Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for a review,

Retellings are difficult. It's so easy to miss the mark by making the characters literal copies of their originals or taking them so far away it would make more sense to just write a new story. This story fell fairly in the middle of that for me. I thought it was so fun and interesting to focus on Margaret, but it was so far away from the original text I forgot a couple times that this even was a retelling. On its own, this story was interesting and a fun rom-com, but I don't know that it added anything to the life of the Dashwood sisters. Sense and Sensability is also not one of my faves which makes these retellings especially hard for me to get into.
The author did a good job of telling a unique and fun story, but I might've liked it more if it was removed from Austen's work.

Margaret Dashwood lives her life according to plan, and it involves absolutely zero heartbreak, thank you very much. Five years ago, love tore her family apart, and since then, she’s kept her own heart as safe as possible. It hasn’t been easy, especially since her sister Marianne—the world’s biggest romantic—has conveniently forgotten that love burned her so badly she literally almost died. So when their oldest sister Elinor invites Margaret along for a Marianne-free summer cruise, she can’t wait to soak up every scheduled moment with sensible Elinor before heading off to college.
But just before they set sail, a newly-single Marianne announces that she’s crashing their vacation. Suddenly, Margaret’s itineraries are thrown overboard, and the ship’s cabin feels even tinier with her sister wailing about her breakup from the bottom bunk. The only solution? Find Marianne a dose of love to tide her over until they reach land.
With help from Elinor, her husband Edward, and Gabe—a distractingly handsome new friend on the crew—Margaret sets out to create a series of elaborate fake dates that will give Marianne the spontaneously curated summer romance of a lifetime. But between a chaotic sister, the growing storm of feelings between Margaret and Gabe, and an actual storm on the horizon, this summer is destined to go off course. Margaret will have to decide what’s more important—following the plan, or following her heart.

This book delivers on what it promises -- a light rom-com based on the classic Austen novel Sense & Sensibility. As a YA novel, and perhaps also to make the romantic elements work, you do need to suspend reality a bit. For example -- what sisters get to accompany a family member on a cruise for the whole summer? What cruise allows one sister to show up somewhat unexpected? Etc. If you ignore those "could this really happen?" pieces this is a fun, breezy novel that would appeal to adults but is definitely all about the teenage romance. As it's centered around the youngest of the Dashwood sisters, newly graduated from high school, there's also a bit of coming-of-age and learning about oneself that comes into the plot. A quick enjoyable read perfect for summer.

Margaret has found herself on a six week cruise, rooming with her heartbroken sister. All she wants is a calming summer, so she decides to make a plan to get her sister to fall in love again. But will Margaret find love instead?

My favorite quote: "Elinor threw her hands up in the air and laughed, and for a second she looked like she had when she was younger, before the weight of the entire family had landed on her shoulders."

Dashed is such a cute summer read with a fake dating trope based on Jane Austen's "Sense and Sensibility". I loved reading this book, and it really kept me entertained (especially the last few chapters). I absolutely loved seeing Margaret realizing her flaws and finding who she really is without trying to be one of her sisters.
This book had an incredibly impactful message that really resonated with me. Everything about Margaret's backstory was just perfect and I love that she's not a perfect character. I hate when characters are too quirky, but I also dislike when the main character has a seemingly perfect personality. Margaret Dashwood is a perfect in-between, with her habit of helping other people before herself and blocking herself away from any type of love.
The reason I didn't give this book five stars, was because sometimes I really had to push myself to finish the chapters. There were also many times, though, where I would be reading for an hour straight and not even realize it. I think it just could have had a little more plot in the beginning, but besides that, I absolutely adored this book.
Gabe was also an amazing addition to this book, and I loved how he didn't force Margaret to be with him, but he also helped her figure out what she wanted to do with her life. He helped her realize that holding people at arm's length can have even more consequences than being close to people.
Amanda Quain has this way of describing the setting that makes it feel like the most desirable picturesque place ever.

I definitely recommend this book, especially if you're looking for a summer romance with a twist!

This is a modern Sense and Sensibility retelling on a cruise ship during summer vacation.
Margaret Dashwood was looking forward to spending the summer on a cruise ship with Elinor and Edward before starting college. Unfortunately her chaotic sister Marianne shows up unexpectedly. According to her, Brandon broke up with her. Margaret plans to find her a rebound so that she won’t ruin the whole trip. To help her out, Margaret fake dates Gabe, who is an amazing guy. In fake dating Gabe, Margaret falls for him. The Dashwoods also find out that Marianne lied- she broke up with Brandon to “find herself.” Now there’s an approaching hurricane- will the sisters be able repair their relationships by the time the storm hits?

This was such a fun ride! Following Margaret, Marianne, and Elinor through their summer vacation upon the Queen Mab made me feel like I was back on vacation myself. Amanda Quain does a wonderful job describing not only a beautiful cruise ship vacation (to which I can attest from personal experience was very 1:1 with a real modern cruise liner experience), but also does an amazing job portraying each characters emotions and personalities. I felt emotionally involved in each of their journeys and their emotions as they navigate not only finding love, but finding out more about who they are throughout their summer. Through the immense character growth, you can find both highs and lows with each of their characters that are extremely relatable. I give this a solid 4 stars because it was a super fun read, but some situations seemed a bit far fetched. However, I enjoyed how the author tied everything together and I think she did great justice to the characters. Easy book to recommend for anyone wanting to find a book about navigating yourself and the highs and lows to finding it.

Thank you to NetGalley for this advanced copy!

I am absolutely over the moon about Amanda Quain's Austen-inspired series, and "Dashed" is like a burst of joy in book form! Picture this: we're back with the Dashwood family, riding the waves of excitement post-"Sense and Sensibility." Life has thrown some curveballs their way, what with losing their dad and Marianne's rollercoaster romance. But fear not, because the Dashwoods are setting sail on a cruise, courtesy of the serene ship pastor Edward – cue the adventure!

Margaret, the once-upon-a-time fan of Marianne's wild ways, is now channeling her inner Elinor vibes. Picture this serene family cruise suddenly rocked by Hurricane Marianne, who's fresh from a breakup and ready to spice things up. Margaret, determined to keep her chill summer intact, hatches a plan to distract her drama-loving sister. And oh boy, does it involve an intriguing male crew member!

Quain's genius shines through in "Dashed" as she spins her magic with a contemporary Austen twist. Taking a character from the sidelines and giving them the spotlight? Genius! The cruise ship becomes the modern-day equivalent of a summer in Bath, complete with social whirlwinds, concerts, and the potential for wonderfully awkward encounters.

"Dashed" is not just a YA romance; it's a bubbly, sparkling, and utterly charming take on "Sense and Sensibility." Even if you haven't dipped your toes into Austen's world, this book is a standalone gem. I couldn't get enough of the delightful twists and turns, and now I'm practically dancing with anticipation for Quain's spin on the rest of Austen's tales. Trust me, this book is like a fizzy concoction of love and laughter – an absolute delight!

Margaret Dashwood just wants to spend the next six weeks peacefully cruising aboard the Queen Mab with her sister Elinor and brother in law Edward before heading to college in the fall. Then Margaret’s middle sister Hurricane Marianne shows up on the cruise and blows Mags’ calm, perfectly planned summer out of the water. Marianne is suffering through a breakup with her long term boyfriend, a man who always managed to temper Marianne’s more chaotic tendencies. For the last five years, Mags has modeled her life after even-keeled, responsible Elinor and is desperate not to return to her dramatic early years emulating Marianne. So she concocts a plan to find Marianne a new summer boyfriend aboard the ship. It’ll be a win/win. Marianne will have a distraction from her breakup and someone to hang out with and Mags can continue on with her well organized plans. Only Marianne won’t go along with the plan unless Mags looks for a boyfriend too, which horrifies Mags. That is until she meets crew member Gabe Montiero and convinces him to be her fake boyfriend and help with her scheme. A new plan in place, Mags is certain her summer will be smooth sailing. But what happens when things aren’t quite how the seem and fake feelings become all to real?

Amanda Quain’s Dashed is a cute, heartfelt reimagining of Jane Austen’s Sense & Sensibility told from the youngest Dashwood sister’s perspective. What a fun concept setting the book on a cruise ship! It’s a unique take and pushes the plot and characters in interesting ways. On a ship you’re confined and only have a certain amount of space, which means you can’t get away from your problems. Drama! The family dynamics in Dashed are fascinating and the sister relationships are on point and well written. Mags is a typical teenager and youngest sibling. She starts off a little self-centered and self-obsessed, but starts to see her sisters as real people which forces her to look at things outside of herself. Gabe is a good balance for Mags and her constant need to plan. He helps her find a happy medium and is a strong support as she grows into her own person and not a copy of her sisters. A delightfully sweet book about love, both familial and romantic.

It should not come as a surprise to you that I love a good Jane Austen retelling, and I have read many over the years. I decided that I wanted to reread all of Austen’s work in 2023, and I’ve gotten through five of her six books so far. (I am dawdling on picking up Mansfield Park again…). I fell in love with Accomplished and Ghosted, the first two books in the series of Austen retellings by Amanda Quain. I was so excited to pick up Dashed.

Quain does an excellent job flipping the script on the Austen novels she’s retelling. I loved that Accomplished took a “side character” of Pride and Prejudice, Georgiana Darcy, and refocused the story on her, and Ghosted is a gender bent version of Northanger Abbey. Margaret Dashwood is the younger sister of the central Marianne and Elinor Dashwood in Sense and Sensibility, but she is the protagonist and narrator of Dashed. I loved getting to know Margaret and to get a different point of view on the story.

I’ve always loved the way Sense and Sensibility centers the sibling relationships just as much as the romantic ones. As a younger sister myself, I thought Quain captures what it means to look up to your older sibling perfectly. Without spoiling too much, there is a beautiful scene at the end of the book where Margaret tells Marianne and Elinor how much she wanted to be like them, which leads to a moment of deep connection between them.

Fake dating is one of my favorite romance tropes, and I found its use in Dashed so much fun. Margaret starts the book claiming she will never date, but she ends up pretending to date Gabe, a member of the ship’s crew, as part of a scheme to set up Marianne. I loved Gabe pretty instantly. He compliments Margaret so well, and he is willing to call her out when necessary. They are easy to like and root for as a couple.

Austen’s novels end with the happily ever after. Elinor and Marianne end Sense and Sensibility each having found their perfect match. I loved that Dashed addressed what happens after that. Marianne and Brandon begin this story having broken up after being together for a long time. There is also exploration of what it means for Elinor and Edward to be in a happy marriage. I loved that expansion of the narrative for these beloved characters.

I’m already eagerly awating the next installment of this series. Emma is my favorite Austen novel, and I’m hoping Quain tackles that one next. Wednesday books, if you’re listening?

This was a fun modern retelling of Sense and Sensibility. Dashed takes the Dashwood sisters on a summer of cruising the Caribbean and nothing goes according to plan. The main character is Margaret, the youngest Dashwood sister and the one who is torn between following in the footsteps of her two older sisters; should she follow her heart and be impetuous and passionate like Marianne or follow her head and be reliable and steadfast like Elinor?

The characters are interesting and follow the broad strokes of the original characterizations. I enjoyed Edward Ferrari quite a bit in this work. Brandon was a bit of an enigma but loomed large in Margaret's memories, which somewhat fleshed his personality out. Marianne was a bit less of a character, more two dimensional than I expected and I didn't feel much resonance with her. Elinor felt a bit more complete as a character. Margaret was a good POV voice and there was an arc she went through in the book although the "I won't date and risk my heart" attitude needed a bit more depth to it than what we got I think.

Gabe, the love interest for Margaret, got some of the best Iines in the book. He was a well-developed characters and had some good insights and moments.

Overall it was a quick, enjoyable read. A little thin on plot and depth overall but cute and fun. The sister aspects were nice. I also liked the relationship Margaret had developed with her sisters' significant others: those were meaningful and well written.

My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC. This is my personal opinion of this book. 3.5 stars

*thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

Goodness what a fun and a cute read! I loved the story right from the beginning! the characters and the plot were very well developed! I enjoyed it immensely and will be definitely be recommending this book to my fellow bookish readers! A perfect YA read!

Reviewed for NetGalley:

This had all the makings of a great take on Sense and Sensibility on a cruise, no less.

However, I could not buy in the overall importance of Margaret finding a new love interest for her sister, just moments after she broke up with her boyfriend.

And while Margaret finds her own love interest along the way, I just never became invested in the relationship.

I have really been enjoying this Austen adjacent series by Amanda Quain, and Dashed is another fun entry. This time around we visit the characters from Sense and Sensibility, after the dramatic events that are detailed in the original novel. The Dashwood family has had a rough couple of years after the death of their father and then an ill fated romance that almost killed middle sister Marianne. Youngest Dashwood sister Margaret used to idolize Marianne, until she saw the results of Marianne's impulsive and romance obsessed personality. These days she strives to be just like her oldest sister Elinor; calm, controlled, and happily married to the equally calm pastor Edward. Edward has just taken a six week job as pastor for a cruise ship, and Margaret gets to tag along. Unfortunately, just as the family is boarding the ship hurricane Marianne blows in. She has just (apparently) broken up with her boyfriend and is now planning to join the family on their ocean adventure. Margaret is not going to let Marianne mess up her last free summer before college with her drama, so now she has to create a plan to distract Marianne for six weeks so that she can get some relaxation time. Of course there are complications, including a very intriguing male crew member...

Amanda Quain's take on the Austen novels continues to be clever and engaging. I appreciate that as in the first book of this series she has once again chosen to focus on a character who was mostly peripheral to the main action, and explore the fall-out from the well known story. The cruise ship setting basically serves as the modern day equivalent of spending the summer in Bath, with social engagements, concerts, and the awkward possibility of running into people you'd rather avoid.

Dashed is an adorable and well thought out YA romance, featuring a fresh updated take on Sense and Sensibility. Don't worry though if you are not familiar with Austen, the book easily stands on its own. I had fun reading this book, and I look forward to seeing Quain take on the rest of Austen.

I was expecting a very summer vibe and I didn't get it. It was a cute and easy read, but I did not like the main character and that's what dropped the ratings for me.

Think Sense and Sensibility on a contemporary cruise with Margaret Dashwood as main character. A blast!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for ARC access! I really enjoyed this story. Fast-moving plot, interesting characters and great settings. Reading this made me feel like I was on vacation--perfect for a winter escape or a fun beach read. Highly recommend!

In this Sense and Sensibility inspired reimagining, the focus is on the youngest Dashwood sister, Margaret (Mags). When she was younger, she was more like her passionate middle sister, Marianne, who loves excessively. But after that passion leads to an accident that injures both of them, Mags pulls away from Marianne and begins modeling herself more on her sensible older sister, Elinor. Mags will be heading off to college in the fall but before doing so, she will be spending six weeks with Elinor and her husband Edward on a cruise ship in the Caribbean, as Edward is serving as the cruise chaplain. However, the plans for a relaxing cruise are wrecked when Marianne unexpectedly turns up and reveals that she and Brandon have broken up. Mags is convinced that the only way she will be able to enjoy the cruise is if she can find a new love interest for Marianne.

On the first day of the cruise, Mags had befriended Gabriel (Gabe), who was a sound technician on the cruise. Mags enlists his assistance in finding and vetting guys to match up with her sister. However, Marianne only agrees to go along with the "find love on a cruise" plan if Mags also tries to find summer love for herself. That is a big ask, as Mags does not date or do anything analogous to dating -- a fact she shares with Gabe during their second interaction, much to his surprise. However, she will end up "fake dating" Gabe, so she can hold up her end of the bargain with her sister. Fake dating will turn out to be harder than expected because the feelings Mags develops for Gabe are all too real but are off-limits.

The fake relationship with Gabe, tension between the sisters, an unexpected revelation, and a hurricane will force the sisters to re-evaluate their relationships with each other and will force Mags to rethink her outlook on life and love. The story has plenty of humorous moments, especially the interactions between Mags and Gabe, but also some very tender/sentimental moments and dramatic moments, and some pretty good surprises.

I like it when a book billed as retelling surprises me by being something a little different, and this one definitely succeeded in that.nothing. The plot was well-developed and romance was sweet, perfect for a YA book! I can’t wait to re-read this in the summer time!

A special thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

First and foremost, thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy.

I like that its takes place on a cruise ship, referencing ports of call I am familiar with and how things go on a cruise, it made you feel like you were there. However, the amount of times she would tell you she wanted to crawl up and hide (and used a lot of different metaphors to get that point across) was cute at first, but got a bit redundant towards the end. I appreciate that the characters weren't all of one origin, a diverse group if you will (and love the Portuguese references, a nice way to teach some common words).

Pros:
Pop culture references
descriptions of what the characters are wearing (vintage Lily Pulitzer, all black (Gabe's color palette of choice)
Easy read, perfect poolside/beachside/couchside
The descriptive sections about the ship food (ice cream, lobster, Mags love of the pastries)

Cons:
a few holes of character origins, but that could just be me
the unrealistic ending (not the whole thing, just a few pieces)

It is definitely for the hopeless romantic, the fan of Mr. Darcy/Elizabeth, the fan of the "fake boyfriend trope"

Favorite quote from the book: "Maybe I think you just deserve the chance to soar."

Between Quain and J.C. Peterson, it feels like I'll have my Austen-inspired book needs taken care of for a while. "Dashed" takes on "Sense and Sensibility", focused on Margaret—the youngest of the three sisters, rather neglected in the original book.

3.5 stars, and my favorite of Quain's books to date. I admit to some bias here—I fell madly in love with Beatrice, and thus Emma Thompson, in "Much Ado About Nothing" when I was about eight, and extended that love happily to Elinor in Thompson's adaptation of "Sense and Sensibility". (I'm not sure I'd seen a Disney film at that age, but my parents could sometimes be convinced to rent a Shakespeare or Ye Olde British Book adaptation and haul the elderly television out of their bedroom closet.) I've read the book—I'm not a total heathen—but Emma Thompson is forever cemented in my head as Elinor, and anything that manages to be more or less in line with her portrayal is bound to hit the spot.

So "Dashed": in which Margaret is relieved to have some breathing room from Marianne for the summer, which she'll be spending on board a cruise ship with Elinor and Elinor's husband Edward...but then Marianne shows up, and those hopes and plans are, ah, dashed.

I won't go too much into the plot here, although I will say that this does not make me regret never having been on a cruise ship. I do wish that Margaret's reluctance to get into a relationship were a little more original (I've seen it many times in YA and romance books...but never in real life), but I appreciate that this is an original spin on a side character rather than a retelling. It gives Quain a lot more room to play with both characters and plot, while also...this:

"'Edward accidentally stayed up all night reading the guidebook,' Elinor said, as Edward accepted coffee and grinned sheepishly. They were, I realized with some horror, wearing matching button-down shirts, each emblazoned with leaping dolphins on a light blue background. With Elinor's tight bun and bright red hair, she looked like Ms. Frizzle had gone back to school to become a nautical librarian; Edward just looked like he'd wandered into the bargain bin at a Jimmy Buffett concert." (loc. 860*)

Not taking itself too seriously, then, which bodes well if Quain tackles "Emma" next...

*Quotes are from an ARC and may not be final.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.

Cruise ship, sisters, and a game of “find the best date” makes this light summer read perfect.
Following the Dashwold sisters who have embarked on a summer long cruise for Margaret’s senior trip. Marianne needs a new boyfriend STAT, and Margaret plans to help so Marianne can’t ruin her summer.

I found this book to be a cute and fun read. After a ton of heavier books I have read lately this was exactly what I needed!

I received this digital ARC from net galley and the publisher in exchange for my honest feedback.