All in all this was a really fun modernization of one of my favourite novels. There were a few things that seemed a smidge off to me, but otherwise I really enjoyed reading this and, in fact, stayed up late last night to finish it on my phone rather than waiting to finish it today on a bigger screen.
Even though I knew pretty much exactly how this story would turn out (and it followed the original fairly closely even though it did update other aspects), I was still super eager to get to the resolution. Some things felt a little rushed to me [SPOILER: Jane and Chip's marriage was rushed but did make a sort of sense considering she was pregnant and they didn't want to completely hide their relationship until his show aired. And though I was excited when Liz and Darcy finally got back together, I was pretty floored when she asked him to marry her. I was like, "Whoa, whoa, pump the brakes, kids, I mean I know y'all really like/love each other but seriously you're proposing right now? Seems way too fast to me." I don't know, that whole bit just didn't seem to flow very well because I was so surprised that she asked him to marry her and he said yes so quickly. I thought at least they'd declare their feelings and say they wanted to date and maybe discuss where they should move (it also irritated me that Liz was just like "I'll move to Cincinnati since your uber important job is there." Like, girl, you have a good job, too, and really love New York and I'm sure being a highly respected brain surgeon he could find a job pretty much anywhere and it's not like New York doesn't have any good hospitals or whatnot so why we automatically gotta jump to you moving to Cincinnati like your job and life in New York aren't important? I mean, I know you can technically work from anywhere but still, discuss it for have a sec before just being like 'oh, your job is much more important, guess I'll give up my life in New York.' I just really wanted more of a talk before they arbitrarily decide she's gonna move in with him. I did like the detail that they bought a house together instead of just staying in his drab apartment. Anyway, it just felt like they moved a bit too fast. I would've been happier if they'd decided to date and discuss possibly moving to the same city and then in the "four months later" chapters mentioned that they decided to get engaged. Also the last chapter from Mary's POV was kinda weird and off-putting. I enjoyed getting to know her character a little more and figure out why she liked her bowling league so much (also yay for possible asexual representation with Mary--possible because she never directly says it but from how she talks about sex it sounds like she could be--as well as the transgender representation with Ham, which was especially good because it gave the characters a chance to learn and improve and didn't include Wick at all--what a dick--and actually gave Lydia a happy ending rather than the more uncertain one from the original) but it was mostly off-putting because it was the only instance where the story was told from someone else's perspective other than Liz and it was just one chapter. Maybe if there had been other chapters from some of the other sisters' POVs that would've made more sense, but this one just random chapter at the end was super weird to me. Idk it just kinda threw me off my enjoyment of the story for a bit. (hide spoiler)]
Anyway that big, rambling, spoilery bit aside, the only things that really bothered me about the book was the sometimes formal style of writing. It wasn't bad per se, it was just a little off-putting because it wasn't consistent throughout nor was it limited to one or two characters' dialogue. If Darcy had always spoken a little formally, fine I would buy that. But for Liz as the narrator to suddenly have this stilted, formal tone to her narration it threw me off more than once. I know Liz is super smart and clever but it just didn't always seems to fit well in the narration itself.
Otherwise I liked this book and had a fun time reading it. I liked the changes and updates for the most part, especially the changes for the better with Lydia and Kitty's stories. I liked that I probably hated Wick more than the original (he called you his life coach and thought that would be affectionate, Liz. How did you not deck him?) and that in this telling, it left the casting of Darcy as well solely up to Liz. Even the reader (or at least me) could see that most of what Darcy was saying wasn't necessarily as bad as Liz thought it was (though his defense of what he said at the Lucas' was kinda weak tea--"Oh, I was just nervous and didn't want to be set up with anyone and that's why I said Cincinnati was awful and the women were gross"--he just really needed to come up with some better excuse because it didn't completely track). I liked that some modern issues were tackled with a modicum of sensitivity (after Liz said something kinda stupid when she found out about Ham, she then went and did research and figured out how she should talk about such issues and worked to change her preconceptions which was excellent). The reality TV stuff was fun, especially because I'm a huge fan of UnREAL and, like Liz, did not trust the super friendly and understanding producer. I know your game, Anne Lee!
All in all this was a fun retelling of Pride and Prejudice that maintained a lot of what I loved about the original while updating and changing some things for its modern setting. If you're a fan of Pride and Prejudice and don't mind updates and new takes on it, you might enjoy Eligible. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
