Cute story. nice teen read. a subtle retelling that is not super obvious if you aren't familiar with the story. Mary is trying her best to be the main character as she is trying to work through high school. its a relatable book and a fairly quick read. We have all been Mary Bennet at some point or another. would reccomend this bok

I listened to this audiobook, courtesy of NetGalley. I am a lifelong lover of Austen, so I will read just about anything on that subject. Mary Bennet is an interesting character to me and I loved this character. She is introspective and even though she is kind of a spoiled young woman, she shows great growth and reflections. There will be many times that you will become frustrated with her and I admit, I yelled at the "reader" a time or two.

Well done! 3.5 stars (rounded up to 4.

This is on me I guess for not doing a closer read into what this was. I thought it was a re-telling of Pride and Prejudice with Mary as the main character. It even starts out with a P&P ish quote, but no. It wasn’t that. This sort of fell flat for me after that. Plus, the synthetic reader wasn’t good. I need to stop requesting those. I love the audiobook option on here, but I want the readers. If i just wanted a computer to read me the book, I could find a way to do that with a digital book. I really love it when the audiobooks are on here. I will be more careful with selections in the future.

J.C. Peterson's Being Mary Bennet is a fantastic debut. Marnie Barnes comes to the unpleasant realization that she is not the main character of her own life, but horrors of horrors -- she is the Mary Bennet. (The snobbish, boring, reserved sister from Austen's classic Pride & Prejudice.) Having decided this is unacceptable, she makes a list of how she will change her life. Competing for a prestigious academic prize her elder sister won a few years before, Marnie decides she will be the main character regardless of how she gets there. Marnie is incredibly relatable, and Peterson takes great pains to create characters that are all more than one thing that the reader can both relate to and empathize with. Though the narration wasn't my favourite (and I don't know if it's the final narrator), I did keep coming back to the story because I liked the journey Marnie was on. I will look for future releases from J.C. Peterson, and will be recommending this to a variety of readers.

Thanks to #NetGalley for the early read. Being Mary Bennet is a nice young adult book and read. Marnie Barnes is a big reader lover of books and is convinced she is the suffering protagonist of her own life. She's the middle sister and is frequently forgotten. Marnie decides to reinvent herself and calls on her best friend to help her!
A story filled with lots of laughs and relatable events.

Being Mary Bennet is a fun young adult comedic romance that highlights the importance of being yourself. Marnie has a unique voice and perspective. I look forward to more from this debut author in the future.
I will recommend to fans of YA romance and Jane Austen, but especially readers who enjoyed Pride by Ibi Zoboi and Mary B. by Katherine Chen.
Thank you to Netgalley and HarperTeen for digital review copy.

Yes - read it or better yet listen to it!

I received the book as an ARC in a rough audiobook format from Netgalley & Harper Audio. So the final version of the audiobook is not final at this time.

I thought the story lent itself very well to audiobook format despite the computer generated voice.

Janeites will enjoy a story looking thru Mary Bennett's eyes. It was wonderful to have a character who works to improve herself yet coming to the understanding that she can still be herself.

This book was amazing. At first, it was slow to get into it and most of the characters annoyed me. It was really interesting to see Marnee’s development throughout the story. I also enjoyed hearing about Adhira’s character and her story. I loved the story because it includes important themes like grooming of minors.

Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Audio for an advanced audio book in exchange for an honest review.

4 stars

Marnie Barnes turns 18 while at boarding school in California. She's a difficult person with strained relationships with her family. It's a chicken and egg type of family relationship--she's treated so poorly that Marnie has built up some defense mechanisms. Marnie tries to be less like Mary Bennet and a bit more open to building friendships and improving family relationships.

J.C. Peterson did a great job of modernizing the Bennet family.

Narration was a synthetic voice for early reviews which was fine. I think the audiobook will be even better with real actor narration and emphasis.