A Pride and Prejudice retelling in which the Bennet’s second child is Oliver, a transman, who has confided his true identity to a few close friends and family members. Oliver slips away to Charlotte’s to change clothes and spend time as himself in public. It’s on one of these outings that he meets Darcy and Bingley, who he’d also met the night before at the Meryton Ball but in the guise of Elizabeth. What a fantastic setup. What a charming, lovely idea.
Throughout the story, there’s a smart and comfortable balance between recognizable beats from the original, and license taken to meet the demands of this particular remix. For those who love the original (and those who live and breathe the 2005 film), you’ll be pleased and settled into the world you love and expect and simultaneously thrilled at the new notes. I also found that my knowledge of the underlying narrative was a comfort of sorts as the characters faced such difficulties just existing in the world around them.
Overall, I found this exceedingly charming and healing to see queer characters in a story I’ve loved for decades. I have a few small critiques, but nothing that affected the joy this book brought me. I like how the author maintained a certain wickedness from Wickham, but I was a little ruffled by Collins’ closeness to him. I have no love for Collins but I suppose I’ve always seen him as a blowhard who was ultimately harmless and this put a darker stain on his character. I don’t object to that on its own, but it left me worried for Charlotte, and I didn’t love that. It left me with questions for her that I wouldn’t have had otherwise. There was also a touch of unrealistic dialogue, but nothing egregious.
Mr. Bennet 4ever.

Thank you so much, NetGalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group, Feiwel & Friendss for the chance to read this book in exchange of an honest review.

In the 1800's society, Oliver Bennet feels trapped by its expectations and by dresses and corsets. In a society inherently cishet and heteronormative, he feels trapped and alone and everyone thinks he's a girl named Elizabeth. He's expect to mingle, to become a wife, but he can't accept this fate. The only way he feels himself is sneaking out his family's home and dressing like a gentleman and so he becomes acquainted with Darcy, a sulky gentleman, who was rude to "Elizabeth". But getting to know him reveals to Oliver Darcy is a sweet and intelligent boy and so attractive. While he starts to hope for a live where he can be himself and love who he wants, his mother and suitors are becoming more and more pressing, pushing him towards two choices: accept his lie and live as a girl or risk everything to be himself.

I absolutely loved reading this Remixed Classics, by authors from marginalized background and I found this one so unique, fresh and creative. I loved Pride and Prejudice and this retelling is perfect! I loved how Elizabeth was fierce and "rebel" in her own way in the book and how here, with a trans character the whole heteronormative and cishet society is shown in its true colors.
Oliver is fierce and brilliant and, of course, he struggles within this society and yearns for freedom and I think it's gorgeous who he is himself with Darcy and how their relationship deepens.
It's a story of longing and freedom and defyinf society's expectations and it was sweet and beautiful, so so recommended!
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I will literally read anything Pride and Prejudice related, so when I heard about this queer version, I definitely wanted to check it out. In this version, our Bennet love interest is a trans person going by Oliver. When he meets Darcy, there is instant chemistry but even more barriers than if he were just a girl.

We get all the usual beats of the P&P story with Jane and Bingley, the dances, Jane’s sickness etc. But Charlotte is also queer and helping Oliver cope and adapt. Darcy is still swoon-worthy and difficult. Wickham is even more of a villain than ever. Mr Bennet is even more of a gem than ever.

The new scenes were all great, I especially loved the bookshop scene and Darcy going to Molly Houses to read! I didn’t know about Molly Houses in history so I was glad to learn that.

Thanks to Fiewel and Friends for gifted access via Netgalley. All opinions above are my own.

LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS WAS SUCH A CUTE AND FUN STORY AND I CANT WAIT TO READ MORE FROM THIS AUTHOR THANK YOU SO MUCH TO NET GALLEY FOR THE ARC I REALLY ENJOYED THIS

Oliver Bennet is a transman not yet out to most of his family. Only his eldest sister, his best friend, and his best friends lesbian lover know who he truly is. But, Netherfield has been let at last and the man who now lives there (Bingley) becomes infatuated with Oliver's eldest sister Jane. Now Oliver's mother is out to marry off her two eldest daughters (even if one of them is actually a son). Not to mention, Bingley has brought along a stuffy friend who mocks Oliver when he has to play "Elizabeth," but then befriends Oliver. What is Oliver to do when society would have him boxed into a person he can never be, a person it would kill him to pretend to be?

Wow! What an incredible reimagining of Austen's famous Pride and Prejudice. The idea fit so perfectly with the tones and meaning of the book. The prejudice, the miscommunication, the judgements, and the incorrect assumptions. I loved it so much, the way in which the author honored the old work, but then reformed the book into something fresh with added depth and meaning. This book has pushed me to want to read more trans historical books (and not just fiction). I want to know more about trans historical figures, I want to know that they had a chance to thrive and be happy.

I was a little frustrated with the misogyny still present in the narrative, and the fact that Oliver felt that fitting in was becoming part of the toxic masculinity crowd. The best characters in this book have always been those who tended not to fit into societal norms or to adhere to the awful boxes society places people into. For example, in the original: Bingley is an overly cheery, flighty, non-reading, generous gentleman, Jane is a woman who hides her emotions from all but those closest to her, Elizabeth is not the accomplished young woman that so many expect of her, and Fitzwilliam Darcy is standoffish and suffers from social anxiety. So, it would have been really neat if this book pushed back against the patriarchy more; it did, but I think it could have had more oomph.

The Bennets were their usual plucky selves and continued to redeem themselves through the course of the novel. Mr. Bennet is a gem as usual and deserves all the love. I also enjoyed the switch to having Wickham and Mr. Collins in league with each other and removing the grossness of Wickham marrying into their family. I was uncertain of Charlotte's fate after all that transpired, and I can only hope that Oliver's true and enduring friendship would mean caring for his friend after all that was revealed.

A fabulous book with so much emotion and two leads who truly find love within each other, even while trying to figure out who they are themselves and how to tell their family their own truths. This is a book about what it means to be yourself and how difficult it is to tell others the truth, but how validating it is when your family actually sees the real you and embraces you.

I absolutely adored this one! Anything Pride and Prejudice is going to be a win for me and this one did not disappoint! Cannot wait to see what else Gabe comes out with next!

Thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan Children’s for the ARC of this!

This was another cute retelling in this series, where again I say “I never read the original but I can imagine this was better” 😂 It was a quick and easy read.

I cannot express adequately in words how much this Remixed Classics series has meant to me, and how special MOST ARDENTLY is. Oliver's journey as he falls in love with Darcy and comes out to his family, was full of soft, swoony moments and big, scary reveals, and it was all done so masterfully. I am obsessed, and in love, and so delighted by this remix of one of my favorite classics.

Thank you to Macmillan/Feiwel and Friends and NetGalley for the eGalley to review!

I must preface this review with the fact that I have yet to read Pride and Prejudice in its entirety yet (I am due to soon for a book club, though!) and so therefore do not know *all* of the parallels and references, but I do believe--knowing the general outline of the story--that this remix does an excellent job of retelling it in a queer perspective. It also adds in references to real queer history in London, like Molly Houses and marital expectations of queer folk (shout out to the historical notes in the back!).

Most of the story is focused on Oliver's journey in coming out to his own family. His sister Jane knows, as does his closest friend and her girlfriend, but that is the extent of whom he's allowed this knowledge. Oliver is living a double life, pretending to be the Bennett daughter Elizabeth at home and in social settings, while being his true self on personal outings. This is relatively fine as he's working things out about his life, until all the deadnaming, body dysmorphia, and ridiculous misogyny get to be too much, as his mother is focused solely on him catching the eye of any "suitable" (read: rich) man at social gatherings so that he can end up as someone's wife as soon as possible. Add the fact that he keeps meeting the same men as himself and as Elizabeth, and he spends most of the book high-strung with anxiety, utterly terrified of being outed against his will, and wondering if he'll ever get to be his true self safely and happily.

The romance comes secondary, but it is sweet and fulfilling nonetheless, with a happy ending. Darcy is strictly gay in this retelling and is standoffish and rude to Oliver when he is forced to present as Elizabeth, but not when he's Oliver. He comes into his own self later and becomes a better person for it (not unlike the original Darcy, from my understanding).

If you can get through the transphobia complete with rampant micro- and macroaggressions, along with the egregious misogyny from some characters, this is an adorable coming of age story with a side of regency romance and it's worth the read!

Wow wow wow. As someone who loves Pride and Prejudice, this was an excellent read. It keeps the spirit of the original while adding in lots of new elements. I adored the characters.

This book is a perfect example of what I mean when I say I love queer historical fiction!!

Despite dealing accurately with the struggles of our community in the time period its set, this book is fundamently a positive and hopeful one - something that meant extra much to me here, as a gay trans man, following a gay trans man protagonist.

I felt all the emotions, fell in love with Oliver right away, and with Darcy with him. There was so much, especially in the trans rep, that made my heart warm (though more often than not I wanted to punch certain side characters) and it made me feel seen on such a deep level, I actually cried.

The Wicked Bargain by the same author was one of my top five reads of last year, so I already had high expectations going in, but I honestly think Most Ardently exceeded these expectation, and I'm happy to say it became one of my favourite books overall, perhaps even THE favourite, that's how much I loved it.

I highly recommend reading this one to anyone - i think other trans people might appreciate it most, but i also want every cis person to read this book because some of the struggles depicted here were so deeply relatable, and things I notice cis people often aren't aware of so!! and other than that, it's also just a very sweet book about identity, love, and family.

I admittedly haven't read Pride and Prejudice, but I don't think I will after this. There's no way it's even nearly as good, and I won't betray my love Oliver like that.

Note: this is the short version of my review. I'll post the full version on my instagram account (@bibliosaurier) once my physical copy of the book arrives (which my bookstore still hasn't sent to me despite me preordering it last july *sigh*)

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan for the ARC of Most Ardently: A Pride & Prejudice Remix by Gabe Cole Novoa.

This perfectly followed the original and you could tell that Gabe truly loves and appreciates Jane Austens novel. Oliver was the perfect character. I loved seeing him tackle being trans in a time when it was not safe to be. Seeing Oliver have such a great support system around him was also amazing.

The relationship between Oliver and Darcy was done so well. It was slow burn with the intermixed moments when Oliver had to play as Elizabeth. Darcy supporting and accepting Oliver made the romance so much better.

Highly recommend this however, go in knowing there is a lot of period specific homophobia.

The description of this book was immediately everything to me. A trans retelling of Pride and Prejudice is so supremely my jam that I didn’t envision a world in which this didn’t work for me. Unfortunately, it really didn’t.

Oliver Bennet knows who he is; he just wants everyone else to see him that way too. He doesn’t think that he’ll ever find someone who will love him as himself… until he meets Darcy, whose moods shift wildly depending on the circumstances under which he’s seeing Oliver.

I don’t believe that adaptations or retellings need to follow the original material beat by beat, nor do I think that creative liberties can’t be taken. But with this book? I found myself shaking my head at the actions of the characters. Wickham and Collins were vile, but in a completely different way from P&P, and not exactly in a way that made sense for this story.

For me, there also needed to be more of Oliver and Darcy’s relationship being built up and, well, for Darcy’s actions and choices to make more logical sense than they do. There’s a moment that happens between that seems to come out of nowhere for the characters in this story. It’s there for the original couple, but in this story, it seems forced.

There were moments of this that I genuinely enjoyed, and there’s a story in here that I could love. But as it stands, this wasn’t for me.

This book was released January 16th in the US, so you can pick up a copy for yourself if you want.

I LOVED this book, so much.

I did not realize that this was a P&P adaptation that I needed, but here we are. Honestly I think I enjoy this version better. There’s more interaction between our leading couple, and that allows for more relationship development.

Plus there were some interesting shifts in family dynamics that worked nicely, as well as friendship dynamics. It was interesting to see who knew Oliver’s truth and who discovered it along the way. Along with that, of course, was being able to see how folks reacted to learning about Oliver. Considering how close Elizabeth is to her father in the original, I was happily tearing up in this version when Oliver reveals himself to Mr Bennet.

Yes, the story pretty much follows the plot points we all know from the classic Pride & Prejudice, with only minor adjustments for it to fit with the added character and story changes.

I was obsessed with this, and didn’t want to stop reading. The fact that it read very quickly as well meant that the journey was over too soon, but at least I can always enjoy a reread, because this is a book that will be staying in my library for a while.

Oh, I should say that there is a good amount of deadnaming in this book, so if you are sensitive to that, be aware before you begin. I know every time someone said Elizabeth, I was finding myself as internally frustrated as Oliver was.

Overall, I can absolutely say that Most Ardently is in the running for my top reads of 2024 list, and I definitely hope to read more of these remixed classics going forward.

I loved this! I've always enjoyed the story of Pride and Prejudice - and its film adaptations and reimaginings - so I was very curious to see how the story would be remixed with the main character as a trans man. Personally, as a nonbinary person, this felt like the fluffiest wish fulfillment! Not only does Oliver Bennet have friends and allies who know his truth and support him, but he also easily passes when going out in public as his true self. It's during one of these outings that he's befriended by Darcy and Bingley, and forms an budding friendship with Darcy. Here it gets a bit Shakespearean, as Oliver is forced to hide his truth when later confronting Darcy as "Elizabeth." While the story stays mostly the same, many of the characters are queer - and younger - and it's interesting to see how motivations are shifted to suit the new spin on the story. (Yes, Wickham is still a villain!) All in all, I thought it was heartwarming and sweet! I've read many different takes on this stories - from zombies to murder mysteries - but this is by far my favorite.

LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE. Come ON. Gay Pride and Prejudice retelling, a trans protagonist and an awkward gay Darcy. perfection. I cannot recommend this book enough, because it is everything. I've told all my friends who have (or haven't) read Pride and Prejudice to read this because it is the most perfect retelling (yes, I see you Pride and Prejudice and Zombies but... hear me out). I don't even know what words to use to convince everyone I have ever known to read this book (unless you're transphobic, in which cause check yourself).

I have read plenty of bad Pride and Prejudice adaptations in my time, and I am grateful to say that Most Ardently is not among them. To retell such a beloved classic is a tall order, and Novoa manages to do it well, putting a spin on it for a fun and easy read. It is a delightful twist on a classic story that provides a look at what it might have been like to be transgender in the 1800s.

The world of Most Ardently will look familiar to many: the Bennet family lives in Regency England, not far outside London, where Mrs. Bennet obsessively attempts to marry off her daughters to rich men and Mr. Bennet quietly manages the modest family finances. But while most of the world believes the Bennet family to have five daughters, Oliver Bennet knows they actually have four daughters and a single son. Only a select few know Oliver’s true self: his sister Jane, his best friend Charlotte, and her lover Lu. But when his escapades outside of the house as his true self end with Oliver running into Jane’s suitor Bingley and his rude friend Darcy, Oliver is runs the risk of spending time with people who know “Elizabeth” in search of friendship, and maybe something else.

I like to say that Pride and Prejudice is the reason I love enemies to lovers romance, I am constantly looking for one that is just as good. Which is why I have to clarify right away that Most Ardently does not follow the same romantic beats of P&P. However, I found there to be a lot of fun in the way Novoa shakes it up. Rather than a contentious relationship in which each party has to escape their prejudices, we get to see Oliver and Darcy interacting as friends throughout the story. Therefore, the tension comes from whether (or when) people will realize just how familiar Oliver looks, and Oliver's internal tension about what kind of life he wants to live. I also have to say that I did particularly like the ending to the novel, it was incredibly fitting.

In the end, I do wish the novel had more time. Everything felt rushed, like it was just hitting the most notable plot points, which meant there was less time to dig into the themes of the novel. As a result, I found that many of the themes were watered down or lost all together. There were obviously the added themes of transness and queerness in Regency England, but I still would have liked a stronger throughline of some of the original class commentary. And sometimes Oliver drifted into “this is wrong because I am actually a man” while failing to acknowledge that the gender discrimination was just wrong in the first place.

There are a few changes to the plot I would not have made (like splitting Charlotte into two characters), but which do the overall story no harm. I have to respect that it truly is a re-mix of the book, and works well as a stand-alone novel. The romance is cute, there are some incredibly touching scenes between Oliver and the various members of his family, and it is fun to read. I think it is a great way to get a young reader interested in Pride and Prejudice, and a look at what our historical records could look like if we had more stories of trans people in the past.

To start, I would like to say that Gabe Cole Novoa has been added to a very, very short list of authors who are automatic reads for me, and that is entirely thanks to "Most Ardently".

Many who know me also know that "Pride and Prejudice" is one of my most favorite novels. But in a world where queer people are still consistently underrepresented, and more specifically the trans community, it was so refreshing to read this retelling. I wish that I could properly articulate the pure joy that I felt when I read this, or explain to you how many times I found myself kicking my feet happily as each chapter took me deeper and deeper down into this love story.

I have been no stranger to the remixed books which have been beautiful in their queer retellings of classic literature, but I have to say that so far this has been my absolute favorite of the bunch. I want to push this book at every single person queer or not so that this piece of literature can become every bit as praised as Jane Austen's original.

For anyone that loves Pride and Prejudice, but want it to be way more sapphic, Gabe Cole Novoa has granted your wishes! The entire time I was reading this book I couldn't help but feel that I was reading the ultimate fanfic to the Jane Austen novel. This was truly a remix that stayed true to Jane Austen, but provided a fresher and more diverse take.

Everything that the blurb for this book promises, it delivers. I loved how original the story was and the history included at the end of the book to back it up. That said, I really feel like this book could have been its' own story and didn't need the backdrop of being a remix of the classic. I loved the story, but just had a hard time making that switch in my head. This is a personal preference though.

Most Ardently is the the type of diverse historical fiction that we need! There were so many great things about the research that went into it, as well as the ultimately wholesome story. The plot was enjoyable, but make sure you pay attention to the author's very well-done trigger warnings at the beginning of the book. Overall, I am very happy to have read this book and think that there will be so many people that will enjoy it!

Thank you Netgalley and Macmillan for this arc!

This has to be one of my favorite Pride and Prejudice retellings to date. The author was able to capture the spirit and essence of P&P and make it his own.

As someone who falls under the trans umbrella as both the main character and the author, it was delightful to be represented in a retelling of one of my favorite books.