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A review by cpcabaniss
Netherfield Prep by Elizabeth Stevens
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.