Emmett by L. C. Rosen was such a beautiful, big, warm, queer hug. The characters are so relatable and well fleshed-out, and the lessons learned by them are so incredibly valuable no matter who you are or what stage of life you occupy. I absolutely adored everything about this book!
The plot and pacing of this book is phenomenal.
This was such a great read. Full of laughs and amazing characters, I couldn't put it down.
This was a book that I just needed to finish and I am so glad that I got to read and review.

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

Thank You NetGalley and Little, Brown Books for Young Readers for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

A modern gay YA Emma. Emmett is trying to fix his friends' romances and messing things up just like Emma.

Emmett is a charming character. Love the social commentary. Enjoy the biting satire and humor as well. Laughed out loud so many times. A fun take on Austen. An interesting read.

Thanks to the publisher for the arc.

Thank you to Little, Brown Books for Young Readers and NetGalley for providing this ARC!

Emmett is an exceedingly charming queer YA take on Jane Austen’s classic Emma starring a California high school senior who is committed to perfection in all areas of life—and to remaining unattached until age twenty-five. Although the story follows the contours of the original novel (Emmett tries to play matchmaker and finds himself out of his depth), the novel explores problems of grief, mental health, and queer communities and relationships in a way that both honors the source material and more than proves itself as a contemporary retelling. Our main control freak was so endearing, even when he was being kind of narcissistic, and the demographic-appropriate life lessons were balanced with humor and heart. The ending did seem to move more quickly than the rest of the story, but overall the book (and the romance!) was a true delight. Some of the best of what YA can be: honest, genuinely profound, quite funny, and deeply satisfying.

This was so much more than just an Emma retelling. Of course, the book contained all the elements of the original. I loved Emmett, his friends, and the romance. Emmett was a better person than I expected, making him more of a likeable character. He was certainly not perfect but he had strong development and good qualities. His relationships were also so wholesome, even the more messy ones. I did think the love interest could have had more development and more major conflicts with Emmett. But overall I adored everyone. Rosen also brought his own nuances to the story. Specifically, I loved the way he wrote about queer relationships and grief. He does an amazing job showing all forms of queer love, relationships, identity, and community. Rosen also shone a light on grief in the Woodhouse family, using it to shape the development Emmett's character and his relationship with his father. It was these elements that made the book stand out to me, and make me highly recommend it to others.