Rating: 4 out of 5.

This is a cute YA contemporary retelling of Pride & Prejudice. Georgiana Darcy is a Junior at an elite prep school in upstate New York. She suffered an “Incident” with Wickham Foster at the end of her sophomore year that would have cost anyone else besides a Darcy expulsion. But, with her brother living back in New York near her and suffocating her with rules and oversight, Georgie needs to figure out a way to forget Wickham, win back her prep school and make her brother relax and realize she can take care of herself.

Enter fellow band geek Avery. He’s recently been elevated to the marching band’s drum major and is still in good with the band. He agrees to help Georgie with her reputation problem, even agreeing to help her in her efforts to push her brother Fitz and Lizzie Bennett together so he will finally find some happiness. It doesn’t matter that Avery’s muscles seemed to have finally filled out over the summer and he seems to accept her for who she is, right? I mean, it’s the same ole’ Avery. Right?

This is a cute book and although Georgie was a bit neurotic I liked her. Her screw ups were pretty tame, were way overblown and could have been explained in less than a minute, but I understand the author needed to cause conflict to move the story forward. I liked Avery and his chemistry with Georgie was really cute. Having been a band geek myself, I loved the band geek references. Lizzie Bennett and goofball Charles Bingley add humor and lightness to the story. This is a light, fluffy friends to lovers retelling that you can read in one sitting. I recommend you pick up this gem right away.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press, Wednesday Books. All opinions are my own.