Name: Being Mary Bennet
Rating: 4.15625 (8 reviews)
ISBN: 9780063060135

J. C. Peterson

Being Mary Bennet

Ashley Pennington

his is a great book for the YA audience. It shows the difficult relationships we can have with friends and family and trying to fit in. I enjoyed the main character and her growth throughout the story. I am not the right audience for this book, but I did enjoy it overall.

Melissa Palmer

Marnie feels like Mary Bennett from Pride and Prejudice--when it comes to her family, her friendships and her life. She makes a promise to become less like Mary. This was a good read and fans of Jane Austen will very much enjoy it.

( I listened to the audiobook of this so I will also be talking about to narrator's performance) I'm a slut for classic book retellings so it's no surprise to me that I loved this book. I can't say much about the connections to pride and prejudice other than the fact that both books start with " it's a truth universally acknowledged" because I haven't read said book. this book was well-written and the characters were well-written and loveable their development was well-written and the plot kept me invested. as someone whose family has a rescue dog the inclusion of an animal rescue made me happy. Sarah Beth Pfeifer brought Marnie and all the other charters to life with her narration she gave each of them a voice that matched their age and personality and all in all made them feel more real.

Wes Michaud

( I listened to the audiobook of this so I will also be talking about to narrator's performance) I'm a slut for classic book retellings so it's no surprise to me that I loved this book. I can't say much about the connections to pride and prejudice other than the fact that both books start with " it's a truth universally acknowledged" because I haven't read said book. this book was well-written and the characters were well-written and loveable their development was well-written and the plot kept me invested. as someone whose family has a rescue dog the inclusion of an animal rescue made me happy. Sarah Beth Pfeifer brought Marnie and all the other charters to life with her narration she gave each of them a voice that matched their age and personality and all in all made them feel more real.




J.C. Peterson

It is a truth universally acknowledged that every bookworm secretly wishes to be Lizzy Bennet from Pride and Prejudice.

A less acknowledged truth is that Mary Bennet might be a better fit.

For Marnie Barnes, realizing she’s a Mary Bennet is devastating. But she’s determined to reinvent herself, so she enlists the help of her bubbly roommate and opens up to the world. 

And between new friends, a very cute boy, and a rescue pup named Sir Pat, Marnie finds herself on a path to becoming a new person entirely. But she’s no Lizzy, or even Mary—instead, she’s someone even better: just plain Marnie.

With a hilariously sharp voice, a sweet and fulfilling romance that features a meet-cute in an animal shelter, and a big family that revels in causing big problems, this charming comedy of errors about a girl who resolves to become the main character of her own story (at any and all costs), is perfect for fans of Jenny Han and Becky Albertalli…and Jane Austen, of course.

Alli King

Thank you NetGalley for this eARC! 

This book surpassed my expectations. I was thinking it was going to be a cute Pride and Prejudice spin-off, but it was so much deeper. 

Marnie Barnes is a senior at an elite boarding school in San Francisco. The middle child, she has felt like an outsider in her own family her entire life. Her solace came through books, which she tends to prefer to real humans. However, an extravert of a roommate, a school project, and family developments lead Marnie to wonder- is a bookish life enough? 

I loved this book. It made me laugh, it made me cry… if I hadn’t been listening to it on my phone, it would’ve made me through the book across the room in frustration! JC Peterson examines the how and the why behind our ‘Mary Bennet’ acts the way she does. There’s such solid (and not immediate) character development, even with side characters. Of course the bookish crowd will love getting all of the references to various literary works (although the only one really ‘needed’ is Pride and Prejudice). 

I thoroughly recommend this book- what an incredible debut!

Being Mary Bennet

Reviews

Highlights