How could I fail to love this book? With delicious references to one of my favorite books this book has it all, interesting plot, exceptionally well written and wonderful, complex, well rounded characters. It is an absolute gem!

Katherine Reay has been on my radar for quite a while now, and after reading The Brontë Plot a couple of years ago, I was curious about some of her other stories. This is a book I got probably 5-6 years ago as an ARC, and somehow, never took the time to read it, much to my shame. One of my goals this year is to work through all those old ARCs, and I finally found time and space to fit this one in—I’m so glad I did!

This book was nothing like what I was expecting, in the very best way. From the title of the book and the little I knew of its contents (I must have read the back cover at some stage, although I don’t remember that now), I thought it would be something of a Pride and Prejudice retelling…or at least heavily inspired by the classic. Instead, Reay takes the quintessential elements of the story (as well as inspiration from a few other Austen titles!) and lifts them to a whole new plane in this contemporary world. It didn’t feel heavy-handed at all, or like things were placed there as if saying, “Look! This is from that!”—instead, this felt like a whole new story, with occasional similarities. I loved that. (Oh, and in this vein, one of my favorite lines in the book was when one sister turned to the other and said in effect, “That’s sweet and all, but can we be finished with our Elinor and Marianne moment?” SO. FUNNY!)

One of my favorite elements of the book was the family relationships, especially between the two sisters. I loved watching them grow and change as the book went on, and my heart hurt for them because of everything they’d gone through up to that point that pulled them apart. The friendship element of the story was much more on-page than the romance, which I found refreshing; I’d almost argue that this book fits more into the women’s fiction category rather than romance, except the romance, when it was there, was delightfully sweet, as well.

Then there’s the food…I’d love to try some of Elizabeth’s concoctions (just not the yucky-smelling ones, please!). I especially enjoyed how she used food to build community. 100% with ya there, sister.

Oh! And the faith element! It wasn’t preachy or super overt, but it was there…and I loved it.

If you’re looking for an easy-to-read, gripping story with some lightheartedness and a good dash of depth, I’d highly recommend you check out this story. Knowledge of Jane Austen’s stories is absolutely NOT a requirement to enjoying this book; if you know the classics, you’ll enjoy the little nuances here and there, but you won’t miss anything if you aren’t familiar with Pride and Prejudice or Sense and Sensibility. This was a hope-filled, redemptive read, one I’m hoping to reread in the future. It’s a gem!

I was given a complimentary copy of this book, and this is my honest opinion of it.