Sass and Serendipity -- Jennifer Ziegler
Cybils season has commenced, which means I'll be posting reviews more frequently, though they'll be much shorter than usual. Which might be a relief to some of you. I do know I have a tendency to go on. (And on and on and on...)
So. Sass and Serendipity.
It's a loose retelling of Austen's Sense and Sensibility.
The fact that it's not a retelling of Pride and Prejudice is a mark in its favor, as the world really doesn't need another one of those any time soon.
The fact that it's a loose retelling of S&S is another mark in its favor, as retellings of Jane Austen are rapidly Getting Very Old.
And I'm generally a sucker for stories about sisters, since I am one. So there's that.
However. This was a tough one.
I found Gabby (the Eleanor character) and Daphne (the Marianne character) so AMAZINGLY unlikable that I just didn't enjoy my time with this book.
Like, at all.
Which is a rarity for me, as I actually often tend towards books starring difficult-or-even-impossible-to-like characters. (Inexcusable, anyone?)
But Daphne is so selfish and Gabby is so selfish AND mean (LIKE WHOA, MEAN) that I couldn't wrap my head around the idea of why anyone would keep trying to talk to either of them, let alone help and/or romance them. Because, despite the Pain They're Feeling, they—especially Gabby, and I say this as someone who almost always identifies with the older sister—are pretty dang awful (in various ways) to almost everyone they interact with. (Well, Gabby's more awful across-the-board. Daphne is mostly awful just to family members.)
Except for a very few passages of awkward and/or infodump-y dialogue, the writing was totally fine: My dislike is based purely on personality. And is therefore not exactly objective. So it might behoove you to Google around for other reviews.
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Previously:
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Book source: Review copy from the publisher.