Unfortunately not for me. In a world with SO many books being published, I just don't see this as a must in our collection.

I love Jane Austen so I couldn't wait to listen to this audiobook. I did enjoy the story even though it had a fantasy/magical vibe to it. Tildey reminded me of a modern-day female that could've lived in Bridgerton. I left that the story moved smoothly, until the end. It seemed to me that there were too many loose ends that needed to be tied up.

The narrator was great and made the story all the more enjoyable. I don't think the title fits the vibe of the story, though.
Thank you NetGalley and Indie for the ARC.

Received free copy via NetGalley.

As a Jane Austen-loving reader who dabbles in sci-fi and loves Ireland, I had high hopes for <i>The States</i>. I can definitely see where the <i>Persuasion</i> retelling came into play, but it was very loose, as the setting and tone of this book are quite modern. However, the sci-fi elements that add to the modernity, aren't super well fledged out or explained. Essentially, main character, Tildy, trials a sleep cap that allows her to dream in another reality.

Tildy uses the sleep cap to bring her to Galway, Ireland, where her late mother's family is from. This is also where her adolescent romantic partner that she has never moved past, Aiden, resides. Though she is not intentionally trying to reconnect with Aiden, her subconscious takes her to him nearly immediately. While Aiden is a large part of the story, and acts as the <i>Persuasion</i> equivalent of Captain Wentworth, the story primarily focused on Tildy and her dissatisfaction with her real-life vs. dream-life. I wouldn't say that it is a very well-developed romance, so I personally felt more attached to that aspect of the story-line. It is hard to tell if that was the intended effect or not.

What this book does well is vividly juxtapose Tildy's two worlds and retell the <i>Persuasion</i> story in a unique way. However, it just wasn't an exciting read for me and missed the mark in a few places. 3/5 stars.

This was a fun read until the prosaic ending. I’m sure the author must have written this with several other endings and almost all of them had to be better than this!
The story moves along quite well. There are a few loose ends and unsatisfying characters. The concept works fine for a summer pleasure read. I got the audiobook and it felt read by Irish Siri. The main character is a Mew Yorker so this makes no sense and makes the story more difficult to follow at times. Stick to the ebook.

I have to say this one really surprised me. I didn't think I would like it as much as I did.
Tildy Sullivan volunteers for a lucid dream study to help a friend out. She is given a cap that allows her to choose her dreams. Tilldy uses this as an escape from her wealthy and abusive family. She also uses the lucid dream to return to Ireland to spend time with Aiden, the one that got away. The interesting part is she stalked his and his friends' social media. She inserted herself inside their lives in her dreams.
When she finally sees Aiden and his crew, she feels like she knows all of them although she is a stranger to them. Interesting concept.
I think the title and the cover could do a better job of representing the book. They just don't do it justice.
I would recommend this to fans of magical realist and light sci-fi.

The States is a story of Jane Austen’s Persuasion adapted for modern life, a protagonist torn between a dutiful life in NYC with a family of vipers or returning to her first love in Galway. It has a speculative fiction twist in which Tildy participated in a lucid dreaming study where she imagines how life would have been had she returned to Ireland earlier.

This is such a fun premise! Unfortunately The States did not live up to it.

On the positive side, the audio was read by Siofra Brogan. The Irish accent and asides made the experience for me and immersed me in the world of the story immediately. The writing at times was also very beautiful!

However, as for the plot. First, there wasn’t enough distance between the Austen source material, characters regularly made unrealistic house calls and made vague proposals to near strangers. Then (and for me) most importantly, the speculative fiction wasn’t evolved enough and many threads weren’t wrapped up. Could the subjects of Tildy’s dreams see her dreams? Was the dreaming a foretelling of events? Why were Tildy’s dreams haunted by threats of violence? Who was spying on Tildy through her AI therapy device? I will never know.

2.5 ⭐️ rounded up

I enjoyed this as a fresh spin on one of Austen's lesser loved (but no less worthy) novels. The characterisation was very well done, Tildy had all the traits of Austen's heroine and Woodsey wrote an honest account of the introverted, headstrong and longing protagonist.
The lucid dreaming experiment was an original way to move the story forward and I can imagine this book would work very well as a play, I would love to see it performed. The supporting cast were wonderful, I loved the Irish crew and could not stand the Americans (or Penelope), so it was a good balance that pulled on a range of emotions.
The humour did not totally land the same way it does in the original for me, so not quite a five star read but I was able to get lost in the world and flew through it. Would recommend for open-minded Austen fans or lovers of Bridgerton, the 2022 Netflix adaptation of Persuasion and anyone who needs a soothing story.