Author: Jenny Lee
Publication Date: 3 March 2020
Publisher: Flatiron
Page Count: 400
Reading Method: E-reader ARC
Synopsis:
Meet Anna K. At seventeen, she is at the top of Manhattan and Greenwich society (even if she prefers the company of her horses and Newfoundland dogs); she has the perfect (if perfectly boring) boyfriend, Alexander W.; and she has always made her Korean-American father proud (even if he can be a little controlling). Meanwhile, Anna’s brother, Steven, and his girlfriend, Lolly, are trying to weather a sexting scandal; Lolly’s little sister, Kimmie, is struggling to recalibrate to normal life after an injury derails her ice dancing career; and Steven’s best friend, Dustin, is madly (and one-sidedly) in love with Kimmie.
As her friends struggle with the pitfalls of ordinary teenage life, Anna always seems to be able to sail gracefully above it all. That is…until the night she meets Alexia “Count” Vronsky at Grand Central. A notorious playboy who has bounced around boarding schools and who lives for his own pleasure, Alexia is everything Anna is not. But he has never been in love until he meets Anna, and maybe she hasn’t, either. As Alexia and Anna are pulled irresistibly together, she has to decide how much of her life she is willing to let go for the chance to be with him. And when a shocking revelation threatens to shatter their relationship, she is forced to question if she has ever known herself at all.
Review:
This is a modern retelling of Anna Karenina (Tolstoy original) likened to Gossip Girl. While I can see how they got to that comparison, this fell very very flat for me. I’ve said it before, I am a huge dialogue reader and this was severely lacking in that aspect. The writing felt geared towards a younger audience but the content certainly was not. The main focus of this story felt more about drugs, sex, and partying than anything else. I had a hard time connecting with any of the characters. None of them were relateable and we switched perspectives so rapidly it was difficukt to keep things straight. It was a struggle to finish this book and I had zero emotional reaction to anything that happened because I didn’t care about the characters.
As always, I encourage you to read the book yourself and form your own opinions. Unfortunately, I did not enjoy this book at all.
You can purchase a copy of Anna K here
