After a disastrous birthday, Marnie Barnes comes to a striking realization: she isn’t the protagonist of her life. She isn’t Pride and Prejudice’s beloved Lizzie Bennett, she’s Mary, the boring and, at times, downright unlikable middle sister. Thus, she makes the transformative decision to shove down the Mary Bennett within her, no matter what it takes. With the help of her roommate Adhira and a brand new community project, Marnie is ready to turn herself into a brand new person. However, it doesn’t take long for her to realize that becoming someone else is a lot hard than it seems. How will Marnie find the balance between staying true to herself and becoming the person she wants to be?
I thought that this book was a very fun and lighthearted read. I liked how it was a take on Pride and Prejudice, but set in modern times. I think that the internal battle of trying to figure out who you are is one that many face, and this book tackled it well. Marnie had a good character arc and really changed as a person from the beginning to the end of the book. She became much more confident in herself and realized that her worth isn’t simply based off her accomplishments. The only thing that I felt could have been better was the ending of the book. It felt a bit rushed and having more time for the resolution would have wrapped up the book nicely.
Something memorable about this book was how all the characters were described in depth. Even minor and supporting characters were described in detail with stories from their past that explained things about their personality. It allowed me to really understand each character and brought them to life.
Reviewed by Nainika, Twin Hickory Library
HCPL TeenScene's Read + Review 