I received the eARC for this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

After her second book, Amanda Quain had become a must-read author for me... and Dashed did not disappoint.

I was extra excited to see Jane Austen characters reworked into a modern setting on a cruise!
I also love the idea of taking a character I tend to forget even existed (Margaret Dashwood) and making her the center. And as a fellow Margaret who is affectionately called Mags... that thrilled me as well.

The romance is sweet and once again I found myself rereading passages because they were just so delightful.

Most of all, though, I really enjoy how the author treats Edward. It felt like an excellent capture of his character and was a reworking/modernization done perfectly - in my opinion.

Enthusiastically recommend!

I have great, great affection for Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, and I thoroughly enjoyed Amanda Quain’s Ghosted, a retelling of Northanger Abbey. That made Dashed, Quain’s retelling/modern continuation of Sense and Sensibility an easy pick for my TBR.

Dashed focuses on Margaret Dashwood, the youngest sister in her family. In Austen’s book, she’s a sort of afterthought to Elinor and Marianne (the “sense” and “sensibility” of the title); here, she’s the center. During her childhood, she was more like Marianne—she was impulsive and extroverted and emotional. After Marianne’s yearning for a man she couldn’t have ended in tragedy for Marianne and Margaret, she vowed to be more like Elinor: controlled and independent and organized. That meant putting mental space between her and Marianne.

Now, Margaret has graduated from high school and has planned to spend her summer on a cruise ship with Elinor and Elinor’s husband Edward, the chaplain on the ship. Her plans change rapidly when Marianne shows up, boards with the family, and drops the news that Brandon broke up with her. And she’s spending the summer with Elinor and Margaret.

Immediately, Margaret panics, convinced that she’s going to fall back into a Marianne pattern . . . unless Margaret can find a new match for Marianne who will distract her and keep her on an even keel. (After all, she thinks, it’s only romantic attachments that anchor Marianne.)

In the meantime, Marianne has her own plans for Margaret, who has never succumbed to love after seeing the turmoil it wrought with her sister. Marianne will go along with Margaret’s plans IF Margaret goes on some blind dates of her own.

Fortunately, Margaret made a quick—friends-only, she says—connection with Gabe, who runs the soundboard for the ship’s entertainment. He’ll be the perfect, decoy blind date. She just has to convince herself that friendship is all she feels.

Dashed is a fun update/retelling that makes full use of Austen’s beautifully developed characters in a modern setting. While I did feel that the polarity of Elinor and Marianne was a bit much—Margaret continually told herself she had to choose between these two models, and I felt she was just too smart to fall into the sort of dichotomy that steers much of the plot—and Margaret’s denial of her feelings for Gabe cycled a bit too long, I still thoroughly enjoyed the time devoted to the youngest member of the Dashwood family. I appreciated the ways that she explored the ways that Margaret would have experienced the love stories of Elinor and Edward, of Marianne and Brandon, and the ways that might have affected a young, impressionable sister. I did feel, however, that it took too long for the book to lean into the complexities that lie beneath the easy characterizations that Austen ultimately resists.

There’s great humor in Margaret’s reality show-style attempts to find a match for Marianne, and I loved seeing Elinor and Edward years into a sweet, stable marriage. Gabe is also a fantastic romantic interest, and his years on the cruise ship lead him to be a wonderful tour guide for Margaret. The various stops make for a wonderful setting.

Overall, I recommend Dashed to Austen fans and to YA romance readers, and I look forward to reading the next installment in Quain’s series of modern Austen retellings.

The youngest Dashwood sister, Margaret, struggles to find her place amidst sensible oldest sister Elinor and passionate middle sister Marianne.

A bit simplistic, but overall a cute YA rom-com adapted from Jane Austen's "Sense and Sensibility".

So cute! Margaret isn’t always easy to like, so Gabe’s frustration with her is understandable, but that’s kind of to be expected when she’s narrowed her life down so much. The Sense and Sensibility parallels are top notch, and I loved Edward’s expanded role in this version. Bravo!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Amanda Quain for providing me with a complimentary digital ARC for Dashed coming out July 16, 2024. The honest opinions expressed in this review are my own.

I read Accomplished by this author, so I was excited to check out this book. I love Jane Austen book adaptations. Sense and Sensibility isn’t my favorite book, but I really loved that it was set on a cruise ship. I thought the vacation aspect made it fun and it had the summer vibes. It was interesting that it was from Margaret’s perspective since we don’t get much from her in other adaptations. I enjoyed the story. There were some things I wasn’t a fan of. I think it was hard to get a reading on a couple of the characters. I would’ve liked a little more from them. But overall, I really liked it.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys Jane Austen modern adaptations!

I had previously read Amanda Quain's "Northanger Abbey" retelling, "Ghosted," which I highly enjoyed and was looking forward to trying another contemporary teen Austen retelling from the author.

"Dashed" is a retelling of "Sense and Sensibility," starring youngest sister Margaret Dashwood. Readers who are familiar with the original novel should know those events have all happened years earlier when Margaret was a child. Now Margaret is eighteen, and it's the summer before she starts college. Margaret is joining eldest sister Elinor on a cruise when middle sister Marianne decides to join them.

While I was hoping for more of a retelling of the original plot (I really enjoyed how to author did so in "Ghosted"), the novel is more about exploring characters. Elinor and Marianne represent two different role models for Margaret, and over the course of the novel, Margaret examines her relationship with each sister and her sisters' impact on her life. There is also a sweet romance storyline with a boy who works on the ship.

Overall, I would recommend this book to fans of YA Austen retellings who are more interested in seeing characters (rather than plots) reinvented.

“Before my sister Marianne showed up and threw all of our worlds into a giant tailspin, I’d been on the cusp of having the best summer ever. ”
Here are reasons to read the Contemporary book:

Jane Austen Retelling - in this modern Jane Austen retelling of Sense and Sensibility
Cruise - Elinor, Edward, and Margaret are about to set off for 6 weeks on a cruise
Marianne - until their sister Marianne crash their party after a breakup with brandon
Sisters - Can Margaret help her sister with finding a whirlwind romance, while also participating in a little fake dating of her own?

If you are not aware, one of my favorite movies is Sense and Sensibility. This take on it kind of took me aback as it sort of takes the details of what happens after Elinor and Edward get married, and puts everything in Margaret’s point of view. If you are looking for a summer read, tropical vibes, but also a little romance, this one is perfect! I really loved spending more time with the Dashwoods.

If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to live on a cruise ship, vacation style, this is the book for you. This book was definitely a great summer read and I am always a sucker for a retelling and this one was super cute.

If you want a romance that’s not over the top, easy to read, and is sprinkled with sisterly mishaps and adventures, check this one out ASAP!

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Loved this one! Great and fun read. Highly recommend.
Many thanks to the publisher, Netgalley, and the author for my ARC.

*All of my reviews are spoiler-free!*

*I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. Thank you so much to NetGalley and [publisher] for this ARC!*

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links. This means that, at zero cost to you, I will earn an affiliate commission if you click through the link and finalize a purchase. 🥰

I love me a good Austen retelling, and judging by Amanda Quain’s previous works, I was really excited about this one! I have never read a book from Margaret Dashwood’s perspective (she’s the youngest Dashwood sister from Sense and Sensibility, for those less familiar with Austen’s works). She features very little in the original work (in which she is 12 years old), so I was excited to see what happened with a modern version of her as an 18 year old.

I enjoyed the setting of this story immensely. Getting to see the Dashwood sisters on a cruise ship was never something I thought I would desire, but it was so much fun to see the various personalities at work on the open sea. Elinor was very much the sensible sister, even on vacation. She was organized and thorough, but it was fun to see her let her hair down a little. Marianne, in the throes of a breakup with Brandon, was just as fun-loving as she could be while nursing a broken heart. It was very interesting to see what Quain did with Margaret’s character. I thought it was pretty genius to have her be torn between trying to emulate one or the other of her sisters. She was so busy trying to figure out which sister she should be more like, that she never took the time to figure out who she was as an individual.

The romance in this book was fun, but I wished it had…more. It just felt a bit lacking to me. I could tell that Margaret liked Gabe, but it was harder to tell that he liked her back for me. I could certainly see that he was supposed to be end game, but I felt like it just needed more. The book was very concentrated on the relationships between the three sisters (and rightly so), but for a book touting itself as a romance, I just felt like it was a bit lacking.

Also, as an anxious person, my stress levels were pretty high reading this book. Margaret is also a fairly anxious person, and her methods of dealing with this were stressful for me. So, if you are someone who struggles with anxiety, this might not be your cup of tea.

All in all, I thought this was a very creative take on a modernized version of how the Dashwood sisters might be in the future. I enjoyed the setting, and I liked the way each of the sisters embodied the characters from Sense and Sensibility. It was cute, but not my favorite of Quain’s retellings.

My Rating:
⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1/2

I gave Dashed a rating of 3.5 Stars!

I really enjoyed “Ghosted” last year so I jumped on the opportunity to read and review this newest retelling of an Austen novel. This is the book for you if you enjoy these fun new, contemporary twists on Austin’s classics.
Thank you to St. Martin’s Press/Wednesday Books for the opportunity to read and review this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was cute and sweet and I liked it. I did feel like some parts dragged a bit but I loved the character growth and the cruise ship setting. It was a fun read.

Dashed was a cute YA retelling of Austen's Sense and Sensibility... which just so happens to be my second-favorite Austen (behind Persuasion, of course). 


So, obviously I had to read it. 

This was, if nothing else, quite the accurate retelling of Sense--with reference to Queen Mab, keeping Edward a preacher, and the shallowness of the Dashwood matriarch--as well as the quirkiness of Marianne--it was all in tact. 

The plus was that we get this story from Margaret--the lesser-fleshed out Dashwood. 

This story is post-incident; we get the idea that it's after Marianne's regrettable relationship with a Willoughby-like character. Margaret, having been through the wringer with her middle sister, is in the process of finding herself. She's torn between being the more responsible Elinor--and falling into the old habits of resembling Marianne. 

What we get is a very YA take on an exceptional original. Not without its merits, Dashed managed to convey all that you'd expect from a follow-up tale about the youngest Dashwood sister. While still maintaining the feel of Austen's story. 

As is always, my issue lies in the YA-ness of it all. But, what was I expecting? It is YA. So if you can get past some of the trite YA plot-points and hero qualities--you can read and enjoy this one--Austen fan or not. Because even without the original source material, this story can stand on its own.

Dashed by Amanda Quain was a cute and quirky story.
I loved reading her Georgie Darcy and Northanger books so I was thrilled to jump into a novel!
A sweet and fun YA romance with the best characters ever!
It is nicely paced and has enough humor to make the story bright and fun.
Charming, funny, the perfect one-sit read!

Thank You NetGalley and Wednesday Books for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

Quick Summary- This is a good coming of age story for Maragret (Mags) as she goes on a cruise with her three sisters and uses one of the crew members as a fake boyfriend to help set one of her sisters up.

Amanda Quain, does a good job with coming of age stories and bringing comfort into understanding that it is okay if you are still trying to figure out who you are. Between Elinor, Marianna and Mags, they are all different ages and are going through different identity crisis of who they want to be. This story was cute and I enjoyed the concept of them being on a cruise and working through their past traumas together. I believe that if I was younger or in one of the three sisters situations, I would have enjoyed this book more.

3.5/5 stars for this book because I had a hard time connecting with the main character. I get it, she is 18 years old and trying to figure out who she is, but at the same time I felt like some of her motives were unfair to her sister Marianna. They both harbor a lot of trauma together, but due to the MC mindset it was hard to sympathize with some of her actions. I also felt like the pacing was off and I wish there was an epilogue or something more to go into the plot with the MC and her love interest.

I did enjoy this book and I think it is a good story for anyone who is looking for a coming of age story.

Thank you St. Martin's Press, Amanda Quain and Netgalley for sending me an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

As a cruise girlie, this was perfection. As a Jane Austen girlie, that was the most gorgeous cherry on top! This book is a great read and I can’t wait to recommend it to customers and readers of all ages!

Sense and Sensibility has never been one of my favorite Austen novels. I’ve always had mixed feelings about the characters and plot. While I appreciate what Amanda Quain attempted to do with her modern sequel retelling, I feel the same about Dashed.

On one hand, I love the family dynamics in this story. There aren’t a lot of YA books where the family ties are important to the story, and I like that family was a central theme of the story. The sister relationships in this book are also so realistic and relatable, and it definitely keeps those elements from the original at the forefront of this retelling.

I also like that the story follows Margaret, the other Dashwood sister. It’s so fun to see the story from a side character’s perspective instead. And I love Edward! He’s never been a favorite Austen hero, but the way Amanda depicts him in this modern setting is so well done. I adore that he’s a soft voice of reason for Margaret as she deals with her family’s drama.

Speaking of which, the hard part about this book is that all the main drama from the original novel happens BEFORE this book starts, which means everything is off screen and Margaret is just telling the reader what happened instead of being able to witness it. That really brought down the urgency of Marianne’s plight and made her and Margaret come across a lot more shallow and unbelievable than I would have liked. It also nerfs pretty much all of Marianne’s character development in the original story, which was disappointing.

And in the end, I felt like all the drama, all of Margaret’s efforts, everything that happens felt pointless? I like what the story has to say about love, but it was just a little too predictable and unrealistic for me. Plus, Margaret is so terrible to Gabe and I felt like he deserved better. He and Brandon both.

Overall, the story isn’t bad or badly written. There are a lot of great moments and excellent family themes, but I wish it would have been either not a retelling of Sense and Sensibility and just a regular YA contemporary or it had been a modern retelling that takes place during the main events of the original novel instead of trying to be a sequel.

This was a cute ya novel that is just a bit too ya for most adults to enjoy in my opinion. The characters were just very immature and annoying. I also didn’t love how the main character was speaking to the reader in such a. Stereotypically teenage way. It was distracting.

Still, I probably would have loved it at 15!

"Dashed" was a cute YA re-telling of the classic Sense & Sensibility.

I thought the author did a great job crafting a storyline that gave subtle nuances to the source material in a very fun and modern way.

This would make a great beach day read! It's a light hearted coming of age tale filled with sisterhood, love, adventure and a bit of family drama.

I would definitely check this book out if you're a fan of Jane Austen or love a good re-telling.

Thank you Amanda Quaint, Net Galley and St. Martin's Press - Wednesday Books for providing me with an ARC of this book.

I don’t read much in the romance genre, but I’ve read two other retellings by this author and enjoyed both. Dashed made it three for three.

I’m embarrassed to admit I haven’t read Sense and Sensibility or seen the movie, but I know the basic premise of the story. I thought a loose retelling set on a cruise ship would add an element of fun, and it did. Margaret’s brother-in-law snags a six week stint as a chaplain on a cruise ship, and he and his wife/Margaret’s oldest sister Elinor invite her to accompany them as her high school graduation gift. Margaret’s ready for an exciting, drama-free summer before starting college – until her middle sister Marianne shows up and shatters her hopes. Her long term boyfriend (who the family adored) broke up with her, and Marianne’s never happy without a guy by her side. Cue the drama.

This story is about loss, love, family, and misconceptions. After seeing her mother’s devastation and grief over the passing of her husband/Margaret’s father, Margaret fiercely guards her heart and refuses to let anyone get close. She believes her oldest sister Elinor is in a quiet (boring and unpassionate), stable marriage of convenience. In contrast, Marianne’s relationships have historically been chaotic and painful. Margaret is convinced she’ll be just fine on her own and avoid any pain caused by love. It’s a shocking dose of reality when she learns her assumptions about love aren’t accurate.

This is a mostly light-hearted novel I read in just a couple days. I snickered as Margaret interviewed potential love interests for her sister and smiled as she found herself falling for a sweet guy she meets on the ship. The relationships between the sisters are strained at times, and their progression as they learn more about each other and themselves is done well. Margaret comes to the realization she doesn’t have to be like Elinor or Marianne – she’s a wholly unique individual.

Recommended for readers show enjoy modernized Austen retellings, coming of age stories, and the fake dating trope.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.