please note that the trigger warnings and topes/themes may contain spoilers
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
HEA: yes
spice: a couple open-door spicy scenes
TWs: toxic family dynamics, that’s kind of it- pretty tame!
standalone: yes
final thoughts: such a fun read with great MCs. Plenty of angst and “is this fake or real” scenarios that will have you squealing into your book and wanting to push them into a book together to kiss! The story doesn’t follow the Pride and Prejudice storyline retelling but there were plenty of crossover vibes that had me so excited. The angst and tension were so good

read this book if you love

😬 angst
🏝️ forced proximity (working together)
🍪cinnamon roll MMC
😡 grumpy/sunshine
🌈 LGBT+ representation
💓 slowburn
📖 retelling - kinda (Pride and Prejudice vibes)
💼 workplace romance

This is a great romance! Here are some of the tropes/facts:
❤️straight romance
🌶spicy (and kinky)
📚pride and prejudice retelling
🔥slowburn
🏡small town
🤭forbidden love
👩‍👦single mom
🫠dark and broody mmc

This was such a good book! I really enjoyed the tension between the characters as they "pretended" the enemies to lovers that is seen in pride and prejudice, while they are obviously following in lizzie and darcy's footsteps. Really fun!

I totally disliked the part with the mean mother, but i understand that it was important for the story, and so i wont let that stop me from absolutely recommending this book!

Thank you to netgalley and the author for sending me the book in exchange for an honest review

If you’re an Austen fan, this is set around a Jane Austen festival, specifically Pride & Prejudice, and I’ve never met a P&P remake I didn’t like

✅ set in small-town Canada
✅ a very lovely representation of what modern families can look like ❤️
✅ really enjoyed the positive representation of co-parenting
✅ dual POV
✅ slow burn
🌶️: yes but remember the slow burn. Also it is quite surprising. You’re going to have to read it to see what I mean.

I really liked the premise of this book, as well as the character chemistry, but unfortunately, the rest of the book fell a little flat. I spent more of the time reading this mad at family members than enjoying the story.
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Thanks to NetGalley and the author for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Really enjoyed this one! A super great romance with a great plot, good characters and well written.,

The premise of this story and the writing style was really good.

It did have pride & prejudice feels however I feel like it missed its mark

I felt like the characters weren't really dimensional and the story lacked passion in my opinion.

Not exactly my cup of tea. It's cute, but overly so that it makes me feel like it's going to give me a toothache.

thank you to netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

something in this book was missing to me. that little oomph that really good romantic fiction books can have. this just didn't have it, for some reason. maybe it was because their problems didn't seem like problems at all? at no point did I believe where the story was going, especially since this was based on the pride and prejudice novel in more than one way. I missed the pride part of 'pride and prejudice'. at no point did the worst Darcy give us any indication that Brodie was anything closely resembling to a Darcy. maybe that was the point - it wasn't clear to me - but that made the book seem a bit lazy. if this book bases itself on pride and prejudice, give us pride and fucking prejudice. give us a Darcy that fucks up with his words and has to grovel. don't make him seem like just a normal dude that just happened to wander into a romance novel, it feels flat, like a cop-out. I wanted more from this book, but that is what it is.

if you want a simple, no fuss, easy to read romance novel, please do think of this book. there's nothing truly wrong with it (that I noticed at least)(except that this town had an incredibly handsome, tall black man and made him Wickham???? hello?? why worry for who your Darcy will be when he's in the vicinity?) so maybe this'll hit better with other people.

I am a HUGE "Pride and Prejudice" fan, book and film adaptations, so I went into this excited for an updated version. This felt a little lackluster for me due to the forcing of characters into their Austen archetypes. I think this could have worked as a closer Austen retelling or a separate contemporary romance but this blending just didn't flow for me. Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for this ARC.

On the paper it sounds perfect - a strung librarian and a laid-back metalhead, a match made in heaven, and she is a single mom, while he has some mommy issues. And it's Austen, a small town in Canada that holds annual Austen festival, where this year they enact scenes from Pride and Prejudice, and our heroine plays Lizzy and the hero plays Mr. Darcy. And sex scenes are really hot. And even monster romances are mentioned!

And yet somehow for me those pieces didn't work together. Execution could be better. And I couldn't understand the initial dislike that the heroine took to the hero, the reasoning for it seemed weak and forced. And why Mrs. Evil Bitch was so cruel to her own son? And the 3rd act breakup, ugh, I'm so not a fan of it. Thank goodness, it was solved really quickly.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange of honest review.

I like that this was a small town with a bad boy. It had a good romance with characters that I loved.

The small town of Austen, celebrates its name every year with the Jane Austen Festival.
This year Vivian Trent is playing the coveted role of Elizabeth Bennet, and nothing will ruin this for her. But her plans take an unexpected turn when the towns golden boy drops out of the play and his "bad boy" brother steps in to play the part of Mr. Darcy.

This book sounded cute, and in some ways it was, but for me the execution left something to be desired.
First, I did not like the characters at all, and this pretty much ruined it for me. Brodie was obnoxious- OK, we get it, you're the black sheep of the family, a real bad boy who doesn't play by the rules.
Everything about him, his attitude, his roommates, his dialogue, felt forced.
I am all for some cheesy lines but when I read the names of his room mates I think I groaned audibly.
Vivian was an awful character. Literally a jerk all the time for zero reason. Brodie was doing something he obviously had no desire to do, simply to help out and she was personally offended by this.
Because I did not care for either character, I did not have much interest in their story.

Heartwarming and laugh out loud funny, The Worst Darcy, tells the story of Vivian and Brodie who both want to change how they are known in their small town. Being cast as the leads in the upcoming Jane Austen festival is a dream come true for Vivian. As for Brodie...well he's willing to do anything to prove he's more than his rebellious past.

Small Town, Forced Proximity, Bookish FMC, Reformed Bad Boy, Co-Parenting, Found Family

I enjoyed this quite a lot, the small town characters were excellent and the two leads were well drawn and portrayed.

I read this as an ARC from NetGalley and I have to say I really liked it. I’m a complete sucker for incorporating Pride and Prejudice into anything and this really hit the mark for me. The two MCs face off as Lizzy and Darcy and the progression of the book plays off in their own relationship over the course of a month, while their town puts on Pride and Prejudice as a month long festival.

As a live long Pride and Prejudice addict, I'm always exited to see a modern take in this classic love story.

Sometimes the person we least expect ends up being perfect for us. In V and Brodie Robyn Gynne created a modern take on the classic while also highlighting some of the biggest moments from the orginal text. Brodie is a bad boy who is a good man, being judged by a ton thar can't see past a youthful mistake. V on the other hand is a single mom trying to be seen as someone other than her son's mother and her best friend's "baby momma".

I deeply enjoyed every moment of reading this novel and encourage any OG Lizzy and Darcy fan to give it a chance.

This was the author's debut novel, and after reading this, I would definitely be open to reading more of her work. The story was light-hearted and fun, and loving everything Jane Austen, I enjoyed the premise of the Austen festival. The idea of a rebellious, tattooed, bad-boy Darcy put a really fun spin on the character. Brodie is the town bad boy, but despite his reputation, he's really a good guy. Vivian is a single mom and feels like an outsider in town, even though she's lived there for a few years. She figures playing the part of Elizabeth Bennett in the town's Austen festival will endear her more to the townspeople. But then when Brodie replaces Darcy's character, she thinks she is doomed. They each have something to prove to their families, and as they spend more time with each other they begin to see each other differently. The sparks really fly between them and they have amazing chemistry, but they each think they are not good enough. It takes some nudging from friends for them both to realize they have a chance with each other, and not to screw it up.
The story was fun and entertaining and I enjoyed seeing the growth of the characters. Definitely an enjoyable read!
I received a complimentary copy from Netgalley and am voluntarily leaving my review.

I received a copy of this for my honest review.

Getting to live out Pride & Prejudice? Can it get better than that? It can if Brodie, the punk rocker, is playing your Mr. Darcy! This books gives you all the Austen feels with a touch of enemies to lovers, found families and a seriously spicy slow burn!!

Not really a great Austen adaptation. Very modern characters for sure, and hard to find the Austen in them. DNF

Thanks to NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

I was expecting a Pride and Prejudice retelling, but what I got instead was a charming homage to Austen that takes place in the Stars Hollow of Canada. Instead of piecing together which character represents Mr. Collins, or Caroline Bingley, I enjoyed a straightforward opposites-attract romance that takes place at the annual Jane Austen festival.

Vivian Trent is new in town, a quiet librarian with a young child who keeps to herself. During this year's Austen Festival, she is determined to come out of her shell by playing Elizabeth Bennet and showing this town what she's made of. Brooding Brodie earned his reputation as town bad boy as a teen, but the metal music, chains, and nipple piercings have maintained it all these years later. Will stepping up and playing Darcy show everyone that he's a responsible and decent adult? These two have something to prove to the world, or maybe just to themselves. Head butting quickly gives way to other feelings in this sexy, silly romance that had me laughing out loud, smiling, and rooting for the librarian and the metal dude.

I give it a 7/10 and recommend it to fans of both Austen and Romance (which has to be a circle, right?)