout. As a Jane Austen fan and a big fan of retellings of classic stories, I really enjoyed this different take on the Darcy family story. I also appreciated the Darcy's talking about their own privilege and acknowledging the opportunities that gives them.
Something I always love about Pride and Prejudice is the sibling love and relationships. This book captures the spirit of that flawlessly.
This book is a super fun contemporary take on what went wrong for Georgiana "Georgie" Darcy. I liked the way that the author updated the Wickham situation from attempt to marry a young woman for her money and status to using her privileges to sell drugs out of her dorm room and the change in what Wickham and Lydia's relationship had going on (that I won't say because I don't want to spoil it). I appreciated watching Georgie learn lessons throughout and come to understand how her unacknowledgement of her privileges has affected the way people view her. She is a flawed character that not everyone will like, but she felt like a teen. Watching Georgie learn how to connect to other people and not just assume things about them was really nice. Technically, the Darcy/Elizabeth romance is happening in the background of this story and we get to see little snippets of it, but it is not a major focus. This isn't really a retelling of Pride and Prejudice, but an updated extension of a side plot that we don't really see much of in the original.
My only issue with this book is how dismissive Georgie continues to be about her roommate Sydney. At one point, I thought she would try to make friendly overtures to Sydney, but we never really got that. I think it would have been really nice to see Georgie work to make that relationship more friendly. They are pretty indifferent to each other in general, but it would have been even more character development for Georgie to reach out to her.
Overall, Accomplished is a fun contemporary look at trying to rebuild your reputation, self-confidence, and relationships that I think teens will be able to connect with and have fun reading.
Great re-telling of a classic - the modern, YA spin really made it fun to read. Wickham was just an easy character to dislike, and Georgie and her brother were quite the pair - I loved watching their relationship mend as they both grew.
I'll be honest, I ended up DNF this book. I was really excited picking up because of Mr. Darcy and Pride and Prejudice. But, I wasn't caring for the characters that I was encountering throughout the story.
I think I liked the idea of this more than the actual execution. I love a modern take on things, and Charles Bingley as a frat boy is super true, but I felt like Georgie was pretty unlikeable for most of the book and her plans were...ridiculous. To me, any problem that can be solved by just telling someone what's happening isn't a great problem?
So I definitely think there are plus and minuses to reading spinoffs from a story that I adore so much. So for me part of this was good, but I think that was overshadowed by Georgianna and her attitude towards literally everything. I mean I understood her POV to a certain extent but I do think that it felt like at times Eeyore was her ghostwriter. I think for me this is middle of the road. Not the worst spinoff for me, but also not my favorite.
I had been really hopeful for this book because I love Pride and Prejudice and Austen's other works, so I'm always down for a good retelling or twist with those characters. However, this book just kind of missed the mark for me, maybe it was just too juvenile for my age and no longer appeals to me. Overall, it had a certain charm to it but wasn't my cup of tea.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.