Such a cute queer book. If you like the classics but also like queer books, please read this one!
I completely fell in love with Oliver and Darcy.

Content warning: dead naming, homophobia, sexism, talks of body dysmorphia

Adapting/updating/retelling Austen is always a difficult task and while I really enjoy a lot of what was done with MOST ARDENTLY, I do feel like it's missing some of magic of the original. I also think an important note was missed when making the misogyny be more about Oliver being misgendered than about how misogyny (and being misgendered) are both bad and relevant even in this adaptation. Oliver's friendship with Charlotte seemed to be forgotten towards the end which was unfortunate and wish that dynamic had been explored in more detail. I loved how supportive Mr. Bennett is and thought that was a great touch.

The historical note at the end provides readers with further context and I think will educate teen readers a little more about queer history.

The cover art is gorgeous and I continue to enjoy what MacMillan is doing with this Remixed Classics series.

Harrison Knights does a good job with the audiobook narration and I'm glad they picked someone who was trans to narrate this novel.

Advanced Reader’s Copy provided by NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and Macmillan Young Listeners in exchange for an honest review.

This is a witty and clever retelling of Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Oliver Bennet is trapped in a world and a family in which he is forced to live as someone else: Elizabeth Bennet to be exact. The story mostly flows the same as the classic with the undertones of Oliver's struggle of having his friends and family accept his trans identity. I loved how Charlotte's role has been revised as well for this story. There's one major plot line missing (and I think it's all the better for it as I was always a little unnerved by Lydia's fate. And there's a little bit of a twist on the ending... it's a happily new beginning instead of a happily ever after.

What I loved most was the author's historical note at the end - this was a time period in which Oliver could have possibly lived and thrived as a trans male so long as he had his family's and potential partner's support. I did go down a bit of a historical rabbit hole with Molly houses and 18th century gay subculture in London. It's a fascinating historical rabbit hole that I never knew existed before this novel!

i love this whole remix series but this one in particular. pride and prejudice is my all time favorite book so i knew i had to read this one when i saw it. i loved oliver and mr. darcy together. it was such a sweet remix of the story and i loved how inclusive it was. definitely will recommend this one!

This book was written in a different View of the original story it is LBG the friendly and was written it in a well-organized manner and I would recommend the book for anyone who would be interested in the genre that it was wise the narrator was very well spoken

A reimagining of Pride and Prejudice wherein Elizabeth is actually Oliver, a trans man, unable to live as himself.

While there are some divergences from the original plot, mostly due to the change in our main lovers, Collins and Wickham roles also change up a bit to go with this new angle.

The support from so many seems a bit of a stretch given the time, but I understand that it makes for a happier story.

Overall this modern take was an enjoyable read.

3.5 ⭐

It was a good book! It's really Pride and Prejudice but with trans representation which was just a delight to read. I loved Oliver as a character.

I do think the book wrapped up a little too perfectly, which made it feel a bit rushed.

A must read for all the P&P fans out there!

Thank you Netgalley and the publishers for a copy of the audiobook in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you to Gabe Cole Novoa and Feiwel & Friends for a free audio ARC in exchange for my full, honest review.

3 stars!

This was very highly anticipated for me because I've read a few of the Remixed Classics and I love Pride & Prejudice. Largely this book fulfills what it claims to be but there were a few aspects of the writing and the story that detracted from the experience.

Let's cover the positives first! This is a very quick and easy read, and the pacing is solid. Any trans rep (and queer rep in general) goes straight to my heart and I absolutely felt some of the scenes. I like how the culture of the regency was rendered and all of the relationships and drama were very clear to me throughout the book.

Now for the weak points. Oliver's experience of gender dysphoria came off pretty one dimensional in a way that felt very detached and frustrating. Much of his narration is just remarks about his chest and, at least in my experience, dysphoria covers a much broader range of expression. Gender is so tightly threaded into how we are socialized that for many trans people there's a general anxiety that all their mannerisms have been determined by their biological sex. There's also dissonance between wanting to pass and feeling forced into traditionally masculine traits that might not be true to you. I would have liked to see Oliver's dysphoria expressed in broader contexts than his chest and clothes.

P&P is an ambitious story to reimagine, and I praise Novoa for trying, but this was missing some of the elements that I feel are integral to the original story. Something that I like about Darcy in the original novel is that he's...kind of pathetic. He's not just socially incompetent but totally emotionally constipated in the first chunk of the story, which makes the payoff of events like the gazebo scene a lot more impactful. Most Ardently's Darcy is briefly rude when he doesn't know people, but he's otherwise uncharacteristically emotionally mature and charming throughout the rest of the book.

I also was very thrown off by the role and arc of Charlotte in this book. She and Lu bring up very real and valid points about survival and safety, and Oliver dismisses them because he's just "unwilling to settle." Of course, he gets the best of all worlds at the end but that leaves Charlotte and Lu in a very strange limbo as for the point of their presence in the book. Is the argument then that they would have gotten everything if they were only willing to strive for it? That feels very unfair to me, and I think the author may have realized this as Charlotte disappears by the end of the story.

That brings me to my final point which is that there's a strange thread of misogyny in Oliver's narration throughout the book. Oftentimes, someone will mistreat Oliver or require something of him because they see him as a woman and Oliver will remark that that is unjust or wrong because he is a man. The idea that Oliver specifically doesn't deserve this only because he's really a man, and not because it's an injustice against anyone including women really puts me off. Having just read The Spirit Bares it's Teeth by Andrew Joseph White, another regency-era novel with a trans-man main character, I took for granted the book's prominent idea that injustice towards women was wrong whether or not the character in question was a woman or not.

I did enjoy reading this book despite my issues with it, and I'm sure many people would enjoy it given that they don't look into it too much. Admittedly, I'm a bit let down as this was very highly anticipated for me, but I absolutely think there are people who will enjoy it!

A delightfully tender queer Pride and Prejudice retelling, this one, with its carefully handled trans rep, had me pressing my hand to my chest in its softer moment, and squealing in its romantic ones. Wonderful in audiobook format!

3.5 stars

“Most Ardently” is the newest in the Remixed Classics series and retells Pride and Prejudice as the story of Oliver Bennet, a closeted trans boy in Regency England, falling in love with a gay Darcy. I found the book to be enjoyable, particularly the ending, which wraps things up in such a nice and loving way. I really appreciated the variety of LGBTQ+ representation along with the historical accuracy of the queer experience during that era in history, as well as watching different characters from different backgrounds address their identities and roles in society differently. There was a lot of love and support that helped Oliver face his dysphoria and lack of acceptance in society, particularly from Jane and Mr. Bennet, and a lot of light-hearted humor.
This retelling is, to my view, a very different story to the original, so readers should not come into this expecting it to map perfectly onto Pride and Prejudice. By nature of Oliver’s identity as a male, he has access to spaces in society that Elizabeth Bennet never did, so the story is taken in some new directions. Additionally, the conflict between Oliver’s true identity and the role he is forced to play in public impacts his internal thoughts and outward actions, making him a very different protagonist. There are also some places where things are trimmed to save time, and some plot points and character motivations that are necessarily changed by nature of the main character being male instead of female.
There were a couple changes that did bother me: the first is the down-aging of the characters. Making Oliver 17 instead of 20 felt unnecessary, even though this book is intended for a YA audience. Referring to characters as “boys” and “girls” and then in the next sentence pushing them towards immediate marriage created a lot of cognitive dissonance and made those passages very jarring to read. The other broader thing I did not enjoy was the loss of dimension in the female characters, particularly Jane, Charlotte, Lydia, and Georgiana. Due to changes in the plot and trimming certain scenes, we see a lot less of the women in general and when they are present, they are largely there to serve the plot and not depicted as whole people with their own inner thoughts and experiences. I did feel that some of these changes were very much to the detriment of the overall story; if we could have seen more of Jane and Charlotte it might have felt a little more well-rounded and cohesive. On the whole, this is still an enjoyable read that delightfully reimagines Jane Austen’s classic story.

4.5 stars

Oh my goodness, Most Ardently was such an adorable Pride and Prejudice retelling. Novoa handled Oliver’s story with such love and care. While it stayed mostly true to the original story, I really loved the fresh new take on it. I was squealing every time Oliver and Darcy interacted. I am so glad Oliver got to come out in his own time and I was crying over how much Mr. Bennett loved his son. This was such an endearing read. The writing was also really easy to digest and well done. Thank you to NetGalley for the audio ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Most Ardently is an absolute gem of a retelling. Novoa took an already beloved story (Pride & Prejudice) and injected it with a beautiful new queerness. Oliver is wonderful and his strong sense of self in a time and world that would shun him is something great to watch. He knows who he is, refuses to settle and dreams of being freely himself. Darcy is a swoon in this book just as he is in every other rendition and I absolutely loved him. I think this book will be greatly enjoyed by many and can even help those still grasping and struggling with themselves to find a new determination and strength through Oliver and his tale.

Most Ardently was just a wonderful read for me. I love Pride and Prejudice so I knew I would most likely enjoy this. I really love seeing all of these queer retellings of classic stories. Makes my heart happy! Definitely would recommend.

I really enjoyed the narrator! Excellent on audio.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this audio!

This book was great. Pride and Prejudice is my favorite book so I enjoy reading retailing and this one was great. Highly recommend.

Most Ardently is a heartwarming, inclusive take on Pride & Prejudice. It makes me want to know the Bennett family personally and hug them all.

I loved the premise of the book and taking *the* GOAT epic love story and reimagining it with a trans man. My favorite aspects of the book were the insights provided about a closeted trans person through Oliver’s perspective. However, I did feel like that perspective should have affected more elements in regards to deviating from the original. I think the story was limited in its impact by sticking too closely to the original, rather than truly reimagining how the story would be profoundly different given the main relationship involved a trans man and a gay man, and one of the main secondary relationships a lesbian couple still forced into traditional marriages for survival. I also didn’t feel as strong a connection as I had hoped for with Oliver and Mr. Darcy’s relationship. I wish there had been more interactions between the two.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the audiobook ARC of Most Ardently.

I loved this book so much that I think it took me less than 24 hours to finish listening to it! I felt like it held the same charm that the Pride and Prejudice has while putting a trans spin on the story. And I loved that it had a happy ending! Yay trans joy!

Also, I thought the narrator was excellent.

I will definitely be purchasing this for the library's collection and I will be moving Novoa's other book up in my TBR.

This remix was just so lovely. I love this series, and Most Ardently was no exception. I loved how true it stayed to the original as much as I loved the deviations.. Mr Bennett, what an MVP! Charlotte and Lou was a lovely touch, and I appreciated how Charlotte's acceptance of an inevitably conservative lifestyle was modified with a queer lens.

The narration is fantastic, the nuances of each character shined through.

My only complaint is I wanted more Oliver/Darcy interaction. Their dance at the club was so emotionally charged I wanted to throw the original plot in the bin and follow the boys' lead.

A great offering from Gabe Cole Novoa

.lThank you to the publisher and netgalley for the audio ARC.

First off, I am a sucker for any and all forms of Pride and Prejudice retellings. I will happily sit and watch/read any I find.

That being said, I absolutely adored this book. It was just such a delight to read and just a perfecr queer retelling of Pride & Prejudice. This story focuses on Oliver Bennet, who is a trans boy, and him falling in love with Darcy. I really loved being in Oliver's POV and how steadfast he was in what he wanted in life for himself. The author really managed to achieve making this retelling feel very fresh and different from many other retellings.

Also, I really appreciated the author's note at the beginning and end of the book. I highly recommend to anyone looking for a great queer version of Pride & Prejudice.

Also I really appreciated the author's note at the beginning and end of the book. I highly recommend for anyone looking for a great queer version of Pride & Prejudice.

Every time I read a Jane Austen retelling I can never decide if I'm grateful that I haven't read the originals or if I am missing out because this book was fine. I really love the transjoy of it all but I didn't love it as a whole. I think maybe I'm missing some context but this one was an enjoyable read but not a favorite.