Peterson, J.C. Being Mary Bennet. Harper Teen, 2022. ISBN 978-0063060135 384 pp. $17.99

**

I loved everything about this book except the teenage protagonist calling the love interest “stupid” as a term of endearment, which completely ruined it for me.

It’s a shame, because the premise is pretty brilliant: 18-year-old boarding school student from a wealthy family with many sisters is trying to come up with a winning idea for an academic project and prize, and after being called pedantic (among other things) comes to the realization she does not want to be like the unfavorable Mary Bennet from Pride and Prejudice and makes a plan to renounce her unattractive personality traits. Many good things ensue, but is she really changed at the end? And wouldn’t we be flipping out if a boy told his love interest, “I love you, you stupid girl?”

I received an advance reader’s copy of #beingmarybennet from #netgalley