It is a truth universally acknowledged that the world loves Jane Austen adaptations. And who can blame us? Not only are Jane’s stories some of the original romances (and yes, I do call her Jane, we’re obviously on a first name basis at this point), they’re hilarious and cutting commentaries on social structures that often translate beautifully to life as we know it today. You might not be spending all of your time driving in carriages through the English countryside (no shame, I’m not, either), but I bet you know the feeling of the thing you want being just out of reach, or your family being horrifically embarrassing, or being young and in love for the very first time, or wanting to impress a guy so badly you literally throw yourself off a sea wall in an attempt for him to catch you.

Okay, maybe that last one isn’t SUPER universal. But the vibes are there!

As the author of three different Jane Austen adaptations, a frequent consumer of all things Jane, and a certified Enthusiast, I’ve scoured the world of publishing to find the very books to make your summer sing. So if you’re currently looking to get lost in an adaptation of some of the world’s best stories, check out my current favorite Austen adaptations below!

UNMARRIEAGEABLE by Soniah Kamal

This is THE gold standard for PRIDE AND PREJUDICE adaptations – taking all the class issues of the Regency area and placing them perfectly in another time and place where the same structures apply. Set in the early 2000’s in a Muslim community in Pakistan, the book follows the Binat family, who have been ruined by scandal and a vicious rumor that have destroyed their fortune and prospects for desirable marriages. Despite that, Alys, our Lizzie equivalent and the second Binat daughter, loves her life teaching English literature to schoolgirls, giving them a taste of what life can be before marriage and childbirth. But a gigantic wedding in their small town throws her whole family into a tizzy when her sister Jena falls hard for Fahad “Bungles” Bingla – even though his BFF Valentine Darsee is the literal worst. But we’ve got days of wedding parties ahead of us – it’s possible opinions will change!

I mean, BUNGLES? If that doesn’t sell you on the book, I don’t know what else to tell you!

 ORDINARY GIRLS by Blair Thornburgh

SENSE AND SENSIBILITY adaptations are few and far between compared to PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, but this lovely book about two sisters finding themselves in the wake of their father’s death is a beautiful homage to one of our favorite stories. Sisters Plum and Ginny couldn’t be more different, and this year – as their family finances hit a snag that sends chaos through the house – the two of them are pulled apart even further. Plum, a self-described social outcast, strikes up a secret friendship with the class jock, while Ginny’s usual high-strung nature escalates to pure hysterics. Their discoveries throughout the year of who they really are can either pull them together again – or drive them even further apart. This one isn’t a direct adaptation but the vibes, as the kids say, are immaculate!

PRIDE AND PROTEST by Nikki Payne

Another stunner of a PRIDE AND PREJUDICE adaptation, Nikki Payne’s debut novel is witty, sexy, and pulls absolutely zero punches. Liza B. is a DJ in a quickly gentrifying DC neighborhood determining to save everything she can – but a planned protest at a corporate event takes a chemistry-filled turn when she mistakes CEO Dorsey Fitzgerald for the waitstaff. Sparks are OBVIOUSLY flying, even as Liza does everything she can to push Dorsey out and Dorsey writes Liza off as performing outrage instead of acting on it – but when Liza’s protest takes off online, their lives are turned upside down, and Dorsey and Liza are forced to reckon with their chemistry and the fact that what they want for the world may not be so different after all. After you inhale this one, make sure to also grab a copy of Nikki’s next book, SEX, LIES, AND SENSIBILITY.

 

LOLA AT LAST by J.C. Peterson

We can’t help but keep revisiting PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, and  J.C. Peterson’s take on Lydia (here, Lola) is absolutely spot-on, a can’t-miss retelling of our favorite troubled party girl sister.

Lola Barnes’s summer is not off to the best start. Fresh off a scandal that tanked her social status, Lola has somehow managed to also alienate her twin sister, lose the friends she thought she had, and put a… fiery end to the first party of the summer. (She sets a boat on fire. It’s fine! Everyone is fine!) She’s forced to spend the summer working with the nonprofit Hike Like a Girl (it’s either that or jail time), and even though Lola is the least outdoorsy person you’ll ever meet, she realizes that there might be something to this hiking thing after all – especially with the friends (and one extremely hot but lovingly down to earth guy) she makes along the way. A gorgeous story about figuring out who you are with a voice that won’t leave your head for weeks afterward. Peterson paints Lola as a nuanced character you’ll adore, and although this is a companion novel to her first book, BEING MARY BENNET (another must-read!), you can read this one first, no problem.

NORTHRANGER by Rey Terciero 

I’ll take under-represented Jane Austen novels in retellings for $500, Alex! As a fellow lover of NORTHANGER ABBEY (my second novel, GHOSTED, is a gender-swapped retelling of the novel set at a haunted boarding school), I was thrilled when this book came across my radar, and believe me, it doesn’t disappoint! In this swoony and spooky teen summer romance graphic novel set on a Texas ranch, sixteen-year-old closeted queer Latino teen Cade Muñoz finds himself falling for the ranch owner’s mysterious and handsome son, only to discover that he may be harboring a dangerous secret. I mean, truly, what else do you need? Inspired by the gothic romance of Jane Austen’s NORTHANGER ABBEY and perfect for fans of HEARTSTOPPED and BLOOM comes a modern love story so romantic it’s scary. Even if you haven’t picked up a graphic novel before, this is a must-read!

FIRE ISLAND

For bonus points, I have to mention my current favorite film adaptation of an Austen book – FIRE ISLAND, a retelling of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE set over a week in Fire Island and featuring all the amazing commentary on class and social structure of the original novel applied to the queer community there. With stellar chemistry and a script that doesn’t quit (I literally screamed out loud when Bowen Yang’s Jane character said, “way harsh, Tai”, my favorite quote from my OTHER favorite Austen adaptation, CLUELESS), this movie captures all of Jane’s wit as well as her romance. It’s streaming on Hulu, and even if you have to download a free trial to watch it, it’s worth it.

With an author as timeless as Jane Austen, there’s no shortage of amazing adaptations – I know I missed a few, so let me know your favorites in the comments. I’m always up for reading suggestions! And if you’re craving even more Jane, check out my books, ACCOMPLISHED, GHOSTED, and coming July 16, DASHED, a contemporary sequel to SENSE AND SENSIBILITY following Margaret Dashwood on a summer-long tropical cruise. Happy reading!

The post Five Jane Austen Adaptations To Get Lost In, From A Certified Jane Austen Expert appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

This month sees the release of two highly anticipated January YA releases—King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo and Holly Black’s sequel, The Wicked King. There’s also the intriguing Unmarriageable, which is a retelling of Pride and Prejudice set in modern-day Pakistan, and Sally Thorne’s new romance novel 99 Percent Mine.

Read on to discover our picks and tell us in the comments below if you will be reading any!

An Anonymous Girl by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

When Jessica Farris signs up for a psychology study conducted by the mysterious Dr. Shields, she thinks all she’ll have to do is answer a few questions, collect her money, and leave. But as the questions grow more and more intense and invasive and the sessions become outings where Jess is told what to wear and how to act, she begins to feel as though Dr. Shields may know what she’s thinking…and what she’s hiding. As Jess’s paranoia grows, it becomes clear that she can no longer trust what in her life is real, and what is one of Dr. Shields’ manipulative experiments. Caught in a web of deceit and jealousy, Jess quickly learns that some obsessions can be deadly.

The Suspect by Fiona Barton
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

When two eighteen-year-old girls go missing on their gap year in Thailand, their families are thrust into the international spotlight: desperate, bereft and frantic with worry. Journalist Kate Waters always does everything she can to be first to the story, first with the exclusive, first to discover the truth – and this time is no exception. But she can’t help but think of her own son, who she hasn’t seen in two years since he left home to go travelling. This time it’s personal.

King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

Nikolai Lantsov has always had a gift for the impossible. No one knows what he endured in his country’s bloody civil war—and he intends to keep it that way. Now, as enemies gather at his weakened borders, the young king must find a way to refill Ravka’s coffers, forge new alliances, and stop a rising threat to the once-great Grisha Army. Yet with every day a dark magic within him grows stronger, threatening to destroy all he has built.

The Paragon Hotel by Lyndsay Faye
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

The new and exciting historical thriller by Lyndsay Faye, author of Edgar-nominated Jane Steele and Gods of Gotham, which follows Alice “Nobody” from Prohibition-era Harlem to Portland’s the Paragon Hotel.

A Cathedral of Myth and Bone by Kat Howard
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

In these sixteen exquisite stories Kat Howard deftly weaves in and out of the countries of myth and hagiography to write the lives of women untold and unexplored, including where a woman being written into her boyfriend’s fiction is at first flattered to be his muse, but then finds her real life literally consumed and overtaken by his.

The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

A mesmerising novel about a college town transformed by a strange illness that locks victims in a perpetual sleep and triggers life-altering dreams—by the bestselling author of The Age of Miracles, for fans of Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven and Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go.

The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

Set in Paris 1889, no one keeps tabs on secrets better than treasure-hunter and wealthy hotelier, Séverin Montagnet-Alarie. But when the all-powerful society, the Order of Babel, seeks him out for help, Séverin is offered a treasure that he never imagined: his true inheritance. To find the ancient artifact the Order seeks, Séverin will need help from a band of experts: An engineer with a debt to pay. A historian who can’t yet go home. A dancer with a sinister past. And a brother in all but blood, who might care too much.

An Orchestra of Minorities by Chigozie Obioma
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

A contemporary twist on the Odyssey, An Orchestra of Minorities is narrated by the chi, or spirit of a young poultry farmer named Chinonso. His life is set off course when he sees a woman who is about to jump off a bridge. Horrified by her recklessness, he hurls two of his prized chickens off the bridge. The woman, Ndali, is stopped in her tracks.

Unmarriageable by Soniah Kamal
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

In this one-of-a-kind retelling of Pride and Prejudice set in modern-day Pakistan, Alys Binat has sworn never to marry—until an encounter with one Mr. Darsee at a wedding makes her reconsider.

The Wicked King by Holly Black
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

After the jaw-dropping revelation that Oak is the heir to Faerie, Jude must keep her younger brother safe. To do so, she has bound the wicked king, Cardan, to her, and made herself the power behind the throne. Navigating the constantly shifting political alliances of Faerie would be difficult enough if Cardan were easy to control. But he does everything in his power to humiliate and undermine her even as his fascination with her remains undiminished.

The Love and Lies of Rukhsana Ali by Sabina Khan
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

Seventeen-year-old Rukhsana Ali tries her hardest to live up to her conservative Muslim parents’ expectations, but lately she’s finding that harder to do. Luckily, only a few more months stand between her carefully monitored life in Seattle and her new life at Caltech, where she can pursue her dream of becoming an engineer. But when her parents catch her kissing her girlfriend Ariana, all of Rukhsana’s plans fall apart. Being gay may as well be a death sentence in the Bengali community so her parents send her to Bangladesh, where she is thrown headfirst into a world of arranged marriages and tradition. Only through reading her grandmother’s old diary is Rukhsana able to gain some much needed perspective.

99 Percent Mine by Sally Thorne
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

If Darcy Barrett hadn’t met her dream man when she was eight years old, the rest of the male population wouldn’t be such a let-down. No one measures up to Tom Valeska, but worse is the knowledge that her twin brother Jamie saw him first, and claimed him forever as his best friend. Tom’s off limits and loyal to her brother, 99%. One percent of Tom has had to be enough for Darcy. Will Tom ever see Darcy as anything other than a little-sister obstacle to get around? And can she stand up to her most formidable opponent—her twin? This time around, she’s determined to make Tom Valeska 99 percent hers, and he’s never managed to say no to her yet…

Will you be checking out any of these books? Tell us in the comments below!

The post January Book Releases appeared first on The Nerd Daily.