What if you found a once-in-a-lifetime love…just not in your lifetime?
Audrey Cameron has lost her spark. But after getting dumped by her first love and waitlisted at her dream art school all in one week, she has no intention of putting her heart on the line again to get it back. So when local curmudgeon Mr. Montgomery walks into her family’s Pittsburgh convenience store saying he can help her, Audrey doesn’t know what she’s expecting…but it’s definitely not that she’ll be transported back to 1812 to become a Regency romance heroine.
Lucy Sinclair isn’t expecting to find an oddly dressed girl claiming to be from two hundred years in the future on her family’s estate. But she has to admit it’s a welcome distraction from being courted by a man her father expects her to marry—who offers a future she couldn’t be less interested in. Not that anyone has cared about what or who she’s interested in since her mother died, taking Lucy’s spark with her.
While the two girls try to understand what’s happening and how to send Audrey home, their sparks make a comeback in a most unexpected way. Because as they both try over and over to fall for their suitors and the happily-ever-afters everyone expects of them, they find instead they don’t have to try at all to fall for each other.
But can a most unexpected love story survive even more impossible circumstances?
- Title: Pride and Prejudice and Pittsburgh
- Author: Rachael Lippincott
- Publisher: Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers
- Publication Date: August 29, 2023
- Genre: Romance, Historical Fiction
- Targeted Age Range: Young Adult
- Content Warnings: alcohol consumption, reference to mother’s death, references to past child abuse, homophobic references, references to past gaslighting.
- Rating: ★★★
Based off of the title, I’d gone into Pride and Prejudice and Pittsburgh assuming it was going to be a Pride and Prejudice retelling with a time travel element, even though the blurb doesn’t mention anything about the original Pride and Prejudice — which, is totally on me and my own expectations. It didn’t really affect my opinions of the book, but I did want to start this review off with that disclaimer in case other people had similar expectations. Pride and Prejudice and Pittsburgh is pitched as What If It’s Us meets Bridgerton — I enjoy Bridgerton, but What If It’s Us was a huge miss for me. That being said, I do think that if you’re a fan of both media, you’ll most likely enjoy this one.
Told in dual POV, Pride and Prejudice and Pittsburgh follows Audrey Cameron, who, in 2023, works at her family’s convenience store, while trying to find her muse after being heartbroken and waitlisted at RISD. She’s supposed to submit five more pieces for her portfolio in the next two weeks, which would normally be fine, except for the fact that she has no inspiration. When one of their regulars tells her he can help her, the last thing she expects is to be sent to 1812 England. There, she meets Lucy Sinclair, who is about to be betrothed to someone she loathes. Forming a quick friendship, the two work together to try to send Audrey home, thwart Lucy’s suitors, while managing their own growing feelings for each other.
Truth be told, I really loved the dual POV. I loved getting to learn about Audrey’s life in Pittsburgh, while simultaneously learning about Lucy in England. Often, I feel like dual POV allows us to gain a deeper insight in each character’s thoughts and personality, and given the short length of Pride and Prejudice and Pittsburgh, I do think getting to know a little more about how Audrey and Lucy were feeling helped move the story forward. Even so, I felt like there wasn’t a lot of character development, and I think that was in part, due to how short the book was. What’s even more odd, is that I felt like we didn’t spend enough time in Pittsburgh, or in Regency England. Whether it was setting up the characters’ lives prior to Audrey’s time travel, or once she had returned home, I simply felt like we didn’t spend enough time.
Audrey and Lucy shared a lot of sweet moments, and I found Pride and Prejudice and Pittsburgh to be predictable and cheesy, but in a good way. The two of them had such care for each other, and I loved how they made each other better. Overall, Pride and Prejudice and Pittsburgh was a fun and easy read, and I’d recommend it to anyone looking for a light rom com!
Links for Pride and Prejudice and Pittsburgh: Goodreads | TheStorygraph | Bookshop.org
Rachael Lippincott is the coauthor of All This Time, #1 New York Times bestseller Five Feet Apart, and She Gets the Girl, and the author of The Lucky List. She holds a BA in English writing from the University of Pittsburgh. Originally from Bucks County, Pennsylvania, she currently resides in Pennsylvania with her wife and their dog, Hank.
