I take back what I ever said about the inheritance trope not working in contemporary romances. I was wrong, and this book proves it. I don't remember much about Sense and Sensibility, so I can't speak to it being a true adaptation, but this book was SO GOOD. I need Nikki Payne to please do an Emma retelling pleaseeee.

Nora is trying to make the best of her inheritance with her sister Yanne, as they renovate an old inn in Maine and try and make it profitable. They run into Ennis, who leads Abenaki history tours with his cousin, and he has been using the land the inn is on to run his tour business. Nora and Ennis agree to work together towards both of their goals and as they get to know each other, they find themselves growing closer. However, both Nora and Ennis deal with issues in their personal lives that threatens to impede their goals. Overall, a story of two people who are in difficult situations and are just trying to find a way out and towards a better future.

"Sex, Lies, and Sensibility" by Nikki Payne is a rollercoaster of a read that hooked me from start to finish! The family dynamics in this book are absolutely bonkers, with twists and turns that kept me guessing at every chapter. Ennis and Nora find themselves in one sticky situation after another, and watching them navigate through it all is both hilarious and heartwarming. As the story unfolds, you can't help but root for these characters as they grow and evolve, even if it means dealing with some uncomfortable truths. And let's remember Nora's sister, whose journey adds more complexity to an already captivating tale. Overall, "Sex, Lies, and Sensibility" is a must-read for anyone who loves drama and laughs!

Sex, Lies and Sensibility was my first Nikki Payne book. I was hesitant to read this because I hadn't read Sense and Sensibility but I don't believe that is necessary to enjoy Nora and Bear's love story. It's definitely what some may call a "slow burn" but it was worth it to see them get their HEA when the time was right. Now I want to go back and read her first book, Pride and Protest.

I will start by saying I have never read Sense and Sensibility, so I can't compare them. That being said, I enjoyed this. I could've done without the time jumps at the story's beginning. I loved Bear and Noar. I wish he did get that close to getting married cause WTF!!! But I ate up every second of this book

After much thought, this is definitely one of those books where you don’t like all the characters and you hate the choices some of your loved characters make, but you have to remember they are humans too. It also makes it that much more real.

I never read the book it’s based out of but I did enjoy the turn of events. There was drama, privilege, intrigue, spice and romance.

Overall solid good read! I love Nikki Payne’s writing so much! ✨

Sense & Sensibility is one of favorite books and my second favorite Austen (we love Persuasion around here) and this was a perfect adaption. So much of the story followed the beats that were changed gave the book a whole different spin. I honestly just felt so cozy with Bear & Nora and their constant thirst for understanding and honoring the other’s culture (also mega thirsty for each other but that’s not appropriate!).

I don’t want to say too much about the plot. I went into this blind and found that I enjoyed it more for that. Just know that if you love classic rom coms, smutty romance novels, and Sense & Sensibility you will LOOOOVE this.

Nikki Payne wrote a book that felt like a love letter to classic romance literature but also remembering our smutty reads. All the little hidden shout outs made my heart grow 3 sizes.

The writing was snappy and spot on. She jumps from millennial inside jokes to classic lit veiled comebacks to current romance reader easter eggs. I just enjoyed the ride and the feeling that I’m reading a book by someone that loves this genre as much as I do

Some of my favorite quotes:

“..can you just admit here and now that Backshots From Bear is a KU book you’d absolutely read?”

“She’ll probably let you do whatever you want and just lie back and think of England.”

What you’ll get:
Abenaki MMC
Black FMC
Insta chemistry
Emotional but light hearted
Reluctant-enemies to lovers
A Marianne Dashwood flibberty jibbit sidekick
Fun side ensemble of characters

This Austen retelling was so well done - I've never read the original Austen work, but I enjoyed this. I thought that there was funny banter, captivating stakes, and sexy scenes!! I also thought the way Nikki wrote Bear and his Indigenous identity was really well portrayed (I can't say I can't relate to it because I'm only 3% North American Indigenous) but I liked the story a lot. A well done job!

Sense and Sensibility is the Austen I know the least so I was sorta going into this as a clean slate. I really loved the sister relationship between Yanne and Nora.
Bear and Nora as a couple was HOT. Bear is definitely a new book boyfriend., flaws and all.
Now Nora, oh I love Nora. I relate to Nora in so many ways. I love her final idea for the property so much, its close to my heart.

Nikki Payne is just such a fun writer with such loveably sweet characters. I'll read anything from her at this point.

Sex, Lies and Sensibility by Nikki Payne

⭐️ 4.5
🌶 2.5

I was hooked by the first sentence! I like to read the author’s notes and the acknowledgments in a book. I don’t know if anyone else likes to but I prefer it since the author took the time to write them I like seeing into their thoughts about the book before diving in! The author’s notes had me interested since Nikki Payne took the time to do actual research for this book and respected the BIPOC areas that she touched with her story to be as authentic as she could.

I loved the beginning of this book because of how she immediately caught my attention with her first sentence.

Nora and Yanne are at a crossroads in life. They were led to believe their whole lives that their father and mother were married when it turns out she was his mistress!

They are immediately told that the only way they can get any viable type of inheritance from their father’s estate is to fix up a foreclosing Inn called Barton Cove in Maine!

What are these two sisters going to do? They’re going to pull up their big girl panties and figure out how to renovate the inn to turn a profit and prove their evil stepsister that they deserve to be recognized as their father’s children.

They quickly realize that there is no support to be found in Maine since they are outsiders in a small town community near an indigenous reservation. Nora meets Bear, a tall dark and secretive eco friendly tour guide who is going to use the girls inexperience to his communities advantage.

I absolutely loved the angsty tension from Bear and Nora! Their love was infectious and such a struggle to read! Mainly because it was heartbreaking what each one kept as secrets and didn’t let them out until it was too late.

Bear was his own person but had a savior complex that he was too scared to lose. He finally finds himself dealing with past and present traumatic emotions with Nora and has to decide how he can keep the love of his life while still being seen as a great person in his community.

Definitely recommend this book for someone who loved BIPOC love stories told with real life struggles and trauma that is worked through together rather than alone!

Only minor issue I had with the book was Nora’s sister Yanne she really didn’t take responsibility with Nora to fix the inn and help relieve stress but seemed to just add to it. The story did have a slow buildup but at the halfway point I was completely hooked and couldn’t put it down anymore!

Unlike Nikki Payne's first book I was sucked into this story right away. Honestly, Bear and Nora are still living rent free in my head right now.

This book truly impressed me. I loved how I could see themes from the original and yet it still felt like its own story in its own right! I got to the point I wish she would have strayed from the original story :)

This is the first time I read a story where it is understood the MMC did something messed up and it is not justified or twisted to be anything else than being wrong. I did however felt it was extreme for him to give up years of his life for this error in judgement.

I don't care her issues, I didn't like Luc from the moment her character was introduced and felt validated in my feelings as the story went on!

I loved to watch the relationship develop organically over time between the main characters and I loved her sister and Brandon's banter I want them to have a story of their own!

I still didn't like Liza B and could have gone without a cameo of her....

Overall great read and I can't wait to see what Nikki Payne writes next!

I loved the opportunity to read about characters whose lives are so different from my own, but I wish Bear and Nora had spent more time together! I felt a little shortchanged in that department.

It is always unique seeing a retelling with a modern twist. This Sense and Sensibility retelling offers a brand new way to look at this story.
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Huge thank you to @berkleypub @berittalksbooks @thephdivabooks @dg_reads and @netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
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What do we want? All the Jane Austen retellings (particularly Sense and Sensibility)! When do we want them? NOW!!

The universe heard my loud call for action and gave me exactly what I was looking for- a super creative and inclusive and taking place in Maine retelling of Sense and Sensibility. My heart burst into 100000 pieces from happiness with all the Pat’s Pizza references...IYKYK.

Nora and Yanne Dash grew up wealthy and find out their father actually has a second family and was never married to their mother on the day of his funeral. They inherit a dilapidated inn on the coast of Maine that they have to make profitable in order to get their inheritance. Nora meets Bear, an abenaki man who wants access to the land around the inn to continue to run his Native American history tours of the area so partners with the sisters to help fix up their house if they let him use the inn and the land around it. Nora and Bear fall for each other, but both have secrets from their past that get in the way of their boning...and HEA.

I really enjoyed this one. It’s not easy to remake S&S in a contemporary setting and I think @nikkipaynebooks succeeds in making it all work on so many levels. I love her inclusion of an Abenaki man into this book and how she wove the modern Abenaki culture and politics into the story. I also love the bad ass and resilient Dash sisters- they bring so much humor, strength, and heart to this story. Payne, a cultural anthropologist, is so skillful with how she pulled all the different cultures/races together- Abenaki, African American, White Maine Islander (as a Mainer myself, I can attest that this is its own culture) to make this retelling work. If you love Jane Austen and want a smart, witty, deep romance this is the book for you.

Smut- 2.78 (warning: hot wigwam scene)
Romance- 4.56 stars
Story- 4.42 stars
Pat’s Pizza- 5.67 stats

This was okay, I liked it. I haven’t read Jane Austen so I had no correlation to base it on. I thought it was well written with a good plot, but I didn’t especially connect with the characters. I read it as a part of a Berkley Buddy Reads group

This was a stellar second novel from Nikki - I did end up enjoying Pride & Protest when I read it but with Sex Lies & Sensibility I was hooked from the beginning and couldn't put it down. Definitely my favorite so far!

After the loss of their father and some shocking news at his funeral, Nora and her sister are left to transform a dilapidated inn in Maine and turn a profit in a few short months. When they arrive, they find Ennis (aka Bear) using said inn as part of his tours through the woods and Native land. Nora & Bear decide to team up & the tension between them is absolutely delicious from the get go! Their banter, the chemistry - and let's not forget that steamy AF scene in the wigwam.

I also enjoyed the little callbacks to Pride & Protest with the mention of the Bennett sisters and Liza's radio show - you certainly don't need to read that to enjoy the second book but I think it helps with the whole reading experience a bit!

(Thank you Berkley Romance for the gifted copy)

I could not love this book anymore! I haven't read Sense and Sensibility but I could see the outlines of classic literature in the plot. Nikki Payne has a beautiful writing style that really pulled me in. Nora was a very compelling character, I enjoyed the duality of her boldness and her hesitancy. Her story was complex and created a really lovely character to read. Bear was a fantastic male lead. He was so charming and sexy. I admired his need to care for others even when it frustrated me. The chemistry between Nora and Bear was amazing and the spicy scenes were incredible. Yanne and Brandon were scene stealers, I want so much more of them! I don't know when I'll ever get over this book if I'm honest.

3⭐️ 1.5🌶️

I have struggled with this review quite a bit and have sat in it for a while now trying to figure out how exactly I feel about it.

I will say, I highly recommend the book because it was good. Reading is also very subjective and just because it wasn’t a full hit with me doesn’t mean it won’t be for you.

I had a lot of fun reading it. The pining and sexual tension was so damn good and you could feel it through the pages. I giggled and kicked my feet and severely worried for Bear’s health after he had some encounters with Nora because the man was gone GONE.

What turned me off personally (and again, this is just a personal preference) was towards the 60% ish mark, where she is determined to have space and time to think and shows up to the grandma’s thing and here comes this man swinging his penis as if it’s a magic wand and trying to solve it all either it. I hate that. Specially when the FMC is determined on talking or doing something but gets derailed by some dick. Like what?! No. Absolutely not.

For a good part of the book I honestly had no idea what Bear did or where this ex of his came from. Idk if maybe I missed something or it wasn’t clearly stated. Nikki is so funny tho. She truly had me laughing a lot and I’m excited to read what she does next.

Thanks for the free book @berkleyromance @netgalley #berkleypartner #berkley #berkleybookstagram !!

Gonna cut to the chase real quick on #SexLiesandSensibility by @nikkipaynebooks — it’s such a fun take on what I think has Austen’s hardest characters to adapt that I cannot even imagine what your life is like if you haven’t read this already. Read it now.

Nora Dash is a former D1 track star derailed by a sex tape. She’s the stoic and dependable older sister to Yanne, a whirlwind of energy. Nora and Yanne have just found out that their father, a very rich man, had a whole separate family and that they’re the ones on the side. They’re left without many options now that he’s passed, but they’re willed a property in Maine that’s facing foreclosure unless they fix it up. Yanne and Nora pack for Maine, and they’re the only Black women for miles in Bar Harbor, Maine.

Bar Harbor is also home to the Abenaki Native people, and a reservation community. Ennis, or Bear, as he’s known, is the community favorite. He’s a high school teacher and track coach who yearns to GTFO and be a collegiate track coach. If only he wasn’t so bogged down in duty, and promises, and guilt, and obligation. And now they’re business partners palpably and hornily longing for each other while denying themselves - my fave!

This version of Edward Ferrars is my favorite, because he’s written carefully and we get to see his POV and in this version he has long lustrous hair and HE FUCKS, but Bear is lovely even though he’s trying to make everybody happy and therefore nobody is happy until he can get out from underneath his own garbage.

I’d like to see all of the art of Nora in her blue dress because I am THIRSTY, please and thank you!

There are things that are so special to me in this book and I can’t get over them: yes falling in love through sports movies (hello to Mighty Ducks 1, 2, and 3 🤠 QUACK), and yes to falling in love over long runs. Yes to learning how people pleasing lets a lot of people down, yes to overcoming one’s internet history. Just, yes.

(And hell yes, Lebron really IS the 🐐 and I do forgive him for leaving my Cavs for all the reasons stated in this book).

REVIEW FOR SEX, LIES, AND SENSIBILITY

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ stars

Thank you to @netgalley and @berkleyromance for the free digital and physical books! #berkleypartner

𝕊𝕎𝕀ℙ𝔼 𝔽𝕆ℝ 𝕊𝕐ℕ𝕆ℙ𝕊𝕀𝕊 👉🏼

𝕆𝕍𝔼ℝ𝔸𝕃𝕃 𝕋ℍ𝕆𝕌𝔾ℍ𝕋𝕊:
I’m skipping my usual format for reviews because I typically list what I liked and didn’t like about a book. And for this one it’s hard because I genuinely loved every aspect of this book. Somehow I’ve read a lot of Jane Austen retellings even though I’ve never read the originals, but this is my first Sense and Sensibility one. And I hope Nikki keeps writing more as I’ll keep reading them!

Like Nikki’s first novel, Pride and Protest, this book is so, so smart. Taking two disenfranchised groups of people and putting them against each other in a discussion about rightful property owner? Just 🤌🏼 :chef’s kiss:. Discussions of colonialism, class, duty…We need more of these stories that challenge the typical narrative and highlight these voices. Jane Austen was known for challenging the narrative at the time (or so I’ve read…as I said I’ve never read an original) and these books are living up to that in today’s society.

Let’s chat characters. Bear is an absolute lovable f*ck boy that you just want to slap upside the head lol. His sense of duty to his family, his legacy, the Abenaki people, and their land is his primary driver, and yeah he stumbles (a lot) but ultimately gets it right in the end. Shenora Dash is a bad ass B*TCH! I knew I was going to love her from chapter 2 with the Balenciaga dress (IYKYK). Nora has been through it, but still holds her head high (maybe a little too high). Her counterbalance, her sister Yanne (Maryanne) is a free spirit to Nora’s straight and narrow. Even the supporting characters all had main character energy, and made the book that much more enjoyable.

I could talk about this book all day, and in fact I’ve already attended one in person convo (thanks @eastcitybookshop) and one live event on insta. Every time I hear @nikkipaynebooks talk about this book I learn something new every time. If you like retellings, then read this- now lol. then slide into my DMs because I will be happy to talk about it 🙃