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melamtz's review against another edition
3.0
I'll start with my favorite things of this book. Franky Brown combined characters from Persuasion and Emma and did it well. She also changed the story where it still has the essential elements of Persuasion but told it differently. Now to what I didn't like which is only one thing, but it bothered me quite a bit. Annie, god I felt like she was butchered. She loses it everytime she sees Frederick, Erick in this adaption, which I feel is out of character for her because she is known as being one that keeps her calm. I would get it if done a couple of times but it surpassed that and it grated on my nerves.
Overall though it was a good read, I would recommend it and probably read her other Jane Austen adaptions.
3.5/5
Overall though it was a good read, I would recommend it and probably read her other Jane Austen adaptions.
3.5/5
littlecornerreads's review
1.0
"You broke my heart, Anna Ellington. And I’m tempted to let you do it again, but that wouldn’t be good for either of us. I need some time to think."
(In case you were wondering, this book contains mild female bashing, too many love triangles, and references to Twilight)
My love for Persuasion may be new, but it is strong.
After my first Austen Inspiration, I wasn't expecting much from Franky Brown, but I'd had a long day and needed something chill that wouldn't hurt my brain. I haven't come across very many Persuasion retellings in my attempt to read all the modern Austen on Kindle Unlimited and wanted a break from P&P, so I thought I'd give None But You a shot. I will say that it wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be and was a bit closer to its source material than Pride and Butterflies was, but that's not exactly hard to do.
The writing is not great, stylistically or practically. The story starts out bombarding us with character names that nobody cares about yet, the story feels choppy, and the writing and a bit juvenile at times. Flashbacks are carelessly thrown in, the romance is cheesy and the attempts at humor are so corny they're laughable. There was a clever lieutenant/captain joke that was a nod to Captain Wentworth, but Brown kept throwing it around and it got old really fast.
Also, I'm sorry, but "coy pond," really? I get if Brown was in a rush, accidentally used autocorrect incorrectly, and/or genuinely doesn't know how to spell "koi," but how did that get past the editor and the publisher? Speaking of the editor, we have drop caps for each text message again. I'm really hoping it's just because I read the Kindle edition on a non-Kindle device because I don't understand why anyone would choose that format intentionally.
Now on to the actual story, there are some aspects of Persuasion here, but they're fairly minor. Anne Elliot is level-headed and sensible. Anne Ellington is petty and jealous and constantly needs to control her violent thoughts (a side effect of her competitive nature, maybe?). Her view of other women can be a bit catty at times, and her spastic physically ill reactions to Erick are a far cry from Anne's unobtrusive nature around Wentworth. It's also a bit of an Emma crossover/mashup which is 1) confusing because there's an Emma retelling in the series?? and 2) a bit distracting especially when Emma becomes a bit of a hyperactive nutcase over the whole identity theft mystery. Again, I get that the romance in Persuasion might be a little too slow for modern audience, but having Anne and Erick kiss less than halfway through the book seems a little excessive. Because of that, we get a messy yo-yo relationship instead of slow burn. Everyone and their mom gets involved in their relationship causing the dumbest types of miscommunication and feeding their trust issues in the most frustrating ways possible. The love triangles are a mess, and parental backstorythey hate each other because her dad loved his mom reads like something out of an Asian drama. The note passing thing didn't, which I assume was supposed to build up to the half-agony, half-hope scene didn't really work for me. I just have hard time imaging two grown adults using a messenger (Emma) to pass notes like school children, especially when they text each other.
I can't say I'm disappointed because I wasn't expecting much, but I can't say I'd recommend this either.
(In case you were wondering, this book contains mild female bashing, too many love triangles, and references to Twilight)
My love for Persuasion may be new, but it is strong.
After my first Austen Inspiration, I wasn't expecting much from Franky Brown, but I'd had a long day and needed something chill that wouldn't hurt my brain. I haven't come across very many Persuasion retellings in my attempt to read all the modern Austen on Kindle Unlimited and wanted a break from P&P, so I thought I'd give None But You a shot. I will say that it wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be and was a bit closer to its source material than Pride and Butterflies was, but that's not exactly hard to do.
The writing is not great, stylistically or practically. The story starts out bombarding us with character names that nobody cares about yet, the story feels choppy, and the writing and a bit juvenile at times. Flashbacks are carelessly thrown in, the romance is cheesy and the attempts at humor are so corny they're laughable. There was a clever lieutenant/captain joke that was a nod to Captain Wentworth, but Brown kept throwing it around and it got old really fast.
Also, I'm sorry, but "coy pond," really? I get if Brown was in a rush, accidentally used autocorrect incorrectly, and/or genuinely doesn't know how to spell "koi," but how did that get past the editor and the publisher? Speaking of the editor, we have drop caps for each text message again. I'm really hoping it's just because I read the Kindle edition on a non-Kindle device because I don't understand why anyone would choose that format intentionally.
Now on to the actual story, there are some aspects of Persuasion here, but they're fairly minor. Anne Elliot is level-headed and sensible. Anne Ellington is petty and jealous and constantly needs to control her violent thoughts (a side effect of her competitive nature, maybe?). Her view of other women can be a bit catty at times, and her spastic physically ill reactions to Erick are a far cry from Anne's unobtrusive nature around Wentworth. It's also a bit of an Emma crossover/mashup which is 1) confusing because there's an Emma retelling in the series?? and 2) a bit distracting especially when Emma becomes a bit of a hyperactive nutcase over the whole identity theft mystery. Again, I get that the romance in Persuasion might be a little too slow for modern audience, but having Anne and Erick kiss less than halfway through the book seems a little excessive. Because of that, we get a messy yo-yo relationship instead of slow burn. Everyone and their mom gets involved in their relationship causing the dumbest types of miscommunication and feeding their trust issues in the most frustrating ways possible. The love triangles are a mess, and parental backstory
I can't say I'm disappointed because I wasn't expecting much, but I can't say I'd recommend this either.
kristin's review
5.0
Persuasion is my favourite Austin novel, but it is not very popular so you don’t see a lot of adaptations or continuations. I was really happy to find this adaptation and was looking forward to reading it. I haven’t read anything else by the author, but her P&P adaptation is on my jaff tbr shelf. This novel can be read as a standalone without having to read the P&P adaption first. I got this book free through the Kindle unlimited service, this allows you to borrow one free eBook (from a selection of books) per month, it is part of the Amazon prime service.
I liked the cover to the book and it was well written, Anna and Erick become reacquainted at a charity fundraiser. We learn that since the breakup that Anna has been working as a piano teacher (nice reference back to the original novel) and has walked away from the family inheritance. I’m glad that there is a really independent heroine, she is very determined to pay her own way. Erick has been serving abroad with the navy. Anna’s father is divorcing her step mother, this sets up the storyline of the house having to be sold. Erick’s sister buys the house and Erick stays while he’s stationed in the area. Anna’ roommate is an interior designer and is hired to redesign the house, so Anna does have to interact with Erick because of this circumstance.
I love the cute flashbacks to Annas’ and Ericks’ relationship that you get through Anna’s dreams. The reference to Emma is very cleverly done, Annas’ roommate is called Emma and lives up to the personality traits. She is constantly trying to set Anna up on dates and doesn’t think there is anybody out there for herself. I loved that there was an Emma inspired story line later on in the book. The ending was emotional with a few twists and turns that I was not expecting. I loved the use of handwritten letters and the scrabble tiles.
Overall this was a well-executed novel with enough references to the original novel to show that it is an adaptation, but it is its own story.
I liked the cover to the book and it was well written, Anna and Erick become reacquainted at a charity fundraiser. We learn that since the breakup that Anna has been working as a piano teacher (nice reference back to the original novel) and has walked away from the family inheritance. I’m glad that there is a really independent heroine, she is very determined to pay her own way. Erick has been serving abroad with the navy. Anna’s father is divorcing her step mother, this sets up the storyline of the house having to be sold. Erick’s sister buys the house and Erick stays while he’s stationed in the area. Anna’ roommate is an interior designer and is hired to redesign the house, so Anna does have to interact with Erick because of this circumstance.
I love the cute flashbacks to Annas’ and Ericks’ relationship that you get through Anna’s dreams. The reference to Emma is very cleverly done, Annas’ roommate is called Emma and lives up to the personality traits. She is constantly trying to set Anna up on dates and doesn’t think there is anybody out there for herself. I loved that there was an Emma inspired story line later on in the book. The ending was emotional with a few twists and turns that I was not expecting. I loved the use of handwritten letters and the scrabble tiles.
Overall this was a well-executed novel with enough references to the original novel to show that it is an adaptation, but it is its own story.