YA romcoms are the best romcoms and I stand by that. This was PRECIOUS. Perfectly light and comforting and so sweet it will give you a toothache. Even though this is a shorter novel, the relationship development is paced really well so that it didn't feel rushed - there was plenty of time for yearning and denial, which are my favorite parts of a love story.

When I read romances, I like to look specifically for the answers to a couple of questions to basically ask: what makes the characters suited for each other? There's nothing I hate more than feeling like the characters are together just because the author says so, and they were shoved together by the plot. I want to know what they actually like about each other. What do they have in common? What are their differing strengths, and are they complimentary? How do they challenge each other, grow together, make each other better versions of themselves? When I can pinpoint the answers to these questions, we have a good romance. This was a GOOD romance!!!

Was it "historically accurate"? Absolutely not. Do I want sequels about more time travelling gay people falling in love? So badly. Rachael Lippincott please.

Highly recommended as an audiobook (unless you’re from the UK, in which case I suspect the accents will probably bother you).

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

Honestly, this should have been the ULTIMATE read for me. I collect copies of Pride and Prejudice (I have over 15!) and I am from Pittsburgh, and am truly the city's biggest fan! However, this retelling just overall felt a bit flat for me.

One - there was a significant lack of Pittsburgh. Two - it felt more Pride and Prejudice adjacent rather than a retelling or any sort of homage to the original story. I just felt a bit cheated by the title and marketing.

While I did enjoy the core relationship and it's development - particularly within the constraints of the regency era - and I enjoyed one one of our main character's journey on self-love, her creativity and art, and accepting herself - I overall just felt this book was...lacking. Lacking action and excitement. Lacking any solid footing - the story just felt like it floated along.

I often struggle to accept magical realism - so the ending was also a bit of a letdown for me; everyone was just so casual about it - that i felt underwhelming.

I was really excited for this one because l've read some of Rachael's work before (The Lucky List and She Gets the Girl are two of my favs!) so getting an arc for this was so cool! This wasn't my favorite of Rachael's books but it was very good. It started a bit too slow for me and I felt that the "will they won't they" was too dragged out. I went into it not realizing it was a coming out story, so reading that journey, though beautifully written and real, threw me off just a bit. The supernatural aspect of this reminded me a lot of One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston. Time traveling queers seems to be a trend that I'm learning to love. Overall, this one is worth it if you like YA romances and a splash of Pride & Prejudice yearning.

I love Jane Austen retellings with a twist. I especially loved this one that had a sapphic take. It was endearing and very cute.

I picked up Pride and Prejudice and Pittsburgh for a variety of reasons one of them being how much I enjoyed She Gets the Girl, but another is that Natalie Naudus narrates the audiobook. Shakira Shute and Natalie Naudus do a phenomenal job at infusing swoons in every sentence while also presenting a love that fights against the past. Being dual POV is a brilliant choice because it also focuses Pride and Prejudice and Pittsburgh on the character developments of Audrey and Lucy.

The historical fiction setting forces the themes of fighting for a future, for honoring our passions and freedom of surviving a life versus living a life, even more urgent. It's tragic to see the historical fiction setting and the characters who find ourselves and are confronted with the limits of possibility and setting, of time and place.

Content Warnings: death of a parent, parental abuse, parental neglect, homophobia (ish), alcohol consumption, abusive relationships, toxic relationships

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book and chose to review it. This in no way impacts my opinion.

I will say that I did think a LOT about how I hoped everyone didn't get sick during their time travelling because of germs, but this was DELIGHTFUL.

This time travel book was really well done and I enjoyed seeing how the two characters came to understand one another and grow together. I appreciated Audrey's growth into understanding just how different things were but also how people didn't quite see her how she was in the past and present.

The romance was well developed, and while there was some "insta-love," it had time to come to fruition. I thought there was a good sense of what love meant and how to find it. I thought having three "suitors" was a bit much but it still made for an interesting read.

All the side characters had good depth, but not as much nuance as I would have liked. But this was definitely made up for by Lucy and Audrey! I really liked seeing them develop, learn about themselves, and each other. They brought out the best in one another and I really enjoyed it.

The references might eventually date this book, but it was so cute and I just squealed the whole time! Definitely a pick up if you like time travel and Jane Austen.

This was surprisingly charming. I wasn't sure how they'd explain everything, and generally that can make a break a plot, but I loved it. These two were clearly made for each other and time can't stop that.

This was cute. It was also incredibly predictable and it wasn't quite cute enough to distract from that. It was a basically a queer Hallmark movie. And while I'm all for that, I also feel like I've seen almost this exact plot before. There was nothing new about it. I predicted everything that was going to happen the moment her neighbor flipped her that coin.

Honestly, I was going to give it 2 stars because "eh, it was cute but wow was it predictable and shallow" but then the last 10% or so did surprise me a little bit and pulled me back in enough to add a star. It wasn't the plot that surprised me, to be clear. That remained entirely predictable. But her three male love interests surprised me. They were far more understanding and sympathetic about her feelings for Lucy than I expected. (Although, they accepted the time travel situation a little too easily.) And I really like that they got to help Audrey save the day. And both Audrey and Lucy experienced some growth there at the end that made me happier about rooting for them.

The hand flex scene was wasted on a man though. Such a shame. And while we're on that note, why did Audrey have to have *three* male love interests? For a book with an ultimate queer relationship between the two girls, they have a ridiculously high number of male love interests between them.

I listened to the audio and it was fine. I liked Natalie Naudus' performance, but the other narrator was a little annoying. I'm glad she only narrated half the book. I think it did help gloss over the writing style so I wasn't as annoyed as other reviewers by the writing.

*Thanks to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers for providing an early copy for review.

This was amazing and I loved it so much. My favorite book by this author to date. I wish I could erase my brain and read it again.

I love Rachel Lippincott, but unfortunately this book just wasn't keeping my attention. I will probably give it another try at a later time, though.

https://lesbrary.com/pride-and-prejudice-and-pittsburgh/

As a current Pittsburgh resident, as soon as I saw that the Lesbrary had received a review copy of Pride and Prejudice and Pittsburgh by Rachael Lippincott, I knew that I needed to read it. A fun sapphic romance mixing regency and the steel city with added time travel? Sign me up. And it did not disappoint.

Pittsburgh native Audrey feels stuck. Her first choice of art school has waitlisted her. Her high school boyfriend has dumped her after trying to persuade her to abandon art as a career after he didn’t get accepted. And she feels stuck and unable to create anything new for the portfolio she needs to submit. When a regular at her family’s corner store offers her some cryptic encouragement, Audrey finds herself transported not only to the past but to England. In 1812, Lucy feels trapped. Her mother had wanted for Lucy to marry for the love she did not find herself, but with her gone, Lucy is at the mercy of her controlling father. He is forcing her into marriage with the rich but odious Mr. Caldwell. Isolated and increasingly depressed, Lucy greets the appearance of a girl wearing the strangest and most improper of clothing with interest and relief. Together, they resolve to figure out a way to return Audrey to her time.

The conflicts here are numerous and yet for the most part they’re romcom level problems. As Lucy spends time with Audrey, she wonders more and more how she can resign herself to a loveless marriage even more constricting than life under her father, but she doesn’t know what else she can do. Stranded in a society very different from her own, Audrey regains her inspiration in her art and confidence in herself as several eligible local bachelors show an interest in her. But Lucy is the person that fills her days and her sketchbook. How can she find love or inspiration in the rest of her life if she’s fated to leave Lucy behind? I bet we can all guess the answer, and like a good romance Pride and Prejudice and Pittsburgh’s charm is in the journey, not the solution.

What I liked best about this book is that it did not take its own plot device too seriously. In some stories, you want a detailed exploration of how the time traveler’s clothes or possessions make trouble, or it makes sense for the other characters to think they’re lying about time travel. And sometimes you want some mild shock about modesty and some honest delight about the magical box that plays music. Sometimes a girl can meet some bachelors that find her lack of local polish charming, as a treat. Sometimes time travel can be fun. And it contrasts so eloquently and emotionally with the bleakness of Lucy’s situation. At it’s heart this is about two girls finding connection despite all the outside events going on in their lives. Reading this felt like a return to watching the nonsense rom coms of my youth, but queer, and it was a lot of fun.

In conclusion, if you are looking for a light-hearted romp to ease your transition from summer to fall, Pride and Prejudice and Pittsburgh is an excellent choice. It’s got time travel, county balls, corner stores, and delightful queer awakening, all tied up with a happily ever after. Treat yourself to a little delight this fall and fall in love with time travel. And Pittsburgh.

Pride and Prejudice and Pittsburgh is a YA adventure in self-discovery that is just lovely. The culture shock between the two timelines makes for great comedy and drama as the two young women navigate the weird circumstance of Audrey’s appearance and try to integrate her into the local social scene more than 200 years in the past. The young women find their time together both entertaining and healing, offering Lucy a connection and ease she has never enjoyed and reigniting Audrey’s creative spirit. Neither expects their growing friendship to reveal something far more exciting. I just loved the colorful and well-mannered characters, the build up of their emotions, and the natural, romantic unfolding of their attraction. It has all the fun staples you'd expect in a Regency romance for a queer YA audience.

refreshing romance story where a girl from 2023 named Audrey mysteriously sent by Mr. Montgomery to 1912. there she met a girl, Lucy, who's about to engage to a man she didn't like because her father wanted to built his business.

It's a heartwarming yet full of pining, with Audrey never dated a girl before and lesbian is an alien concept to Lucy. But at the end i's worth it

I really enjoyed this one! Time travel stories are difficult to get right for me and this one did a great job. I loved the characters and the settings and the ending 😍

4.5 from me because the ending like - genuinely the most unrealistic thing I’ve read like what are we TALKING about but BUT I ate this book up I fear

time traveling queer love supremacy !!!

This book is so much fun! I loved the Austen-but-make-it-gay element, and the modern twist was a great add. I was rooting for Audrey and Lucy the whole time and felt so satisfied with the ending. Rachael Lippincott never misses!

Regency romance with a Sapphic time-travel twist? Yes, please!

Pride and Prejudice and Pittsburgh is a YA adventure in self-discovery that is just lovely. The culture shock between the two timelines makes for great comedy and drama as the two young women navigate the weird circumstance of Audrey’s appearance and try to integrate her into the local social scene more than 200 years in the past. The young women find their time together both entertaining and healing, offering Lucy a connection and ease she has never enjoyed and reigniting Audrey’s creative spirit. Neither expects their growing friendship to reveal something far more exciting. I just loved the colorful and well-mannered characters, the build up of their emotions, and the natural, romantic unfolding of their attraction. It has all the fun staples you'd expect in a Regency romance and then some.

Thank you #NetGalley and @simonteen for a chance to read & review this book!

High school senior Audrey is stuck. She feels the need to stay home and work at her parents’ convenience store instead of attending college, she isn’t able to draw anymore when art was her favorite thing to do, and after being dumped, she is convinced that she will never find love again.
Lucy is also stuck. She is being forced to marry someone she doesn’t love, her father is abusive, and she sees no way out.
Enter Mr. Montgomery and a magic coin. Audrey is sent back in time to 1812, where she is found sprawled out in Lucy’s field. As one could imagine, many humorous situations occur as the two girls come to terms with the differences in the times they grew up in. In the end however, both girls are able to help each other out of their situations and find true love in the process.

This was a cute story that I really enjoyed reading. I have enjoyed this author before and Rachael did not disappoint. A great rewrite and romance.