Elizabeth of East Hampton
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
This fresh and whip-smart modern retelling of Jane Austen’s classic Pride and Prejudice—from the authors of the “great beach read” (Bookreporter) Emma of 83rd Street—transports you to summer in the Hamptons, where classes clash, rumors run wild, and love has a frustrating habit of popping up where you least expect it.
It’s a truth universally acknowledged—well, by Elizabeth Bennet anyway—that there’s nothing worse than summer in the Hamptons. She should know: she’s lived out there her whole life. Every June, her hometown on the edge of Long Island is inundated with rich Manhattanites who party until dawn and then disappear by September. And after twenty-five years, Lizzy wants to leave, too.
But after putting her own dreams on hold to help save her family’s failing bakery, she’s still surfing the same beach every morning and waiting for something, anything, to change. She’s not holding her breath though, not even when her sister starts flirting with the hot new bachelor in town, Charlie Pierce, and he introduces Lizzy to his even hotter friend.
Will Darcy is everything Lizzy Bennet is not. Aloof, arrogant…and rich. Of course, he’s never cared about money. In fact, it’s number one on his long list of things that irk him. Number two? His friend Charlie’s insistence on setting him up with his new girlfriend’s sharp-tongued sister. Lizzy Bennet is all wrong for him, from her money-hungry family to her uncanny ability to speak to him as bluntly as he does everyone else. But then maybe that’s why he can’t stop thinking about her.
Lizzy is sure Will hates everybody. He thinks she willfully misunderstands them. Yet, just as they strike an uneasy truce, mistakes threaten Charlie and Jane’s romance, with Will and Lizzy caught in the undertow. Between a hurricane and a hypocritical aunt, a drunken voicemail and a deceptive party promoter, the two must sift through the gossip and lies to protect the happiness of everyone they love—even if it means sacrificing their own. But when the truth also forces them to see each other in an entirely new light, they must swallow their pride to learn that love is a lot like surfing: sometimes the only way to survive is to let yourself fall.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Bellezza and Harding put a beachy spin on Pride and Prejudice in their breezy second For the Love of Austen romance (after Emma of 83rd Street). Avid surfer Lizzy Bennet, 25, puts her dream of being a foreign affairs correspondent on hold after her father has a health scare, devoting all of her time and energy to her chaotic but lovable working-class family and their struggling bakery. Lizzy loves her seaside home in East Hampton—but she loathes tourist season, when the rich and famous overrun the town. This year, that means the arrival of the haughty and insufferable Will Darcy. As Lizzy's older sister, Jane, and Will's best friend, Charlie, fall for each other, a misunderstanding on the Fourth of July pulls Lizzy and Will into their undercurrent. The authors add lots of fun flourishes to their otherwise fairly straight retelling, including a tropical storm and plenty of small-town gossip. The romance itself works well, but the real highlight is the interactions among Lizzy, her sisters, and the flighty and impulsive Mrs. Bennet. Austenites will be over the moon.