I wish I could give half stars, because I think this is a 3.5/5 rating.

The story line and concept was good, and I connected with all the characters… except Emma. The first half of the book is spent describing her as pretty shallow, she only seems to care about looks, money, what people are wearing, and making a new friend because she is bored. Halfway through the book her depth of character begins to be shown, but by that point I was already pretty irritated with her. It took a while to warm up to her and believe she actually had substance. As a reader you knew that she did- because of the good grades, grad school etc, but it wasn’t demonstrated in actions, only told in words, which made it rather unbelievable.

By the end of the book I was rooting for her, but the first half of the book was a real struggle. Because of this, it took me a 9 days to get through the first half of the book and one evening to finish it once I became invested.

Would possibly recommend to others, so 3.5 stars.

Thank you so much to Gallery Books for allowing me to read an ARC of this book!

JANE AUSTENHEADS WE WON!!! I want to preface all of this by saying that I love Jane Austen (along with everyone else) and have read or watched so many retellings at this point that it feels impossible that I should love a new one this much. The story is generally the same, the characters are pretty much the same, it SHOULD feel redundant, but this still managed to feel so fresh.

I'd imagine there are people who will have complaints about the characters, but I loved this Emma. I found her so likable, even in her rougher moments, and the way that Bellezza and Harding are able to maintain the inherent charm of Emma's character is what I think makes this retelling so successful. That said, the entire cast of characters is so well developed, you really feel a connection to everyone in the story, or at least I did! Yes, there's some miscommunication tropes, and yes, some of the characters, including Emma, will likely exasperate you in the way that Austen characters frequently do, but for me, it never reached a point of wearing me out or becoming frustrating.

Something that I found to be such a breath of fresh air here is the lack of OVER modernizing the story. With some retellings, it seems like people feel pressure to make it so starkly different from the original era that there's an over-inclusion of pop culture references or social media. If you've read other retellings, you definitely know what I'm talking about! This one was free of any of that, relying on the story to carry you through naturally without constant reminders of, "Hey, this is happening in the 21st century, don't forget!"

I'm going to be VERY candid: I'm one of those people who really tries to give five star reviews sparingly, since I chronically compare against OTHER five star reads from my library and feel pressure to only give five stars to books that are really "out there" or pushing boundaries in some respect. That said, when I felt the urge to give this four stars instead of five, I found myself wondering what I could possibly change to make it five and coming up completely dry. I really don't think there's anything in this book that I'd genuinely change, and for that, I think I'm forced to grant it the full five!

I would also be remiss if I didn't mention the potential setup for a Pride & Prejudice retelling to follow, which quite literally made me gasp out loud at my kindle. Now I need a full series, so I fully plan to force everyone to read this book as soon as it's released. Thank you again to Gallery Books for the eARC!

I love NYC! This book was able to capture my love of this city from when I remember it as a youngster. It was such a good read and I loved getting the chance to read about Emma and her adventures.

I’ll admit, I’ve never read “Emma” and was drawn to this solely because of the neighborhood. Now, after looking into some reviews on Emma, I’m unsure why this retelling exists. Emma was a horribly unlikable character and while this was meant to be modern, every character felt uptight and wooden. The way time passed in this felt odd: it felt slow and yet we went through several years in the book (though somehow Margo felt pregnant for several years…). Overall this didn’t work for me; a quick read, but vapid and disappointing.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I’ve never been a big Emma fan, but I am a Clueless fan, so I was interested in reading this book. I thought it was cute. I liked the relationship between Emma and Knightley. Even readers who aren’t familiar with Jane Austen’s Emma will enjoy it.

I really enjoyed this retelling of Emma! I loved Emma herself, she was flawed but relatable at the same time. I loved the back and forth between her and Knightly. It was much more slow burn than I thought it would be and there were a lot of will-they-won't-they scenes but I loved all the build up. There were a few times I got frustrated and felt they could've just talked to each other but overall I thought it was nicely written and well paced. Sometimes, retellings can be too over the top or fall flat but I thought this one was perfect.

I really enjoyed this story! It was fun and quick and sweet. I didn't realize that it was a retelling of a Jane Austen novel but that made me enjoy the story even more!

'Emma of 83rd Street' is a modern retelling of Jane Austen's Emma. The story takes place in modern time, and it has some similarities to the book. I haven't read Jane Austen's book, but I looked it up so I could see what the similarities were with the two stories.

Emma is a 23 year old graduate student studying art history at NYU. Her sister, Margo, is getting married to their neighbor and childhood friend, Ben. Emma and Margo grew up as neighbors to Ben and his brother, George Knightley. Throughout the book George Knightley is mostly referred to by his last name. Knightley and Emma grew up together, and they are best friends. They spend a lot of time together, and they still have family Sunday dinners every night at Emma's house. Knightley and Emma are very different, but they still remain best friends.
Knightley teases Emma about her lofty goals and ever changing dreams and hobbies. Emma teases Knightley about why he is still single.

While in grad school, Emma meets a new friend named Nadine. Nadine and Emma start to spend everyday together, and Emma wants to help Nadine find a new boyfriend. They meet some interesting characters along the way as they journey through New York as single women.

As the story progresses, Knightley and Emma begin to see each other in a different light. Could they be more than friends? Could they have found love right next door after all of these years?

I loved this story so much. I found Emma to be so delightful, and she is someone that I would love to be friends with. I was swept up in the love story and romance of the book. I would definitely recommend this book.

Thanks to NetGalley and Gallery Books for an ARC of this wonderful book.

I loved this book! It was funny, lighthearted and engaging! I love reading remakes of classic tales and this one did not disappoint!

In this witty and romantic debut novel, Jane Austen’s Emma meets the misadventures of Manhattan’s modern dating scene as two lifelong friends discover that, in the search for love, you sometimes don’t have to look any further than your own backyard.

Beautiful, clever, and rich, Emma Woodhouse has lived twenty-three years in her tight-knit Upper East Side neighborhood with very little to distress or vex her…that is, until her budding matchmaking hobby results in her sister’s marriage—and subsequent move downtown. Now, with her sister gone and all her friends traveling abroad, Emma must start her final year of grad school grappling with an entirely new emotion: boredom. So when she meets Nadine, a wide-eyed Ohio transplant with a heart of gold and drugstore blonde highlights to match, Emma not only sees a potential new friend but a new project. If only her overbearing neighbor George Knightley would get out of her way.

Handsome, smart, and successful, the only thing that frustrates Knightley more than a corked whiskey is his childhood friend, Emma. Whether it’s her shopping sprees between classes or her revolving door of ill-conceived hobbies, he is only too happy to lecture her on all the finer points of adulthood she’s so hell-bent on ignoring. But despite his gripes—and much to his own chagrin—Knightley can’t help but notice that the girl next door is a woman now…one who he suddenly can’t get out of his head.

As Emma’s best laid plans collide with everyone from hipster baristas to meddling family members to flaky playboy millionaires, these two friends slowly realize their need to always be right has been usurped by a new need entirely, and it’s not long before they discover that even the most familiar stories still have some surprises.

This was such a cute retelling of Emma by a debut author! I loved reading this so much.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own

An amazing modern take on Jane Austen Emma. I found myself unable to put the book down! I finished it in one night at 3 am. And let me tell you I loved every second of it!

This book is for the girlies who love the movie Clueless and the girlies who want to read Jane Austen’s Emma but just can’t get into classic literature. Okay it’s me, I’m girlies. I found this modern retelling of Emma to be absolutely delightful and if I wasn’t already married I would ask for one George Knightley under my Christmas tree! And I am very happy to say there was plenty of steam in this version.

Thank you to the publisher for allowing me to read this eARC!

I enjoyed this retelling of Emma, I thought it was fun and sweet and well thought out. Normally, retellings can feel bland to me but this was definitely unique.

this had what I enjoyed about Emma and was able to create it into something new, it does a great job in being a unique retelling. The story was interesting and does a great job in keeping me reading this. The characters felt like the same characters and does something fun about it. I enjoyed the way Audrey Bellezza and Emily Harding wrote this.

"She rolled her eyes. “Okay, then how long did you stay at the party after . . .” Her voice trailed off, as if she only just remembered the last moment they had seen each other. But wasn’t that what had her so flustered to begin with? Unless something else had happened last night, something with Montgomery she didn’t want him to know about."

Really cute! I think obviously as the author alludes to in this very text there are quite a number of Emma adaptations, but the more the merrier I say especially if they were as fun to read as this one. I loved the character parallels (Miss Taylor and Margot; Mr. Weston and Ben; the father as... the father) even more so because of the way they differ from the original text — Ben being Knightley's brother, Emma's dad being the way he is because of a tragic past — overall found the characters very lovable and sweet.