Jane Worthing was a viral sensation when she was found abandoned as a toddler. It's not the only thing that defines her, but it definitely makes her question everything about her even though she has loving parents and supportive friends. She's at a point in her life where knowing the truth feels like something that could help define her future, but she's not sure if she actually wants to know. A not-so-gentle push by her best friend and exploring her feelings for the out-of-her-league Gwen is the start of an adventure of discovery that will force Gwen to bee earnest about her feelings and thoughts with her love ones and herself.

I really, truly wanted to like this because I love the overall message, but the characters are impossible to connect with. Jane questions everything to the point of not being a fully-formed character and those around her feel like they're only there to push her in certain directions. Plus, I found Algie to be a tad annoying so I didn't enjoy how he interacts with others.

Overall, I like the message and the writing isn't bad, but I can't get into a story when I don't care about the characters and that's what happened here.

Thank you to NetGalley and Clarion Books for the chance to read in exchange for an honest review.

LOVE the cover and premise. Execution fell flat for me. It was hard to root for the characters but that may just be a me thing. Will definitely be trying Molly Horan’s next book.

I am sorry for the inconvenience but I don’t have the time to read this anymore and have lost interest in the concept. I believe that it would benefit your book more if I did not skim your book and write a rushed review. Again, I am sorry for the inconvenience.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for giving me a free eARC of this book to read in exchange for my review!

"Epically Earnest" by Molly Horan is a charming and relatable young adult novel that explores the ups and downs of teenage life with humor and authenticity. Horan's storytelling authenticity shines as she crafts a tale of self-discovery, friendship, and the hilarious mishaps that come with growing up. The book's relatable characters and witty plot create an engaging reading experience that resonates with teens and young adults. Horan skillfully captures the emotions of awkwardness, self-expression, and the journey of finding one's voice, adding depth to the narrative. "Epically Earnest" is a delightful reminder that embracing one's quirks and forging genuine connections can lead to unexpected adventures, leaving readers with a sense of camaraderie and a renewed appreciation for the genuine moments that make life truly epic.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for giving me access to the advanced copy of this book to read.

This was a nice concept, and was a sweet book, but felt a bit unfinished for me. It was fairly short, so it may have needed a bit more structure and length.

I an unable to review this title, as it was archived before I had a chance to download and read it. This feedback is only to stop this title from adversely affecting my netgalley feedback rate. If in the future I have the opportunity to read this title, I will post a proper review here.

Epically Ernest was a truly endearing book to read. It is an all-around happy and wholesome queer book. For those like me who hate the third act break up or quarrel, you’ll be happy to know that it does not exist in this book. The characters fall in love and any struggle that happens is external and not within the relationship.

I absolutely love the friendships and relationships that are fostered in this book. I specifically love the relationship between Algie and Jane. They’re absolutely adorable. The quote about rocking chairs really reminds me of me and one of my best friends because we have a game plan to have a bridge or tunnel between our houses when we retire so that way we can just go to each other’s houses all the time to hang out.
“You promise we’ll get the chairs?” “God, Algie, so needy. We are getting the chairs. You will never be rid of me. Our friendship is eternal.” “Like Twinkies,” we muttered in unison. (location 1906)

I love the storyline of Jane deciding that she wanted to discover if she had any family out there who had an interest in communicating with her. I feel like it was a strong storyline.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book and will definitely be reading some more Molly Horan in the future.
Thank you St. Martin's Press, Wednesday Books, and NetGalley for giving me access to an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book has some really cute parts. The premise sounded great. It had potential but I think it just fell short. It was mostly uneventful and felt like it was missing something. It almost felt unfinished. This wasn't it for me but that doesn't mean others won't love it.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and Clarion for the gifted e-book ❤️

3.5 stars
Epically Earnest is an Oscar Wilde inspired romantic comedy. I was at first excited to read this Molly Horan tale, and it held up to being a good lgbt read.
It's loaded with quirkiness, which anyone can appreciate.. And the storyline is simple and sweet.
The author includes some serious topics in the story, but manages to keep the tone from ever getting too heavy.
This one is definitely worth a read when you're in the mood for a quirky romcom.

I had to DNF this one.
I think that I’m not the targeted audience for this. I found it a bit boring, I just couldn’t get into it.

This book had a lot of potential but I felt like something was missing. It's a sweet story but I feel like I would've enjoyed it more if I had read The Importance of Being Earnest. I wish the characters were a bit more complex although they were really cute. It's a quick read, perhaps it can be read way too quickly and leaves you with a mixed feeling of wanting more and also feeling that it lacks something.

As a fan of The Importance of Being Earnest for its clever wordplay and comedy of errors, I had high hopes for this book. Unfortunately, to write a remix of this book, you must be half as clever as the original author.

This book was boring, felt unfinished, and did not have enough plot to keep me engaged. It also felt as though the "relatable teens" bits were trying too hard.

I think that this book could be a favourite of someone who had read and loved The Importance of Being Earnest. I unfortunately have not read it, so I didn't really get all the bits that made it a retelling. I think that the friend dynamics were great and the discussion of family bonds and dynamics was great.

I think the biggest reason this book just didn't hit for me was that I am struggling with YA these days and I'm just very clearly not the reader this book was written for. I loved that it was a sapphic retelling but I think a younger reader or someone who loved The Importance of Being Earnest would be better suited to love this book.

I am a character reader to a fault, which is to say, if I become endeared to a character in a book, I can forgive pretty much any literature sin an author might commit (barring bigotry and/or anything that causes actual harm to its readers, of course; think plot holes, or perhaps the absence of a plot entirely). If I’m lost in a character, I probably won’t even notice the sins in the first place. Molly Horan’s Epically Earnest had my heart swelling with love for Janey and for the people who loved her, and so, my heart swelled with a quiet, tender, overwhelming love for this book. I read it in the summer, when I was spending the week alone in my childhood home, just days after finding out the news, officially, about the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade. I was heartbroken and terrified and lonely, and this book, this quiet, slice-of-life book, showed me, finally, what it means to describe a book as big-hearted. It found me exactly when I needed it.

At just one year old, Janey was left in a Gucci bag in a train station and picked up by the man that would go on to adopt her. Now, as a teen, Janey only knows her adoptive family and the simple fact that her story made her a viral internet sensation and the entire world knows who she is and how she came to be. She’s had an ongoing debate with herself about whether she’d like to know her biological family, and thus far, she’s landed decidedly on the no, I’ll keep things exactly as they are, thank you very much, side of the argument. That is, until Janey’s best friend Algie steals a saliva sample and sends it off to be DNA tested. When he gets the results and shares them with her, our story begins.

This novel is an exploration of identity and history, as well as the relationship between personal and public knowledge and its effects on one’s sense of self. Janey knows nothing about who or what came before her, so her personal knowledge feels really rather limited. She feels like there are parts of herself she cannot know with the black hole that is her family history, but the world feels like they know her intimately—a result of the very expansive public knowledge surrounding her. To not know herself but be known by everyone else—she can’t make sense of it, so she writes living obituaries for the people in her life to get to the core of the thing, to take note of the parts of a person that matter, while they matter. Having been ushered into this life as a viral internet sensation where the whole world knows this huge thing about her, this thing that would most definitely be mentioned in an obituary but that isn’t the sole, defining thing about her, Janey is searching for the rest of her. The parts of her that actually matter, while they matter.

This is a cozy, feel-good novel that has very little suspense or narrative tension. The stakes are mostly low and internal. Paralleling the exploration of personal identity is a sweet sapphic romance between Janey and Algie’s cousin Gwen. Few roadblocks present themselves to disrupt the pair from getting together. I did wish there was a bit more challenge in their courtship as it often seemed too good to be true. If you’re looking for an external plot that compels the story forward or a slow burn romance with obstacles that keep you turning the page, this probably is not the book for you. On another day, it might not have been the book for me. But if you’re looking for a character-driven warm caress of a novel about self-acceptance and chosen family, I’d give this book a try.

I do want to make note of a side relationship dynamic that made me a little uncomfortable while reading. Algie was interested in Janey’s younger cousin, Cecil, and although the age gap wasn’t huge, the lack of years separating them was certainly made up for by the amount of experience that separated them. Rather than make strides to reconcile this or flip the roles of experience so the older one was less experienced, the narrative leaned into this dynamic for humor’s sake and continued to make light of it despite Janey herself being uncomfortable with it. Overall, it just didn’t quite sit right with me.

I enjoyed the hook of #bagbaby, but beyond that, it sort of seemed like Jane was often creating her own problems, or blowing them up into more than might be necessary. Having read the source material, I do not know how much of that is Wilde's doing, but if you're OK with that, you could do worse than a fairly easy read with likeable characters.

I do not say this lightly but this book gave me John Green vibes. The humor, the optimism, the found family. I really liked it! It could have been a touch longer, but it didn't need to be, I just wouldn't have minded. If you like humor, and not a lot of plot, but some good characters def pick this one up! Tha k you to Netgalley and the publisher for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

3.25 stars

This concept was interesting for this book, but the execution wasn’t everything I wanted it to be. I can’t pinpoint exactly why at the moment, but I didn’t love it as much as I had hoped. Some of the characters realistic and well-developed; some of the plot situations were a bit ridiculous, and while I realize that may have been the point, I did feel my attention wandering at times. It wasn’t a bad read by any means, but it just wasn’t my favourite.

Epically Earnest was a lighthearted feel-good coming of age story that centred around two queer relationships and a journey of self discovery. With a simple but attention grabbing writing style with witty dialogue and loveable characters, I found this book to be very easy to read, which may have been credited in part to the fact that it did feel a little incomplete. While an enjoyable and overall satisfying read, Epically Earnest lacked much of a steady plot or even conflict over the course of it's almost novella style length. I felt as though I were constantly waiting for it to truly begin, and while that did allow me to breeze through it rather quickly (and impressively) it did leave me feeling a little bereft, especially with so much potential with numerous storylines. Her search for her bio family, her fear for the depth of her best friend's feelings for her cousin, and even her own life long crush finally being realized all could have provided some much need interest to the plot, and I found myself expecting at least one of them to only to be a little disappointed. Everything seemed to have been wrapped in a seamlessly neat little bow, which while being a breath of fresh air for queer media, didn't make for the most compelling story or arc for the main character.
I would be doing this book a deserve, though, if I did not adequately articulate how much I did enjoy it. Despite not being the most flushed out, the characters had distinct and likeable personalities that made it easy to be invested in their stories. Their dynamics were realistic and relatable, and absolutely read like teenage interactions, rife with pop culture references and clever banter. I'd have appreciated a little more racial diversity and more character description overall.
All in all, although I felt it to be a little rushed and uneventful, I did greatly enjoy Epically Earnest for what it was, and would be interested in reading another book by Molly Horan.