This book ripped me apart and slowly stitched me back together, tears and all. Sex, Lies, and Sensibility explores the links between family, duty, and culture and what happens when you find your person outside those bounds. Nikki Payne has mastered her Shakespeare retellings and woven a world where Nora and Bear are the stars, and we all just live in it. As the clock runs out, we hope for a world where love conquers duty so our leads can beat back the tide of tradition and establish something new for themselves. But will they forge that new path together? You'll have to read this glorious tearjerker to find out!

Nora and Yanne inherit a dilapidated estate in rural Maine upon the death of their father. To recover any inheritance, they move there and restore the abandoned space to a habitable status. While Yanne's head remains firmly in the stratosphere, Nora, our runner, lives with her feet firmly planted on Maine's soil. Having had her trust broken publicly in the past, Nora is even less likely to take any happiness for herself when she starts to develop feelings for a thoughtful and loving Abenaki man, Ennis (aka Bear).

Nora and Bear, Cancer and Capricorn, are so stubbornly fixed on saving everyone around them they refuse to accept any slice of happiness for themselves. They are so afraid of perpetuating the past that they can't see what's right in front of them (and how heartbreaking is that?).

It is SO, so good-- so preorder it now. I'm telling you, you'll love it.

PS: Nikki Payne does fantastic things with the character of Marianne (Yanne). I'm all about Yanne- she's flighty, pulls Tarot, and adores her sister Nora more than anything else. Ok, that's not true. She loves love more than anything else. But this story adapts Austen in such a brilliant way I stopped comparing Yanne to Marianne and just began to love her as herself. Can we please get a Yanne story?!

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an advanced copy to review.

Ahhh!!! This book! The characters! The tension!! I loved every minute of it. The writing was top notch. I love the backstories of all the characters. The love between bear and Nora was beyond tender and thoughtful. I love how they fell into each other and needed one another. The love scenes were very hot btw! 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

Will be recommending to anyone that will listen!

Nikki Payne has done it again, y'all! Sex, Lies, and Sensibility is such a fun, hilarious rom-com full of hijinks and thoughtful representation set in the heart of rural Maine. I loved following Nora, Bear, and the wild shenanigans their siblings and friends get up to while trying to patch up the beach house that Nora and her sister Yanne suddenly inherited. Watching Bear and Nora try to fight their growing feelings while dealing with the devastating situation Bear found himself in with his ex also made me want to throw the book against the wall with all the yearning and pining between them! Overall, I really enjoyed this follow up to Pride and Protest, along with the thoughtful Indigenous and Black representation and knee-slap funny dialogue, and I can't wait to see what Nikki Payne writes next! I'd rate this novel 4.25 stars rounded up.

I enjoy a retelling that really gives a new story. There was a lot going on and without knowing the original I think it kept me from fully being invested.

𝘚𝘦𝘹, 𝘓𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘚𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 is Nikki Payne’s take on the well-known Jane Austen novel. Like she did with 𝘗𝘳𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘴𝘵, Payne takes the Austenian characters and plot and modernizes them, telling a familiar story but with BIPOC characters, a different sociopolitical bent, and some spicy scenes.

In this novel, Shenora “Nora” Dash is a beautiful black woman and former track star who dropped out of university and gave up on her ambitions years ago due to a college sex tape scandal that still haunts her today. Now, she is a pharmacy tech trying to turn her and her sister’s meager inheritance—a rundown property called Barton Cove in coastal Maryland—into a profitable inn. Over the course of ten months, she struggles to renovate the place and fight her growing attraction to handsome Ennis Bear Freeman, a local trail tour guide, a member of the Abenaki tribe, and her new business partner. Bear is attracted to Nora as well, but feels blocked by his duties to his community, financial obligations, and secrets of his own.

The book is an interesting spin on a classic story and it delves into important topics like reputation, identity, and responsibility. Nora is a great character with realistic issues that many women share. However, I found it difficult to root for her relationship with Bear, despite their hot scenes together. The author spends a lot of time expounding on the reasons why Bear feels he cannot be with Nora, so much so that I felt it weakened him as a romantic lead. That said, I do appreciate the effort put into freshening up a story with diverse characters and contemporary issues. 3.5 stars rounded up.

Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review. My review was posted on August 25, 2023 to https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5554554797.

I really liked this book. I thought it was a very well written spin on an Austen title. I will be recommending this one a lot.

There is a lot going on, so pay attention. Fans of her other book should definitely enjoy this one.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for the ARC.