I loved this! Just As You Are is a f/f contemporary reimagining of Pride and Prejudice that manages to be fresh and original while doing justice to the source material. It was heartfelt and funny and moving. I literally snorted with laughter at several lines (Liz's introduction to Daria???!!!) and also found myself anxiously hoping that the main romantic pairings would end up together--I was in suspense even though I knew how it would end! I also loved the novel's commentary on self-discovery, the publishing world, and what it means for a work of writing to have value, which was deftly woven in with the main story (much like Austen's social commentary).

In short--this was great! I highly recommend this hilarious and very queer debut and can't wait for more by this author!

Liz loves her job writing listicles and advice columns for The Nether Fields, a queer magazine where most of her friends and roommates work as well. But when it looks like the magazine will be forced to shut down, she wonders if it’s time to pursue her secret dream of writing a novel. Instead, a couple of new investors step in to save the magazine, one of whom is dangerously hot—and seems to deeply hate Liz and her articles.

This queer Pride and Prejudice retelling has so much humor, heart, gender exploration, and authenticity. I love how Camille Kellogg breathes fresh (and very queer) air into familiar characters, making Liz and her friends relatable and endearing. Just As You Are is a beautiful testament to the power of queer found family and self-love.

I really enjoyed this book. The issues the main character had felt relatable. The dialogue was great and I thought the read In general was well-paced. I enjoyed all the characters and was honestly caught off guard by the twist from one of the side characters near the end. A couple things that I didn’t find enjoyable about the book. The main characters internal debate felt repeated. I’m on board with revisiting under the surface topics, and did feel they were necessary to address repeatedly for the sake of the main characters personal devolpment, but it felt kind of flat to me. The writing itself felt repetitive in terms of the main character’s internal dialogue. The ending also felt a bit abrupt. I was really getting into what I was reading (not paying attention to the progress count) so I was caught off guard by the end. I’m a sucker for a epilogue and I think just a little something, something would have been nice. Besides that, again, I really enjoyed reading this and I appreciate being able to read an advanced copy. I’ll definitely be buying a copy for my personal library.

What a delightful and impressive debut from Camille Kellogg. Kellogg does a masterful job of retelling Pride & Prejudice with a full cast of queer characters. She keeps the wit, sharp banter, and heart of the original while also exploring gender presentation, sexual orientation, and queer media. I loved this book.

4.5 stars
This was a such an enjoyable book. I couldn't put it down and finished it in one day!

I didn't love everything about this as some things felt rushed and one thing felt quite unexpected and out of character, but what a remarkable debut. As a longtime reader of Autostraddle, it was also nice to see how many times it got shouted out as a hallmark of queer media.

Thank you Camille

I wanted to like this one but I was not invested in the romance at all. At times it felt juvenile and the dialogue was totally unnecessary in parts... it made me cringe at times.