This was such a cute story. I thought Emma was very relatable and her long-time friendship turned relationship with George Knightly, while predictable, was also enjoyable. The evolving friendship between Emma and Nadine is laced with lessons, consequences, and happy outcomes.

Emma of 83rd Street is absolutely adorable! I am a huge Austen fan, and all the spin-offs. This was an enjoyable read, and very fast to read! I am not a huge contemporary romance fan, but this is refreshing, light and fun.

Emma of 83rd Street is a great combination of Jane Austen's Emma and the frothy "chick lit" of the early 2000s. It is very trend/cult-specific, in a great way! The humor was great, I could imagine NYC and the conversation between Knightley and Emma was great. In true Emma way, I did get a little annoyed with Emma and liked Knightley more!

Fun book, I would recommend to anyone liking a light, bubble to the champagne book!

Emma of 83rd Street by Audrey Bellazza and Emily Harding was a lovely modern retelling of Emma. If you’re an Austen fan and love New York City you are in for quite the treat!

This is a perfect modern-day adaptation of Jane Austen's EMMA. We need more adaptations that focus on the rest of Jane Austen's work! It would be great to see this author-duo take on some of Austen's other novels...

The audiobook for this book was PERFECTION. I love Emma's, the homage to Clueless, what it's like to be in NYC in your 20s. I can't wait to read more from this author duo.

EMMA is my favorite Jane Austen story, so I had high hopes going into this modern-day retelling.

Overall, it's cute. The retelling is set in present-day Manhattan—the Upper East Side, to be exact—and I loved how Emma's family home butted up to Knightly's. The opening prologue is fantastic, but after that, everything else felt ... fine. Nothing really sparkled, especially the romance, which lacked page time with Emma and Knightly together. Their relationship felt *told* rather than *seen*, and it made it difficult to believe.

The highlight for me was Nadine. She was a delight and written so well!

If you're looking for a quick, easy read, this one works. But I think there's far better childhood friends-to-lovers romance out there, so you don't need to feel bad if you decide to give this one a pass.

RATING: C+ (3½ stars)

Emma of 83rd street is a modern day Jane Austen love story. Having never read Emma by Austen I couldn’t draw along the parallels between the two works but can imagine the twist of a modern dating scene in New York City can breathe an entertaining new life into an infamous love story. A cute story but one I personally didn’t feel invested in. I enjoyed Emma’s growth in certain areas but never felt attached to the characters. The work itself was well down and the adaptation felt relevant to the world we live in now.

I received this work as an advanced review copy and offer my honest opinion voluntarily.

3.5 stars for this one because I had the same issue with this Emma as I had with the Emma that inspired it, she's insufferably spoiled and mostly oblivious to all her privilege.
Emma grew up the spoiled princess of her upper East side brownstone, with her sister and the two boys next door all the family she needed when her doting father kind of disconnected after the loss of her mother. All grown up, childhood relationships are changing and it's going to take a lot of introspection to help her see that the banter-heavy relationship she has with next-door George Knightley is more than just sisterly feelings.
It does get a lot better as the book progresses and you do get to see that she's not as oblivious as she first appears, but it takes a while for the selfishness to melt away and her real emotions to emerge. It's maybe a third of the way in that Emma feels like a real character and not just a caricature of a privileged New Yorker, making it possible to actually care about everything that's happening to her.
I'm pretty sure this would be a fully fun read for most people who don't have an issue with Austen's Emma to begin with, but I just couldn't seem to get over it and just enjoy Bellezza's good writing. Which it is good writing, so I'm not over the moon about this one, but I will be picking up whatever she follows this one with.

Very happy thanks to NetGalley and Gallery Books for the fun read!

A modern re-telling of Jane Austen’a classic - Emma. Emma is a sweet (if somewhat spoiled) NYU student ready to graduate and take on the world, and figure out what she really wants without family connections. The boy next door, Knightley, pushes her outside her comfort zone and make she question what she knows. A dual-POV slow burn of friends to lovers that in a dreamy NYC setting, you won’t be able to but this down!

Cute! I really liked the story and the characters! The audio was entertaining and I appreciated the steamy slow burn, haha.

This was such an incredible book! I was hooked from the start—really enjoyed the storytelling, I couldn’t put it down and can’t recommend it enough!

In this Emma retelling, Emma lives in New York City, and Knightley is her neighbor on 83rd Street.

Maybe I should read Emma to confirm and/or just stop reading Emma retellings - but I don’t think Emma is for me. I didn’t connect with Emma or Knightlry, and I needed them to TALK.

Title: Emma of 83rd Street
Author: Audrey Bellezza Emily Harding


Ch: 35 plus prologue and epilogue


Pg: 375

Genre: Rom Com retelling


Rating: 4 stars


Publisher: Gallery books

I loved Emma of 83rd Street by Audrey Bellezza and Emily Harding even with the page steamy scenes. Because Emma has always been my favorite Jane Austen because Jane gave us a regency rom com. That Emma is the one most easy to adapt as a modern retelling in this reader’s opinion. Which explains why Clueless still remains one of my favorite movie rom coms. And that’s what Emma of 83rd Street gave me, it gave me clueless vibes.



I received a copy of this book from the publisher through netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are mine alone.

I'm going to start out by saying Jane Austin is a win for me.

But this book fell flat for me. Emma I couldn't get on board for her. I didn't like her and I almost dnf it a few times. There are saving moments for me for this book but I would of enjoyed a lot more if Emma wasn't in it. Now the next book is set up for pride and Prejudice story and I'm here for it and will be giving it a go.

I feel sad this wasn't it for me I'm one of the few that didnt like it.

Thank you NetGalley and Gallery Books for this E arc in exchange for an honest review.

This was a cute retelling of Emma. I love the setting in New York and I think this is a great book for young adults and those that love Emma by Jane Austen.

This wasn’t my thing. I don’t enjoy Jane Austen and books of manners, etc but I thought a retelling might pull me in.

I just think it’s a not for me situation. The book and writing seem fine.

I couldn't get through five pages of this. I found this to be poorly written and was uninterested in continuing to read.

Oh wow, this book really surprised me to be honest. I really, really enjoyed it! I would definitely recommend this one to friends!

This was such a great read! I have to admit, I'm not the biggest fan of the original Emma but after the 2020 film adaptation, I've had a greater appreciation for it and I'm attracted to retellings of it. The NYC setting made this book and I really loved the writing.

If I had never read Emma, this would have been a delightful romance story with a main couple that I was rooting for with all their tension.

But I have read Emma. And this made it EVEN BETTER. This is a great adaptation written by two people who clearly love the original book and the original characters and they effortlessly transported our dear Emma Woodhouse from being the belle of Woodbury to the star of 83rd street.