NEWTS, NEWTS, NEWTS!! I have finished my third book for the Magical Readathon and it has been a wild ride so far. I had no idea that I could read this much but having this little break has been such a nice treat. The third book I finished was Pride by Ibi Zoboi.
Synopsis: Zuri Benitez has pride. Brooklyn pride, family pride, and pride in her Afro-Latino roots. But pride might not be enough to save her rapidly gentrifying neighborhood from becoming unrecognizable.
When the wealthy Darcy family moves in across the street, Zuri wants nothing to do with their two teenage sons, even as her older sister, Janae, starts to fall for the charming Ainsley. She especially can’t stand the judgmental and arrogant Darius. Yet as Zuri and Darius are forced to find common ground, their initial dislike shifts into an unexpected understanding.
But with four wild sisters pulling her in different directions, cute boy Warren vying for her attention, and college applications hovering on the horizon, Zuri fights to find her place in Bushwick’s changing landscape, or lose it all.
I enjoyed this book as a whole but I found the main character to be slightly annoying. She was very judgemental and kind of seemed like a hypocrite because she was judging people for the exact same thing she would be doing.
I will say that the author did a great job with their descriptions because it was so easy to picture all the locations and people in my mind. They had such vibrancy and all the personalities of the characters were very unique and different so it held me with a fun cast of people taking part in this story.
I have never read Pride & Prejudice and this was supposed to be a remix of it with a full cast of POC characters. I like that they did this and enjoyed seeing some of the cultural differences that the cast represented that differ from my own as a white Canadian male. Reading a book with a cast of diverse characters is always a good thing.
Zuri comes from a big family and it was nice to see what it is like to have so many people around you at all times. I am an only child so I never had the luxury of a big family with brothers and sisters so it is fun to read about it and imagine what it could be like plus it shows how a family values each other.
Overall, I liked the book but the plot was a little slow. That being said, I would recommend this to someone to read because it is worth it based on the character development present in it.
Book Rating: 3/5
You can buy this book on Amazon and find it on Goodreads.
Disclaimer: I won this book in a giveaway and read it because I wanted to.
I know I said I was on a book buying ban but here are all the books I got for my birthday!
Also for all you fantasy lovers out there, my friend Moud Adel (author of the War Remnants which I reviewed in July) has created this new game called Majority Rules where you get to decide what happens in his fantasy story. You will read the story and then vote in a poll for what you want the next scene to be. YOU take control and YOU make the decisions. Every Thursday, there will be new scene options so it is a continuous game! Check it out by clicking on the image below!
I have had Pride on my shelf for a while now. I am IN LOVE with the cover, and the idea behind it, but I just couldn’t get through it. I picked it up about a year or so ago and only got a quarter of the way through before I put it down for another time. I think it was mostly the main character that was hard for me to read, but maybe I will try it again another time. Great review :]
Yea I felt the same way about her. She could be a bit hypocritical which bugged me at times but the plot kept me engaged for the most part. Thanks 😊😊.
A retelling of Pride and Prejudice? Say no more… anything Austen is catnip to me so I may just have to give it a read!
Haha that is amazing that you referred to it as catnip !! 🤗
I love Pride and Prejudice! I really want to read Pride, but I don’t have much tolerance for annoying characters.
You might like it? It could just be me and how I feel about them but others might like the character.
That is a hella intricate book cover
I know! I chose it for my “beautiful book cover” prompt for the NEWTS.
A well chosen cover indeed!
As soon as i read the last name Darcy I was like “is this a P&P remix?” I only ever see that name used when a remix is being done. I think it’s great that it’s getting a remix with POC. But that hypocrisy would really grate my nerves, so I might give this one a miss
The book was decent. I believe that others might like the main character more than I did but to each their own :P! Thanks for checking out my review 🙂
I think I’ll pass on this one but the cover is gorgeous. I’m really not a huge fan of P&P so it’s not like I have a vendetta against retellings, I’m just like ‘naaaah I’ll pass on Austen’ lol
Thats fair! I have only read a few retellings so yea. I watched Maleficent for the first time last weekend too lol