Stuck Up and Stupid

by Angourie Rice, Kate Rice

An ordinary girl. A Hollywood star. A love story that could change everything. Pride and Prejudice gets a modern twist from two debut authors who know their material—and deliver it with heart and hilarity.

Lily has the whole summer stretched out before her—endless days of sunshine and friends at beautiful Pippi Beach. Then superstar Dorian Khan arrives, with his party of Hollywood types. While most of the locals, including Lily’s glamor-obsessed mum, are thrilled to be so close to the A-listers, Lily can’t help but see them as superficial and arrogant, especially Dorian, the most famous of them all. But as Lily’s and Dorian’s paths continue to cross, she begins to wonder if she’s got him all wrong. Has she been what she hopes never to be—stupid? Playwright Kate Rice and her daughter, Hollywood actor Angourie Rice, team up to write a teen romance novel from those who know firsthand what the international film industry is really like. Inspired by the ever-popular Austen fandom, Stuck Up and Stupid is for a generation of teens who are definitely NOT looking for love.

Genres: Romance, Young Adult, Audiobook, Contemporary, Fiction, Retellings, Chick Lit

385 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 1, 2023

Reviews

[Poppy Solomon]

Ohhhhh nooooo. I was excited for this one, so I was genuinely shocked when it was ... so ... bad.

I feel bad writing such a negative review because I so wanted to love it, and I always try to support Aussie YA, but I just can't recommend this. Unfortunately I think this novel is just a money grab because of the authors' success in the film industry. No care seems to have been taken to edit it up and make sure it's readable and enjoyable. It's a shame because it's an interesting premise -- a ghostwriter's help could've gotten it a long way, or a lot more editing.

The characters? Flat. The pacing? Off. The writing? Oh lorde where would I even begin.

I appreciate that the authors would be the right people to write on this sort of topic (though it didn't really go too in depth on the film/celebrity things - anyone could've managed writing about it with some research) but just because someone is successful in one industry doesn't mean they're qualified to write a novel about it.

Because ... ick. From the incredibly basic and underdeveloped writing style (I read a proof copy, but even for a proof the writing was in pretty bad condition) to the millions of characters, none of whom had any personality (barely even surface level), there's just nothing to find in the book.

Thank you to Walker Books for my ARC.

[Danielle]

Eh…. It’s alright 🤷🏼‍♀️

[Madeleine Knutsson]

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Oh nooooo. I had high hopes for this one, but it really didn’t deliver. The writing style was my first issue—I hated it. It switched between characters in third person without any breaks, so one minute you’re in Lily’s head, and the next you’re suddenly in Dorian’s or Casey’s. It was so jarring and confusing that I could barely keep track of who was speaking.

As for the characters? I didn’t feel like I knew any of them. Lily’s “I hate Hollywood” attitude was repetitive, Dorian had zero personality, and I couldn’t care less about the rest of the cast. The plot was meant to be a modern twist on Pride and Prejudice, but it missed the mark completely.

I wanted to love this, but it just ended up feeling flat, forced, and difficult to follow.

[Jeann (Happy Indulgence)]

Could not get into this book and dnfed after a couple of chapters.

It was difficult to get into with a tonne of character names without much introduction and stunted dialogue. The characters were also quite shallow and vapid, who only cared about getting close to an actor.

I received a review copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

[ems ₊⊹]

nope.
There was like three pages of romance and thats it. Also Lily had never actually admitted to herself that she liked Dorian and then all of a sudden she loved him??? They literally spent no time together alone and anytime they did it always ended in a fight. How did she fall in love with him again???
The ending was severely rushed and the pacing of the book was weird.

All in all. I did not like this book - and I somehow forced myself into reading this.

[Kayla]

run.

[Iris Bicho]

2,5✨
Hummmmm as referências ao original foi o que salvou

[Bryleigh Norris]

This was an excellent modern day take on Pride and Prejudice told in ways I think would be really easy for a younger audience to dissect and understand. This would be a good introduction into the classic for young adult readers. Pride & Prejudice is one of my all time favourite novels and I loved being able to see the connections between this and the classic. Thanks to Harper Collins NZ for my gifted advance copy of this one.

[Alice]

I liked the small town beach setting and the direction the story was taking, but the pacing was off and the characters didn’t have ANY chemistry at all. It took far too long to get where we were going, and when we got there it was like okay????

I don’t see how this was a pride and prejudice retelling. It was extremely disappointing.

[Sara Garrity]

3.5 stars - a nice little fluffy book to read in the week between Christmas and new year. I really liked the first half of the book, but felt it got a bit rushed and random towards the end. However, I very much enjoyed the experience of reading this book! I want to go to Pippi Beach 🌊 🐚

[Rachel Roy]

Reese pick?? Unreadable! The writing was some of the worst I’ve tried to get through.

[Ashley]

This modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice was very enjoyable. I thought using the famous of Hollywood as a way to create class difference worked really well, and I loved the descriptions of Pippa (small vacation town) in Australia beautiful and made it a lovely summer read.

[Lucy]

finally read a book lol

I LOVE HOW ALL THE BENNET SISTERS WERE AUNTIES AND THAT MR DARCY WAS UNCLE FITZ THATS THE CUTEST THING EVER 😭😭😭

absolutely loved this book

[Taffin Evans]

Audiobook. Cute take on Pride & Prejudice. Set in Australia for the most part and fun back and forth banter!

[melodie | readingwithmelodie]

1.5

yeah pretty much the whole book & every character can be summed up by the title

[Samantha Ridenour]

i just hated this. i am offended on behalf of jane austen.

[Bec Condran]

Based in Australia and LA this is a light hearted feel good book. After thinking that both Lily and Dorian were from 2 different worlds and nothing like, the romance slowly grew. Easy to read but also pulls you in wanting to know more.
The start was a bit confusing trying to work out who is who and who is actually the main characters.

[Omayma (jacks wifey) ೀ⋆｡˚]

𐙚⋆°｡⋆♡ 𝓟𝓻𝓮𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓭 ♡⋆°｡⋆𐙚
Im bored and may or may not be in a slump, so I hope a cute romance book will help!!!! <333

⤷Estimate Rating: 3.5-4


dnf at 15%
I can barley read and understand this. It could have been a fine book if it wasnt for the writing style which hurt my head........

[Melissa Barraza]

There was way too many POVs, I had a hard time knowing whose POV i was reading.
Characters were dry and lacked chemistry.

[Tal Sheleg]

pretty fire. read it in one day

[Cláudia Oliveira]

Dnf - did not finish 😕

Isto foi tão inesperado!! 🙆🏽‍♀️ Eu tinha expectativas muito elevadas para este livro e achava que ia adorar! Estava na minha wishlist há imenso tempo!!!

Contudo, a principal razão que me fez dar dnf foi a escrita. É uma escrita na 3.a pessoa (que eu amo) mas cheia de narrativa, onde às vezes não vemos as coisas a acontecer porque estamos a ler alguém a contar o que aconteceu (perceberam? 😵‍💫) Ainda por cima, no início temos logo imensas personagens (que se tornou muito confuso) e também altera o pov muito rápido. Tanto estamos na cabeça dela como, de repente, já estamos na cabeça dele sem qualquer tipo de pausa ou indicação (o que se torna ainda mais confuso).

Infelizmente, não foi para mim… adorava ter gostado☹️

[Ema S.]

DNF

(Não resultou para mim, muitas personagens e muita confusão...)

[tessa]

i fear i’m a mood reader

i got three pages in and i was like “i really don’t feel like reading this” so i didn’t!

soft dnf so i might pick it back up later

the end 🤗

[Hannah]

3.75. I enjoyed this one overall, in a big part because I had JUST come off of reading Pride and Prejudice for the first time. This one followed the original so closely that I had a fun time picking out who each character was supposed to be and predicting what would happen next. (The fact that most characters’ names started with the same letter of the character they were mirroring… I see you Rice ladies. 😉) It was quite a bit shorter than Pride and Prejudice, which isn’t all bad because I did think P&P spent TOO much time on certain things, but because this was a faster-paced book there were a TON of new characters introduced at once and it was hard to keep them all straight at first. I do think the characters were a little more superficial with it being a shorter book as well.

In other news, Angourie Rice is amazing at accents and no one can tell me otherwise. She was a great narrator. Also, as someone who is planning their own trip to LA this year, it was fun to fantasize about what the red carpet and movie sets are really like. I thought the film industry was a cool setting that lent itself well to a P&P retelling.

Side note but I am also confused; based on my minimal research it seems like Pippi Beach is a real place in Australia, but it is not an island nor is it only accessible by ferry, like the book describes. Correct me if I’m wrong, but did the authors change that for this story? I find it strange that they would change such significant things about a real place. Like why not just make up your own town that fits your requirements at that point.

Also the ending was the same as P&P where I was just sitting there like “That’s it??” But I guess it’s keeping with the original then. I didn’t like how it ended with “Maybe they’ll be together in 2, 5, 10 years or maybe they won’t.” Sure that’s realistic but who wants to think that way at the end of a fluffy romance novel??

[hannah ♥︎]

I liked it for sure, but third person perspective was not working for me. I also felt like Lily was lacking a fleshed out personality? Like it followed Pride and Prejudice a bit too strictly, more liberties could have been taken. I still think it’s a good read, just lacking a few things I typically enjoy.

[Lindsay Theaker]

I am never, not ever, not once in my life going to scoff at an Austen retelling. But this one missed the mark for me in its modern Aussie setting. Beginning with Lydia’s offspring was an interesting take on a “history will repeat itself” motif, but that’s about where it ended for me with its cleverness.

[Devon]

ridiculously bad: bad writing, bad plot-- just terrible overall
only reason i finished was because on quest to read all RBC picks
also why are we having a relationship between an 18 and 24 year old???
like that girl is in HIGH SCHOOL; just no

[Mila ~ We're just dancin' to the siren sounds~]

Pre-read:

Okay, soooooooooooo I found this book while scrolling through libby and I just want a short lighthearted stupid read and I hope this work

HOLY SHYT(keeping it pg guys) THE REVIEWS ARE TERRIBLE

[Lindsay Russell]

It’s possible that I’m just stupid, but there were way too many characters for me to keep track of.

[Sara]

3.8 stars - it was entertaining enough!