A Phenomenal Book Club pick for November 2022!
A woman goes head-to-head with the CEO of a corporation threatening to destroy her neighborhood in this fresh and modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice by debut author Nikki Payne.
Liza B.—the only DJ who gives a jam—wants to take her neighborhood back from the soulless property developer dropping unaffordable condos on every street corner in DC. But her planned protest at a corporate event takes a turn after she mistakes the smoldering-hot CEO for the waitstaff. When they go toe-to-toe, the sparks fly—but her impossible-to-ignore family thwarts her every move. Liza wants Dorsey Fitzgerald out of her hood, but she’ll settle for getting him out of her head.
At first, Dorsey writes off Liza Bennett as more interested in performing outrage than acting on it. As the adopted Filipino son of a wealthy white family, he’s always felt a bit out of place and knows a fraud when he sees one. But when Liza’s protest results in a viral meme, their lives are turned upside down, and Dorsey comes to realize this irresistible revolutionary is the most real woman he’s ever met.
By day, Nikki Payne is a curious tech anthropologist asking the right questions to deliver better digital services. By night, she dreams of ways to subvert canon literature. She's a member of Smut U, a premium feminist writing collective, and is a cat lady with no cats.
"A spectacular, unputdownable debut that just rocketed its way onto my 'Forever Faves' shelf. The sharpest, sexiest, wittiest, brightest
Pride and Prejudice retelling I've ever read, period. Nikki Payne is the writer I aspire to be, and I'm going to recommend this novel to everyone I know, every chance I get!"—Ali Hazelwood,
New York Times bestselling author of
Love on the Brain"An entertaining and politically charged retelling of
Pride and Prejudice that tackles gentrification, prejudice, and the intersections of race, class, and gender...The redevelopment plot puts a fresh twist on familiar beats and the enemies-to-lovers romance sizzles. This is good fun.”—
Publishers Weekly"Payne has managed what I thought was no longer possible: to write a
Pride and Prejudice retelling that feels completely fresh and yet absolutely grounded in Jane Austen’s beloved romance...Liza and Dorsey’s romance comes with the sizzling animosity we expect from this classic enemies-to-lovers storyline while deftly tackling heavy themes like generational trauma and classism with humor and heart. This debut is incandescent."—
The Washington Post"This new imagining of
Pride and Prejudice is an inventive take on a classic love story."—BuzzFeed Books
