DNF @ 26%

This author is one of my FAVORITES when it comes to Austen retellings - so I was really looking forward to Dashed (and the Dashwood Sisters)! But something about the flow of the story and the writing style in this novel just didn't work for me. It felt a little repeitive? And instead of offering new information and insights, the author just kept repeating the same info and phrases over and over. I'll definitely read whatever she has out next (and I still have to go back and read Ghosted - which I am PUMPED for - you know, after I figure out what Northager Abbey is about. haha).

I actually ended up listening to the audiobook of this novel. I quite enjoyed it.
I wouldn't call it a Romance, but more of a journey of self discovery, amidst family drama.
The setting was fun though. I could literally picture the cruise life and the events, and the author did well to explain it all.

Truthfully this one unfortunately wasn’t the most memorable for me (which made me a little disappointed since I REALLY enjoyed “Ghosted” by this same author), but it was still pretty solid overall and I appreciated the representation featured here!

Unfortunately, I no longer am interested in reviewing this title. It looks adorable, but I simply do not have the time to spend reading books I am not interested in.

3.5*

Dashed was entertaining, albeit a little frustrating. I liked Margaret, but she was hard to take at times. She was caught between her sisters, not really knowing which one she wanted to be like more, or less when it really came down to it, when she should have been concentrating more on finding herself. Which, to be fair, by the end of the book she had.

I've never read S&S so I didn't have much to go on, when it came to the idea this book was based on, but like the other books by Ms. Quain, I don't think that matters much. They can be enjoyed for what they are.

Thank you to @wednesdaybooks for the copy of this book! This YA book is a cute story inspired by Sense & Sensibility. So of course I was super excited to read it because I love stories inspired by the classics - especially Jane Austen.

Set on a cruise ship, Margaret Dashwood and her two sisters are traveling for six weeks of summer (while Margaret’s brother-in-law serves as the ships chaplain). There is a lot of angsty emotion and drama from one of the sisters and a lot of planning and structure from the other - while Margaret is trying to figure out who she is and how she fits in.

Really cute, with all the summer vibes. Very YA - Margaret was a little repetitive at times, but overall fit the mold of a YA FMC. I will admit I now need to go read Sense & Sensibility to see what that story is all about (I love Pride & Prejudice but have been meaning to read the rest of Austen’s work for way too long!).

"But my life always went haywire when Marianne showed up, and today was no exception. In my defense, I didn't think she would follow us onto a cruise ship."

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an ARC of Dashed in exchange for an honest review.

Dashed is a contemporary YA novel inspired by the classic "Sense and Sensibility" and centers around Margaret Dashwood (the youngest and least impressive Dashwood, as she will love to remind you), who is just trying to enjoy her last summer before college with her oldest sister, Elinor and her husband aboard the Queen Mab. Margaret is also excited to escape her second-oldest sister, Marianne who is going through a terrible breakup with her longtime boyfriend, Brandon. Little does Margaret know, Marianne has decided to join the other Dashwood sisters on their vacation. Margaret decides that in order to salvage her summer, she needs to find a new boyfriend for Marianne ASAP! With the help of a cute crew member, Margaret sets out to find Marianne a new boyfriend while trying to avoid love herself.

While I did like this book, I didn't love it nearly as much as the previous two Jane Austen retellings that I've read by this author. Dashed took a long time to get interesting and Margaret annoyed me for much of the book. While it appeared on the outside as if she wanted to help her heartbroken sister, she was actually quite selfish the entire book. She also accused Marianne of only caring about herself but the minute that events deviated from Margaret's carefully curated plan, she freaked out and started treating everyone horribly.

However, I did enjoy the character of Gabe. He was interesting to me and he just really wanted to help Margaret from the minute he met her. I also really loved Edward, Elinor's husband. He was there for each one of the girls exactly when they needed him, almost like an older brother for Margaret and Marianne. He was also super protective of Elinor but also allowed her to be her amazing independent self. The last few chapters of this book redeemed Margaret and Marianne in my eyes. but it just took too long to get to that point.

I would say that if you enjoy rom-coms, summer romances, and cruise ship settings, I think you would enjoy this book. Overall, I would give it 3.5 stars!

Dashed by Amanda Quain is a modern day take on Sense and Sensibility and I think it's a solid novel. This novel is sweet, involved, a bit chaotic (in a good way) and very fun!

Margaret has spent her life idolizing her older sisters and wanting to be just like them, but she never really figured out who she is. Was she carefree and dramatic like Marianna or calm, reserved and sensible like Elinor. This novel explores that for Margaret. Margaret and her sister Elinor are set to board a cruise for a 6 week trip with Elinors.husband Gabe when Marianna decides to join them. Marianna has a plan to get Margaret to find a suitor. Margaret, with the aid of Elinor, Edward and new friend Gabe set out to fake dates as Margaret isn't keen on actually dating. As this is a romance novel there is a man who Margaret unsuspectingly starts to fall for.
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I truly enjoyed this story for the romance, the adventure, the family story and more. It was a beautiful representation of Austen's great characters. The storyline was solid, though the cruise logistics seemed a bit off-base (did I care, not really!) And the writing was incredibly well done.

I would recommend this novel to anyone that loves Jane Austen, coming of age stories, light/sweet romances, and amazing settings.

If this had just been about romance on a regular length cruise, this would have been cute. Add in the messy relationships with sisters, and it had a little heft. But there was so mush suspension of disbelief needed for this story to happen that it was difficult to get really lost in it. Just when I am getting into the story, something else happens that makes no sense (the entire family on a free six-week cruise because one of them is a guest lecturer – I don’t think even the captain gets those kinds of perks). This was cute but because of my cruise addiction, it was difficult to let go of reality to follow this through.

This is billed as a Sense and Sensibility reworking but on a cruise ship. It has been a while since I read Sense and Sensibility, but it is always one of my favorite Jane Austen Stories. I love practical Elinor and flighty and romantic Marianna so I was very excited to read this book and boy oh boy was it so worth it. It captures the essence of all the characters but updates them into a contemporary and fun setting of the Caribbean.
I am a huge lover of coming-of-age novels, and this follows Margaret as she learns who she is. She spent her life idolizing her older sisters and wanting to be just like them she never really figured herself out. Was she flighty and dramatic like Marianna or calm and sensible Elinor.
While I loved the story line, I loved Margaret and Gabe as they find youthful love I truly loved that this was a story of sisters and family.
By far my favorite character was Edward. He was the pick ball playing, bashful and lovely l hero of this story. I loved that Margaret grew to really know her brother-in-law through their time on the cruise.
I really enjoyed the story. It made me smile, it made me cry and I just loved reading this story that reminded me of my favorite Austen characters.
I would recommend to anyone that loves Jane Austen and coming of age story, light easy sweet romances with an amazing setting.

Margaret Dashwood has just graduated high school and is off on a big adventure of hanging out on a cruise ship all summer as her brother in law works are the chaplain. Over the last few years Margaret has followed a strict plan for herself, emulating her older sister Elinor. When she was younger she’d always been more like her sister Marianne, but following a terrible accident Margaret made a conscious effort to avoid that passionate and free spirited approach to life. This summer Margaret is about to find herself for the first time and figure out who she is, not try to be just like either of her sisters.

I went in with high hopes for this book, the premise sounded fun and I haven’t read YA in a while so I thought that would be a nice change, but this book wasn’t exactly for me. I enjoyed the cruise ship vibe and found that to be an interest setting. I also enjoyed all of the male characters, but I couldn’t stand the female characters. This is one messed up family and I just couldn’t get past that. Margaret is too busy trying to please her sisters and emulate them that she couldn’t see what was right in front of her. The number of times she tried to make everything right and solve her sisters’ problems drove me crazy and I don’t understand why she felt she had to do this. I couldn’t stand Margaret and I think that was what ruined this book for me. Like I said earlier, I really liked the male characters and I could tolerate Elinor and Marianne, but Margaret was too much for me. I think if she would have stopped harping on her sisters’ lives and trying to be just like them this could have a been a cute story about a cruise ship romance between her and Gabe. I can’t say I recommend this book, but just because it wasn’t for me doesn’t mean you won’t love it. The premise is cute, but Margaret was too much for me.

I loved this book! Sense & Sensibility is probably the Austen book that I know the least about but I followed this with no problem. It was a very fun read & even made me fantasize about going on a cruise.

I thought this was a fun summery read. I do think I preferred the author's other classic inspired books, but this one was still enjoyable. My gripe with it is that I felt like Margret was super annoying in the way she went about everything. It felt like she was annoyed with literally everyone around her no matter what they did, and that made her kind of an irritating narrator. I wish she would've been a little more understanding of Marianne, if not only so the plot was less contrived.

I always enjoy a good reimagining of a classic novel, but I struggled with this one a bit. I liked that each of the sisters was different and had a different personality. But I felt like some of the beliefs felt a bit old fashioned and didn't entirely fit with today's standards. I felt like this could have been modernized more. But I enjoyed the setting on a cruise ship and I think that added to the enjoyment of the book. I just found the youngest sister to be annoying and unrealistic.

Thank you to Wednesday Books for a Net Galley version and a hardback copy as well.

I could not get through this. I tried multiple times but just couldn't do it. I didn't connect with the characters.

I read S&S not too long ago, and I really loved it, so I was looking forward to a sequel of sorts, this time focusing on the youngest daughter, Margaret. However, they modernized it and brought it into the 21st century, and I had a hard time with that until I decided to treat it as S&S inspired rather than a true sequel and that worked a lot better. After the disaster of the events in the original, Elinor and Edward were happily married, Marianne was safely happy with Brandon (or so they thought), and Margaret was getting ready to go to college but was still trying to figure out who she was.

There was a lot of potential here, but I feel like Margaret was not the most likable of characters. I mainly did not like how she treated Gabe, even though he clearly was very into her. While I understand that her choices came from the trauma that she endured with Marianne, I didn't quite understand why she felt like she had to solve Marianne's problems for her. I think it was her motivation that annoyed me--she wanted to solve Marianne's problem of romance (automatically assuming that she needed a guy to be happy) not because it would help Marianne, but so that she could have the summer that she felt she deserved. Also her desire to keep everything secret from Elinor just rubbed me the wrong way. I loved Elinor and Edward, and I guess I wish that Margaret would have talked to her instead of keeping everything hidden.

On the other hand, I do like how Margaret did realize at the end how wrong she had been about everything--her sisters (yes, plural), Edward and Elinor, and about herself and how she treated Gabe. I absolutely loved Gabe and thought for the longest time that he was too good for her. But I think I understand what the author was trying to do with her character. She was the baby of the family and had endured real trauma, and it doesn't sound like she ever fully processed it--with the modernization of this novel, I would have thought they would have gotten her therapy after the fact--and what she thought was her proper role in her family was so limiting, not just for her, but also for her family and her relationship with them. I really appreciated that about this novel.

Overall, I thought this was a decent "inspired-by" novel, and I would be open to reading more books by this author. It didn't quite meet my expectations, but I did enjoy parts of it, including the ending and I also liked where the main protagonist ended up. I would rate this a solid 3 stars.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

A modern take on a sister who didn't get her own story from Jane Austen. I love how Amanda Quain gives a fresh take on these familiar characters and even highlights a younger sibling who played a minor part in the classic books by Jane Austen. This was a sweet, wholesome teen romance with Margaret Dashwood trying to emulate her sensible sister Elinor while trying to keep her sensitive sister Mary Ann from wreaking havoc. The girls all learn an important lesson about relationships and meddling, and the story was fun as it took place on a cruise ship. This would be a great beach read.

A cute read. Three sisters, varying personalities, come together on a cruise ship. The youngest, Margaret, is trying to reconcile her relationships with her two sisters. A scheme is hatched to bring love back to her heartbroken sister, but along the way she finds herself.

To be 18 again was challenging to relate, especially some of her actions. Quick, coming of age story to bring to the pool.

Thank you, St. Martin's Press | Wednesday Books

A fun modern retelling of Sense and Sensibility!

I’ve actually read one of Amanda Quain’s other retellings and throughly enjoyed that book as well, making Amanda one of my go-to recommendations for someone looking for classic retellings with a clean, modern, YA twist!

In “Dashed,” Amanda offers a contemporary retelling of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, featuring Margaret Dashwood, our type A, list making, plan having heroine, as she embarks on a summer cruise meant to be a 6 week long break from life, school, heartache, and a chance to bond with her sensible sister, Elinor. However, when their romantic sister Marianne crashes the trip, Margaret’s meticulously planned vacation turns into a chaotic journey of self-discovery, love, and family dynamics. Amidst elaborate fake dates for Marianne, and begrudgingly herself, as well as her own growing feelings for crew member Gabe, Margaret must learn if following the plan or following her heart is more worth it.

I always throughly enjoy stories about sisters, not growing up with any myself (but marrying into a wonderful family with three girls) I find the sisterly dynamics, feuds, unconditional love, unspoken grievances, and fierce protectiveness absolutely FASCINATING! In Dashed we experience sisterhood through the varying relationships of our three sisters: Margaret, Elinor, and Marianne. I thought their dynamics were authentically portrayed, showcasing both their conflicts and their deep bonds. Their interactions are touching and relatable, capturing the essence of sisterly love and support while also honoring the sometimes difficult feelings sisterhood can evoke!

All in all the slow budding romance was palpable and deeply enjoyable, the cruise setting was immersive and so fun, the plot was engaging (if a bit off in pacing at times) and the Austen inspired elements were clever!

This book is a perfect end of summer read if you enjoy heartwarming YA contemporary romance stories of sisterhood, self-discovery, healing, and classic literature retellings, all set against the immersive backdrop of a cruise ship! 🛳️

Cute YA story based on the characters of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility in modern days.
The lead is a bit immature but love the growth, just wish it started showing earlier to get more enjoyment of reading about her. The love interest was a highlight of the story.