Something about this book just felt forced. It tried too much to be Austen's Pride & Prejudice while also being modern and snappy and witty, but it failed at this for me. For starters, Lissie, the main protagonist, wasn't a sympathetic character. I was reserving judgement given how the blurb itself says she makes a mistake giving an allergic client the thing they're allergic to - mistakes happen, I get it. But this one didn't feel or read like a mistake, Lissie is so flippant about it, and then she keeps taking it out on Preston Lin who, frankly, is entirely in his right to be calling her out for what she did. Preston wasn't the villain he was supposed to be; it was Lissie who was, for me, and this tanked the whole thing from the get-go. Jane and Charles also felt like they came from an alternate universe so sweet they were - again, forcing onto what the original Jane and Charles from P&P are supposed to be, and the originals had way more scope and dimensions.
All in all, this one just tried too hard...and missed the mark for me, sadly

As someone who likes Pride and Prejudice and have read several retold versions, I looked forward to reading this one- especially because it has Asian representation. Lissie and Preston's version is unique and fun to read. I enjoyed the Chinese American twist to the story.

This was a fairly cute modern Pride and Prejudice retelling. I always knew where we were in comparison to the original.
I still have mixed feelings about how cavalier certain characters seemed to be regarding food allergies... thus my mid-level rating. It also read a little younger than I anticipated which wasnt bad, but wasn't what I was expecting. Still a cute easy read (especially compared to the original.... haha!)

This book was so cute! It was exactly what I had expected, a modern take on Pride and Prejudice with a new perspective on Chinese culture. Unfortunately, this also made the book a little predictable, and in the end it didn't stand out amongst the many retakes on the classic story. Still, it was a fun read, and I enjoyed it!

This was a fun read, even if it felt younger than I’d thought it would be.

Would still recommend for a YA/New Adult read.

Pride and Preston Lin by Christina Hwang Dudley

Pride and Preston Lin is a fun romcom, with an enemies to lovers trope. If you’re looking for a clean sweet romance than this is it. I enjoyed the character and the different interactions they had with each other. What is a better meet cute than not paying attention to someone’s allergy and causing an allergic reaction? Having been to a restaurant recently that didn’t pay attention to my own allergy, I definitely felt the situation in a different light. And where as I didn’t post about the lack of precaution, I liked the way it was in the story.

Overall this was interesting. Definitely not my favorite Pride and Prejudice retelling, but still very enjoyable. The author wove light jokes, into tense situations.

If your looking for a fun clean romance, than I recommend this story.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

Pride and Prejudice is my fav Austen so I had to read this Asian retelling - so fun! Really enjoyed this contemporary twist on an old fav, it’s so well done!

This was an amazing Pride and Prejudice retelling - I loved it. You definitely need to check this out if you're an Austen fan. The characters are so well developed, and Christina did a great job updating the story while keeping the essence of the original. Lissie was so fun and so fresh - she is going to be on my list of favourite heroines for the year.

I really wanted to like this, but maybe I have just been reading too many romance books so far. I definitely want to read Christina Hwang Dudley's books in the future, however, Pride and Preston Lin was just not for me.

I am a sucker for all Pride and Prejudice retellings. This was no exception to that.

I adored the AAPI heritage and culture that was within this book. I found myself laughing out loud, and also rooting on the characters.

I didn’t dislike Preston, but that’s probably because I don’t dislike any “Darcy” character. Especially if it’s nailed correctly as this author did.

I was worried about the JoJo storyline and thankfully it ended better than I expected. I love the Crazy Rich Asians vibe too.

A fun rom com read of misunderstandings and slow developing relationships involving much family, friends, past relationships and complications. Really liked this one.

This is a Pride & Prejudice retelling in the Asian community. It was a decent read but not great. But I always enjoy seeing how authors do a P&P retelling. I'm always up to read them. It's interesting how they connect the stories, how they portray the characters. Overall I enjoyed it.

In this amazing Chinese American retelling of Pride and Prejudice, readers meet San Jose State English major Lissie who works at her aunt and uncle’s restaurant with her older sister and future medical student Jenny. Working on her senior thesis, a Chinese American retelling of Pride and Prejudice (with characters inspired by real people she knows), Lissie doesn’t have time to accidentally induce a seafood allergy in Hazel Bing at her aunt and uncle’s restaurant. This incident turns wealthy Stanford Ph.D. student Preston Lin and his family against Lissie -- and the dislike is mutual. Circumstances, however, keep forcing Lissie and Preston to work together, making Lissie reconsider her pride and immediate dislike of Preston. With a fantastic cast of characters and an excellent setting in the Bay Area of California, Christina Hwang Dudley’s writing prowess really shows in this novel. Her characters are all charmingly realistic, honest, and clever, while the elements of Pride and Prejudice clearly show through in this novel. The characters and their relationships are the star of this novel, and the highs and lows of the plot keep readers glued to the page. A fantastic piece of modern Asian American romance and a great Jane Austen retelling, readers of several genres will love this book.

I haven't read the original Pride & Prejudice, YET! So I'm not sure how this compares, but I couldn't put this down and finished it in a day.

Thanks Netgalley.

I love Pride and Prejudice and was looking forward to reading this book, but it just fell short of what I wanted from it. The characters felt underwhelming and underdeveloped. Lissie is annoying, her actions don’t really make sense, and her writing a play just felt out of place. She spends the majority of the book disliking Preston because he calls out her mistake on a public forum (fair, but she also didn’t really want to take accountability and kept minimizing her mistake), he maybe caused a swim club to fall apart (when he was a literal child), and that’s it? I understand that she already disliked Preston so she was more susceptible to eating up anything negative anyone else had to say about him, but to hold something that happened when he was a child against him was just weird. Especially when she was set on protecting her sister, she should have been able to see that there was more to the story than what she was being told. The swim coach was already acting sketchy before that and she should have been able to see that. I just couldn’t root for her and found myself cringing several times because she was so oblivious to red flags. The gay roommate just felt like a stereotypical character added to check off a list. The ending was rushed and had no closure. Preston’s mom made it clear she will be an obstacle. How are they going to handle that? Are Jenny and Charles actually going to give it another go? What is Lissie doing now that she’s graduating? Lissie and Preston didn’t so much as hold hands prior to their truce and now they’re all over each other? Inconsistent with their previous development. Overall the story felt unfinished and could have used more character development and much less of Lissie’s play (because that also led to nowhere). I give this 2 out of 5 stars.

Christina Hwang Dudley’s fun new novel Pride and Preston Lin takes inspiration from the Jane Austen classic, Pride and Prejudice, without being a beat-for-beat modernization.

Lissie Cheng, along with her older sister Jenny and younger sister Jojo, went to live with their aunt and uncle after their parents’ death. Aunt Rhoda and Uncle Mason own and run a Chinese restaurant, Four Treasures, and now Lissie works in the restaurant, while finishing her fifth year at state college. Jenny’s a new grad, who also works at the restaurant while anxiously studying for MCATs. The Cheng sisters are not exactly poor, but a family restaurant isn’t on the same level as the wealthy Bings and Lins. There’s a very real class difference between the Chengs and the real estate investor Lins, which helps update the classic P&P plotline.


You guys know I love Jane Austen reinventions, and I love Chinese-American fiction, so I already knew I was going to enjoy Pride and Preston Lin, but I didn’t expect Lissie Cheng, a Lizzie Bennet with exactly my Mandarin skills! (That’s 牛肉，白菜， 鱼，米饭, if you’re wondering. I can also say 啤酒 )

Preston Lin comes from a wealthy and well-connected family, and his own talents have taken him further, with a top university and nationally-ranked athletics. It’s a solid updating, because Preston, just like classic Darcy, has a mental class system. Preston and his family know exactly where Stanford and San Jose State fall on it. So it’s not surprising when he and his family are unimpressed with student / waitress Lissie, especially when she dramatically screws up their meal.

It takes a while for the Lissie and Preston chemistry to come together, which I loved. I know loads of contemporary romcom and romance novels like instalove, but that’s not really my favorite, and anyway, the original P&P is all about snap judgements being wrong! So I enjoyed seeing their original judgements reconsidered. Jenny and Bing, of course, have perfect instalove, as they should!

In the original novel, some of the plot is propelled by the very real concern that the Bennet sister will be dependent spinster relatives if they don’t marry well. Here, Jenny Cheng is worrying about her MCAT scores and her future, because she doesn’t have family money or connections to help her out. Lissie is on the five-year plan at college, after switching her major (another thing for the super successful Preston to look down on!), with graduation and a job search ahead. Even though sad spinsterhood isn’t looming for the Cheng sisters, their worry about future security is real. This worked well for me, one common issue with a lot of modernized P&P is that the young women’s need to marry into financial stability doesn’t motivate a modern plot well. Social-climbing Mrs. Bennet works well in any setting, but the idea of marrying for money doesn’t feel like a sympathetic main character in 2024. This reinvention kept the sisters’ financial worries, in a relatable, modern way.

P&P‘s Lydia and Wickham is a rough storyline for modern readers. Through Darcy’s intervention and bribery, in order to save the Bennets from the social ruin of Lydia ad Wickham running off together, teenage Lydia is married off to a scammer with no morals, no friends, and no income, but scandal is averted, so it’s a successful resolution in the book. There’s a reinvention of the Wickham/Lydia storyline in Pride and Preston Lin, that involves a tween and her swim coach. I was absolutely on edge the whole time because I thought it was going, well, just the way you think a starstuck tween girl athlete and her charismatic, slightly shady coach is going to go. And, without spoilers, it doesn’t. Jojo does perfectly believable tween actions, absolutely worrying, but fortunately not the life-changing horror of original Lydia/Wickham.

Overall, Pride and Preston Lin is a fun, contemporary read for Jane Austen fans. The books shows warm affection between the sisters, as well as sharp class distinctions. I liked the twists on the familiar characters, and I enjoyed how the story followed the themes and overall structure of the original, without being too tied to the original scenes or pacing.

Thank you to the author, Third State Books and NetGalley, for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. My apologies for the delay in posting this review, I had a bit too much going on.

Pride and Prejudice in a modern retelling, set in the Asian community? Yes, please! I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The author shines with great character studies, witty dialogue and a very good adaptation of a well-known and much-loved book into a contemporary setting. Yes, we know how this ends, but it's great fun to follow along the road to get there.

Oh my Goodness this is the best pride and prejudice retelling I have read! And by one of my favorite regency romance authors to boot! I absolutely loved this contemporary romance. This was so good! I loved it!
I just reviewed Pride and Preston Lin by Christina Hwang Dudley. #NetGalley
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Rating: 4.5⭐️ | 1🔥- sweet nothings that left me feeling warm and fuzzy 🥰

Christina Hwang Dudley’s foray into this YA contemporary retelling of Pride and Prejudice is both delightful and insightful, drawing inspiration from a Chinese-American cultural perspective. There’s a wealth of character and plot development that rings of clever authenticity and sweet exploration that I thoroughly appreciated.

As was the case with Lizzie Bennet in the original, Lissie Cheng - an endearing and extremely relatable FMC, is imperfectly flawed and has plenty of room for growth. Bless her!

Quick-witted, contrary and sharp - particularly in her exchanges with Preston (Darcy) - the comical situations she finds herself in had me cringing, crying and erupting into fits of silly giggles - often shrieking “no… no, please don’t… oh no you didn’t!?!”.

A first person narrative, often wryly delivered, Lissie takes us along with her during significant and dramatic social/life changes and the resulting inner evolutionary journey she undergoes. Her story harks back to similar scenarios as is attributed to the core P&P plot, however blended beautifully with Hwang Dudley’s organically original talented tang and a whole lot of sass and banter that I just couldn’t get enough of.

You’ll find delectable tropes in the form of:
Miscommunications
Enemies to lovers
Opposites Attract
Slow burn attraction

I honestly don’t have anything bad to say about this book. Pride and Preston Lin was an engaging and humorous read which reflected the sweetly unfolding love of two opposites that eventually attract. I found it difficult to put the book down, but life got in the way so alas put it down I did. Had I not, I’d have finished reading within the day - it was that deliciously all-consuming!

Many thanks to Christina Hwang Dudley, Third State Books and NetGalley for the complimentary ARC.
My review is given freely and without incentive.