ARC Review: Emma of 83rd Street by Audrey Bellezza and Emily Harding
10:00
Series: None
Author: Audrey Bellezza and Emily Harding
Published May 23rd 2023 by Gallery Books
Goodreads Synopsis
In this witty and romantic debut novel, Jane Austen’s Emma meets the misadventures of Manhattan’s modern dating scene as two lifelong friends discover that, in the search for love, you sometimes don’t have to look any further than your own backyard.
Beautiful, clever, and rich, Emma Woodhouse has lived twenty-three years in her tight-knit Upper East Side neighborhood with very little to distress or vex her…that is, until her budding matchmaking hobby results in her sister’s marriage—and subsequent move downtown. Now, with her sister gone and all her friends traveling abroad, Emma must start her final year of grad school grappling with an entirely new emotion: boredom. So when she meets Nadine, a wide-eyed Ohio transplant with a heart of gold and drugstore blonde highlights to match, Emma not only sees a potential new friend but a new project. If only her overbearing neighbor George Knightley would get out of her way.
Handsome, smart, and successful, the only thing that frustrates Knightley more than a corked whiskey is his childhood friend, Emma. Whether it’s her shopping sprees between classes or her revolving door of ill-conceived hobbies, he is only too happy to lecture her on all the finer points of adulthood she’s so hell-bent on ignoring. But despite his gripes—and much to his own chagrin—Knightley can’t help but notice that the girl next door is a woman now…one who he suddenly can’t get out of his head.
As Emma’s best laid plans collide with everyone from hipster baristas to meddling family members to flaky playboy millionaires, these two friends slowly realize their need to always be right has been usurped by a new need entirely, and it’s not long before they discover that even the most familiar stories still have some surprises.
Goodreads
Review
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher. This in no way impacted on my view.
Twenty three year old Emma Woodhouse has lived a privileged life on the Upper East Side. About to start her final year of grad school everything seems to be changing. Her friends are studying abroad, and her sister has moved downtown with her new husband, and former neighbour. The only constant is her father's strange ideas about health, and her love-hate friendship with Knightley. But the dynamic has changed between the pair, and it's soon apparent that their feelings for each other go way past friendship and family, and into lust and perhaps even love. Emma's plans for her final year of school are about to go haywire.
When I heard there was a new Emma adaptation being released, I had to request it immediately! I adore the original, and can't get enough of any and all retellings, so a modern day one set in New York was bound to be good. I was hooked from the first moments, where we see Emma and Knightley bantering about their siblings, and whether they will get together. Flash forward to their wedding, and it's clear that the affection between the pair has grown, and though Knightley regularly is exasperated with Emma's actions, he's also amused and won't let others tell him otherwise. I wondered how Emma of 83rd Street would deal with some of the issues of the original book, such as Frank Churchill, and Mrs Bates, or the falling out that Emma and Knightley had. Well, Audrey and Emily handled them all perfectly, but also in keeping with the situation of a modern book. The way that Emma and Knightley's relationship built up to a culmination in the feelings and the tension, was beautifully done. I read the last 40% or so in one sitting, because I couldn't bear to put my kindle down until I saw them together, and knew all was well. An utterly fantastic debut, and one I can't recommend enough!
Dates Read:
November 27-28, 2022
Rating
5 Stars
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