Most Ardently: A Pride & Prejudice Remix by Gabe Cole NovoaRating: ✩✩✩✩✩
The Remixed Classics series is such a delightful idea and I was very excited to get started on these promising retellings. As a classic Pride and Prejudice fan, I am 100% here for any variants on the theme!
This book had a lot of positives. As a YA novel with a queer spin, this book shines. It hews close enough to the original for fans to enjoy, but does liven it up for a younger/new audience. The queer longing is Grade A. While some liberties are clearly taken to make the premise work in terms of historical accuracy, this will scratch the historical romance itch. As a teen/tween book with the goal of take P&P but make it gay, this is a five-star read.
I, granted as an adult reader of material not aimed at me, have a few quibbles that kept this from being a full on perfect read. The issue that stands out is the pacing. Some plot felt rushed to get the HEA and the rate at which scenes changed sometimes felt abrupt to the point of being hard to follow. A secondary note is that for a retelling of a book written by a woman about women, the femme-identifying characters are nearly non-existent/underdeveloped. While I get that the point is to center the story on Oliver's experience, the framing of the misogyny being a problem only because it misgenders him (and not because the patriarchy hurts everyone who is not cis/het/male/white) makes the core tenet of the original dim a bit. That said, it is OK if there is material that centers trans boys without catering to cis women, but fans of classic P&P may find this loses a little in translation.
Altogether though, I adored this book and can't wait to purchase copies for all the YA readers in my life.
Published on 16 January 2024 by Macmillan Children's Publishing Group,
Book #76 of 2023
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