Promising description, but it just wasn’t for me. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I’ve read a few modern retellings of Pride & Prejudice lately but none with a Jewish twist! I enjoyed this debut from Lauren Appelbaum, but some of the characters in this one irked me terribly - I know that was kind of the point but it got to be a little much at times. That being said, I’m still really excited to see what she writes next!

I don't really know how to start this review, but I will be honest. It's been a full 12 hours since I finished this and I'm still so mad at it. Like yeah, sometimes comedy pokes fun at big topics and it might be hit or miss, but to have SO MANY in one book?? Unacceptable.

I could NEVER in good conscience, recommend this book to anyone. Not only because it is just Not Good and because it really misses on bringing what made Pride and Prejudice so adored into the mix, but because I would genuinely worry that anyone I recommended this book to, would maybe believe that I also have similar opinions to Big Topics presented in this novel. Some of those things being:

Capitalism. FMC Rachel hates capitalism (same) but only in the sense that SHE personally is not getting that money. She still slaves away for a cooperation and then ends up moving laterally in the company to something she "enjoys". Still capitalism. And obliquely she hates that capitalist society destroys the planet etc, but even though she TOTALLY mic drops 'fake' Jeff Bezos about not having more awareness for plant based diets in order to create a more sustainable food industry, she cannot go more than two days on a vegan diet. Because cheese, duh!

The perception of what poverty/getting by is. Rachel complains that capitalism keeps her down, barely able to pay rent and that rich people can't check their own privilege. She herself comes from a family with a home in a million dollar neighborhood, her parents paid for two entire college educations, she CONTINUOUSLY shops at Nordstrom, buys a bottle of wine a day, etc. And while her parents aren't as financially secure as when she was a kid, it's not like she would be on the streets if she lost her job; I mean her parents let her younger sisters shop at Sephora on a whim with no spending limit. Rachel just sucks at everything in general.

The views on adultery and that it's OK for women to step out of their marriage and "try new things". I believe Rachel's thoughts were that "people no longer burned women at the stake" for having an affair. BUT THEN, to somehow make this worse, everyone agrees not to tell the woman's husband about it because they RESPECT HER DECISION. And the poor man is basically vilified and lowkey sounded out as if he deserves it because he's sexually insecure, plays Warhammer with his friends (HAVE WE LEARNED NOTHING FROM HENRY CAVILL?), and is allergic to cats. If it were me I could not be friends with said person no matter how long I've known them because I find it abhorrent to harbor a secret like that but ALSO THE MAN SHE SLEPT WITH WAS HER FRIEND'S BOYFRIEND and they're just... ok with it? Yeah, no.

Joking about #MeToo. In any capacity that's just tactless and disgusting, but then to go as far as to NEVER APOLOGIZE and NEVER VILIFY the characters who do it??? Abhorrent. For someone who hates men SO MUCH, Rachel hates women even more. And yes, HER SISTER loses her job for laughing at her #MeToo jokes, Rachel is the lead for SENSITIVITY TRAINING at her job! She should've been fired as well AT THE VERY LEAST! To make it worse, Rachel is never, ever, sorry for her comments. She's sorry she was caught and that her sister suffered for it. Scrubbing the internet of the video and then getting Jane her job back with her BIG BRAIN REPORT was basically just saying Fuck You to assault victims everywhere.

Anyway, there's more but I'm tired of thinking about it. The characters are just big fat caricatures who make absolutely stupid decisions at every opportunity, no one EVER suffers real consequences for their, often, awful actions, and tokenism is present with the token gay Eva and token diversity queen Sumira. Just - no thank you.

Thank you to Netgalley and to Forever publishing for this advanced copy, despite my misgivings of the material itself.

I am a sucker for a pride and prejudice adaptation always, but it does more than just give you the “oh that’s the Wickham character” moment. It has a lot to say on it’s own. I don’t think I’ve read a something that has ever really captured what the threshold of your thirties feels like until now. You wake up one day and wonder “how did I get here?” You question your relationships and try to show up for them in different ways. This book gets that it’s uncomfortable but is also optimistic and hilarious about it (no spoilers but the bridal shop scene is the first time a book has made me laugh out loud in ages). Don’t get me wrong, I started this book hating Rachel Weiss- I don’t get extroverts- but I think it’s a real testament to the writing that I was unabashedly rooting for her at the end and maybe even seeing a little of myself in her. My favorite read of the year so far.

I couldn't get through too much of this one and based on the other reviews I wasn't particularly motivated to power through. The prose felt super immature and even as someone in the target audience, it was too millennial cringe to be very enjoyable. After reading other comments about the lack of sensitivity regarding mental health and SA, I'm not planning on ordering it for our store.

Thank you to the publishing team and to Hachette audio for review copies. This will be a short review, I just could not tolerate the main character at all. I was all in years ago for the messy chaos of Bridget Jones, I adore all things Pride and Prejudice and the vibes... but Rachel was not quirky chaotic somehow endearingly fun... she was obnoxious and her early behaviors in the book, including mocking someone for assault, were not fun to read and she was not someone I could root far.
I will credit the voice acting though as I felt the narration truly captured the spirit and tone of the book.

I was excited to read this book as I am a fan of modern retelling of classics. I recently read a cute update of Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth of East Hampton. Do yourself a favor and read that and skip this. Honestly, this book was not for me. I had to DNF. The dialogue was awful. The mom a characture instead of a character. The FMC was intensely unlikeable and had no insight into herself. Maybe others will like it more, but it was a pass for me. Thanksnto Forever and Net Galley for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you @readforeverpub and @netgalley for sending me this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
I really wanted to like this one especially because it has Jewish representation. Unfortunately, I read 18% and I just couldn't get into it. After I received it, I read that it's a Pride and Prejudice retelling, similar to Bridget Jones Diary, which I really didn't like. I definitely see the similarities. Rachel Weiss is an unlikeable main character and I felt like she was super bratty with her friends. Unfortunately, I find it challenging to read books with unlikeable main characters. I'm assuming as the book goes on we learn more about her siblings, but by 18% I didn't even know the twins' names yet. I've read that she does something awful and the reviews about that incident almost made me want to keep reading to see what actually happens, but ultimately, there are too many books to read to spend time reading one I'm not enjoying.
Because I have to give a star rating, I'm giving this a one star here, because I didn't finish it. I will not post this review anywhere else.

I think this book had a lot of potential but I had a hard time getting into it. There was a moment where she made fun of a very sensitive topic with no warning. I thought this was a very bold and wrong choice to make. I struggled to like the main character which is disappointing. I couldn’t really move past some her actions.

Thank you to Netgalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for the chance to read this book early.

Such a funny and modern take on a chaotic romance! I liked all the topics that were touched on, and honestly I could have spent more time with the characters!

The most extroverted book I’ve ever read. It was fun and lighthearted with some great emotional moments. A great story arc for Rachel and the romance was chaotic in the best way.

I really wanted to like this book because I've been seeing it all over bookstagram. However, I kept getting offended by the main character about really big topics such as mental health, cheating, the me too movement, being politically incorrect, and other very emotionally charged items that I couldn't move past. I wish more time had been spent scrubbing this book with sensitivity readers. The core group of friends Rachel has is so relatable that was the one saving quality of this novel.

Thank you Forever and Hachette Audio for the advance reading and listening copies.

What a fun cute story! Enjoyed the friendship dynamic, the sibling rivalry/sisterhood bond, and mostly the crazy adventures Rachel embarks on.

I wanted to love this one so much, but I found Rachel unbearably immature. She read more like a 23-year-old and not a 29 almost 30-year-old. She does have some decent growth throughout the book, but not enough to make me like her. One of my biggest peeves is how she wrote Rachels's family. I hated how she wrote the mom. It was so unrealistic. I wish she would have picked some of the better stereotypes of Jewish people instead of the overbearing mother who is just focused on getting her kids married and doing borderline illegal things to get her kids into college.

Also, this is marketed as a romance, but I found it more women-fiction-focused. The main hero Christopher, plays a very minor role and you don't actually see their romance on the page. I also found his attraction to Rachel unbelievable, especially considering how minimally they interacted. I enjoyed the focus on Rachel's friend group and their group chat. Their growth as a group and their trials and tribulations were a little more realistic and were a good representation of how friends show up for each other even in the craziest of circumstances.

Read if you like a coming-of-age story about female friendships and growing up with minor romantic undertones. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC in return for an honest review. This book releases 9/24

The premise of this book really appealed to me - friendship, love, messy family dynamics; and the format sounded fun too as I usually love books with texts or other forms of communication mixed in. Unfortunately, I didn’t love this book as much as I wanted to. While I really liked the FMC’s sister and her boyfriend, many of the other characters just annoyed me. Also, some of the story lines seemed unrealistic. For the most part I did like the writing style and would be willing to read future books by this author.

First things first, this book is a modern-day version of Jane Austen's "Pride & Prejudice" but it's not billed as such (and honestly, I would have picked it up sooner as I'd known.) For anyone who knows P&P, from the first character descriptions, realization of the storyline, and a ton of Austen-themed Easter eggs, it is so clear that it's an Austenian adaptation. It was a great one, don't get me wrong, but that's blurb-worthy to me. Author Lauren Appelbaum writes with such compelling language and a relatable main character in Rachel Weiss (the modern, Jewish version of Lizzy Bennet). If Austen books aren't your thing (gasp, I know), then you probably won't be able to tell the difference because it still feels fresh and new.

can we even classify this as a cohesive novel if it's just random scenes of a characters life placed together for 300 pages???

in my humble opinion this was not the best. the whole thing kind of just felt like different episodes of a tv series but none of the main characters were that likable or interesting. owen truly is a saint for dealing with this family. because this was all just random scenes, there was so much going on at once. none of it was all that interesting so it just felt odd to read about minuscule details in a characters life who i didn't care about. there were many jokes that just weren't funny and things were made fun of that should not have been made fun of. someone please tell me why christopher is in love with rachel because i haven't got a clue. this was simply not for me and it it wasn't for it's short length i probably would've dnf'd.

*thank you NetGalley for the ARC*

I didn't care too much for this book. I didn't like the main character at all. I felt she was too full of herself. I read a third of the way through and couldn't do anymore.


Thank you to NetGalley and Forever publishing for the early review copy.

So unfortunately this book was not for me. Despite it being well written and the intrigue of a modern P&P it was too crass for my tastes personally. Chapter 1 literally starts with her waking up next to a man who she can't remember his name and then in chapter 2 she talks about the state of her underwear while dancing with another man at a WORK event. I honestly didn't read more than a few chapters because I didn't anticipate it getting better.
I do think there is an audience for this book, but it isn't me.

this felt a bit cheesy and overdone, but i like how rachel bonded with her neighbor but it was a bit clunky