Anne Shirley has been brought into the present and is going to grad school in New York, getting a master’s degree in education. She has one year to go and the bane of her existence has appeared on her campus and in her program. Gil has been in California but moved back to New York to be close to his father, who has cancer. They are forced to work together when their master’s advisor has them work together in order to graduate. Gil has loved Anne forever, Anne, not so much. But she starts to see him in a new light as they continue to work together. This was a fun read as they don’t quite understand the other and try to overcome that and their own issues.

"Anne of Manhattan" is a modern retelling of the classic "Anne of Green Gables," series. The book is well written but the plot falls a bit flat. Nothing much happens to Anne despite a running theme of the original series being that Anne is a magnet for disaster.

Anne of Manhattan is a modern, romanticized, loose version of the classic Anne of Green Gables. It’s a light-hearted, coming of age, contemporary romance, set in New York City and follows Anne and her friends to college and then beyond to graduate school. It focuses in on Anne and her tumultuous relationship with Gil, one that is fraught with tension, angst and misunderstanding. The characters can be petty and juvenile, and the writing style is a bit more simplistic, but it’s also a quick, easy-to-read, enemies to lovers romance. I think if you are an avid Anne of Green Gables purist, this might not work for you, but as someone who hasn’t read the beloved series and expected a whimsical, even steamy story, it delivered.

I wanted to like this book and it was a cute little romance, but it was missing all the charm and magic of the original series. The book was a very “adult” retelling of the romance between Anne and Gil and I wasn’t sure I was ready for the descriptive sex scenes. While I found myself skimming most of the middle part of the story, the ending was very reminiscent of the original series and the ending satisfying.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for the arc. What a perfect summer read.. Loved the characters. Author did a great job with this story. Kept me reading sad to see it end. Will look for more by this author.

I am a huge Anne of the Green Gables fan (the book and the TV shows) and I was so excited to read a modern retelling of a story I love so much.

This is an Adult modern re-telling of Anne of Green Gables and it was such a fun and easy read. I loved re-discovering Anne, Gilbert, Diana, Marilla and Matthew, but with a modern twist. This story follows Anne on her last year of grad school in New York City where she randomly runs into Gilbert after 6 years of silence. The story is written in dual-POVs and switches between "then" and "now" timelines.

I have to say, their romantic build up was just as fun to read in a modern world, but I enjoyed the build up more than the actual relationship between Anne and Gilbert. The tension and banter between them was excellent, but once they started their romance, the love fell a little flat for me. I think the author banked on readers already connecting with Anne and Gilbert's relationship from the original story. So, while I enjoyed this "modern AU fan-fiction" of one of my favorite ships, the romance might not connect with those not already familiar with Anne of Green Gables.

This book also featured one of my least favorite tropes: someone gets hurt out of the blue and needs surgery/goes to the hospital. While I am a BIG fan of the hurt/comfort trope, I like it when it adds to overall arc of the story, not to just further miscommunication and create unneeded angst (which this book did).

Overall, this was a solid, cute read! I read it in one day, and it was just the fluffy book the doctor ordered.

Thank you, William Morrow and Custom House and NetGalley, for providing me with this ARC (Advanced Reader's Copy) in exchange for an honest review.

Charming love story in a modern twist of our beloved Anne Shirley and Gilbert Blythe.
Packed with all the normal bits of a Rom-com with a couple of steamy love scenes. This was a quick fun read to clear the remnants of a book hangover remaining from the last read.

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

Did you know that you needed an Anne of Green Gables retelling? I had no idea, but I definitely did. This book is so much fun. And it's funny, but so is the original. I absolutely devoured this, reading most of it in a day. I normally switch back and forth between several books, but I didn't do that as much with this one.

This is really just a modern Anne of Green Gables, starting with an older Anne, with glimpses into her past. The main story is taking place in her last year of grad school and it sort of focuses on the conflict between her and Gilbert.

I love this story and I am glad that a writer decided to use it as inspiration for such a fun nonvel.

This was a cute retelling of Anne of Green Gables in today’s world. It mainly focused on the romance between Anne and Gil, but did have some chapters devoted to throwbacks from Anne’s childhood. It was fun and flirty and perfect for fans of the original series.

I really enjoyed this book! I loved the new modern romance adaptation. It was so well written and the characters felt so real and relatable in many ways. I thought the author did a great job capturing they emotions as well.
The start was attention grabbing and I loved the past and present chapters. Thanks for allowing me to read this!

This book gave me so many feels. I want to say so much but don't want to drop any spoilers. Anne and Gil were in the same friend circle for years but after one bad first impression they were mortal enemies forever. I'm exaggerating but honestly their antagonistic banter was through the roof. Once they meet up years later during college and find themselves back in the same group all their differences highlighted all their similarities and compatibilities in the best possible way. Anne was such a charm to read, her complexities and her tortured history made me want to wrap her up in a hug. Gil's tortured love and longing for Anne was the sweetest thing to read.

I was so excited about this book and I'm very sad that it was such a letdown in so many ways.

First, I don't think this book captured the spirit of Anne at all. I wanted her to bear some resemblance to her childhood self--imaginative, whimsical, funny, spirited, prone to mishaps, and there just wasn't any of it. She was practical and boring and wore jeans. Wouldn't Anne of Manhattan wear something more interesting than jeans???

L.M. Montgomery is such a prose stylist, and I would expect more stylish prose from a retelling. It didn't bring that either. This is the place for purple prose! At least some beautiful and lengthy descriptions of places real and imaginary. Instead it was so flat.

And there was nothing Manhattan about this book! It could have easily taken place anywhere there was a college, which was the main setting. I rankle when books set in New York don't take advantage of the opportunity to paint a portrait of such a mythic place. Couldn't you imagine Anne of Manhattan visiting Central Park and giving ornate names to every body of water and open area she sees? Shouldn't there be some kind of antics? No, what you get is a #metoo plot line. Which I get it, it's realistic, but is this conceit really the best vehicle for such a plot? It's such a tonal mismatch for me.

And then there's the whole nonsensical academic part of the plot. Anne is attending a graduate school in Manhattan for a masters in education. I actually did the same exact thing. Literally every person in my program was there to become a public school teacher, as that's the path to be permanently certified to teach in NY state. No one was there to do "education law" as Gilbert was. For that, you'd go to law school or get a PhD in policy. And certainly no one was there to become an "associate professor." A master's degree does not qualify you for such a job!

Words mean things! Literally if you google "associate professor," the first thing that comes up that defines that term on the tenure track, as the state between being an assistant professor and a full professor, the state one arrives at after achieving tenure. This book is telling me that someone is getting hired to be a FULLY TENURED professor directly out of graduate school with a MASTERS DEGREE? That's not how anything works!

If it was mentioned offhandedly it would be one thing, no one can be an expert in every thing that they write about. But the whole plot revolves around their academic careers and it just made me mad. Honestly I just want someone else to take the concept of a modern-day Anne and run it in a very different direction.

A lovely and timely retelling of Anne of Green Gables, with a touch of romance and an urban ambience. Loved it!

A fresh, modern twist on Anne.

So, this Anne is in NY, not Green Gables. I enjoyed it for what it was, a fresh, modern twist on a familiar tale with the same players, Anne and Gilbert, only this time, they are enemies. Anne considers him the bane of her existence. The author captures Anne's emphatic proclamations with an exclamation mark.

Forced to work together will Anne look at Gilbert with new eyes as they have a shared goal.

Recommend.
4.5

I really wanted to get into this. I tried a few times but I could never get more than a few chapters in. I really liked the modern twist on the classic Anne of Green Gables, but I think I may just be biased and that the classic was just my preference. It was cute and romantic, but ultimately it took me a while to get through. It read pretty slowly. I would give this a 2.5 if I could because I appreciate Brina Starler's adaptation, but all in all it fell short and did not compel me to keep turning the pages.

Anne of Manhattan is a modern re-telling of Anne of Green Gables, fit with all of your favorite childhood characters and set in modern-day New York. In this version, Anne heads to a graduate program at Redmond College with her best friend Diana, only to discover that the one and only Gilbert Blythe has been admitted under the same program. Gilbert and Anne left on confusing and frustrating terms when a fated kiss passed between them led into Gilbert moving away.

This book is perfect for any Anne of Green Gables fans, especially those Anne and Gilbert stans who were crushed when we didn’t get any later seasons of Anne With an E! If you were always in it for the enemies-to-lovers plot - look no further!

I was so excited to read a modern retelling of Anne of Green Gables. I didn’t realize it when I was younger but Anne and Gilbert were my entry into loving enemies to lovers romances. Anne and Gilbert in a contemporary setting was delightful. I enjoyed the back and forth between Anne and Gilbert immensely. All of the relationships in the book were handled beautifully. If you want a book that gives you all the feels this is the book for you.

This almost felt like it could've been it’s own story without adding the Anne of Green Gables characters and then sometimes it felt like fanfiction. I love fanfiction but sometimes this felt forced in places and like we were just being told about situations that happened instead of seeing them happen through the story. Also I felt like Anne and Gilbert didn’t feel like the ones we know and love. I think if this story wasn’t a retelling it would have worked better because in my head I was constantly comparing. Perhaps though if you are unfamiliar with Anne of Green Gables and just want to read an enemies to lovers type story you will like it.

Special thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow and Custom House for sharing this ARC with me in exchange for my honest review.

As a huge LM Montgomery fan, my interests were piqued to see what a modern take on Anne would be like. Sorry to say, but this book was a big no for me. This was not Anne at all, I feel like the "struggles" in the novel were not tackled like Anne would have tackled them -- the character really lacked the strength of the original character. I will say that several of the updates to other characters did not bother me at all, but this was not my Anne.