Ya’ll. I have read so many Pride and Prejudice retellings — Curtis Sittenfield, one that imagines the characters as burlesque dancers. You name it, I’ve read it. So of course since I LOVED Birds of California, I knew I needed to snag this one from the same author.

Meet the Benedettos is so sweet, it’s described as Kardashians meets Pride and Prejudice which may turn some people off but I found all the characters loveable and the story is so well done. The author tackles some tough issues — eating disorders and addiction — with respect. She makes the characters real, with flaws, while also creating a novel that allows you to escape.

I will keep coming back to Cotugno and can’t wait to see what she has up her sleeve next.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher. 4.5 stars.

Fun, timely, story looking into the life of influencers and the famous and the toll it takes on their personal lives.

I love reading Pride and Prejudice based books and I love reality tv so this book was basically written for me and I loved it from page one until the very end. This book was not only entertaining, it poked fun of everything wrong with today’s gossip filled fake society. Loved it!

this is described as "the kardashians meet pride and prejudice" which was intriguing, but it just didn't live up to my expectations. there was a classic enemies to lovers trope, but it was way too heavy on the enemies, like those two were toxic. it just missed the mark for me, i truly didn't care what happened to anyone.

tw: substance abuse, sexual assault

thanks to netgalley and harper perennial for my copy of meet the benedettos by katie cotugno. all opinions are my own.

The Benedetto sisters had their fifteen minutes of fame after their father’s restaurant franchise spawned a now defunct, yet formerly successful reality show. But fame is fleeting, and the clock is running out. All still living at home, the family members lives are in varying degrees of cliched disarray, perfect fodder for the likes of the TMZ crowd.

Then Charlie Bingley, the swoon worthy movie star, moves into the neighborhood with his best friend, Will Darcy. Charlie becomes smitten with June, the eldest sister, while Will connects with Lilly, arguably the most sensible sibling. However, upon their meeting, Will doesn’t know who Lilly is, nor the family’s flashy reputation. After the truth comes out, the two butt heads, still acknowledging a simmering attraction. Can the Benedettos prove they’re more than pretty, paparazzi pleasing faces, or are they destined to live the rest of their lives as washed up has beens?

I loved Cotugno’s previous adult novel, Birds of California, so I was eager to give Meet the Benedettos a whirl. A crude mashup of old school Pride and Prejudice meets raucous reality tv sounded scrumptiously sinful, and yet, somehow this story missed the mark. There are a lot of characters in this book, none of them fully fleshed out or particularly likable. We are supposed to feel for these people, but their “woe is me” wonderings come across as self centered and selfish, the exact stereotype they hope to circumvent.

Fans of a classic twist on the Kardashian crowd might enjoy this one. I, however, parted ways with this story feeling conflicted, confused, and candidly crestfallen.

I really liked this book, it was different than anything else I've read which was a breath of fresh air. I will be recommending this to my friends, and auto buy this author!

2.5 Stars

“In the living room she finds the girls heaped in a Turnpike Pileup, all five of them fast asleep like something out of a fairy tale, Cinta watches them for a moment: the long lines of their calf muscles, their faces smooth and relaxed. Olivia’s hair across June’s shoulder, Kit’s head in Lily’s lap. Mari is curled on her side, turned away from the others; still, Cinta can’t help but notice, one seeking hand reaches back. They’ll land on their feet, she thinks in the moment before she forces herself to stop imagining it, heads back up to bed with a mind gone perfectly, peacefully blank: her girls, her dark-eyed wonders, her miracles each and every one. After all, they’re Benedettos. After all, they always do.”

The Benedettos, a family famous for their father’s pizza chain and a reality TV series exploiting their lives, find themselves almost broke and teetering on the edge of financial ruin. When a wealthy movie star, Charlie Bingley, moves in down the block with his close friend, Will Darcy, their mother believes a match can potentially save them. Will Darcy is brash, rude, and unlikeable, but Lily is drawn to his dark and broody personality. Will is drawn to Lily’s fire but is scared to be burned again so he pushes her away. He doesn’t realize that once a Benedetto gets under your skin, they are hard to get rid of.

A modern retelling of the Jane Austen classic, Pride and Prejudice, which is an absolute favorite of mine. Is there any hero more swoon-worthy than Fitzwilliam Darcy in all of romance? Not in my eyes. I was notably excited to read this, but I found there to be a lot of issues. First, the fact that the hero sleeps with someone else after having an encounter with the heroine disturbs me. I get that they aren’t in a relationship, but it completely draws me out of the romance. The fact that it happened more than once was a definite turnoff.

I also found this to be so on the nose with Pride and Prejudice, the character and location names, and the plot, that it felt unoriginal and uninspired. I think you can do a modern retelling but make it fresh and I think Katie Cotugno failed at doing that. By the end, I hated Will Darcy, and he never made up for being an immature bonehead. Was there anything I enjoyed about this? I was fond of Lily. She seemed mature and level-headed, and I enjoyed the family relationships between the Benedettos. They were the only part that made this book tolerable.

Fans of Lynn Painter and Emily Henry may enjoy this one more than I did.

~ Michelle

This book is a fun, adorable reimagining of Pride & Prejudice in modern day LA. Austen’s Bennett sisters are now instead infamous former reality tv stars the Benedetto sisters who are famous just for being famous - think if the Kardashians’ show had been cancelled after a few years and they did not have the money or success but still all the attention. And Charlie Bingham and Will Darcy are friends and actors who each come to LA to make a movie, with Bingham attracted to eldest sister June and Darcy and second sister Lilly having instant enemies to lovers type banter and attraction.

I just thought this was such a fun and entertaining read, and loved how we saw multiple perspectives throughout the book, including Will’s. I love P&P retellings like Curtis Sittenfeld’s Eligible and Soniah Kamal’s Unmarriageable and will now add this one to the list. I think it would be an enjoyable read even if you have never read Pride & Prejudice though fans will enjoy all the little winks more.

I'm always intrigued by Austen adaptations and often end up disappointed, but this was an absolute delight. I loved the Benedetto sisters and the clever ways Cotugno chose to modernize Pride and Prejudice. The writing was perfect and I gasped when I realized we'd be getting perspectives from others besides Lilly and Will. I was excited to see that Cotugno has written several other books.

This one just wasn't for me. Stories about rich people problems are often a hard sell but if you like Hollywood gossip and Kardashian esque families you might enjoy this one a lot more. Okay on audio (there were multiple alternating POVs and I found it hard to keep track at times). Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review.

nothing better for combatting the december gloomies than a favorite author with a new release, and it brightens my tuesday CONSIDERABLY to tell you that MEET THE BENEDETTOS by Katie Cotugno hits shelves today!

i am an inveterate consumer of pride & prejudice re-tellings, and this modern day, California-based version is so, so good: a Darcy brought up 21st century snuff, a riotously funny post-reality tv Bennet family in a ramshackle mansion, and all the classic story beats. Katie's writing is a combination of emotionally clutch + left-field zingers that always leaves me and, i am certain, would delight jane austen herself. to wit:

“Lilly and June climb out of the back trailed by the rest of their sisters, all of them tumbling out one after another like a family jug band or members of a religious cult come to look for vulnerable young outsiders to conscript into agrarian servitude and sexual deviance.”

thank you to @harpercollins #partner for the chance to read a dARC! can't wait to put my grubby paws on a hard copy. get out there today and treat yourself to this absolute gem of a rom-com, then come join my summoning circle for the screen adaptation 🕯️✨🔮

Thanks to Harper Perennial for the #gifted finished copy and NetGalley widget in exchange for my honest opinion. I have previously read the author’s debut adult fiction and her latest YA novel, Liar’s Beach, enjoying both, and I was so excited to receive this book last Saturday that I took it to a local bar to enjoy with a beer and a snack that very afternoon! I kept reading it the next morning with my latte, but then the week got crazy (surprise surprise) and I just finished reading it last night, a few days after publication. Better late than never!
The book is described as Pride and Prejudice meets the Kardashians - and that was exactly the vibe I got while reading. A mix of romance and family drama, which just might be my favorite genre mash-up lately, it’s also realistic. One of the blurbs on the cover mentioned forgetting the characters weren’t real and nearly googling them! While the premise is quite fun, there are some surprisingly serious moments, which, though unexpected, were welcome additions that helped me further understand the characters.
A quote from the book, completely out of context, is an apt description for the main character, Lilly: “equal parts delusion and grit” Lilly has been through a lot, moving home to live with her four sisters and her parents, even though she’s almost 30. Will is the new guy in town and their interactions are all over the place. There is a scene where Lilly and Will discuss karaoke song choices, and Lilly’s choice is one of my favorite songs - but definitely not one I’d sing karaoke!
The book just came out on 12/5, so it’s available everywhere. I recommend it - and it’s on the short side if you’re looking to finish some more books before the end of the year. I almost forgot to mention Katie is a Boston-based writer, and it’s nice to support someone local!!

I have discovered that I am a big fan of Katie Cotugno’s writing. I can’t put my finger on what it is, but just like Birds of California, I was immediately drawn to these characters and their world. I enjoying going into a book a bit blind and immediately felt the familial vibes of the Benedettos being likened to the Kardashians. It was so easy to sense the comparisons and sisterly relationships; the accident waiting to happen that is this “everywhere” L.A. family. I wanted to both love them and despise them at the same time and couldn’t look away. Cotugno has built a family that as different as they may be, is a tight knit one. As patriarch to the family, Dominic Benedetto’s rise to fame was as the Meatball King, an Italian franchise that has seen better days. With a house near foreclosure and five daughters and wife to take care of, we meet the Benedettos right before a moment of crisis. Pemberley Grove Is a Calabasas adjacent neighborhood where the Benedettos live and also my first clue that this was a Pride and Prejudice retelling (remember, I like going in blind). Add to that a new neighbor moving into PG named Charlie Bingley and his roommate Will Darcy, father Fitzhugh, and it is clear that Cotugno has set up the Benedettos as the bereft Bennett family.
The similarities of the characters and personalities were spot-on for this modern retelling. It takes a creative genius to match reality TV AND a classic romance to a modern day retelling. Lilly Benedetto was a protagonist I loved. She’s been to hell and back earning her a backbone of steel, she’ll fight like nobody for her family, and she loves big and hard. The love/hate chemistry between Lilly and Will Darcy (favorite name ever!) sparked like a wildfire and I couldn’t wait til the moment they acted on it. With multiple POVs, it’s not only Lilly’s story, but each character helps build onto the Pride and Prejudice storyline and form a more complete picture of the Benedettos. This was such a compulsive read and I couldn’t wait to see how Cotugno tied it all together. But as with Birds of California, I felt that the story ended abruptly and I was left asking so many questions. Regardless, the story and writing are exceptional and I look forward to more from this author in the future. I received an advanced copy from the publisher. All opinions are my own.

This book has everything!!!!!!!!! Fiction celebrity drama, family drama, love, scandal, and love between sisters. This is my first book by Katie Cotugno and it definitely won't be my last!!!!!!!

I LOVED this book! The Kardashians x Jane Austen? Sign me up immediately. This felt like a really fun "peak behind the curtain". The build of Lily and Will felt especially satisfying. The world building was done very well, I felt like I was there with them and could truly understand their motivations and decisions. I do wish that there had been less POVs included. I love having more than one POV, but feel that if they had been shaved down in this story, we could've gone a bit deeper. A great read!

Thank you BiblioLifestyle and Harper Perennial for the gifted copy of Meet The Benedettos! All opinions in this review are my own.

In this Pride and Prejudice retelling, Lilly is both trying to keep her family together while also avoid her snobby neighbor Will Darcy.

Meet The Benedettos is easily my favorite Katie Cotugno book that I've read. I love how she not only stays faithful to the Pride and Prejudice storyline, but also how well she writes her characters. Will's first impression of Lilly is that she is a vapid reality star caught up in her own drama. However, as both he and the reader see as the book progresses, Lilly is constantly trying to solve her family's problems while she is also trying to follow her own dreams. The disgust to love romance between Lilly and Will adds tension to the family drama. I can't wait to see what Cotugno comes out with next!

I really enjoyed Meet the Benedettos. Pitches as Tte Kardashians x Pride and Prejudice and I found that to be a really fair comparison. The touchpoints to P&P were fun and I also liked the modern updates. My only critique is I wasn’t quite ready for it to end yet when it did. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the free ebook to review.

I wanted to read this based on really liking Katie Cotugno's last adult book, Birds of California, and before diving in I didn't revisit the jacket copy or Goodreads description, so I was pleasantly surprised when I realized it was a mashup of Pride and Prejudice and Keeping Up with the Kardashians. While that's not my preferred reality franchise, I do love a take on reality tv in fiction, and I found that the Pride and Prejudice inspiration worked really well and was obvious without being heavy handed. I love an entertainment industry story, and I liked how this worked into the plot.

Thank you to Harper Perennial and Netgalley for the eARC! Sadly I DNFd at the 47% mark because I just couldn’t push myself to finish the second half.

I love Pride and Prejudice and fun/light contemporary novels so I was really excited for this but it was a huge let down! Modern, Hollywood/influencer retelling of Pride & Prejudice.

A little too heavy on pop culture references, it felt like name/brand dropping and will date the book heavily in years to come.

I did Like the switching POVs between Lilly and Will, but the others became too much and pointless. I found Lilly kind of insufferable 😩 and the other characters I didn’t love or hate, they were just okay. It felt like there were so many people to keep track of it got confusing at times.

Maybe I shouldn’t have read this since I don’t watch (or enjoy) The Kardashians and the whole idea of “famous for being famous” but I was intrigued by the Austen twist to it and it sounded light/fun. Also I thought perhaps it just meant Kardashian-inspired as in there’s 5 sisters and they’re a famous family. I didn’t realize it came with “we’re famous but pity us and we aren’t famous because of our show, we built ourselves from the ground up” 🙃

I think I would’ve liked it better if it wasn’t for Lilly. She judges Will for things that her family also would have or did have at one point? So she ends up sounding like a hypocrite. And she tries to act as if her family’s “famous for being famous” status is bogus, acting as if they’re famous for other reasons when in reality they wouldn’t be in the positions they are if it hadn’t been for their reality show and well-known public fights. I feel like if she hadn’t acted as if she and her family aren’t privileged and accepted why they have fame and that they’re trying to branch out, it would have been a better novel. But sadly because of her (lack of) character depth, I couldn’t care and found it annoying.

TW/CW: eating disorder, drug abuse, car accident (brief mention), death of parent

I wanted to love this book, based on the synopsis however the story fell flat and the characters were poorly developed. It was just okay.