Molly Horan

In this delightfully romantic LGBTQ+ comedy-of-errors inspired by Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, a high school senior works up the courage to ask her long-time crush to prom all while deciding if she should look for her bio family.

Epically Earnest

Claudia Ganea

3.5/5

To my great shame, I’ve never actually read any Oscar Wilde before (even though I was supposed to for uni shhhh), but I have always had a fascination with classics, and with retellings of said classics. When I stumbled upon this, it seemed right up my alley, and I’ve enjoyed it quite a bit!!

(view spoiler)[I really enjoyed and was able to relate to Janey as a character, and I truly appreciated the exploration into adoptee life that Horan emphasizes in this book. It was beautifully put on the page, and I’m especially glad that I read this because it allowed me to learn about the experience of someone different from myself. That’s something I appreciate and look for in all my books!

Janey and Gwen’s relationship (and especially Janey’s Gay Panic Mode every single time she was in Gwen’s radius, I mean, haven’t we all been there??) was so much fun as well! I especially loved the prom scene, with Gwen calling Jane brave when for finally admitting to loving her with no hesitation - fundamentally, this is what queer love is. The biggest act of bravery you will ever perform in your life.

I also was very happy that the platonic relationships, especially Jane and Algie’s, were given just as much attention and care as our main pairing. You can genuinely feel the love that these two have for each other every single time they interact, and they bring out the best from each other, and it was just beautiful!! Also, last but not least, I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t ask for an Algie and Cecil spin-off, please? Thank you!!

Now, for the less than good part, and the reason why my rating is what it is. The story, while unique and so full of heart, definitely felt a tad bit rushed and unfinished to me. Janey finds out she has bio family, meets them, and… everything is solved? The gang goes to prom and has a beautiful time and all the agonizing that she’s done is just quickly wrapped up with a neat little bow? We were going from point A to point B so fast, I found myself going “Wait, what? Already???” multiple times throughout, and I would’ve loved a bit of a different pacing overall.

As always, the characters made this book fun for me, and I would definitely recommend it as a quick, cozy YA that’s super enjoyable. But I’m starting to believe that I’m growing a bit out of the genre? Remains to be seen. For now, it’s still my go-to, and I look forward to keep exploring and figuring out my (new) reading tastes!
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I don’t know if I can count this as finished, as I skimmed the last half while trying to find something to hold my attention, despite it being quite short. I’m a big fan of the original play, and a bigger fan of queer books, so I was excited when I saw this on the shelf. I was kinda hoping for a big reveal at the end like in the actual play, which didn’t happen, but at least it didn’t end with them being related by blood, so small mercies. 

This book tried unfortunately hard to be relevant, yet fell a little short of the mark. Despite being short it seemed to drag, and the characters were still left feeling half-formed. I’m sure this is someone’s cup of tea, but it wasn’t quite mine.

Lexi

I don’t know if I can count this as finished, as I skimmed the last half while trying to find something to hold my attention, despite it being quite short. I’m a big fan of the original play, and a bigger fan of queer books, so I was excited when I saw this on the shelf. I was kinda hoping for a big reveal at the end like in the actual play, which didn’t happen, but at least it didn’t end with them being related by blood, so small mercies. 

This book tried unfortunately hard to be relevant, yet fell a little short of the mark. Despite being short it seemed to drag, and the characters were still left feeling half-formed. I’m sure this is someone’s cup of tea, but it wasn’t quite mine.

In this delightfully romantic LGBTQ+ comedy-of-errors inspired by Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest, a high school senior works up the courage to ask her long-time crush to prom all while deciding if she should look for her bio family.

Latitude Tamarind

This book honestly ranks up there with Ophelia After All for me. Disclaimer, also, that I’ve never read The Importance of Being Earnest. For me, this book reads like an readalike for Molly Kasperek’s work. If I was reading a pitch for this book, it would comp their books. There’s fast moving romance, basically everyone in the book is queer, there’s dealing with internet fame. The worst thing about this book was how short it was, leaving me wanting more and admittedly feeling kind of unfinished. Four stars because I genuinely liked it so much.

Steph L 

This book was a lot of fun. The production was very enjoyable and I enjoyed listening to it. I've never read The Importance of Being Earnest, but I still really enjoyed this story. I loved Janie as a character, and I felt like she really went on a journey in this book. The supporting cast was also very fun and interesting. Epically Earnest had an interesting plot, because you see Janie finding herself, and bonding with the people in her life, as well as finding the family she never knew about. Epically Earnest had two sweet romances, and I enjoyed listening to both of them, to see how they would play out. I would recommend this book for people who love queer stories, or maybe want a book that's a little off the beaten path.

Zoe Smolen

This is super cute and the characters are super lovable but I found it to be underdeveloped. I like the adoption representation, but would have really liked more closure on it. This book really could have used 50 to 100 more pages to finish flushing out some of the details. Admittedly, I am not familiar with the source material, so I'm unsure if that would change my opinion on the book. 

The characters have big Casey McQuiston vibes, and I truly could have kept reading about them forever. They were so fun and playful, and also flawed in ways that they realized and worked on. 

Despite being set in NYC it didn't really feel that New Yorky. I think you could have told me it was set in any city and I would have believed it.

Overall, this is a cute queer YA rom-com, but it's nothing more than that.

Thanks to the publishers for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

Epically Earnest

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