Why yes, sometimes I do choose books for their covers. But look at this cover for The Heiress? It’s stunning! Also, I’m obsessed with anything Jane Austen so when I found out this book is based on the minor character of Anne de Bourgh, Mr. Darcy’s childhood betrothal partner he knew long before Elizabeth Bennet enters his life, I was rather curious of what this would look like. ⁣
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Thoughts

I’m still mulling over what I found inside. It was not what I expected! Does the universe of Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice need a reimagining with drug addiction and an LGBTQ love story? Apparently yes. ⁣
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“𝘓𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘥𝘭𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴, 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵? 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯 𝘋𝘖 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬, 𝘪𝘵 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘣𝘺 𝘮𝘦𝘯.” ⁣
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Overview

The story starts extremely slow and rather repetitive, as the focus is on the backstory of how Anne came to be in her current state. She was a colicky baby and her mother gives her laudanum to help her sleep, which sets off years of drug addiction. There are pages filled with her sleeping, dreaming, and hallucinating. ⁣
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The story picks up in the second half of the book when Anne shakes both her addiction and her mother’s heavy handed influence. She’s coming of age, entering society for the first time, but has been extremely sheltered and needs some guidance. She flees to London to stay with her cousin, and meets another young woman willing to show her the ropes in more ways than one. ⁣

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It’s an interesting take on a society and time period that’s often not kind to women and filled with rules to keep them under control. Austen in her day would never have been able to write openly about any of these topics from drug abuse to periods to WLW romance. But it makes it a refreshingly modern take.⁣
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Thank you to @williammorrowbooks for the book! You can purchase a copy here. To read more of my reviews, check out the rest of my blog. If you want to hear more in depth discussions, head over to my BOOKTUBE CHANNEL. And to enter the latest giveaway or see my publisher posts, head to my BOOKSTAGRAM page on IG.