Who knew frat boy Charles Bingley was everything I was missing from my life.
I'm a sucker for a Pride & Prejudice reimagining. Following the perspective of Georgie Darcy as she deals with the fall out from her Wickham-scandal. I loved the world Quain created and the way these characters seamlessly fit into this modern world. I loved seeing Lizzy and Darcy from the sidelines, and let me tell you Wickham is an asshole in every century.
Georgie was a frustrating main character at points, and though I understood her internal monologue it didn't stop me from wanting to shake her at times.

This was not for me, but I do think my students might relate more. If I ever do a unit that pairs classics and contemporary fiction, I might use this. However, it was a bit of a slog for me personally because Georgiana’s character did not feel believable/sympathetic. Something like that is hard to put a finger on, but something is missing.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4 stars

Pride & Prejudice is one of my favorite Austen Novels. I've always wanted more Georgie. This book delivers. It's set in the 21st century and Georgie is in highschool and Fitz aka Mr. Darcy is in college.

I liked the premise of the book and learning about modern Georgie and the antics with Wickham.

A modern day Pride and Prejudice retelling about Georgie Darcy? Sign me up. I thought that was a cool twist! That being said, Accomplished is it's own unique story. My advice to Jane Austen fans: don't go into this book expecting it to be exactly like Pride and Prejudice.

One of my favorite things about this book is how strong Georgie’s voice is. She draws you in from the very first page! She’s fun and sweet, but she’s also flawed–like any good character. The book starts with Georgie describing what happened to her last school year--you won't be able to put the book down. Trust me, you'll fly through this book Amanda Quain’s writing is incredibly binge-able.

My biggest complaint about this book is how Georgie’s relationship with her brother Fitz is written. Their relationship feels very different compared to Georgie and Darcy’s in Pride and Prejudice. It really felt like Fitz hated her at times which broke my heart. I wish that had been addressed more in the book. I understand he was stressed and overwhelmed with being her sole guardian, but he was downright cruel at times.

Overall, I enjoyed this book, and I’m interested in seeing what the author writes next! This book is perfect for fans of YA contemporary, second chances, and angsty stories.

Rarely do I enjoy retellings of Austen’s work as much as I did with Accomplished by Amanda Quain. This modern retelling with Georgie Darcy as the main character was a read and listen, I could not put down. I felt it was well balanced between having enough Pride and Prejudice nods with a very fun, fresh, and modern take on changing plots, adding characters, and updating themes. (Seriously I have not read an Austen retelling like it to date.) While we do not know much about Georgianna Darcy in Pride and Prejudice, I find sometimes retellings with her almost try to take her and put her in a retelling with Georgianna in Elizabeth’s place. This was not the case. It was more a present-day story, with some background Pride and Prejudice plots as a backdrop. I think the other important part of this story is that the reader does not have to have a knowledge of Pride and Prejudice to enjoy, understand, or connect with this book.

The characters were likeable in the fact that they had flaws and felt like real people. I thought the relationship, tension, and reconciliation between Georgie and Avery was well done. I also loved that they were marching band members. Something very near and dear to my heart. I found the pacing of this book was spot on for what it needed to be. I never felt like the story dragged.

The narration by Deva Marie Gregory was exceptional. Her voices were distinct, and I always knew who was talking without having to hear Wickham said… She was well paced, clear, and easy to understand.

I cannot wait to read more by Amanda Quain and listen to more books narrated by Deva Marie Gregory. Both did exceptional with their respective roles. If you like enjoyable, good, and well-done fresh retellings of Austen’s stories, this book is for you. If you love marching band romances with a well-paced, interesting story (and could care less that this has anything to do with Jane Austen) this book is also for you. I think this story has the ability to draw in Austen fans and maybe get some new readers interested in reading Austen, as well as catering to those teens who just want a good weekend read. If I were in high school reading this, I would want to try reading Austen for the first time. I need to add a copy of this book to my Austen bookcase. (Yes, I said bookcase. I told you I have read a lot of Austen retellings.)

I received an eARC and audiobook review copy from St. Martin’s Press and Macmillan Audio through NetGalley. All opinions are 100% my own.

Thanks to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for this free digital copy in exchange for an honest review. This book is out today, 7/26!

This is a book that I kept putting down not because it wasn't good or I didn't like it, but because I was regularly stressed for main character Georgie. I'm so happy that I pushed through and finished it though, because I really liked it and the ending made me swoon with all the cute, gooey, happy feels.

This is somewhat of a take on Pride and Prejudice, but with Georgiana Darcy in the lead role instead of Darcy and Elizabeth...but don't worry, they are there too! This has coming-of-age feels and the YA joy of starting to figure out your place in the world. Be aware--Georgie is dealing with a lot of emotional trauma in this story that can be hard to read at times. Other students are mean to her, her brother is intense, and not many seem to actually want to listen to her tell her story, which she accepts as what she thinks she deserves thanks to all of the emotional trauma. Oh, and there's Wickham.

It was lovely to read along while Georgie grows and finds herself. If you are someone who needs to read anything remotely related to Jane Austen's works, this is for you. If you are a fan of contemporary YA, you might enjoy this! Honestly, it's kind of worth it to get a frat boy Bingley with a heart of gold.

*I received a copy of this book in exchange of an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley.

Georgie Darcy should have been expelled from Pemberley Academy last year after The Incident that involved Wickham Foster. The only thing that kept her from that fate is her family name. Being a Darcy comes with expectations and a brother, Fitz, who is always disappointed in something Georgie has done. This time, it's bad. Now that her Junior year has started, Georgie is trying to prove to everyone that she is the Perfect Darcy. She'll do that by accomplishing three things. Rebuilding her relationship with the marching band (her passion), forget about Wickham and his lies, and distract Fitz by getting him to fall in love with his classmate, Lizzy Bennet. Her bandmate and only friend, Avery will help her even while it all has the big possibility of falling down around her just like last year.

I went into this book knowing just about nothing of the source material. Pride and Prejudice is not a book I've read or a movie adaptation that I've seen. But I know just enough that I could tell where the characters or story was going. That being said, this book was a pleasant surprise! I thought it would be a little bit more lighthearted and fun, but quickly realized that this was a book centered on Georgie figuring out herself. We all know that being a teenager can be messy no matter what time period we're in, so that's what the book is about. Georgie is not a character you love immediately. You feel for her, but there are parts of the book that I didn't enjoy her point of view. But that's what made me love her growth even more. I think it's important to be able to see change and growth at the end. Fitz and Lizzie felt rushed into everything, but I could tell that was important for the pacing of the book. The side characters were really my favorite. They offered a perspective to Georgie that needed to be seen. The only thing I could have done without was the romance. It didn't seem needed. However, that's just my opinion. I would recommend this book to those who love the source material, like a good coming of age story, or just want to read something that feels a little bit heavier.

This Pride and Prejudice remix moves side character Georgiana (Georgie) Darcy to center stage. It’s a fresh, modern spin on the classic. After a drug scandal at her boarding school makes her a social outcast and damages her relationship with her brother, Georgie embarks on a self improvement plan.

Georgie is full of good intentions but terrible execution. Instead of finding her endearing and someone I wanted to root for, I never really warmed to her. She's a little bit oblivious to what's going on around her and definitely sheltered. Hands down, my favorite character is Avery, Georgie's love interest. He's continually there for her even though Georgie isn't always to best friend to him. With the help of Avery, her brother Fitz, and his girlfriend Lizzy, Georgia accomplishes her goal of being a better person, sister, and friend.

Those who enjoy a redemption arc and boarding school hijinks should give this one a try.

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for an early copy of this book.

3 stars. This is probably one of the fullest explorations of Georgiana Darcy I’ve ever seen or read, and how emotional abuse can deeply hurt and break down a person. Set in the competitive world of prep school, this retelling sees Georgie Darcy dealing with the aftermath of her relationship and break down after Wickham uses her to deal drugs at school, and the events of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice in the background.
The concept was well executed, and a unique take on a retelling. I liked Fitz as a character a ton, and I really enjoyed the Avery character as a love interest and the very true to life band geekiness. The fandom stuff was a bit jarring for me, but if you liked those parts I’d say, Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, you’ll probably like this. And the ending with the discussion about race, privilege and how to move forward was superb. But where this fell down for me was in the sheer slog of the beginning and middle parts. Honestly, this was a 2.5 star read until right at the end because there was a lot of repetition, way too many flashbacks, and WOW, the angst. And yet…I can’t say that it didn’t work. It’s long, it reads a bit like fanfic itself, but it does hold together. Read if you like Austen retellings, broken characters looking to fight back, and band geekery. A library read for sure.

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Books/Wednesday Books for the eARC/audio ARC.

In this loose adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, Georgie Darcy finally takes center stage. After she “ruins her life” with Wickham, Georgie isn’t expelled from her bougie boarding school mostly because of the Darcy name. Everyone hates her, except, inexplicably, fellow trombone player Avery. But Georgie decides this is the year she finally lives up to the Darcy name. She’s going to prove to everyone she’s as smart and accomplished as the rest of her family.

I have a friend who often sends me the book listings of P&P adaptations and says, “you’d probably like this.” And I’m literally always, excited to read the book. By which I mean, this book is exactly my jam.

The modern personalities Quain gave the familiar characters were so clever and sometimes made me laugh out loud. Frat boy Bingley was something I didn’t realize we all needed in our lives, but omg, we really do. But it took me a while to warm up to Georgie herself, which I think was my main struggle with the book. I eventually came to love her, but it was hard to like the standoffish, still kind of pining for Wickham girl at the beginning. Maybe I had too much of my own idea of what Georgie would be like, and this version took a while to reconcile for me. And I’ve never felt so old as when I was frustrated by her decisions not to be honest with her brother.

But there’s so much about this version of the story that works really well. I loved Quain’s Darcy, whom she called Fitz, and would have happily read his side of the story (he and this Lizzy are perfect for each other because they both love a good powerpoint!). Georgie’s budding feelings for Avery, and how falling for him is so different from what she experienced with Wickham, are the kind of sweet, happy thing this girl needs in her life. And there’s a nice moment of Fitz cluing Georgie in to the truly absurd privilege they have and why it sucks that it’s not a level playing field for everyone else. Always nice to see the proud Darcy siblings acknowledge how lucky they are.

I was very excited to read this. But I am going to be honest it felt a little hard to keep up with. This book started off by telling us about the events that happened the year before. But the problem is there was no first book in the series. This was the first book and I don't like the way the story went. I also felt like this book was a little to young for me and I did not find myself really caring about the characters.

I thought this book was quite enjoyable. I must admit that I'm not really the biggest Jane Austen fan, so maybe that helped. Personally, I found this modern YA take entertaining and I found the characters interesting. Really like Georgie, Avery, Charles and Fitz. All and all, I thought it was a fun tread.

Georgie Darcy has screwed up before, but never this badly.

Falling into Wickham’s schemes not only broke her trust with her brother Fitz— the only family member who’s still willing to associate with her— but it also made her a social pariah at Pemberley Academy, where Wickham was much better liked than she is and everyone believes she would’ve been expelled if not for her family name. When Wickham comes back to town swearing he’s the only person who actually cares about her, Georgiana knows she can’t fall for it again. Instead, she enacts a daring plan to become the perfect Darcy, to master academics and extracurriculars and yes, even friendship. It will prove she’s worthy of her lineage. If she can get her helicopter brother off her back by encouraging the interesting new connection he’s made with Lizzie Bennett, even better. What could possibly go wrong?

Accomplished is a modernization of Pride & Prejudice that uses the names and relationships from the books, but thoroughly reimagines pretty much everything else. After all, if you’re going to modernize the tale, it can’t all be about suitable and scandalous marriage arrangements. If you’re a Jane Austen purist, it will probably be hard to swallow “Charlie” Bingley the vivacious frat boy or the Pemberley Academy marching band. You may also not like that the story largely revolves around Georgie surrounded by original characters at school while the original P&P characters have much smaller roles. But for me, that’s what made the story fun! We’ve seen different versions of the elder Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett a thousand times. This offered something different.

Georgie’s narration is pretty light overall, but it hits the emotional notes it needs. She’s smart, but apathetic to school and socially inept. It becomes clear that even at a prestigious school, the Darcy name is a little too prestigious and no one besides Georgie can see her as a normal teenager— except maybe Avery, the drum major, scholarship student, and former friend who never quite gave up on Georgie after she ditched everyone and everything for Wickham. Avery is such a sweet original character and a great foil for both Wickham and Darcy in his own way. I really liked the banter between the two. The heart of this story is both family drama and rom-com, and Avery’s part in both is pretty wonderful. Giving Georgie relationships of her own outside of Fitz obviously adds a lot of depth.

The plot moves pretty steadily, which is nice considering this is a story where there isn’t a lot of action or antics. It’s just people living their messy, interconnected lives and forming bonds. However, I will say that Accomplished includes some classic P&P elements half-heartedly. For instance, we know Wickham is involved with Lydia, but it pretty much plays out off-page and we never see a true resolution after Lizzie finds out. Georgie also doesn’t spend much time with Fitz & Lizzie like in the original book, so she doesn’t see them fall in love. They’re not together, she schemes and hopes they will get together, and then they are. It all happens in intervals when Georgie isn’t present, which makes the whole plotline feel stilted despite its classic origins. Sometimes it felt like the book would’ve been better if it wasn’t trying so hard to stay connected with its original inspiration (blasphemy, I know!)

If you go into this expecting something sweet with a hint of an old favorite story like I did, you should be pleased with what you get!

This "Pride and Prejudice" remix focusses on Darcy's youngers sister Georgiana aka Georgie. In this modern rendition her brother is her guardian and she is in her junior year at Pemberley Academy. She is active in the band and plays trombone. She is friends with another trombone player Avery and the two of them work together to get her overzealous brother off her back by hooking him up with Lizzie Bennet. They get some matchmaking ideas from some interesting places and do what they can to see the couple together. Wickham is a bad bad into selling drugs with questionable morals. He is Georgie's ex and the reason Darcy is keeping a good eye on his sister.
For a younger audience this book is a more relatable twist on a classic story. The story moves along well and the audiobook is entertaining as well.

Thank you NetGalley & Wednesday Books for an advance copy of this book.


I was really looking forward to reading my first Pride and Prejudice retelling, as really enjoyed the classic. However this book was just not for me.

I think there will be a lot of people who adore this book and will enjoy the plot and the character of Georgie but unfortunately both the plot and the characters weren’t for me.

Georgie is obsessed with getting back in the good graces of everyone especially her brother after her ‘boyfriend’ Fitz got busted for selling drugs out of her room. I can understand that some people would be mad at her thinking she turned Fitz in and they lost their drug seller, but it is hard to believe that a whole school of people would hate this girl.

Georgie is also very self-loathing and I although she is fighting for redemption I didn’t feel the connection to fight for her because she was so hard on herself, and it felt at times like she didn’t want to even fight for it herself.

Accomplished, by Amanda Quain, is a contemporary retelling of Pride & Prejudice focused on Georgiana Darcy. As Georgiana begins her junior year at Pemberley Academy, she struggles with the backlash against her after her brother turned in her ex-boyfriend, Wickham, for using Georgiana's single room as a base for dealing Adderall to the student body without her knowledge. She tries to form a plan to make her brother stop worrying about her and get Wickham to leave her alone, but finds herself stumbling at every turn.

I've never met a Pride & Prejudice retelling I didn't love, and this was no different.

Georgiana is a compelling character, and I really appreciated the character growth that she undergoes over the course of the story. After the death of her father when she was 12, and the subsequent abandonment of her and her brother by their mother, the two siblings have only each other, so they had a very codependent relationship for Georgiana's first year at Pemberley. When Fitz went to Caltech on the other side of the country for her sophomore year, Georgiana got immediately wrapped up in Wickham, her childhood crush who transferred to the school that year. She doesn't quite know how to have normal friendships, so that's a big part of her journey as a character.

I also loved the fandom aspect of her character. She's deeply attached to a TV show called Sage Hall, having written a lot of fanfiction for it and being very involved on Tumblr. When the pairing that she had always projected her feelings about herself and Wickham onto starts becoming canon in the current season, she finds herself forced to confront that trauma every time she engages with her favorite show, which is a really interesting exploration of the role of media as a way of engaging with our real lives, and was definitely my favorite aspect of the book.

One of the biggest aspects of Georgiana's growth was learning to reckon with her own privilege due to her extreme wealth. She starts out the novel cognizant of it, but becomes much more aware of it over the course of the story, and it was a really nice part of her own character development.

The other characters are all wonderful. Georgiana's only friend (and love interest), Avery, is sweet and compelling and never afraid to confront Georgiana when she's making a mistake. They have a wonderful friends-to-lovers slowburn, and it's a really lovely storyline.

Fitz is the perfect overprotective brother/stand-in father figure that his character is often at its best in, and his interactions with Lizzie (who Georgiana plays a role in setting him up with) are adorable. Frat boy Bingley was an unexpected icon who kind of stole the book. I really enjoyed seeing this version of the main Pride and Prejudice storyline play out from the sidelines; now I just wish that there was going to be a sequel focusing on that part of the story!

I think the biggest drawback of the story was the completely overblown backlash of the school towards Georgiana. I've been to a similar boarding school where there have been cases where extremely wealthy students don't get kicked out for things that normal students would, and they never receive this amount of backlash. I have a really hard time believing that enough people were buying drugs from Wickham that they hate Georgiana for turning him in as well. The biggest issue is that she didn't even do anything wrong. Sure, she must have been extremely naive to not realize her boyfriend was using her room to sell drugs, but she didn't know, and she wasn't even the one who turned her in. It's an extremely frustrating experience to spend an entire book watching a character get hated on for essentially no reason.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed Accomplished. If you want to read a unique spin on a Pride and Prejudice retelling, then you should absolutely check it out. Despite the frustrating main conflict, where the entire school turns on Georgiana for very little reason, every other aspect of the story is absolutely wonderful and I wholeheartedly recommend it. I'm giving Accomplished 4/5 stars.

CW: bullying, emotional manipulation/toxic relationship

Are you a fan of Pride & Prejudice? Have you read all the retellings that you can possibly get your hands on? Well, this may not be focused on Lizzie Bennet but you can bet Accomplished still has plenty of heart, romance, and family issues to deal with.

Georgie Darcy is the younger sister of Fitz Darcy, the sole Darcys left in their family now that their father has passed and their mother ditched them (whoops, motherly instincts were never her strong suit). But that’s okay because Fitz is all the family Georgie needed, or so she thought before everything came crashing down.

This retelling focused on the younger Darcy sibling surprised me in more ways than I anticipated. I barely remember her in the original story so I suppose that helped with minimal expectations. Georgie was by far a perfect protagonist. At the start of the book, we already knew she had a very tumultuous previous year with Wickham, an unfortunate family friend who took advantage of her while Fitz was away at college. Yet she was also someone I highly empathized with. Bullied and isolated by her classmates for things that she didn’t necessarily do or deserve (why do teenagers insist on liking the drug dealer over the patsy he controlled?), Georgie displayed more strength than even I would have as she devised a plan to gain the respect of her peers and her brother once again. Honestly, if I were in her shoes, I’d probably want to hold up in my room and just cry.

I liked how her character grew through the ordeal. She struggled and tried in the only way she knew how to – by sometimes throwing around her Darcy money to help make grand gestures to show she cared about those around her. Yes, perhaps she may have needed to learn to read the room, but it all came from a place of genuine want to fit in and to do good for the people around her. I was also happy to see a little conversation with Fitz at one point discussing their privilege. While being rich (or SUPER rich in their case) did NOT negate the bad things that happened to them as they’re still very valid hardships they suffered, it did provide a large cushion that did in a number of ways make things easier for them than a lot of others in the same situation.

Of course, the romance was a large feature in the book and I’m not just talking about Fitz and a certain Lizzie Bennet who aggravated him unlike anyone else did (aside from Georgie). I’ll get back to them. No, I’m talking about Georgie’s band classmate, Avery. When no one else gave her the time of day or even a nod of acknowledgment in the hallways (like, come on, how hard is it to even just acknowledge someone’s presence?), Avery did.

After everything with Wickham which could only be described as emotional manipulation where Georgie struggled to feel like she could be on her own without him, Avery was a breath of fresh air and exactly what she needed after she healed. I don’t want to spend too much time talking about Wickham because it was a little sickening the way he practically groomed her and isolated her from everything except to say it’s a large part of her story. It’s not heavily focused what he did exactly but the aftermath is definitely present. Thankfully, Avery is the complete opposite and their friendship-turned-romance was everything I was here for. He grounded her but also liked who she was. She wasn’t just her name, her money or the legacy being a Darcy brought, which frankly mostly associated with negative things.

For P&P fans, no worries, we do get to see Lizzie and Fitz in more than a cameo appearance. I liked the reimagination of these two iconic characters in a modern setting, not to mention Charlie Bingley as a frat boy. It felt realistic to the core characters Austen brought to life while fitting seamlessly into Georgie’s story here. One reprieve from the more emotional aspects of Georgie’s life is her scheme to matchmake them to get Fitz off of her back and simultaneously do one good thing for him to make him happy after all the stress she gave him. Her plans and set ups were surely fanfic level ideas, something Georgie is also super into, and I thoroughly enjoyed seeing whether they would actually bring these two stubborn people together successfully.

Whether you’re a fan of Pride & Prejudice or not, Georgie Darcy’s story stands out on its own. With such an empathetic character even with her flaws and her failures, maybe because of them, she shines bright as we follow her attempts to accomplish all that a Darcy should be and find herself in the process. Is she only a Darcy or can she be more as simply Georgie? This isn’t a story that sees happily ever after dependent on some boy righting her world but rather about a young woman learning she can be happy for herself with the help of those she loves. If that’s something you’d cheer for, then this is the book for you, my friend.

Overall Recommendation:

Accomplished delivers an emotional coming-of-age story about Georgie Darcy, the younger Darcy sibling, while featuring familiar names from Pride & Prejudice. After disappointing her brother, all her peers and herself when she got entangled with the toxic Wickham, Georgie tackles a grand plan to win back everyone’s respect and approval by being the best Darcy she could be with the help of her only friend, Avery. Their friendship and romance was a highlight, but what really tugged my heartstrings is Georgie herself as she navigated her struggles and failures. I laughed and cried with her as she learned more of who she wanted to be, not only who everyone expected her to be. This is a retelling you don’t want to miss.

*Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for the advanced copy for review. All opinions are my own.

I truly enjoyed this book. At times Georgie was super annoying and just needed to grow up. I know that was the premise of the book, but it was a little over the top at times. I did enjoy the story overall though. I liked the spin on Pride & Prejudice and the focus being on the sister. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys YA.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the ARC of this novel. I enjoyed this book and seeing it from Georgie's perspective especially since I could picture each character as the actor from the Lizzie Bennet Diaries! I'm wondering if the author had them in mind to as she wrote per their descriptions. Seeing Georgie be called out for her privilege and understanding that people are going to judge you no matter what so you have to live for yourself. Avery being her love interest was telegraphed but I still really liked it. I did not go into it thinking this was a Pride and Prejudice retelling but it was actually a good one! 4 stars.

3.5ish, rounded up. I love a retelling, and this is an interesting take on a Pride and Prejudice retelling, with Georgiana Darcy as the main character. This story is a little melancholy- Georgie is shunned by the majority of her classmates after the events with Wickham the previous year- and she's struggling to prove herself to her brother, to the school, and to show Wickham that she doesn't need him. She's really lonely and can't quite figure out where she fits in, and as this is a YA book I think that will resonate with some readers. It takes Georgie some time to realize that you can't throw money at everything to win favor- it's about the bigger things.