Dashed by Amanda Quain ~ 320 pages ~ to be published on July 16, 2024 by Wednesday Books

Goodreads Synopsis:

Margaret Dashwood lives her life according to plan, and it involves absolutely zero heartbreak, thank you very much. Five years ago, love tore her family apart, and since then, she’s kept her own heart as safe as possible. It hasn’t been easy, especially since her sister Marianne—the world’s biggest romantic—has conveniently forgotten that love burned her so badly she literally almost died. So when their oldest sister Elinor invites Margaret along for a Marianne-free summer cruise, she can’t wait to soak up every scheduled moment with sensible Elinor before heading off to college.

But just before they set sail, a newly-single Marianne announces that she’s crashing their vacation. Suddenly, Margaret’s itineraries are thrown overboard, and the ship’s cabin feels even tinier with her sister wailing about her breakup from the bottom bunk. The only solution? Find Marianne a dose of love to tide her over until they reach land.

With help from Elinor, her husband Edward, and Gabe—a distractingly handsome new friend on the crew—Margaret sets out to create a series of elaborate fake dates that will give Marianne the spontaneously curated summer romance of a lifetime. But between a chaotic sister, the growing storm of feelings between Margaret and Gabe, and an actual storm on the horizon, this summer is destined to go off course. Margaret will have to decide what’s more important—following the plan, or following her heart.

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What I Thought:

*All of my reviews are spoiler-free!*

*I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. Thank you so much to NetGalley and [publisher] for this ARC!*

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links. This means that, at zero cost to you, I will earn an affiliate commission if you click through the link and finalize a purchase. 🥰

I love me a good Austen retelling, and judging by Amanda Quain’s previous works, I was really excited about this one! I have never read a book from Margaret Dashwood’s perspective (she’s the youngest Dashwood sister from Sense and Sensibility, for those less familiar with Austen’s works). She features very little in the original work (in which she is 12 years old), so I was excited to see what happened with a modern version of her as an 18 year old.

I enjoyed the setting of this story immensely. Getting to see the Dashwood sisters on a cruise ship was never something I thought I would desire, but it was so much fun to see the various personalities at work on the open sea. Elinor was very much the sensible sister, even on vacation. She was organized and thorough, but it was fun to see her let her hair down a little. Marianne, in the throes of a breakup with Brandon, was just as fun-loving as she could be while nursing a broken heart. It was very interesting to see what Quain did with Margaret’s character. I thought it was pretty genius to have her be torn between trying to emulate one or the other of her sisters. She was so busy trying to figure out which sister she should be more like, that she never took the time to figure out who she was as an individual.

The romance in this book was fun, but I wished it had…more. It just felt a bit lacking to me. I could tell that Margaret liked Gabe, but it was harder to tell that he liked her back for me. I could certainly see that he was supposed to be end game, but I felt like it just needed more. The book was very concentrated on the relationships between the three sisters (and rightly so), but for a book touting itself as a romance, I just felt like it was a bit lacking.

Also, as an anxious person, my stress levels were pretty high reading this book. Margaret is also a fairly anxious person, and her methods of dealing with this were stressful for me. So, if you are someone who struggles with anxiety, this might not be your cup of tea.

All in all, I thought this was a very creative take on a modernized version of how the Dashwood sisters might be in the future. I enjoyed the setting, and I liked the way each of the sisters embodied the characters from Sense and Sensibility. It was cute, but not my favorite of Quain’s retellings.

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My Rating:

⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1/2

I gave Dashed a rating of 3.5 Stars!

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Are you interested in learning more about this book? Check out the links below!

Amanda Quain’s Website

Amanda Quain’s Instagram

Dashed on Goodreads

Order Dashed on Amazon

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Have you read any of Amanda Quain’s previous books? Check out my reviews for some of them here!

Accomplished ~ Ghosted

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Are you a fan of Austen retellings? Have you read any of Quain’s previous books? What is your favorite Austen novel? Let’s chat in the comments!

Love and happy reading,

Whitney