I'm a sucker for a classic retelling of any stripe; the tone of this particular riff was not to my taste but I hope and expect it will find its audience.

Anna K review
Genre: YA contemporary fiction
Rating: Loved/4.25⭐️

The novel follows Anna K, a wealthy NYC/Greenwich teen, and her friends. Despite a lengthy cast of characters, each person was easy to keep straight. Characters were fully fleshed out and it was so fun to see the growth of each person through the story. Dustin’s and Kimmie’s characters especially were great to see find themselves, and grow from immature teens to more mature young adults

This Anna Karenina retelling is a great fit for those that love reading about rich people and their problems! When I finished, I immediately downloaded the sequel and can’t wait to see how Anna’s story plays out. This book ALMOST makes me wish I had read Anna Karenina, but I think this made Anna K all that more enjoyable and unexpected for me, since I didn’t know how the characters’s stories would play out. Overall, a really creative and enjoyable read that was difficult to put down!

I've yet to read the original work, but I am familiar with its main plot points. I didn't love the dialogue in this one; to be fair, I'm reading it a few years later, but it didn't feel like how real, modern teens speak. It took me quite a while to finish this, but I was invested in finding out what would happen. Teens who love gossipy-stories and angst will eat this up!

A teen take on Anna Karenina. This story takes place in Manhattan and follows a group of teenagers struggling with run-of-the-mill teenage dilemmas. The stars of the show are Anna, who seems untouchable, and Alexia 'Count' Vronsky, who falls in love with Anna at first sight. This novel will suck you in and spit you out at the end. It was an absorbing read. I've never read Anna Karenina, but this made me want to.

I love the idea of a modern retelling of Anna Karenina, but this one didn't work for me. Too much privilege and teen angst. I tried several times, but I just couldn't get into it. I think that I'm the wrong demographic for this book.

Lee has certainly captured the density and complexity of Russian literature while making the language accessible to a modern reader. Every character matters in this book. If they are introduced by name they have motivations, desires, and road blocks. They are complex and believable if not entirely relatable.

I love the original novel of Anna Karina. Therefore, I have a always wanted a modernized retelling of this classic. However, it just didn’t work. Unlike the original in which I could connect to the characters, I could not connect to any at all. The story was slow and lacked emotion that the original had. Thus, I’ll be out looking for another Anna Karina modernized retelling.

I just couldn’t finish this one. A dnf for me bc I could not stand one more minute of catty, whiny teens. No thanks.

I wanted this to be a meet up between Crazy Rich Asians meets Gossip Girl. That’s sure what it seemed like. I figured it be an edgier Too All the Boys I’ve Ever Loved. But uh, no. I got that way wrong. This was just awful. It was more like an author trying to hard to sound like an edgy teen who understand teen drama. It was like instead of knowing teens, she just watched a bunch of edgy teen movies to see what they be like.
- teens don’t actually say “WTF” or “OMFG”
- teens aren’t so woke that they talk politics constantly in regular conversation (I mean, this made me roll my eyes in the first couple pages

As for the writing, it just didn’t feel real or authentic at all. It was like the author was trying to throw too much together at the same time.
Also, writing 101 days you should probably introduce the main character (and even use her name at the very least) before chapter 5! I kept reading going, uh, who is book named after again?!

It was just so awful. I sidnt care about a single character. And if it is a clear representation of Anna Karenina (that I have not read) then I don’t want to ever read it.

And really the only reason I finished this one is because I already have the book in the series. Otherwise I would have dnf-ed it early on.

A modern-day retelling of Anna Karenina, and a much faster read than the original material.

Okay, who here loved Gossip Girl? I know I did. I read every book, hungry for glittering details of the lives of rich and sultry teenagers who were partaking in activities and a lifestyle that I knew I never would - and I loved every second of it.

Though I've grown out of the desire to devour luxury teen fiction, Anna K holds much of the same allure — but with greater depth for characters, and source material that dictates a bit of the dramatics.

Very much looking forward to the next book!

Thank you to Netgalley and Flatiron Books for advanced access to this title!

I reviewed this title on my blog and will provide the details directly to the publisher in the next round of this review process.

So, when I started reading this, I thought it was frothy and fluffy and too...Kardashian. Seriously, it just seemed like fashion and name brands and drugs and sex and people without a thought in their pretty little heads.

And some light references to Anna Karenina (which is most definitely NOT frothy).

And...I was wrong.

It went from frothy to stab-you-in-the-heart with a whiplash inducing frenzy. And suddenly, Anna K and Anna Karenina really meet.

The author did a good job here. As I read it, I realized the frothy updates suited a modern Anna.

Good read.

When I began reading Anna K, I was constantly keeping the comparisons to Gossip Girl in my mind. I had heard this book was very similar in tone to the television series, Even though it is a YA retelling of the classic Russian novel, Anna Karenina, I consistently kept comparing the novel to Gossip Girl.

Anna K is the protagonist of our story- a girl who focuses on her horses, her prize winning dogs, and her long-term relationship with her boyfriend, Alexander, When a chance encounter with the "bad boy" of the young New York society sets Anna on a completely new path, Anna's world will be shaken to its core and irrevocably changed.

I have never read Anna Karenina, but I have seen a film adaptation of the novel, and I can definitely see the threads that Lee uses to bring this timeless love story into the 21st century. She uses modern day language, particularly during the dialogue between characters, and the book is easily readable and fast-paced. Lee definitely knows how to structure her chapters to keep the reader wanting more. I definitely felt the Gossip Girl vibes with this text, which makes it easy to connect to as well as understand. The characters are all relatable and the relationships between them seen genuine. Anna K is especially easy to relate to, dealing with what her heart wants versus what her head is telling her is best. However, due to the content of this book, I would not recommend it for younger YA readers. Was this book a revelation in some new genre? No. Was this book a fun and easy read? Absolutely. I enjoyed reading this book and will definitely pick up the sequel when it is released.

A wonderfully fun love story!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This novel was okay. I was not impressed by it like I thought I would be. The plot was okay but the characters were not as likeable as I thought they would be in this novel. I also liked how they adapted it, but it was just lacking. I am not sure if it was the tone of the novel or what it was. I just did not like this book as much as I thought that I would.

This was exceptional. It stood out in many ways, from plot line to characters. It's solid. It's a great read and well worth my time.

This book is great! Would definitely recommend. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

"A boy she loved with all her heart had loved her more. And she deserved it."

I feel a little bad about giving this book one star because I really wanted to enjoy it. Korean characters, rich-people drama, and a loose retelling of a beloved classic (that I haven’t even read). What more could I have asked for? But sadly, I couldn’t care less now. Just because I’m a K-pop fan doesn’t mean that I’m going to enjoy every K-pop-related story. I guess I learned this the hard way. Hahahaha.


I really should’ve done my research on the source material because little did I know that Anna Karenina was actually about infidelity. The main characters practically had a deadly affair and ruined each other’s lives just to soothe their loins. The same thing almost happened in this book. The protagonists in Anna K were shameless cheaters, but most of them still achieved a happy (if not hopeful) ending.

My first issue was Anna’s hypocrisy. She criticized her brother Steven for cheating on Lolly. Weeks or months later, Anna found herself betraying Alexander, her long-term but “very boring” boyfriend. Vronsky, Anna’s paramour, was basically a hot bastard who was notorious for sleeping with almost every pretty girl in the city. For the life of me, I couldn’t understand his obsession with Anna. It seemed to boil down to her good looks. As for Anna, she clung to Vronsky simply because she was tired of being prim and proper, her daddy’s little good girl.

My second gripe was the writing, which had an abundance of unnecessary descriptions to make readers believe that the characters were really, really rich. Luxury brands were mentioned here and there as if I cared about their fancy clothes, cars, and furniture. Being part of the middle class, I couldn’t even imagine most of them. You might appreciate this book more if you’re a reader with sophisticated tastes. Still, I don’t get why sex and drugs count as “high culture.” In many ways, ordinary people are genuinely more cultured than the rich.

The only thing I enjoyed was Anna and Steven’s close relationship as siblings. Their parents were mostly terrible at parenting, so the children were as thick as thieves. Sometimes, it seemed like Steven loved his sister more than he did his girlfriend. But I didn’t particularly appreciate how the siblings condoned each other’s bad behavior or loose morals. Where was the tough love in that? Ideally, loving someone should embolden you to confront them when they’re wrong.

Overall, Anna’s epiphany that she deserved Vronsky’s love was questionable. It made me realize something myself: Anna hadn’t learned her lesson. Cheating is cheating, no matter how hard you try to rationalize it. If Anna K was this annoying, I should remove Anna Karenina from my TBR pile.

Absolutely LOVED THIS BOOK!!! I couldn’t put it down. If you loved Anna Karenina, this is a delightful YA adaptation that I recommend!

I wasn't a huge fan of Anna Karenina when I initially read it years ago, but I found this retelling of the story really unique and interesting - and I found the characters completely unforgettable.