What a fun, enjoyable read with plenty of humour! Certainly, a modern witty take on Jane Austen’s much loved 'Emma' but set in New York City. Here lots can happen and finding oneself in such a varied culture can prove to be quite an exciting adventure. Although Belezza and Harding’s novel is a fine story in its own right, it admirably follows the same plot as Austen’s. Plus, many of the characters are spot on, particularly Emma, who is presented as a spoiled, controlling yet smart and good hearted person, the apple of her father’s eye and close friend and eventual love interest of Mr Knightley. So yes, the family and friends that orbit the life of Emma are excellent equals to Ms Austen’s cast.

In Emma of 83rd Street, Emma’s poor attempts at being a matchmaker are evident. Even her misjudgement of character, sometimes gets her into strife. This leaves her dithering over all kinds of scenarios or possibilities of what might happen. While she is playing out all these attempts at matchmaking and failing miserably, she finds herself the focus of certain men’s affections, and is surprised by the attention she is given over her friend, Nadine, who is gorgeous and for whom she is constantly trying to find a boyfriend. Mr Woodhouse never says anything bad about his daughter while all this is going on. If he did, who knows the effect it would have as maintaining his approval means much to her.

The Sunday night tradition of dinner with close friends and family offers many great scenes in the novel (as does her night raids and peering into the back yard of Mr Knightley). The shared meal times pose a great opportunity for comments to be raised and plans to be made. Emma’s constant involvement in the life of others, is often chided by Mr Knightley. He constantly reminds her of her imperfections and this frustrates her endlessly. This and her own denial (and his) of any romantic connection between them creates hot banter at dinners, parties and everywhere in between.

And speaking of parties, we get to see a few eventful ones. Emma is excellent at planning them. But as the story progresses and she is more aware of her own flaws, the parties, including her birthday ones, become less important. For at these social gatherings, her loneliness gets exposed along with other truths. Including one where she finds herself in a romantic situation that catches her off guard. And then there is another incident—the horrid experience in the cab. Which I thought she handled marvellously, proving she is no weakling.

In the beginning, Emma wants to be in charge of everyone’s lives. (Later she learns that she cannot always control the narrative.) But is this what is happening with her friend, Nadine? Emily takes her in and literally does a proper makeover giving her a new hair colour, hairdo, job, wardrobe and new set of friends. Mr Knightley initially sees this as just another project of manipulation but then later questions his judgement. Is there a possibility Emma really is sincere about helping her friend?

I loved the art focus, art galleries (a place that both Emma and Knightley love to go) and the paintings. Emma is a graduate student of art history and wants to work in that field. Maybe she has a knack for it or because it reminds her of her late mother who shared the same interest. The loss of her mother at such a young age certainly would have affected her. But how she remembers her mother’s placement of art pieces is truly heart-warming. And I loved how it inspired her. Emma’s moments in this setting are my favourite and it is here where her desire for independence shines through. She wants to be seen for who she is, not just her father’s daughter. Yes, signs of maturity for sure. And when she is offered an interview for an art position, she wants to obtain the job on her own merits: without her father’s influence. This self-growth causes her to make a choice causing one door to close while opening another. I found myself cheering to see her achieve the recognition she desires and deserves. I also loved the reference to Gustac Klimt’s painting Mada Primavesi. How Knightly compares the girl in the scene to Emma and how later she understands why. One undercurrent theme in this novel is that we should never shy away but celebrate who we are. To be confident and bold is something beautiful.

It was a fresh move by the authors to present the novel from Emma’s and Knightley’s point of view. This offers more insight into the tug of war on emotions of these two. Their thoughts are visible to us—especially during their close encounters which are heated ones. Eventually that emotion moves from anger to passion and they see what everyone else realises about them. An imperfect couple that belongs together. I was reminded of the line by the screen writer of Emma the movie with Gwyneth Paltrow when she says, ‘Perhaps it is our imperfections that make us perfect for one another.’ This is a theme that runs through this novel, especially when Knightley’s comments that he realises everything doesn’t have to be perfect, and that in fact it makes things better if it isn’t. This also carries over in the assessment of art in the novel. The artwork is not perfect either. But the flaws don’t take away from the art’s value. It makes it more authentic, more human. And no human is perfect. “The mistakes and idiosyncrasies are what make them unique. It's what makes them worth something." Great wisdom! Happiness should not be measured by perfection for it is the very deficiencies we have that truly make life wonderful! It certainly keeps things interesting, creative and changing. And change is part of progress.

It is a novel that many will like—especially those who appreciate the inspiration behind it. I really enjoyed it. It offers a lot of food for thought, plenty of entertainment and a chance to see how Jane Austen's Emma might act and respond in the modern day world. A strong 4 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thanks to Simon & Schuster Australia and Netgalley for my review copy.

An interesting read and maybe I didn't grasp the storyline as well as others, but I found it a little slow and hard to get into, then the last chapters went to the opposite end of the scale.

I enjoyed the story following along with Emma, Knightley and the family Sunday dinners, Nadine and her quotes from her nana, Ben and Margo, Mr Woodhouse and neighbour, Mrs Palowski.

A good read but not a great read for me.

I really loved this! I think this is a interesting take on Emma, the chemistry between Emma & knightley was definitely there, and every side character was lovable in their way. Ultimately I thought it was really fun, and breezed through it. Definitely my fave arc I’ve recieved so far!

Many thanks to the author, the publisher and NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book. As always, my thoughts and opinions are honest and mine.

I am a dead-set sucker for an Austen retelling, so I devoured this sweet, modern take of a classic story. I thought modern day New York was a dream setting for a girl like Emma, who is succeeding in every aspect of her life as she attends grad school for Art History, throws fabulous social events and prepares for an internship opportunity at the Met. Classic characters were combined or recast to suit the setting while maintaining the original plot we know and love, and it was refreshing to explore Emma's life in a new light. The main character is spoiled, self-indulgent, and has few friends, which is at odds with her location in social New York. Then again, original commentary of the story is that Emma is only popular because the Woodhouses live in a tiny town...

The pace of the story is good, dialogue is rom-com standard, and I was interested to see how the story played out. Most of all, I liked Emma's wish to achieve her internship without relying on her father's influence - the interview scene was likely my favourite because I got to see Emma be true to herself.

Criticisms would be the overuse of brand names whenever Emma got dressed. It made me feel like I was reading a fan-fic - I'm happy with a brief description of outfits, but too much detail that has no impact on the plot pulls me out of the story. I also felt the impact of Emma's "big mistake" regarding Mrs Pawloski was not built up enough before the event. Her flaws were observed but never ruminated on by Emma or others, so pointing them out wasn't really the faux pas it should have been.

Finally (and this is petty), Emma is described as having dark hair several - and I mean SEVERAL - times throughout the book, but the gorgeous cover shows her with a honey-blonde colour. I know, I know. Petty as hell.

Overall, this book is worth a read, even if just for the sheer enjoyment of a lovely retelling of Emma. Four stars!

This was such a charming read - I absolutely loved this reimagining of Emma.

The characters are all so wonderful and I found myself looking forward to all the Sunday dinners. I was even invested in Nadine's love life and Margot and Ben's marriage. Oh and Knightley (swoon)! I enjoyed the sparks between Emma and Knightley whenever they were together, which was not often enough!

Overall, it is a fun, wholesome story and I did not want it to end!

I thank NetGalley for providing the digital ARC.

This was a delightful contemporary romance, and I thoroughly enjoyed it on its own merits. The problem with it being an adaptation of an Austen novel is that while reading the story I was also doing mental gymnastics comparing it to the original. At this point it's difficult to know whether that was a distraction or an enrichment of the experience. Perhaps both!

Emma and Knightley are interesting versions of themselves; though Emma is nicer and Knightley is grumpier, they are both very likeable and I never quit cheering them on towards the happy ending they deserved. Mr Woodhouse is a superb version of the original, obsessed with macrobiotics and horrified by cheesecake; he was probably the most successful adaptation. ("Emma. Saturated fats for breakfast?" I can just hear the disappointed, chiding and slightly mournful tone.)

While other characters worked within the context of the story, I was left puzzling over little things... An amalgam of Isabella Woodhouse and Anne Taylor works well in terms of plot, but why call her Margo? To break the connection with the original? Margo was certainly more of a modern creation than an adaptation of Isabella or Anne. So maybe I just answered my own question.

I was also puzzled over why there was mention of characters named the Crawfords and the Wentworths, when we never really meet them, and they don't seem to have any function relating to their original incarnations... Though now I think of it, that's probably setting up future instalments in a series!

If that's so, I'm not sure if I'll follow the authors into future Austen adaptations - but I was very pleased to have read this one. Emma and Knightley were terrific, and I am still all aglow at the thought of them finally together.

In this case: "Well done, Audrey and Emily. Well done!"

I was looking forward to reading this book. We happened to have spent a few days in Manhattan in June of 2022, and I was familiar with that part of the island, with its galleries, museums and the iconic Central Park. The authors certainly seem to know this part of NYC well, and the references to well-known places were many and varied. So, the setting was good.

The main characters were a little problematic, and it didn’t take me long to recognise that this was a version of Jane Austin’s Emma (or Clueless, the modern movie adaptation I fondly remember). I am not a fan of re-imagining a classic in a new setting, or a new century, and the authors were going to have to do a very good job of making this story work.

Emma is the privileged daughter of a rich patron of the arts, living her rather charmed life in a mansion on the Upper Eastside with her widowed, permanently distracted, father. He has a strange obsession with health food and an accompanying phobia of all things containing fats and sugars, but at least he was not a manipulative invalid like the original character was.
Their neighbour is George Knightley, a young man she has known all her life. Various characters appear in the book who mirror characters from the Austen novel, for example, Nadine, who is the “project” Emma undertakes to remake in her own image, and this was done quite well.
The love story is a familiar one, where two old friends- clueless, spoilt Emma and the slightly older, somewhat judgemental Knightley- realise they are actually in love with each other. It just takes them a while to get to that point.

The writing was very good, with excellent descriptions of people and places. I probably could have done without the gourmet food details -I didn’t really care what kind of canapes and cocktails were being served- and without the names of different clothes designers I often did not recognise that peppered each chapter. I found it distracted me from the story, as I pondered names or edgy cuisine items. The fact that Emma was hooked on labels, and loved to organise small events where she micro-managed all aspects of the catering to ensure everything was up to the latest, classiest and coolest was made in the early chapters, and I felt the authors didn’t need to reinforce it quite so vigorously throughout the book. She was spoilt, and while not unkind, she was very self-absorbed. Her instinctive snobbery was amusing, especially when she kept telling herself” Don’t be a snob, don’t be a snob!” while regarding artworks and designer furniture their proud owner was showing off to her, all the while knowing they were rubbish. Much of the time, I did not like Emma at all, and the sense of frustrated intellect that made her a likeable heroine in the Austen novel is missing, here.

Knightley was somewhat inscrutable. I never felt I really got to know him at all. He remained two-dimensional and I just got an impression of a reserved, even cold man, who still had daddy issues and was a very poor communicator. He was only a few years older than Emma (in the Austen novel, he is 17 years her senior) but, he was not really my kind of romantic “hero”.

Ultimately, the book felt more like a love letter to Manhattan than a passionate love story. I am not sure how readers who have never visited Manhattan would go with this book. It is quite elegantly written and well-researched, but left me emotionally empty. Even the sex scenes were strangely academic. An interesting version of the Austen classic, but it just didn’t work for me.

This is a very light read for a dash of escapism. It’s a cute story that races along but not memorable

Emma is perhaps my favourite novel of all time, so I am always on the look out for new retellings! Emma of 83rd Street was definitely a great adaptation of the original book. The writing was easy to read, I finished the book in a couple of days. Emma and Knightley are also my favourite Austen couple, and this novel definitely does them justice. The age-gap was well-adjusted to the modern setting. The romance really was so cute, I was swooning the whole time whiling reading. Overall, a truly enjoyable read!!

I wish I liked this more but I dunno it just fell flat for me. I think many people will enjoy this more than I did, it's a good book, but ultimately something didn't hit for me.

This is a modern retelling of Austen's Emma, set in New York, and it hit all the beats of Emma in a modern way that didn't feel contrived. There were also nods to Austen's other works, one of which becomes implicitly stated at the end, but for Austen fans it's easy to pick up on/enjoy.

I think in the end the romance just didn't do it for me. I think others may like it, it was fine. This modern retelling didn't bring anything fresh or exciting for me, and I think that is the crux of my problem with it. That being said, I'll probably read the next book that was set up at the end of this one .

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC, I'm definitely a sucker for anything Austen!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced digital copy in exchange for an honest review.
I have to admit I'm not a fan of Emma by Jane Austen (possibly because I had to read it for school) but I really enjoyed this modern take on it. It was a super fun, easy read and I didn't want to put it down! I thought the story worked really well in the modern setting and I loved escaping into the lives of the upper class in New York. I also loved all the characters, especially Emma (who is a little hard to love in the original), but who I was really rooting for in this book. Despite her flaws, she is determined and shows a lot of growth throughout the book. And of course I couldn't forget to mention Knightley who is a bit of a grump but so sweet, and I loved that we got chapters with his POV too!

I think it is brave to take on such a well-known and much-loved classic as Jane Austen’s, Emma, but for the most part, this book did not disappoint.

Emma of 83rd Street by Audrey Bellezza and Emily Harding, was light and entirely entertaining, respectfully depicting just how much these two authors indeed “bow” to Miss Austen.

I actually preferred this fashion-forward, present-day setting of Manhattan over the original 19th Century England backdrop and found the characters re-imagined by Bellezza and Harding much warmer, more lovable, and easier to connect with. While the names of supporting characters were different, the storyline held fairly true to the classic with that familiar witty banter and anticipatory attraction between Emma and Knightly and a few modern twists thrown in for good measure.

Despite its modern setting, there was still a sweet, naïve, almost old-fashioned tone through most of the book which I enjoyed, however personally, I felt the story was cheapened by some of the ‘adult’ content. I don’t think any book needs this, but that’s me.

Overall, it was fun to read. I would give it 3.5 stars out of five.
Thank you, NetGalley, for allowing me an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This novel is a charming, modern-day retelling of Jane Austen’s Emma.
Bellezza and Harding’s Emma centres around twenty-three year old Emma Woodhouse, who resides on the Upper East Side and her neighbour Mr. George Knightley.
Emma is as much charming as she is a meddler, often meddling in the personal lives of those she holds dear.
This novel is a gem as it humorously and authentically develops Emma for the modern reader. Her character development, as well as the development of her relationships over the course of the book, were intriguing and heartfelt. There were times where I genuinely wanted to hug her and say “It will all be okay.” Also, the banter between Emma and Knightley will make you laugh and swoon almost simultaneously. Overall, this novel is a treat that will pluck at your heart strings! You will find yourself cheering for Emma through her mistakes and triumphs.

I would like to thank netgalley and simon and schuster Australia for the E-arc in exchange for an honest review.

This rework of Jane Austen's Emma is so much fun. Light, sweet, funny, angsty, a teensy bit steamy, I loved it all! Emma Woodhouse is a firecracker and the Upper East Side universe created by the author's is so dreamy it's a total immersion. From the maid to the meals and the brownstones and the gardens, it was bliss! George Knightley is a gorgeous grump (in a good way) and seeing him really fall for Emma is so delicious. For all things Austen this is a blast!

Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Well, that wasn’t what I was expecting at all! I had so many regrets as I was reading this. Mostly that I started it late afternoon on my day off and I knew I wouldn’t be able to get through it all in one go. I have never resented sleep and my job more than I did last night.

I honestly couldn’t put my finger on what I liked so much about this book! I think it was their chemistry and their friendship that had me coming back for more. The tension and angsty bits literally had my mouth watering as I read and I cried real tears in one part. Their romance was very slow burn, but it was worth the wait. (You’ll even get rewarded with a bit of spice, if that’s your thing)

Ok, so it might have been a book about very wealthy people throwing a bunch of parties and drinking a lot of champagne… but not every book you read has to change the world. Sometimes you need something a bit lighter to get us through the day. She might have been a spoilt little rich girl and he might have been a bit too brutally honest, but it worked for me!

It was a surprising, charming, angsty read and I hope there are more!

I haven’t read the original Emma, so can’t comment on the re-adaption part, but this one was very enjoyable.

“When you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.”

Thanks to #NetGallery and the publisher for the free advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Genre: Romance
Format: Digital
POV: Dual
Spice: 🌶️🌶️ /5
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

I absolutely loved this fresh new take on Jane Austen's Emma by Bellezza and Harding. Devouring it in 2 days, it was beautifully written, fresh, funny and super sexy. Austen's characters are brought back to life in such a witty and lovable way that leaves you wanting more and more. I hope there is more to come from these authors soon!

Thanks to Netgalley for sharing this incredible book.

Sign me up for anything Austen related. I reread her books most years. I watch any and every adaptation I can get my hands on. Heck, I even have all the comics of her works.

Austen. Fangirl. Right. Here.

Emma of 83rd Street brings the classic tale of Jane Austen’s Emma to life in a modern, wealthy New York setting. Emma is a grad student who is studying to get her masters is Art History from NYU. Our modern Emma is everything her 200 years+ counterpart was: Kind, smart, independent, spoilt and loves to meddle in all matters of the heart. Knightley is the perfect brooding, strong viewed hero. This modern version still serves as Emma’s only real critic. Perfection.

The entire retelling was so well thought out. There were so many nods to the classic. It was brilliant. Fast, easy and a super fun read with a sprinkling of spice. Oh… and before I forget to swoon - WE HAVE POV CHAPTERS FROM KNIGHTLEY!

Huge thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the authors for the chance to read this early. All thoughts are my own ☺️