This contemporary YA novel based on the characters of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice had all the makings of a wonderful book. I absolutely love the idea of a book from Georgiana's POV. Georgie's growth as a character was extremely compelling, particularly in the last half of the book where you really see her reflect and take ownership for her mistakes. The scene between Fitz and Georgie where they discuss their privilege was perfectly placed to give her a realistic moment of maturity. Their sibling dynamics were incredibly engaging and honestly the best part of the entire plot. I think writing Fitz as a controlling, overly protective older brother felt true to the original Mr. Darcy we all know and love. In fact, I think the rendering of the original characters in this modern way was very well done. Bingley as a frat boy, Wickham as a scam artist, and Lizzie as the smart, capable older sister were all a perfect homage to the characters we both love and hate in Pride and Prejudice.
Setting the drama amidst a boarding school felt a bit too expected but overall I think it worked well for the story that was being told. My main issue with the entire plot came from the "deal" with Wickham the Georgie suggests in the beginning. It felt like a very weak plot point. If she had decided on that aspiration on her own it would have been far more believable and relatable but the scene involving Wickham fell flat in my opinion. Additionally, the "scandal" that her dealings with him caused in the previous year, the fall out from him being expelled, and her ostracization from her peers all felt unrealistic and overblown.
Overall, this book was an enjoyable rendering of my favorite novel and I would love to read more by this author. Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for the ARC.

I was expecting something very different when I picked up this novel. I’ve always been intrigued by Georgiana Darcy. She’s present and felt in Pride & Prejudice, but also completely off page for the most part. Unfortunately, this modernization that focuses on her was messy. The plot dragged until the last fifty or so pages and it was only those pages that drew this up from a 2* to a 3*.

Georgie is painted as a victim; wrapped up in her own insecurities and problems. She’s completely oblivious to her privilege, which wouldn’t bother me in a novel about fictional characters, except she’s so goddamn whiny.

For most of the novel, she whines about not fitting in, people giving her the cold shoulder “for no reason”, because she didn’t do anything wrong. Yet, she makes little to no attempt to do anything, let alone fix it. She doesn’t change until the last fifty pages and st that point I was both over it and not exactly a believer.

Georgie gets by on kick and wealth and it’s not a good look. Sure, you could say that about the original Austen Georgie, but she was legitimately a sheltered, very naive 15 year old. Modernizing all the characters means you have to fully modernize them. This new Georgie is oblivious and sheltered.

Mr. Darcy was presented well. Charlie was a blast and even Lizzie made me excited to read about her. That wasn’t enough to hold my attention, which dragged.

I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher. This in no way impacted on my view.

For Georgie Darcy, living in the shadow of her perfect brother, Fitz, and the aftermath of scandal last year at Pemberley Academy, it's a struggle to return to school. But Georgie knows she can't disappoint him again, and she needs to forget all about Wickham and the lies he spread. So, with an extremely convoluted plan, Georgie plots to get her school on side, starting with friend and bandmate Avery, and the rest of the band, and keep Fitz none the wiser by matchmaking him with his classmate, Lizzie. Can Georgie accomplish all her plans, or will Wickham's return through a spanner in the works?

When I first heard about this book, I knew I needed to read it. Retellings of Austen's classics are a soft spot for me, and Pride and Prejudice even more so, so it was inevitable that I would enjoy this book. This is a modern day retelling of P&P, told from Georgie's point of view in the aftermath of the Wickham scandal. I loved how all of my favourite parts of the original were included, but in a modern, up-to-date fashion, and we saw a side of Gerogie that's never really been explored before. She's vulnerable, and struggles being the imperfect Darcy, forever in Fitz's shadow, even though he's never wanted her to be, and loves her more than anything. Wickham is just as evil and vindictive than ever, and I really detested him here - but loved how Georgie dealt with him, and her ongoing feelings for her best friend, Avery. All in all, this was a fantastic debut and retelling of a classic novel!

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an egalley in exchange for an honest review

Inspired by the characters of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, this is a contemporary YA tale centered on Georgiana Darcy( sister of Fitzwilliam Darcy). Pemberley Academy is still reeling from all the drama when Georgie got caught in the arms of drug dealing Wickham Foster last spring. As a result, older brother, Fitz has become super vigilant in his little sister's life. Georgie just wishes everyone could move on and stop treating her like a social pariah. Amanda Quain provides readers with plenty of romance and bad boy banter.

What I liked:
(1) Giving a very likeable Austen secondary character( Georgie Darcy) the spotlight. Quain's Georgie was an extremely likeable teen protagonist who has her own desires and aspirations. This is not a P& P retelling.
(2) Charles Bingley as a frat boy- HILARIOUS! He NEEDS a book!
(3)Wickham- I mean, I don't think that even Jane Austen couldn't help but love this guy and I loved his contemporary rendering.
(4) The sibling relationship between Georgie and Fitz- it was absolutely golden and I loved every encounter they had in the book.

What I didn't like:
(1) Boarding school romances are not one of my favorite types and I admit they were cute but Georgie and her love interest didn't grip me.
(2) Aside from the fact they were characters from Pride and Prejudice, the rest of the novel was pretty much like any other rom-com YA book.


Overall, I do believe that the positives are enough to sway any P& P fan to give it a read.




Expected Publication Date 26/07/22
Goodreads Review Published 23/05/22

A new modern take on Pride and Prejudice but from Georgina Darcy’s perspective. The story follows Georgie right after the horrible incident with Wickham... in which they were dating and he used her room to sell adderall... and in which she got him expelled which not only made her classmates hate her for taking away their adderall dealer but her relationship with her brother Fitz has completely fizzled. Now back for her junior year she has to prove to everyone and herself that she doesn’t need Wickham and that she can do better. But it’s going to be a lot harder than she though since she only has one friend, Wickham is still contacting her and his words still haunt her, her brother is watching her like a hawk and she thinks she might be ruining his life.... and her grades are suffering and she might have more on her plate than she signed up for. But Georgie is willing to try, she starts opening herself up more to people around her, starts trying to find some semblance of happiness and tries to make her brother’s life a little better by matchmaking him with the one girl in his math class that he can’t stop arguing with... Lizzie Bennett. This was a pretty interesting take on the classic story, especially as we get it from a modern Georgie. While I wasn’t expecting this Georgie to be as destructive or as immature as she was, it overall was an good read about a girl who is just trying to get her life together and recover after a horrible relationship with a toxic person who is breaking a bit under the pressure of who she is without him and what she wants to be. Plus the Fitz and Lizzie story was super cute in this one too. Overall, as a huge fan of Pride and Prejudice, this was a cute take on it!

*Thanks Netgalley and St. Martin's Press, Wednesday Books for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

…So…
I live for Jane Austen, I literally breathe her novels. So when I heard about this retelling, I was all ears. I wouldn’t say it was great, but it also wasn’t. The book centers around Georgie Darcy, but the book is all school focused with frat boys and all. The beginning of the book was really slow, but I got into it as it progressed. I love Darcy, but even as the novel went on, I really didn’t enjoy this version of him. Fitz, his name in the novel, was not amazingly developed and didn’t make for a great adaptation. Regardless, the later part of the novel drew me in. I loved watching Georgie grow and following her, but this definitely wasn’t the best adaption of Pride and Prejudice I’ve read.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Did someone say ‘Pride & Prejudice’ retelling? In a contemporary boarding school? With band geeks? Who are obsessed with a BBC period piece (a la Sanditon)? And write fan fiction? And just happen to be told from the perspective of Fitzwilliam Darcy’s baby sister, Georgiana? Let me introduce you to ‘Accomplished’…

I loved the concept of this book! There are so many Jane Austen retellings (for good reason), but almost all focus in on our lovers—in this case Lizzie and Darcy—rather than giving us something truly new or different. And so I found tackling the story from Georgie’s point of view uniquely fun and refreshing. It essentially pushed the traditional storyline/plot arc to the periphery and allowed us to focus in on Georgie’s journey in the aftermath of the scandal with Wickham and all the ways it personally impacted her life and her sense of self in a setting wherein (unlike the original) what happened could not be kept a secret and rumours abound.

That said, while I still enjoyed this retelling, I still wished the story dug a little deeper into Darcy/Georgie sibling relationship dynamic and the question of privilege. Both of these elements received specifically focused scenes and conversations in the final chapters of the book—but in the case of the former it did not feel like quite enough (still too many little details left untouched and unresolved); and for the latter it felt like too little too late (like that discussion and awareness maybe should have started building earlier on). But this is also me being nitpicky!

Ultimately I still declare this a fun and easy read for anyone who loves the world of Jane Austen. 🌟🌟🌟🌟

Accomplished is a modern YA retelling of Georgiana Darcy's story. The novel follows Georgie after "The Incident" with Wickham. She is scorned by her classmates, has to face the disappointment of her nearly perfect older brother, and is dead set on turning herself into a perfect Darcy. However, her plans may be waylaid by a potential romance with one of her marching band friends.

Parts of this novel work well, while others miss the mark. Most Pride and Prejudice fan favorite characters, and favorite villains, make an appearance in this novel, and it's fun to see them in contemporary settings. Georgie is a well-drawn character, and readers will find themselves rooting for her. The banter between characters is also engaging and fun to read. However, parts of the plot seem far-fetched and devoted Austen fans may find themselves disagreeing with how some of the characters are portrayed.

You can view my full review here: https://teatimelit.com/?p=4274

It is a truth universally acknowledged that I love anything and everything related to Pride and Prejudice. As of late, I have been obsessively thinking about Pride and Prejudice. I just finished my millionth rewatch of The Lizzie Bennet Diaries and a reread of Pride and Prejudice. Because of my deep love for P&P/Jane Austen in general, I usually check out every retelling that I can get my hands on. I’ve always been interested in Georgiana as a character and while I understand why we didn’t learn too much about her in the original novel, I’ve always wanted to know more about her. When I heard that Accomplished was a story focused on Georgie, I just knew that I needed to add it to my TBR!

The writing was very clever and there were moments that had me laughing out loud. I thought it was great that Quain threw in some fun pop culture references (like Georgie writing fanfiction, and having her own AO3 and Tumblr accounts), Georgie’s favorite TV show Sage Hall that had some big Downton Abbey vibes, and Camp Sanditon to reference Austen’s last novel. I loved all those little details, and they brought me a lot of joy. Plus, I never thought I would hear any version of Fitzwilliam Darcy use the phrase “slide into your DMs” and it was one of the funniest things I’ve read in a while because of the sheer ridiculousness of it all. I love books that can make me laugh hysterically in one chapter, and completely break my heart in the next. It’s the duality of it all.

Overall, I think that Accomplished is an incredibly strong debut novel and I am so excited to see what Amanda Quian writes next!

A fun Jane Austen fanfiction story about Georgie Darcy who also writes fanfiction. While there was a lot of angst, I liked the eventual growth and humor in both the romantic and sibling relationships.

Georgie, as in Georgiana Darcy, finds herself back at her private school as public enemy number one. After a run in with the law and Willoughby, Georgie betrayed everyone’s trust. Now she must do whatever it takes to fit in again, finish high school, and earn back Fitz’s approval.

I’m a sucker for anything Jane Austen, so when I saw a modern rendition telling Georgiana’s story, I had to pick it up. This modern musing stays true to the main points of Georgiana and Willoughby’s story, but as it’s written over 200 years after, it’s clearly a stretch from the original (not a bad thing). I liked thinking about this fringe character in a new way, and it was fun to rethink our original Darcy, Fitz, from a whole new angle.

Georgie has a lot of growing up to do in the story, and seeing her struggle with her self worth hurt my heart a bit. The story has some cute moments that keep it heartwarming enough. This is a fun, quick read; it would be great for a beach trip.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Okay, so honestly I tend to love Pride and Prejudice retellings, continuations, and adaptations.

I liked this one, but it fell flat for me in so many places and Georgie's obsession with the show Sage Hall was kind of heavy handed, and although I know that I made my entire personality based on a show/book before, but this seemed out of proportion and at odds with the musician side of her.

The obsession of trying to be perfect is also understandable, but it feels a lot more forced and contrived, not a natural development.

I liked the characters, but didn't love the story if that makes sense.

Solid book, just not my cup of tea.

3.75/5 stars

Accomplished is a retelling centered around Georgiana Darcy, the younger sister of Fitzwilliam Darcy, who is currently attending Pemberley Academy. After an incident her sophomore year with a certain Wickham Forster, Georgie is obsessed with renewing her reputation at the school and making herself worthy of the Darcy name.

Through much of this book, Georgie frustrated me because she couldn't see how much she was hurting everyone around her especially her brother. This relationship really resonated with me because I have an older brother as well and our relationship is quite similar to Georgie and Fitz which made me yell at Georgie through much of the book because she couldn't see that her brother was trying to help her.

What upped my rating from a 3 star to 4 stars was the last 1/4 of the book. Georgie had a very interesting turn of character development where she finally realized that she used/relied on her family name, influence, and money much more than she thought she ever did. It was nice to see Fitz finally open up to her and tell her how much he had been struggling.

Lizzie and Fitz's relationship as well as Georgie and Avery's both developed so organically and so real that I felt invested in them by the end. I only wish that Charlie and Jane had a bit more page time.

Overall, I would recommend this book to fans of Pride and Prejudice and would give this book 4 stars.

ARC was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I *love* Pride & Prejudiced so I was more than excited to get this YA adaptation focusing on Mr. Darcy's younger sister, Georgiana. However, this just felt lackluster. I think if you're going to make an adaptation or build off of any sort of renowned work like Pride & Prejudiced, it has to be good. Quain does a good job of making Georgiana her own distinguished character compared to the version we get from Austen.

This would have been fine as a typical YA novel without the connections to Pride, and I hinged on that too much while reading. The dialogue is very young and overall there isn't much depth to the plot. This is definitely a younger YA novel.

Not my thing, but will certainly be good for others!

I was deep into a reading slump when I picked up Accomplished and it saved the day. I've read plenty of modern P&P retellings, but this is only the second or third one I've read that focuses on Georgiana and it was a refreshingly fun take on the oft-forgotten Darcy sibling. I'll admit, I was a little turned off initially by the dynamic between Georgie and Fitz even after a friend warned me about it, but it slowly grew on me. Canonically, Darcy is socially awkward and maybe emotionally constipated, so having him take his big brother duties too seriously to the point of becoming an overbearing helicopter parent is something I think is worth suspending my disbelief over. I loved the idea of watching Pride and Prejudice play through Georgie's eyes but wish Quain hadn't included the matchmaking side plot. I don't mind her shipping her brother and Lizzy (and maybe meddling a little bit,) but it just became this whole thing that felt unnecessary and distracted from the plot a little bit. Lastly, we need to talk about Avery. One of the big potential pitfalls when writing fan fiction is creating your own Original Character that no one cares about, but from the minute he appeared on the page, I loved Avery and thought he was a great addition to this spin on Austen's classic. As someone who has literally read over 50 modern versions of Pride and Prejudice, I thought Accomplished was a fun and original take on one of favorite books.

This was a treat to read and so nice to read Georgie’s side of the (Pride & Prejudice) story. Quain does a great job balancing the heavier topics with the more light hearted moments and writes incredibly likable characters… well except for Wickham who will always be a jerk. Oh, if you’re not familiar with P&P, don’t fret this story completely holds up on its own, I mean you’ve got marching band antics, a fanfic writer, all the boarding school vibes, and of course a sweet YA love story. I enjoyed my time with this tale and look forward to reading more from this author in the future.

I received this eARC thanks to NetGalley and Wednesday Books in exchange for an honest review

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for letting me have an eARC of the book to read in advance.

*sigh* Right, so this was a rather quick read but also... <i>boring</i> - TO ME at the very least, there might be people out there who think the opposite - which made it feel like ages were dragging by.

I think my main issue was the amount of lamenting Georgie does over Wickham. Insanity. Yeah, I get that she'd had a crush on him for years, she was in a relationship with him, he emotionally manupilated her, blah blah blah, I should sympathise with this poor teenager and shit. Sorry, I can't. It's likely because I'm familiar with how gross Wickham is across all the P&P version you could dig up out there but reading this book with Georgiana MOPING over him got me like girl, you're wasting your time and that is all fine and dandy, it's your time, do with it what you will. But why you gotta waste my time?

The one thing I liked here was the Lizzie-Georgie interaction bits we got. I've always thought they would have the cutest relationship - especially from the book and 2005 P&P - and I was glad that this aspect at least did not disappoint in this retelling. You gotta love what a supportive and understanding big sis Lizzie Bennet is <s>when the younger sister in question is receptive and has at least one functioning brain cell</s>.

But otherwise, nothing really engaging about the story. I wanted it to be over already the whole time and it wasn't the writing. I think the writing was great but the events were just not interesting at all. I was not invested into Georgiana's redemption at school and I don't even think there was a proper redemption arc there? Just a Mario jump towards the end and I was like ??? huh

More than anything, this book suffered from poor writing and a lack of understanding of the source material.

Honestly, I’m often all for authors taking classic lit or fairy tales as inspiration and turning into something new to fit their own ideas. But if you’re going to straight up say a character is “getting the retelling they deserve”, said character should actually share in some qualities as the original character other than the name being the same.

Georgiana in the original novel was a soft and sweet gentle-hearted girl. Georgie in this book is an obnoxious, whiny brat with absolutely no character growth.

There was so much manipulation and miscommunication all throughout the book that I started feeling like I needed roll my eyes every 20 pages or so.

Thank you NetGalley, Amaanda Quain, and St. Martin's Press for the e-ARC.

This just… really let me down.

I love P&P retellings whether they be modern, from a different point of view, or with a twist. Heck, I recently read Becoming Mary Bennet which referenced Pride and Prejudice but was very clearly not that at all, and I adored it! I say all this to make it clear that I am not one of those people who just isn’t into retellings. I love them. Which is why this was just a let down.

Georgiana is basically a blank slate compared to everyone else in Pride and Prejudice. She is mentioned very little, but what we know of her is that she is sweet, a little downtrodden, and talented in the arts. I think the downtrodden and love of the arts came across very well in Quain’s retelling, and I like how she translated these issues to the modern teen equivalents (oh band drama, how I do not miss you). I also think that her fears of everyone hating her are extremely accurate to the teenage experience, and I applaud her addressing that anxiety.

However, that’s about where my enjoyment of this book ends.

Georgiana is so unlikable in this. Wildly unlikable. I, too, would probably avoid her were I in the unfortunate position to be back in high school. She flaunts her wealth and in a bid to get people to like her and she has very minimal character development. I don’t have much more to say about her because there isn’t that much to say. Misguided teen makes poor choices in a bid to prove herself. Standard.

Darcy is also extremely unlikable. Rather than be the overprotective brother you might remember from the novel, he is the controlling brother who shows no sympathy towards Georgiana after she’s been through an emotionally abusive relationship culminating in her loss of all social connections. Not to mention he straight up abandonded her before it all went down.

Listen - there is no one way to interpret characters. That’s why discussing stories and characters is so fun! However, there is something extremely jarring about having characters you are very familiar with come off as completely different people. It’s like if Cinderella spit in her step-family’s food every morning. Deserved? Sure! But it’s just so out of line with what we know of that character that it gives pause just reading it, right?

However however, despite my personal disconnect with this book, I think it’s important to consider this book from the point of view its intended audience, which I am decidedly not. I do work with them though, and I am not so old that I have totally replaced my horrifically awkward stint as a juvenile with glittery, shiny memories, so I think I can kind of sort of put myself back into that position and honestly? I’d have loved this book as a teen. It has it all! Scandal, family and peers that just don’t get you, a broken heart, and at least one dead parent? Sign fifteen year old me up! From that perspective, this book is an absolute slapper.

However however however, I can’t give it a glowing review even with that in mind because I don’t feel that it really shows development or coping mechanism that the reader might be able to apply to themselves.
So to combine the fact that I think teens would like this and the fact that I didn’t, I’m gonna do a solid 3/5.

I loved the idea of a P&P retelling by Georgiana set in modern day, but I was a bit let down by this one. First, there wasn't nearly as much of the other P&P characters as I would have liked. But I'm willing to mostly let that go, this was exploring Georgiana who I would love to know more about.

The real reason I struggled with this is there are a lot of cringe-y moments in the first half of the novel. Things where Georgie has the best intentions, but it just went horribly wrong. I find things like that hard to read/watch. This will probably not bother others nearly as much. And I will say, the second half of the book got much better in this regard - yay character growth!