Liz writes for a small lesbian magazine that is slowly failing. Just when the magazine thinks they’re closing the doors for good, two new investors swoop in to try to keep it going. Bailey seems nice enough – if overly interested in the head writer, Jane – but Darcy is a real piece of work, and Liz is determined to hate her, no matter how attractive she is.

If the names didn’t already make this click for you, this is a Pride and Prejudice remake in modern-day queer NYC. The author uses the Austen classic to explore queer and gender themes and dynamics, and they very cleverly adapt the original story without pushing overly hard to get in every plot-point. It was a nice balance.

It was also a nice break from lesbian novels that are way too intent on a Hallmark-movie-esque style setup, allowing these women and nonbinary folks to just be people rather than Women With Capital Ws. Where they happen to be women and nonbinary folks, rather than that being their Whole Identity. This is the kind of book we need more of in the publishing world.

PS – The book cover seems to only be available under the author’s former name. I couldn’t find a version that said Cameron Kellogg. Props to StoryGraph, though, for making sure this book is listed properly even if it was originally published under a different name!

Performance: The audiobook was read by Bailey Carr, who put in a very solid performance. Given the number of characters often in the same room at the same time, I never struggled with keeping them separate as I listened, which is impressive!