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A Certain Appeal
A Certain Appeal | Vanessa King
9 posts | 9 read | 10 to read
"A sparkling contemporary retelling of Pride and Prejudice set in the tantalizing world of New York City burlesque, perfect for fans of The Kiss Quotient and The Roommate"--
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Kshakal
A Certain Appeal | Vanessa King
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Pickpick

Holy cannoli, what a steamy roller coaster of a book! A clever retelling of pride and prejudice set against the backdrop of the NYC burlesque scene made it fresh and pop off the page! Loved it!

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Kshakal
A Certain Appeal | Vanessa King
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This dedication is the best… it made me giggle!! 🤣🤣🤣

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janeycanuck
A Certain Appeal | Vanessa King
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Pickpick

Wowzers, what a steamy little P&P retelling. Dropping the story into the world of NYC burlesque was a clever approach, creating a really good mirror for the forwardness of Elizabeth Bennet in Austen's original, which is often lacking in retellings. Weaving in the most important elements of the story and giving subtle nods to what wasn't incorporated made this feel both fresh & new but also comforting & familiar. Great fun!

30 likes2 stack adds
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janeycanuck
A Certain Appeal | Vanessa King
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June? JUNE?! May was good to me, reading-wise, except I‘m falling behind on my quest to keep up-to-date on book box books. Oops. But, June is bringing me four more books in my quest to #ReadMyOwnDamnBooks, a couple of stragglers from forever ago, a handful of library books (plus 3 more to pick up tomorrow - yikes!) and SEVEN book box books. I‘ll be happy if I can knock that down to 3 by the end of the month…

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MeganAnn
A Certain Appeal | Vanessa King
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Today‘s #bookhaul 📚 I had a Barnes & Noble gift card from my Mom for Christmas burning a hole in my pocket. Not pictured are gifts I‘ll be sending out to other littens for the #swoonathonswap and just because.

They had a shelf of #blinddatewithabook titles with some fun looking options. The one I picked ended up being the tagged book which looks fantastic!

julesG Great haul! 2y
BookDadGirlDad Eye of the World is very good. Lots of detail in character development, story, and world building. I read Shanghai Girls by Lisa See. I'll have to look out for China Dolls. 2y
MeganAnn @julesG thank you! 2y
See All 7 Comments
MeganAnn @BookDadGirlDad The Wheel of Time series comes very highly recommended by my coworker as well! My husband and I watched the tv series on Amazon Prime recently and it had me wanting to read the book for more of those details and world building. ✨ 2y
MeganAnn @BookDadGirlDad Lisa See is a great author! I loved Shanghai Girls + all of her other novels I‘ve read so far. I highly recommend Snow Flower & the Secret Fan as well as The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane — they are my two favorites. @Librarybelle is hosting a #literarycrew #buddyread for China Girls in March which I‘m planning to join. All are welcome if you‘re interested; no pressure! 2y
BookDadGirlDad @MeganAnn Snow Flower is on my bookspin for February. I've a couple others on my shelf. Too many books, not enough time!!! 2y
MeganAnn @BookDadGirlDad I hope you enjoy Snow Flower if you get to it this month. It‘s lovely! And same 📚⏳!!! 2y
55 likes1 stack add7 comments
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SassenachTheBookWizard
A Certain Appeal | Vanessa King
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Time for a Elizabeth & Darcy retelling in a Burlesque club!

73 likes1 stack add
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UnabridgedPod
A Certain Appeal | Vanessa King
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Pickpick

Vanessa King‘s A Certain Appeal, a retelling of Pride and Prejudice set in the world of New York burlesque shows, met all of my expectations. Liz Bennet (called Bennet by her friends) is stage kitten at Meryton, a burlesque venue where she works with her best friends, including Jane (here, instead of her sister, he‘s her best friend and roommate and a singer in the burlesque). ⬇

UnabridgedPod The performers find out that Meryton is up for sale and have high hopes that one of their own can buy it . . . with the help of a kind man named Charles. But some people are more skeptical than supportive, including Charles‘s best friend Will Darcy.

Just the premise demonstrates the creativity with which King takes the building blocks of Austen‘s novel and shifts them—just a bit—to our contemporary world and this setting, , in particular. ⬇
2y
UnabridgedPod She ramps up the steam and the chemistry between Bennet and Darcy and modifies the subplot with Wickham to suit the modern situation, too.

I wasn‘t sure how I‘d feel about the burlesque element, but I absolutely loved it. This is a strong, feminist novel. Every moment of the burlesque is a celebration of individual women, of their joy in their bodies, and of their power over their own sexiness. ⬇
2y
UnabridgedPod There‘s tons of banter, too, which I also enjoyed, and then King deepens that element, showing how banter can be both inviting and standoffish.

Bennet herself is clever and confident, but she‘s also still recovering from a betrayal related to her work as a designer. She sees, in the changes at Meryton, a chance to recapture her passion for her career, but she‘s also fragile in a way that‘s masked by her onstage presence and her quick wittedness. ⬇
2y
UnabridgedPod Will Darcy is completely fabulous, and I loved the secondary characters so much (the relationship between Jane and Charles is just dreamy). Fans of Pride and Prejudice will love this, but I‘d also recommend it to anyone who just loves a good, super-steamy romance. 2y
34 likes1 stack add4 comments
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Sharpeipup
A Certain Appeal | Vanessa King
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“There‘s enough out there that can actually take you out. No point in hiding from the things that will only hurt your heart.”

This book is Pride & Prejudice but with pasties. Seriously. #retelling

35 likes1 stack add
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Preciouz29
A Certain Appeal | Vanessa King
Pickpick

I had a hard time getting into the story, but once I made it past the first few chapters, I was hooked! This is such a fun and modern take on Pride and Prejudice; the book didn't go as heavy on the enemies to lovers trope which I appreciated. Also, even though there's not much sex, the story was hot. Vanessa King also did an amazing job writing about burlesque; I cannot wait to read what she writes next!