There are loads of retellings of Jane Austen books. Countless. And I love most of them! I have read so many! But this one was so unique. Sometimes, when you are retelling a story written 200 years ago, it can get kinda boring. Somehow, Melinda Taub delivered a unique take on a beloved story.

Some of my favorite parts of the book:

1. Told by Lydia (one of the least favorite sisters in my opinion)

2. The intricate history of magic that is weaved through out the story. (Ex. Lydia is the 7th daughter of a 7th daughter, so she is a witch)

3. The magical creatures throughout the book!

Full of enchantment, intrigue, and boundless magic, The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch, has all the irreverent wit, strength, and romance of Pride and Prejudice—while offering a highly unexpected redemption for the wildest Bennet sister.

Quick and Dirty⁣
-witchy Pride and Prejudice retelling⁣
-slow paced with lots of world building ⁣
-somewhat epistolary⁣
-cat familiar⁣
-witchy level 🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛/5⁣
⁣
Thoughts ⁣
Did I stay up way to late last night to finish this book? Yes. Did it take me far longer than normal to read it? Yes, nearly 2 weeks. Does that mean I didn’t enjoy it? Not at all! I really, really enjoyed this book, from the first pages to the perfect little ending! This book charmed me completely. Not only were the characters charming, but the overall plot and presentation was so terrifically Austen it made my cheeks hurt from smiling so hard. Not-so-demure dames, rakes, demons, familiars, and lots of witches and witchcraft make this something completely unique and altogether different. I loved the juxtaposition of the Regency era rules of engagement with the witchy world building, which was equally as rigid and proper. There was a touch of romance with one scene that bordered on steamy (completely closed door), but otherwise this is much more of a witchy melodrama, witty and silly at times but with a serious side, too. While it may be a bit slow at times, the last 25% of the book makes up for any pacing issues. And the way the author wrapped everything up in the end borders on absolute perfection. Overall, this has all the making of the perfect witchy historical fiction and probably my favorite witchy read of the year so far.

I was lucky enough to get this ebook and a physical review copy from the publisher, and I really enjoyed it! It was such a good spooky/witchy read! I feel like it did fall a bit flat, but still overall a good read!

I am a fan of all things Austin and Pride and Prejudice is a favorite. I will devour any remake or variation out there.

This one is charming and I love that the focus is on Lydia. Finally! As the youngest Bennet sister, she's often overlooked as a meaningful character in the story and I'm glad to see her shine for something outside of her proclivity for gossip, social activities and the pursuit of all things handsome – well, there is that but there’s more, too!

Truly a clever and compelling story! I enjoyed this magical adaption/variation and the beautiful writing.

Thank you Grand Central Publishing for this gifted DRC.

I truly loved this book. It was written for my taste in books exactly, and I hope other people love it as much as I did. I always thought that Lydia Bennet got a rough deal in Pride and Prejudice, and Melinda Taub and I seem very aligned in our philosophy about why Lydia turned out the way that she did. I love that this book gave Lydia more agency, and I adored the voice that Taub used to write her. It exactly matched my own idea of Lydia.

That said, it felt wildly uneven at times. The book starts as a campy romp leading up to the events of Pride and Prejudice, and is laugh-out-loud funny. Maybe Taub was trying to be serious, and I just thought it was campy? The magic plotline is darker and more serious, and halfway through the book we are given a character’s backstory that won’t be fully resolved by the end.

The first 25% of the book is absolutely for the Pride and Prejudice fans - especially if you loved the 1995 A&E miniseries (which you all know that I did!). You get to see fun explanations for why Kitty follows Lydia so adoringly, and a love potion gone terribly wrong between Mary, Mr. Collins, and Charlotte Lucas. But it soon becomes a much larger story that filled with demons, old gods, witches and their politics, and magic!

The book alternates between two timelines - one after the events of Pride and Prejudice and the other starting in Lydia’s child and going through the P&P timeline. Lydia is clearly telling this story to someone, for reasons that aren’t explained until the very end of the book. I think this would make the audiobook wildly confusing, as the timelines can be fluid.

For such a long and complex book, I wished the end had a few more pages of resolution. Maybe it’s just my romcom loving heart, but I wanted a bit tidier of an ending, and to spend more time after the climax was resolved where I could see the characters living in the resolution.

I watched Practical Magic for the first time last month, and I had a very different idea of the tone of that movie than what it ended up being. I feel like when people say something has a “Practical Magic” feel - they’re thinking of the midnight margaritas and dancing naked in the moonlight.

The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch is what you get if you mix Practical Magic and Pride and Prejudice in a blender, and I had the best time reading it!

I'm a big fan of Pride & Prejudice, so I was excited for a witchy spin on the classic.

This is from Lydia's perspective. She's essentially writing her life story, so everyone understands where she went wrong.
I liked the story, but the way it was told was very disjointed. It didn't flow very well going between writing about her past and what was going on in the present. If not for that, I would have rated it higher.

A witchy retelling of Pride & Prejudice that's clever, funny, and perfectly on point. Such a great October read!

Rating: 4.5 Stars

Jane Austen, cats, magic and witches – it is impossible not to love Melinda Taub’s delightful new novel, The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch.

Lydia Bennet is different from her older sisters. She is not as beautiful as elder sister Jane or as intelligent as Elizabeth nor is she like her studious sibling Mary, who craves solitude and likes nothing more than shutting everyone out by losing herself in her books. Lydia is wild, craves constant attention and wants to see the world far from the stifling confines of Meryton. Of course, Lydia also has a secret. A secret that distinguishes her from all of her sisters: she’s a witch!

As the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter, Lydia possess magical powers and she must learn to harness her gifts. However, that proves to be far easier than done. With her favorite younger sister Kitty by her side (who is really a barn cat!), Lydia finds herself navigating life and high society while trying her utmost to learn how to use her powers. Of course, Wickham doesn’t help, but then what can one expect from a demon? And then there’s Darcy who is so buttoned-up and uptight about etiquette, Lydia is sure he’d blow a gasket if he found out that he married into a family where one the daughters is a witch!

Will Lydia’s powers prove to be more trouble than they are worth? Will they help her find the happiness she seeks? Or is it all going to end in tears?

Witty, irreverent and magical, I devoured Melinda Taub’s enchanting retelling of Jane Austen’s beloved classic told from the perspective of the younger Bennet sister. The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch is an uproarious, enthralling and wholly mesmerizing tale that kept me enthralled from beginning to end.

Melinda Taub brilliantly captures all the charm and humor of Pride and Prejudice and infuses The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet with plenty of hi-jinks, mischief, romance and intrigue to keep readers glued to the pages of her book.

Janeites and readers new to Austen alike will fall under the spell of Melinda Taub’s outstanding tale, The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch.

This book gives all the classical Pride and Prejudice feel but with a witchy turn!

This story takes place after Lizzy and Darcy are married, and shows what Lydia’s life is REALLY like.

I loved the little details like Kitty being a cat, and magic in the family.

A really fun “spooky season” read with all the regency vibes.

Not my cup of tea

I DNF'd at 8% and it was like pulling teeth to get that far. So many words were used to say nothing. Pages and pages of words that didn't have anything to do with the plot, character development, or world building. Just mental ramblings. The beginning of Pride and Prejudice doesn't even enter the story until chapter ... seven? Not sure I remember because I was bored with all the other nothing that happened.

I'm sure this is the perfect book for diehard fans of P&P retellings. I just didn't find Lydia interesting enough, even as a witch.

I loved this witchy retelling of Pride and Prejudice! It was the perfect start to Halloween season for me.

I read another review where someone complained that it is 400 pages long. I read it on Kindle where it’s harder to track length, but it honestly didn’t feel that long. Where P&P can feel like all uptight manners and social graces, this definitely felt more modern and accessible. I loved the magical world-building and the use of all of the characters. If you fall in the Venn Diagram of a P&P fan who enjoys a witchy book, this is the book for you!

Thank you to the publisher - I received a complimentary eARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet , Witch is the perfect Autumn read. Melinda Taub has created a real treat for lovers of re imagined classics especially fans of Jane Austen. I can't wait to pick up a physical copy and my only compliant is that i will need to order one in as sadly my near by Bam did not have any copies.

"The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch" is a vividly imagined, wholly original take on the Jane Austen classic. Ms Taub does an amazing job of building a new world within the familiar environs of Meryton and Regency England, merging the two seamlessly with complete believability. The story follows Lydia Bennet, the youngest, and easily the most scandalous Bennet sister, who, by the way, also happens to be a witch! This is the answer to all the questions you may have had about what happened to Lydia when she went off to Brighton with the Forsters, and got herself married to that reprobate George Wickham!

An easy recommendation for anyone who loves Pride and Prejudice, but still accessible for those who are unfamiliar with the original story.

"The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch" is a very well-written, wildly imaginative, and charming story written by Melinda Taub. It is so much fun! The author has done great work presenting us with the locations and characters we know and love (or love to dislike— I'm looking at you Mr. Wickham), along with magical hijinks and mayhem aplenty! It was very enjoyable to see our favorite characters in this new and original magical setting. The speed of the plot is perfect, the author's writing style is smooth and sparkling with wit, humor, and heart, and the story was always captivating and never dull. I really enjoyed seeing the Bennet family through Lydia's eyes and seeing how she interacts with the people around her. I loved reading Wickham's letter to Lydia! The strong friendship between Lydia and her sister Kitty was so sweet to read about and is one of many things I enjoyed most about this story. This a whimsical, magical, and original story! This is a book you do not want to miss out on. I very highly recommend it! 5 stars

Thank you very much to Austenprose PR, author Melinda Taub, Grand Central Publishing, and NetGalley for providing me with the wonderful opportunity of being a part of this book tour and for providing me with a digital and physical copy to read and review honestly.

I'm not someone who is as versed in PRIDE AND PREJUDICE as some other people may be, but I know enough and have seen enough adaptations to know that Lydia is supposed to be obnoxious and superficial. So of course I found my interests piqued when I saw that Melinda Taub had written THE SCANDALOUS CONFESSIONS OF LYDIA BENNET, WITCH, as the idea of reimagining Lydia as a witch was just SO clever. And it was a great book to read while ushering in the Halloween season. I really liked the due diligence that Taub did to fit her ideas and interpretations into the original text, making sure that her plot lines and circumstances fit into the original story without making them feel forced in or silly. I also liked seeing Lydia Bennet get a little more complexity beyond what Austen gave her, with her motivations being grey but in many ways relatable. I'm sure there were lots of nods to Austen's works in the book that I didn't catch because I'm not super familiar with all of her books, but the ones I did catch were fun. And the witch stuff! OH THE WITCH STUFF! I love anything witchy and I loved the systems that Taub created for this story, and seeing Lydia practice magic and deal with demons (like her love interest(?), Wickham. Perfect that he's a demon! But even he is given a bit more to to than being the rakish cad we are familiar with).

THE SCANDALOUS CONFESSIONS OF LYDIA BENNET, WITCH is very fun. I really enjoyed it.

"However, I was born with greater gifts than one silly girl can use up in a lifetime."

I absolutely loved the combination of Jane Austin's Pride and Prejudice juxtaposed with seventh daughter witch old wives' tale.

Lydia is the perfect choice for unreliable narrator. And I feel like we've seen retellings from Lizzy and Jane's points of view often enough. It's time for a spooky Lydia story!

"It is one of the nicer things about Miss Lydia Bennett, I think, that she is incapable of holding a grudge."

Overall, this is a darkly humorous witchy delight. Perfect for October. Magic abounds, not just in Lydia but also other surprising characters! Ooo, and wait til you meet this Wickham!

Well written, with just enough of Austen's style and Bridgerton drama to make fans thoroughly pleased.

(A bit of a content warning: Mrs. Bennett is typified in this retelling as suffering from multiple miscarriages.)

Pride and Prejudice is my hands-down favorite book, and I've reread it more times than I can count. So this book was a no-brainer for me! I'm very grateful to Netgalley and the publisher for sharing an ARC of this book.

Though I struggled with the beginning of this book, I think the author did an exceptional job of capturing Austen's characters and putting an intriguing twist behind my favorite story. Lydia remains one of my least favorite characters in the original novel, but this retelling shows some depth to her character. Though she is flawed, Taub makes Lydia multi-dimensional and ultimately more interesting all around.

The time jumps at the beginning were a challenge, which dropped my overall rating. I think Austen lovers will have an easier time of this versus the everyday reader.

It's no secret that I'm a massive Pride & Prejudice fan, but that I am not a purist – I enjoy dabbling in spin-off works and reimaginings, and am not at all opposed to checking out what's available on Ao3 every now and again (iykyk). And though I've always been more of a Lizzy than a Lydia, when I saw the title, "The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch," I was all in, pretty much immediately.

And I'm very pleased to say that the book is a damn good time. In this witchy take on Pride & Prejudice, Lydia is a young, but powerful witch who is recounting what happened the summer of her "ruin," Kitty is her familiar (an actual cat! But glamoured to be a girl!), Wickham is the son of a demon who ate the actual George Wickham's soul and now inhabits the rake's body, and the events of Brighton are a whole magically dramatic affair.

It's a fun and creative read that revels in the idea that there might be more to Lydia Bennet than just a silly, reckless, hormonal teenager (though she is still those things!), that perhaps there's more to her relationship with Wickham, and that beneath all the vanity, frivolity, and flirtation she wears as armor, she's really a sweet, caring young woman who is far more understanding and tolerant than most people around her.

In addition, the (mostly) original characters that Melinda Taub introduces to the story are extremely well-drawn – the story of Maria Lambe (yes, the one from Sanditon!) brings necessary weight and character development to the book, the villain(s!) both chew the scenery and hoodwink you, and Lydia's friend group is filled with nuanced characters you'll feel fondness for despite (because of?) their flaws.

Overall, I thought this was a very well-done book that both injects new life into extremely well-known characters and continually surprises the reader – even when you think you know exactly where it's going. I had a great time with this one, and have a feeling I'll think of Lydia Bennet differently from here on out.

I'm not sure why I signed up for this Austen fanfic as I generally don't have high opinions of retellings like this. But I must admit that I'm glad that I did.

The narration is written in a whimsical epistolary-style that jolts sloppily between retelling parts of Pride & Prejudice to a whole separate plot that keeps me from being fully hooked into the story. If you like cheeky prose, however, these sins may be easily forgiven.

Taub takes some creative liberties with the Austen characters that feel very akin to a child playing with dolls, but damn it all I still had a fun time. Lydia is an annoying character (both in the source material and in this book), but she's mostly annoying because despite it all, I still found her endearing. By the end of it all, I felt the story felt very worth my initial misgivings.

This was such a fun, clever, and witchy read! I find Pride & Prejudice retellings to be so much fun and this one did not disappoint. It spins a deeper, more profound story for Lydia and gives a fresh face to some of Austen's barely mentioned characters. I enjoyed the growth that Lydia shows throughout the book and how it shows her to be so much more than just the "silly sister who makes of fool of herself and her family".

This historical fantasy is such a fun way to delve more into the Jane Austen universe and I really enjoyed it!