Is there anything better than a good Jane Austen retelling? This genre is always one of my absolute favorites. I love seeing how modern authors take the Victorian writing and customs and make them work in the current century. And this novel was no exception! Emma and Knightly were just as fated here as they were in the original.

EMMA OF 83RD STREET
4 STARS ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
📖 romance, woman's fiction
🔥 open door, explicit scenes

Emma is the mother of the friends-to-lovers trope with a little age gap mixed in. The banter, the heart, and the slow realization of their feelings for each other are some of the parts I love from the original story, and Bellezza and Harding captured that in this retelling. Each character was brought to life in a modern but similar way to the original story. Some of the dialogue from the original made its way here as well and it really just flowed.

I loved it. I did this as a combination of the audiobook and the digital ARC and I have to say, I wish I'd done Emma's chapters via audio and Knightly's via physical (because yes, this is dual POV). Something about the male narrator's female voices really rubbed me the wrong way.

The epilogue of this books makes me think that maybe we have a Pride & Prejudice retelling coming our way from this duo, and I am HERE for that crossover.

This contemporary retelling of "Emma" is an absolute delight! The seamless transition from Regency-era England to the present day is executed flawlessly, breathing new life into the beloved classic. The characters feel refreshingly authentic, and the modern setting enhances their relatability. The witty dialogue and charming plot twists keep you hooked from start to finish.

This book was completely and totally fine. I didn't love it, but I'll never say no to a retelling of Emma. I get why it's done, but I absolutely skim over all the product placement bologna. It's just not my favorite.

This is a really cute retelling of one of my favorite Jane Austens! I also appreciated that there was an opening for a Pride and Prejudice retelling later. Here's hoping!

“You’re only, what is it? Twenty-four? Good Lord, you’re going to make so many mistakes. And you should! That’s what makes life worth living. The mistakes lead you where you’re supposed to be.”

This is a modern day retelling of Jane Austen’s classic Emma, set in New York City. Have I read this classic? Nope. But that did not hinder my enjoyment of the story at all. It was adorable. Absolutely adorable. I have never wanted to scream JUST TELL HER more at a fictional character in my life. I actually quite enjoyed Emma as she was very self aware and a very honorable character. The banter between her and Knightley was believable and entertaining to say the least.

Emma and her family are wealthy, but at no point did she trade on her name or slack off just because she could. While playing matchmaker for her friend Nadine she seemed to truly just want to see her friend happy. I even laughed out loud a few times. If you enjoy friends to lovers, rom coms, or contemporary romance I think you will really enjoy this book!

Thank you to Netgalley, Gallery Books, Simon & Schuster, and the authors for the ARC. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I love reading romances with wealthy MC’s!

Their problems are usually so out of range of anything I would ever deal with that the drama just whisks me away. Plus it’s fun to imagine how the other half (although it’s not really half, is it?) lives.

So of course, in this lovely RomCom, Emma has rich people problems. She’s naive to the way the world really works as she’s led a sheltered life.

The love of her life, is literally in her backyard, and she just has zero clue.

There wasn’t a ton of action in this one, not that there needed to be. Emma is sort of likable in that spoiled princess kind of way that still has you rooting for her to succeed at finding love.

The side characters were fun and kept the story moving along. I didn’t even mind the name dropping of all the clothes designers so much.

It took way too long for the characters to get together and so the ending felt a little rushed for me. And also, the spicy scenes, not that I’m a fan of them anyway, but the few that were here were almost exact replicas of each other. Honestly, if you aren’t good at writing spicy scenes, let’s just leave them out, ok?! The part with curtains was funny though.

Overall, the wealthy setting and the funny side characters were the star of the show for me in this one. An enjoyable RomCom!

What is better than a retelling of one of your favorite stories? A really well done retelling!!!
This books is friends to lovers with delightful, likable characters and a fun story. I loved the setting and witty banter.

What a wonderful retelling! I am a big fan of Jane Austen and this book was done so well. Emma and Knightley are two upper east siders who have known each other since Emma was born. They had such witty banter and amazing chemistry that I smiled and laughed the whole book. This childhood friends to lovers romance was gripping from start to finish.

This is going to be my top summer read romance recommendations to the patron's of my library system. I was lucky enough to get an ARC of this book and fully enjoyed it. I had such high hopes going in and feel in love with the whole story.

This was such a cute fun story. Predictable from page 1, but it didn't stop me from getting lost in the book and the characters. It had a Clueless vibe, which honestly only made it better! I loved the slow burn romance... from neighbors who are like siblings, to an awakening. They are not kids anymore and they find one another attractive. The growth between the main characters was great, the supporting characters were also really well done. I thoroughly enjoyed getting lost in their lives and definitely recommend this for all romance lovers! 
Thank you netgalley for my advanced reader copy.

When I saw this was an Emma retelling, and Knightley had his own POV, I was so excited for this one. Unfortunately, it missed the mark for me. I like retellings to add something new to the original, and this one didn't, while also losing the charm that made the original special. I think it was marketed as a romcom, but I cant remember any moments of humor. The dynamic between Knightly and Emma felt more like an antagonistic Darcy/Elizabeth relationship, and Knightly's character honestly irritated me at times with the way he would antagonize Emma for no reason. While the og Knightley did belittle Emma, it was always from a place of kindness and good intentions. Even his POV didn't add enough of the secret admiration that would have made this tolerable. The romance came very late and went from 0-100 very quickly.

I did like how Emma and Nadine's characters were handled. I love how Emma is a little spoiled, but not insufferable, and how she wanted to succeed in life on her own. I think anyone looking for a strict retelling would like this, but I was hoping for a bit more!

I’m a huge lover of Jane Austen, so any book that has anything to do with her or her work is a book I need to read!

I don’t always get on with modern adaptions of her novels, but this one worked for me! Emma makes a great contemporary character and her story works so well in modern day.

Much like the original Emma by Jane Austen that inspired this book, I could not break through the initial chapters. I put this book down after several attempts to read it and walked away.

Fun reimagining of Jane Austen's Emma! Emma Woodhouse is a privileged Manhattanite who lives to verbally spar with her neighbor George Knightley. The Woodhouse girls and the Knightley boys have been neighbors all their lives and are used to living as one family. First Margo and Ben unite but Emma is uninterested in making the same leap. She is enjoying her grad school experience as an art history major and is preparing to interview for a coveted internship at the Met.
Emma is not my favorite Austen novel because Emma is just so entitled but I felt like this reimagining left in all of the good Emma characteristics and really didn't emphasize the bad ones. I loved that the "Harriet" character-while "clueless" ;), was a little more interesting and self-empowered than in the original version.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in return for my honest review.

I haven't read Emma by Jane Austen, but I thoroughly enjoyed this modern retelling following a socialite on the Upper East Side. Emma is a charming character — while she can be a bit headstrong and unaware of her privilege, she has a heart of gold and is always looking out for those around her.

We see her grow as she wants to succeed on her own merits, and I loved her connection with Knightley, her lifetime neighbor and friend. Their tension in the early pages was crackling.

I do think it slowed a little in the middle, but such is the case with a slow-burn romance with lots of pining. Enjoyed this one overall and look forward to more from this author duo... hoping Mr. Darcy is up next!

Thank you Gallery Books for the advance copy; all opinions are my own!

There’s not an iteration of Emma that isn’t enchanting. This modern retelling captures the essence of Austen’s original with some clever updates and a few character twists. Nothing will ever trump the original, but this is a great addition to the contemporary offerings on this classic tale.

I thought this book was a very cute and fun retelling of Emma! As a huge fan of the Austen novel, I loved picking out all of the references and matching up the characters to their original characters. It was a little predictable since I know the original story, but that’s kind of what I signed up for when I picked up a retelling of a book I’ve read a hundred times.

I really liked the characterization of Emma. I found her to be sweet and charming while also having her flaws (although I wanted to punch her when she turned down the Met internship. I know you wanted to get it by your own merits but girl use your connections!!! The employment market is tough out there!)

I will say I didn’t really like the addition of Knightley’s point of view. I felt that it detracted from the main focal point of Emma and didn’t allow her to have the moments of realization as much as I wished.

Overall a very cute and easy read and a fun retelling of one of my favorite classics!

3 1/2

I believe by now after many film adaptations and book retellings, we know the story of Emma, a rich girl who fancies herself a matchmaker. She lives alone (if living with a house full of help can be considered alone) with her aging father while next door lives Knightley, her best friend who seems almost like a brother and in at least the Clueless version is her ex-stepbrother.

In Emma of 83rd Street the author duo of Audrey Bellezza and Emily Harding do a good job of navigating the character of Emma, who can come off as un-self-aware, snobby, and self-centered in the wrong hands. Here she is constantly growing, wanting to be her own person and facing challenges on her own terms. Sometimes, yes, she does think she knows best but Knightley helps keep her from being arrogant.

I loved how Emma has unbreakable bond with her deceased mother through art, which Emma maintains by obtaining a degree in it and making it her professional life.

Much of Emma of 83rd Street is enjoyable as Emma acquires new best friend, Nadine, while her long-time best friends are off on adventures. Emma helps Nadine navigate the waters of Manhattan with a makeover and tips but it’s clear that Nadine is not a Barbie doll for Emma to simple makeover and manipulate as she has her own goals and desires and won’t be taken advantage of.

Where this novel falls short for me is the characterization of Knightley. Here we have a character who has been portrayed onscreen by Paul Rudd, Jeremy Northam, Jonny Lee Miller, and recently Johnny Flynn, actors who typically portray charming, nice guys (okay, Northam sometimes plays charming, un-nice guys but charming is still a key descriptor). Knightley is savvy, insightful, and kind. The Knightley portrayed in Emma of 83rd Street felt like he had more in common Pride and Prejudice‘s Darcy than Knightley, especially since Emma of 83rd Street is told from his POV as well as Emma’s. His charm is extremely lacking. The straw and the camel for me regarding this characterization was when he uttered something akin to “I want to f*** you all over this g**d****d house.” Oh, be still my beating heart with that eloquent and very romantic declaration. Nope. Just ugh. From that utterance forward, the tenor of the novel changed and became significantly less charming. Not that Knightley had been charming before. It felt like the authors decided to unleash the sexy gates and have two chapters of seemingly unbridled passion as the novel neared its end.

Likewise, it was at the point that Emma and Knightley came together that the novel began to drag as if the authors didn’t realize that once the lucky couple is finalized the book should be ending. Instead, for those readers who need open door gratification, it’s here in lump form. So, I guess you could say that the ending didn’t work for me.

Emma of 83rd Street is both a hit and a miss for me–which means that I should probably not use baseball terminology when describing it. 😉

I received a copy for an honest review.

Try as a might, I just cannot get into Jane Austen. It's just too much extensive dialogue and not enough action for my taste. But I appreciate her role in literary history and give her all the credit for still having such a fandom hundreds of years later. She's like the Taylor Swift of her day. So many Austen inspired books have been written and movies made over the years. The options are endless for her superfan "Austies" out there! Emma of 83rd Street joins that crowd, but boy does this version of Emma come in with a bang. Emma of 83rd Street is a modernized version of Emma that I found so much more enjoyable than the original. The bones are all still there (rich privileged Emma playing matchmaker, Emma's health-obsessed elderly dad, her naive and relatively poor protege, the Knightley brothers, etc), but the sexual tension is absolutely rippling from the early pages and Emma is likeable despite her faults. If you've read the original, you will clearly see these authors paying homage to a master in Austie style, but in this case the modernization feels like an even better version. And if you've never read the classic, you can be oblivious to the homage and just enjoy an awesome story.

Thank you to Gallery Books and #NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

Emma of 83rd Street is an adorable retelling to Jane Austin’s, Emma! If you like friends to lovers trope, humorous banter, modern retelling, and books set in NYC, then you will love this read.


Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for the ARC!