This is yet another book based on the Pride and Prejudice trope. I thought that I would like it because of the take a la the Kardashians. However, I could not get into this book because of the fact that there is no prelude to the action at the beginning o the book. The pace is strange and it's hard to differentiate the characters in the beginning. I am sure that the book gets better, but it was a lot of work in the beginning.

Thank you NetGalley & Harper Perennial for allowing me access to this prior to publication.

I did enjoy this book. I enjoyed the relationship the sisters had. I like the switching of characters telling their pov.
The love-hate between Lilly and Will was cute, but also a little annoying at times.

It's Pride and Prejudice meets the Kardashians (if the Kardashians were Italian). If you are a fan of Pride and Prejudice you will love this creative and modern retelling. The author includes the classic characters we know and love in both their namesakes and their personalities. There are nods to the names we know and love: Darcy, Bingham, Pemberly, etc. However the modern setting, story shifts, and main plot points all kept me going. I loved envisioning this family and this group of sisters throughout reading! Every time I noticed a similarity or parallel to the original text I was so excited, it was like finding little hidden Easter eggs all throughout the story. My only critique is that there are so many characters and shifting perspectives that at times I had to re read sections to orient myself! I highly recommend for any fans of the classic movie or book!

Meet the Benedetto is a quick rad focused on the Benedetto family, a family famous for being famous.

Lilly and her 4 sisters starred in a reality show with their parents for several years, and now, years after cancellation, still deal with gossip and rumors about their lives. Father Dom is about to lose the house as money isn’t coming in a quickly anymore, and the girls are each dealing with issues of their own.

The story is in third person POV, and uses a ton of different characters. We get the various sisters, a couple men they date, and other acquaintances throughout the story. It has a little bit of everything - family drama, serious issues like suicide and eating disorders, an enemies to lovers story, great banter, and interesting characters.

I didn’t feel connected to anyone other than Lilly since she was the main POV, and I felt empathy for her character. She felt like she needed to fix all the things for all the people, and that is impossible for one person to do for a huge family.

I loved the sister connection and the way they immediately supported one another when push came to shove. I think these sisters will be just fine!

I’d recommend a read if you like the Kardashians and family drama.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Perennial for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

This is a modern retelling of Pride & Prejudice, so I was sure I’d love it. While I enjoyed the relationships between the sisters, the pop culture references felt a bit over the top. They took me out of the story a few times so I liked the book but didn’t love it like Birds of California.

I've never met a Katie Cotugno book I didn't love, and this one was no different! MEET THE BENEDETTOS is a modern retelling of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, following the five Benedetto sisters, who were once at the height of fame, thanks to their family's reality TV show. Now, they're practically hitting rock bottom. Their Los Angeles mansion is crumbling, and they're struggling to stay afloat financially. But then famous, charming actor Charlie Bingley and his best friend from Juilliard, Will Darcy, move into the neighborhood, and everything starts to change. Charlie and the oldest Benedetto sister, June, fall into a whirlwind romance, but the second-oldest sister, Lilly, and Will, don't exactly hit it off. She thinks he's too snobby and judgmental, he thinks she's too loud and blunt. They just can't seem to get along...but then why can't they stay away from each other?

MEET THE BENEDETTOS includes so many things I really enjoy in a story—pop culture/celebrity culture commentary (plus the fun reality TV element!), complex family relationships, and a classic enemies-to-lovers romance. It stays true to the source material, while taking those plot points and effortlessly transporting them to a modern setting. I loved all the Austen references, but I also really appreciated how original this retelling was—the characters definitely stand on their own, and their personalities practically jump off the page! I was so invested in all of their stories. My only real "complaint" is that I wanted even more, especially when it came to Lilly and Will and their development, both as individuals and in terms of their relationship. I could have read hundreds more pages about them and their top-tier banter and chemistry! Overall, MEET THE BENEDETTOS is a heartwarming, thought-provoking story that I already look forward to re-reading one day, and I can't wait to see what Katie Cotugno writes next! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I really wanted to like this but I think it should’ve been two separate books. I loved the sisters relationships but I had a hard time following at point with all of the switching POVs.


Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher HarperCollins for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I’m very torn on this. I loved the sisters relationships and the pop culture references but I had a hard time following at point with all of the switching POVs I think chapters should have been reserved for Lilly and Will and the author should have found another way to work in the other perspectives.

This book is clearly modeled after families who are simply famous for being famous with a complete lack of reality and what it is to live in the real world with an awareness of events that are going on around them. These sisters chose to float oblivious in their pool and lived through social media to demonstrate how wonderful their lives are. Yes, Olivia and Kit made money as a purported social influencer but how long does that career last? How can these sisters believe they can last in the spotlight when their show consisted of totally asinine topics? It didn't help that their parents were "parents" but encouraged them to live this way. Only Lily and Mari had any clue how the world existed but really it was Mari of whom.the sisters couldn't identify with that actually parlayed her intelligence into success. To me, Charlie and Will were simply secondary characters to boost the egos of the sisters. This book was fine but it would be hard to recommend it to people who know what it is like to work and understand that Instagram or in their case the Sinclair is totally false.

Loved this! The five Benedetto sisters are kind of like the Kardashians, except as this story opens, they are really down on their luck, with the family business tanking, and no one really interested in them anymore. This is a loose retelling of Pride and Prejudice, but even those not familiar with that classic will still enjoy this wonderful book. I look forward to recommending it.

This book is meant to be a modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice, but imagine if the Bennet family was the Kardashian family instead! It had an entertaining premise, but unfortunately missed the mark for me. Definitely still give it a shot if the premise sounds interesting to you!

No one, and I mean no one does banter better than Katie Cotugno. I absolutely loved this Pride and Prejudice retelling, I felt like she nailed the characters and the setting was such a fun take, without diverting too far from the original. This was the best and will be a breath of fresh air and give you the feel of summer when it comes out in January.

Highly recommend, especially for fans of Birds of California, or those looking for a modern take on Pride and Prejudice by someone who writes the best banter in the business.

I always enjoy a modern Jane Austen retelling and this book satisfied that desire. I really enjoyed seeing the classic characters of Pride and Prejudice adapted for a modern audience and in a context that will ring true with contemporary readers.

3.5 stars

Part Hollywood roman a clef, part modern retelling of Pride & Prejudice, this novel tells the story of the five Benedetto sisters, whose lives have taken a turn for the worse after their reality TV show is canceled. Second oldest sister Lilly is trying to hold her family together while also juggling a complicated romantic life. The lives of the other four sisters aren't as flushed out - Olivia and Kit are pretty much interchangeable and Mari is practically invisible. I'm probably not the target audience for this book, but if you are under age 35 and loved Hollywood gossip and reality TV, you will like this novel.

A fun-filled, witty, light story revealing complexities of being human.

Promoted as The Kardashians meets Pride and Prejudice, Meet the Benedettos is a truly charming affair as Cotugno introduces us to a flailing reality show family trying to maintain fame and live life in LA. The five sisters are well known around town, and not in a good way. They are undeterred and continue to live a life to the fullest, even as past due bills pile up in the household.

A great romance story, a great story in general, I will be thinking about these young women for a long time. This is a testament to Katie Cotugno ! If you like witty repartee, stories of fame and life in LA, or just want to meet a family that you would truly love to join, Meet the Benedettos is for you! #MeettheBenedettos #KatieCotugno
#harper #harperperrenial

As a long time fan of Katie Cotugno's YA books, I was excited to see her take on a Pride and Prejudice retelling in California via the Kardashian sisters. While the writing was solid and the premise fun, I just didn't love this one as much as I'd hoped. My main reason was all of the points of view. I'm not sure we needed all of them. :) Non-the-less I would still recommend this book for fans of retellings, summer/light reads and Katie's writing style.

I found this a tale that didn’t have to be rewritten or retold. I found this version difficult to unfurl , too many names with my mind going back to other versions., film, and TV. So, for me this update was a waste of time. I do see how people less steeped in the original and later iterations might enjoy this.


Thank you Netgalley for this ARC.

"Meet the Benedettos" is a highly modern take on the infamous story of "Pride and Prejudice". The author throws in a lot of little details that point to the classic (i.e. use of the surname "Bingley" and the neighborhood being named "Pemberly" Grove), and I really enjoyed that. Even though these references exist, this book stands on its own and tells a unique story. It's filled with loads of trendy lingo--the kind that tends to flood social media. I'll admit there were several occasions when I had no idea what some of these trendy phrases meant. Despite that, I was still able to follow the story. My biggest complaint is all of the cursing because I feel it subtracts from the story and character depth (F-bombs galore and some other crass phrasing I wasn't expecting).

If you enjoy on-trend books, easy summer reads, and ultra modern takes on classics...this book might be for you!

I have so many mixed feelings about Meet the Benedettos. The pros: I love the sisters' relationship and how the weaving of a lot of plotlines was done so well. The modern-day celebrity references were spot-on.

On the other hand, did we need all of the switching perspectives, some of them only used once? Probably not. Additionally, there was a lot of repetition of different characters using certain phrases like "et cetera" in a way that felt very distracting.

I can't decide if I like that this doesn't hit on every beat of Pride and Prejudice. It feels more original than other books that have used it for an inspiration. However, it felt like the author was sticking to the source material strongly through the start, then lost steam and kind of gave up toward the end. As a result, some of the biggest plot points of Pride and Prejudice show up in Meet the Benedettos in a way that feels half-baked or unclear.

Meet the Benedettos is a fun take on a fictional reality TV family meets Pride and Prejudice.

Lilly Benedetto wants more than to be just a former reality star and can’t seem to catch a break. She feels responsible for her four sisters and her parents, can’t get a break with her manuscript and Will, an actor from in town staying with his bff, Charlie, (who is a super star in his own right) is a pain that she can’t quit thinking about.

I enjoyed the Austen references and to my chagrin the Kardashian references. —how can I know so much about this family and have never seen their show?

I related to something from every sister and wished nothing but happy endings for them all. I also want to live in their subdivision/estates. 😄