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kba76's review against another edition
3.0
I'm guessing if you've picked this up it's because you're a fan of the source. This sticks incredibly faithfully to Austen's novel, but giving it the updated setting/characters. For the most part it works well, providing us with an entertaining romance.
There's no getting away from the fact that Austin and Lily are the stars of the show. Their spats are great fun to read, though I was less keen on the continued references to Austin's rock-hard abs. There were plenty of things Lily came to love about him, and this felt a little cheap.
No plot details needed here. It was fun unpicking the similarities with Pride and Prejudice, and this was an entertaining read. I can feel it might be time for another return to the original!
Thanks to the author for providing me with a copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.
There's no getting away from the fact that Austin and Lily are the stars of the show. Their spats are great fun to read, though I was less keen on the continued references to Austin's rock-hard abs. There were plenty of things Lily came to love about him, and this felt a little cheap.
No plot details needed here. It was fun unpicking the similarities with Pride and Prejudice, and this was an entertaining read. I can feel it might be time for another return to the original!
Thanks to the author for providing me with a copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.
fififlora's review against another edition
4.0
A modern version of Pride and prejudice.. The one and only..
I want to first.; thank the dear author for granting me with a free copy in exchange of an Honest review! And I really appreciate it
I liked the book very much.. It was amusing and funny at times it really made me giggle..
I loved Austen..(our Mr. Darcy) his personality.. Loyalty and protection for the ones closest to him..and his affection (so to say) to our Lily (my dear Elizabeth) whom I really loved and enjoyed her witness and self-respect.. Her personality in general..
The plot was not that appealing at first.. I didn't get attached to the story at first but as I read on.. It really grew on me.. And at my second reading set I was up to 5 PM just wanting to know how it's going to end ( even though I knew the original ending.. I wanted to know your version of it..) and you didn't disappoint me..
I really liked how you mixed and turned things up to make it your own version!
AND I really loved how you made them twins!
But there was some parts that didn't go well with the modern theme.. Like some of the conversations.. And sometimes the way they talk even though they are only 17 and 18 which for me was a bit young.. But who am I to judge!
I got a feeling of nostalgia while reading and did the quickest thing I could do after finishing it.. I went and watched the movie (Pride and prejudice 2005) and felt so much again.. Thank you for that!
This is the first book I read of a retelling of another book (if that's what it's called) and I can say that I was empressed and looking forward to reading other ones..
I want to first.; thank the dear author for granting me with a free copy in exchange of an Honest review! And I really appreciate it
I liked the book very much.. It was amusing and funny at times it really made me giggle..
I loved Austen..(our Mr. Darcy) his personality.. Loyalty and protection for the ones closest to him..and his affection (so to say) to our Lily (my dear Elizabeth) whom I really loved and enjoyed her witness and self-respect.. Her personality in general..
The plot was not that appealing at first.. I didn't get attached to the story at first but as I read on.. It really grew on me.. And at my second reading set I was up to 5 PM just wanting to know how it's going to end ( even though I knew the original ending.. I wanted to know your version of it..) and you didn't disappoint me..
I really liked how you mixed and turned things up to make it your own version!
AND I really loved how you made them twins!
But there was some parts that didn't go well with the modern theme.. Like some of the conversations.. And sometimes the way they talk even though they are only 17 and 18 which for me was a bit young.. But who am I to judge!
I got a feeling of nostalgia while reading and did the quickest thing I could do after finishing it.. I went and watched the movie (Pride and prejudice 2005) and felt so much again.. Thank you for that!
This is the first book I read of a retelling of another book (if that's what it's called) and I can say that I was empressed and looking forward to reading other ones..
filmingpages's review
3.0
*Thak you Voracious Readers and Elizabeth Stevens for the free copy of this book in exchange with an honest review*
I have to admit I had high expectations for this book! What I mean with that is that I wasn't expecting to be anything close to Austen's work, but I was expecting to find all the characters I already love in a new background, but with the same personalities in the original book. "Netherfield Prep" managed to live up to my expectations and I devoured the book in two days' time!
I won't say that there weren't some things that I didn't particularly like, but I won't focus on them, because overall I really enjoyed the book. There's one thing that I want to point out though. Lily is extremely liked by everyone and also everyone seems to be attracted to her! If I remember correctly, there are 4 boys in total that fall in love with her and I thought that it feels a bit too much and a bit unrealistic. It's like there weren't other girls in that school and everyone loved Lily as soon as she came in and all the boys were in her feet, begging her to spend some time with them.
My favourite character has to be Jax, he was simply the cutest little bean ever! He's relationship with Anne and I think it really captured Bingley and Jane's relationship. he was so spontaneous and fun, the total opposite of his moody brother. Together they had the funniest exchanges, with Jax trying to get Austin to loosen up and Austin being the ever sarcastic teenager!
The book is written in two different POV's. It interchanges between Lily and Austin and it's something I really liked, because it gives us insight in both their views of the same event and we can understand better what they think of each other. I also liked their relationship a lot and I'm so glad because Elizabeth and Darcy are my favourite and I wanted to love them in this reimagining too!
All in all, "Netherfield Prep" is a very good reimagining of "Pride and Prejudice" that I read as fast as I could, since I wanted to see how the events would unfold next! Even though I knew the plot and how it would end, that didn't lessen my enthusiasm for the book at all!!
I have to admit I had high expectations for this book! What I mean with that is that I wasn't expecting to be anything close to Austen's work, but I was expecting to find all the characters I already love in a new background, but with the same personalities in the original book. "Netherfield Prep" managed to live up to my expectations and I devoured the book in two days' time!
I won't say that there weren't some things that I didn't particularly like, but I won't focus on them, because overall I really enjoyed the book. There's one thing that I want to point out though. Lily is extremely liked by everyone and also everyone seems to be attracted to her! If I remember correctly, there are 4 boys in total that fall in love with her and I thought that it feels a bit too much and a bit unrealistic. It's like there weren't other girls in that school and everyone loved Lily as soon as she came in and all the boys were in her feet, begging her to spend some time with them.
My favourite character has to be Jax, he was simply the cutest little bean ever! He's relationship with Anne and I think it really captured Bingley and Jane's relationship. he was so spontaneous and fun, the total opposite of his moody brother. Together they had the funniest exchanges, with Jax trying to get Austin to loosen up and Austin being the ever sarcastic teenager!
The book is written in two different POV's. It interchanges between Lily and Austin and it's something I really liked, because it gives us insight in both their views of the same event and we can understand better what they think of each other. I also liked their relationship a lot and I'm so glad because Elizabeth and Darcy are my favourite and I wanted to love them in this reimagining too!
All in all, "Netherfield Prep" is a very good reimagining of "Pride and Prejudice" that I read as fast as I could, since I wanted to see how the events would unfold next! Even though I knew the plot and how it would end, that didn't lessen my enthusiasm for the book at all!!
readundancies's review
Well then.
Well.
Then.
I suppose there is probably an audience for this kinda book, but I am not it.
I have outgrown these dramatics and now all I feel when I read them is my soul slightly inverting into itself in pain because this was exhausting to read. It was so dramatic and cringey. My body literally could not handle how uncomfortably annoying the character perspectives were as navigating between them made my gut recoil and it was like I had this primitive need to expel what my eyes were reading from my body and into the universe so that it could go and die and leave me out of it. Cringe is too vague of a word to explain how much I did not enjoy this rendition of Austen’s classic romantic tale.
I hated how the dialogue was tinged in Regency speak but the plot could not be more modern. The juxtaposition made me feel physically ill while reading.
Also, why was it so long?
This version of the tale made me miss the bounds of propriety so much. Because this iteration of Darcy was just not charming without that societal lens in focus.
What are stakes? I read the whole thing and there really didn’t appear to be any at all.
And the plot? To what aim did it serve? What was it trying to accomplish? No idea, but it sure felt aimless, and that’s not a compliment.
I could spend all day lambasting this story but instead I will leave you with the knowledge that I could not overcome my distaste for the writing style and leave it at that.
cpcabaniss's review
2.0
*I received a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.*
The premise to this was really interesting to me. It's a modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice set in a boarding school. I wanted to love it. Unfortunately, there was little that I really enjoyed.
At the beginning I thought it might be interesting, change things up a bit, and give its own charm to the classic tale that I love so much. For me, however, it kept things too like the original story, which didn't work in this time and setting. The conversations felt stilted because they tried to stay too close to the original. The story also felt forced a lot of times as it tried to stay too close to the original.
It was interesting to see the characters places shifted somewhat. The Darcy and Bingley characters, (Austin and Jax) are twins instead of just friends, the Bennet sisters are not all sisters, having different connections. All of these changes gave the story a better chance of working in a modern setting. The only one I wasn't happy with was the change in the roles of the parents. The mother (stepmother to Lily, our Elizabeth character) was the more understanding parent, the father the one wanting to marry them off to rich men. I just didn't see the point in doing this. The relationship between Elizabeth and her father was something that I enjoyed, so not having it here was a little disappointing.
There was too much focus on relationships and marriage here. The original novel had that, but it was a different time. Women couldn't really support themselves then, so it made sense that they needed to marry well to live comfortably. But that's not the case now. So why was everyone obsessed with marrying the richest men? This just bugged me.
I was not happy with Austin and Lily's relationship. It was lust, not love. They are immediately attracted to each other, but it's pretty much all physical. And I never really felt that this changed. They never got to know each other very well. And when they were together they were constantly thinking of each other as "fine specimen" and other such things.
This had some good ideas, it just didn't work that well for me. I haven't had much luck with Austen retellings in the past, so maybe I should just avoid them.
The premise to this was really interesting to me. It's a modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice set in a boarding school. I wanted to love it. Unfortunately, there was little that I really enjoyed.
At the beginning I thought it might be interesting, change things up a bit, and give its own charm to the classic tale that I love so much. For me, however, it kept things too like the original story, which didn't work in this time and setting. The conversations felt stilted because they tried to stay too close to the original. The story also felt forced a lot of times as it tried to stay too close to the original.
It was interesting to see the characters places shifted somewhat. The Darcy and Bingley characters, (Austin and Jax) are twins instead of just friends, the Bennet sisters are not all sisters, having different connections. All of these changes gave the story a better chance of working in a modern setting. The only one I wasn't happy with was the change in the roles of the parents. The mother (stepmother to Lily, our Elizabeth character) was the more understanding parent, the father the one wanting to marry them off to rich men. I just didn't see the point in doing this. The relationship between Elizabeth and her father was something that I enjoyed, so not having it here was a little disappointing.
There was too much focus on relationships and marriage here. The original novel had that, but it was a different time. Women couldn't really support themselves then, so it made sense that they needed to marry well to live comfortably. But that's not the case now. So why was everyone obsessed with marrying the richest men? This just bugged me.
I was not happy with Austin and Lily's relationship. It was lust, not love. They are immediately attracted to each other, but it's pretty much all physical. And I never really felt that this changed. They never got to know each other very well. And when they were together they were constantly thinking of each other as "fine specimen" and other such things.
This had some good ideas, it just didn't work that well for me. I haven't had much luck with Austen retellings in the past, so maybe I should just avoid them.
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