Starred review from March 1, 2025
When Anna's mom and best friend passes away before her college graduation, she's devastated. Seeking out the adventures she'd planned with her mom, she chooses to go abroad to Queen Mary University of London for her master's in literature. Even as her new friends support her, she finds herself over-worked (two jobs and a full course-load) until she's invited to St. Tropez for the winter holidays as a tutor for a rich family's kid. There, introduced to a different way of living, she's distracted by new friends and the perks of their uber-wealth, and starts to lose focus on her own plans. Can she navigate temptation while achieving her own dreams? The author does a bang-up job in having Anna pull from Jane Austen, highlighting how timeless fiction can be. So many new and interesting ideas around Austen's characters and settings are introduced through Anna's dissertation thoughts, while also enhancing our understanding and emotional connection to the characters of this book. Allowing for grand mistakes and equally impressive repairing of relationships, readers will feel as if they've been given new insights into how to gain self-awareness and comfort in their own journeys. A must-read for Janeites or fans of Marian Keyes, Helen Fielding, Sophie Kineslla, or Jane Green.
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