Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc of "Anne of Greenville" by Mariko Tamaki.

This is a contemporary retelling of Anne of Green Gables, with Anne being an adopted, Japanese, high schooler with a love for orange and disco. When Anne and her two mothers move to small town Greenville it becomes very obvious very quickly that their type of different is not welcome into the town.

I feel like this does a good job of retelling Anne of Green Gables, or at least it does of Anne. It reads very frenetically and at such a pace I almost felt breathless each time I finished reading. The pace of this book is very very fast and you feel like you, as the reader, are simply trying to keep up with Anne's own thought process.

I will admit it has been some years since I have read Anne of Green Gables and so I cannot really compare the two books except in a very general sense but I would suggest pairing these together for a (re)read.

I wanted to love this book, and it definitely kept my attention enough that I wanted to keep reading it, but it did fall a bit flat for me. I know that the original Anne was really an 'original' and she didn't fit in all that well but this Anne seems to insist on standing out and I understand that with Millie being an artist that maybe she was raised to be what she wants to be but it felt a bit awkward like the basic girl who does everything to stand out. Anne's refusal to actually say why a lot of the problems that are happening are happening (mainly being the homophobia of the students at the school) really frustrated me and that might be that I am aging out of YA fiction and both Anne's refusal to tell what is actually happening and her mothers' refusal to believe her when she finally does was very frustrating.

The entire plot of this book falls a little flat as if the end of the book was rushed. Everything has to work out by the end of the story and so Sarah just forgives Gilly, everything can be part of the play, Principal Lynde starts to respect Anne, and everyone gets a happy ending. It felt like there should still be some tension because in a town like Greenville change isn't going to be easy after fighting for it to happen.

It was interesting enough to keep my attention and was a fast paced read but it felt like it missed the mark a bit.

As an Anne of Green Gables enthusiast I guess I was expecting for this show to be a little bit more similar to the source material. I think it might be better just taken on its own. I appreciated the LGBTQ representation. The story of progressive city family coming to conservative small town and making waves is a familiar trope. The story seemed mostly realistic in its portrayal. I’d give it 3/5 stars - 3.5 for the representation. I like that Anne stayed her quirky self.

Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC.

I was never a big Anne of Green Gables fan but you don't have to be to enjoy this book! I think this novel would particularly resonate with people who has felt like an outsider in their school or community. This is a great YA read for middle/early high school students.

This is Anne like you've never seen her before! Enough parallels to the original for die-hard fans to appreciate yet new enough that those unfamiliar with Anne of Green Gables will enjoy it as well. A queer tale of finding the balance between finding your place in a new town and staying true to yourself.

Thank you Disney Press and NetGalley for the ARC of Anne of Greenville by Mariko Tamaki. Anne of Green Gables was my all time favorite growing up and still is one of my favorites. When I saw this book, I had to read it. Tamaki does a wonderful job of putting the story into modern times. Anne still is eccentric and quirky and finds herself with a crush. But things can never be simple for Anne. I was worried I would be disappointed but I definitely was not!

Mariko Tamaki takes a classic story and presents an amazing reinvention, applying a contemporary setting and telling a unique and relevant tale. Highly recommended work for young readers from a major creative voice.

I went into this with high hopes!

An Anne retelling? But make it modern? And love all things ABBA? Yes, please.

Unfortunately though for me it wasn’t the best. It fell flat and I think the author tried to hard to include so many real issues that it lacked real depth in any of the issues. I would have rather experienced a few less happenings with a couple solidly developed issues. It was hard to get the connection with this book.

Thank you to NetGalley for the early copy in exchange for review!

HMM this was tough tbh, because I have been a fan of Mariko Tamaki's stuff and I'm a big Anne Shirley enthusiast but this just didn't hit for me. I think if it hadn't been billed as having anything to do with Anne of Green Gables this would have been fine but to me it just wasn't getting the core dreaminess of Anne's character? (And like, as my love of the Remixed Classics series--which this is not part of--demonstrates, I'm not some stickler for canon who can't tolerate change. I just can't tolerate THIS change.)

I chose to DNF this book.

It might be a great fit for some, but it was all over the place for me. The character of Anne was an original update but everything else felt forced. I can see many things the author was trying to do but they fell flat and I just didn't want to invest more time.

Anne of Green Gables is one of my favorite series of all time. Maybe I was too biased - I was missing Marilla and Mathew.

Overall I enjoyed this book but some of the conflicts were not flushed out and solved well enough for me.

As a fan of Mariko Tamaki, I couldn't wait to read ANNE OF GREENVILLE. Tamaki's Anne is bright and entertaining; her skating debut in the town square is hilarious. However, this read really young and it felt more like a middle grade novel. Perhaps part of that is because I've never been a big fan of Anne of Green Gables or maybe it's always been for younger YA readers. I can see middle school readers loving this, but it feeling a bit too immature for my high school writers.

I adored this updated version of Anne of Green Gables, and while there were more inclusive elements of biracial characters, and more LGBTQ representation, nothing about these more modern elements felt forced. In fact, Mariko Tamaki blended old and new storylines together so seamlessly, that I was smiling along with Anne through the joyful moments, and empathizing during the tough times.

I am familiar with Anne of Green Gables, so was able to pick out the tributes to her friends and love interest, but I didn't see the twist at the end, even though I wanted it to end just the way it did.

Absolute perfection!

I adored this retelling of Anne of Green Gables. I loved the queer spin and the updated characters. I felt every inch of young adult angst and upset with Anne Shirley.

Beautiful, well paced, dynamic and fun.

A modern day reimagining of Anne of Green Gables with sapphic love interests? Sign me up. The story follows Anne Shirley, a half-Japanese American who is the adopted daughter of two moms. When her mom gets a new job as vice principle in Greenville, Anne’s entire life is going to turn upside down as she is faced with homophobia, racism, and cruelty. This story did not pull it’s punches on the homophobic and racist cruelty of some of these students, like they committed crimes, literal hate crimes against this poor girl. This book was less Anne of Green Gables and growing up and more Anne vs homophobia and racism for a majority of the story. Anne herself was pretty spot on and the author did a good job of capturing the essence of Anne Shirley but in modern day. We get Diana Barry as Berry, an artistic and cute new best friend and Gilly aka Gilbert a beautiful but not great person. The folks of Greenvile were not great, and the whole “small town, small minded and closed off individuals” was definitely exaggerated. The novel kind of ends at a point where your kind of like “okay but how will Anne handle the real bigger issues in the school” and against the extremely problematic students who have it out for her and it’s kind of left unresolved how Anne’s treatment from the townsfolk is resolved. This wasn’t really a retelling of Anne of Green Gables so I felt it was a bit disappointing and I would definitely recommend reading the trigger warnings before going into this book. There was a romance in this book but there was never a question of who the romantic person would be because one of the love interest was absolutely not redeemable and definitely not a good love interest. Overall, I dont think I would recommend this for fans of the classic or of Anne of Green Gables...but I do give it props for trying to be a modern day retelling of a classic.

*Thank you Netgalley and Disney Publishing Worldwide, Melissa de la Cruz Studio for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

This YA modern retelling of Anne of Green Gables is cute enough (I could almost see it as a mini series on Netflix before they started making so many cuts), but it lacked gravitas for me. Maybe just too much teen cliche?

This is perhaps the best retelling of Anne of Green Gables that I have read in a long time. I loved the small town modern vibes and the addition of a theatre production. Having it as a bipoc lgbtq+ representation made it pretty much everything. I especially loved how the author played with our heads a little bit when it comes to Anne’s love interest.

It's been long enough since I last read L. M. Montgomery's original books that I had more of a general sentimental positive feeling rather than a memory of specifics when I picked up Mariko's reinterpretation. This was a delight -- Anne is a force of personality who both forges her own way in her new community, and who finds herself and her family welcomed to it in unexpected ways.

Thank you to NetGalley for an early digital copy of this book. This book will be published in October of this year.

I've been a fan of Mariko Tamaki for awhile now and I was jazzed to see this new title based on Anne of Green Gables on NetGalley. I really enjoyed this modern retelling. Anne must deal with the normal teen struggles of starting at a new school and making friends, while trying to overcome to racism, bullying, and homophobia of her new town. Definitely worth the read!

Anne is a disco-loving, roller skating, queer, Japanese-American who just moved to the middle of nowhere Greenville with her moms. While enduring the regular starting a new school problems, Anne is facing more obstacles not at all helped by the fact that one of her moms is now the vice principal of her high school. She quickly finds a kindred spirit (aka bosom friend) Berry and almost as quickly finds herself the target of very frightening anger and bullying from a small group of students. As time progresses, Anne starts to feel a bit more comfortable just being herself, especially when the auditions for the school play, Peter Pan, are held. Winning the part of Peter helps Anne find more kindred spirits in Greenville along with a new love. Such a beautifully moving story of loving yourself and finding the best kind of home.

I am a sucker for retellings! That’s what drew me to this title. I’m so glad it did because this book was everything.

Anne is a spirited young person, finding her way in a small town where change is not welcome.