Ana of California

by Andi Teran

🎧Run Time = 8 hours and 47 minutes

This “vivid and fully realized” listen (Emma Straub) that takes inspiration from Anne of Green Gables comes “highly recommended” (Library Journal starred review)! When foster kid Ana is given one last chance at Garber Farm, she must find a way to make it work or end up at a dreaded group home. Narrated by the author.

In the grand tradition of Anne of Green Gables, Bridget Jones's Diary, and The Three Weissmanns of Westport, Andi Teran's captivating debut novel offers a contemporary twist on a beloved classic.

Fifteen-year-old orphan Ana Cortez has just blown her last chance with a foster family. It's a group home next - unless she agrees to leave East Los Angeles for a farm trainee program in Northern California. When she first arrives, Ana can't tell a tomato plant from a blackberry bush, and Emmett Garber is skeptical that this slight city girl can be any help on his farm. His sister, Abbie, however, thinks Ana might be just what they need. Ana comes to love Garber Farm, and even Emmett has to admit that her hard work is an asset. But when she inadvertently stirs up trouble in town, Ana is afraid she might have ruined her last chance at finding a place to belong.

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction, Contemporary, Retellings, Realistic Fiction, Romance, Book Club

353 pages, Paperback

First published June 30, 2015

Reviews

[Manybooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although I do very much appreciate that in Ana of California, which is clearly a modern-day, contemporary reimagining and adaptation of L.M. Montgomery's 1908 Anne of Green Gables, author Andi Teran has not just taken L.M. Montgomery's narrative and modernised it a bit, but has in fact created and written her own story, albeit one that is of course and obviously heavily based on and influenced by Montgomery's classic, I also and with more than a bit of frustration do feel that some of the big time differences between Anne of Green Gables and Ana of California in fact and actually go rather too far for my personal reading comfort level.

And yes, first and foremost, I do not particularly enjoy how the Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert characters of Anne of Green Gables have been kind of reversed in Ana of California, so that Emmett Garber is much stricter and in the beginning chapters also considerably more uncompromising with regard to Ana Cortez than his much more laid back and easy-going sister Abbie. For while I am of course appreciative of the fact that Andi Teran has not made the Garber siblings carbon copies of L.M. Montgomery's Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert, I equally do not altogether find it really pleasant that Emmett Garber is so strict and even rather mean-spirited at times and that Abbie Garber right from the first has such a very strong and friendly connection towards their ward and farming intern, Ana Cortez (and yes, mostly because I still was expecting in Ana of California for the general character traits of Abbie and Emmett Garber to be mostly similar to Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert and not so totally reversed in many ways).

Furthermore, for much of Ana of California, I actually have also tended to find Ana Cortez' best friend (and yes, obviously based on Anne Shirely's best friend Diana Barry) Rye Moon a mostly rather majorly annoying (and also totally stereotypically Lesbian) character and even somewhat of a so-called fair-weather friend to Ana (and in particular when Rye totally fibs and lies when she tells her parents that it was Ana who made her ingest magic mushrooms, which is so very much different from how in Anne of Green Gables Diana Barry totally casts no blame on Anne Shirley whatsoever regarding the currant wine fiasco). And therefore, albeit that I have certainly mildly enjoyed reading Ana of California, I also have found Andi Teran's narrative at times much too different and changed from the basic Anne of Green Gables thematics for my liking and tastes (and yes indeed, this especially with regard to Rye Moon and Ana Cortez' friendship, as I was indeed totally expecting the same kind of all encompassing and free of quarrels relationship that Anne Shirley and Diana Barry have and enjoy in Anne of Green Gables and the sequels).

[Ash · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was really hoping to give this one at LEAST 4 stars.........but I can't bring myself to do it.

Hmm....this book.....I was drawn to this title months before it came out because...Hello? The name! Anne of Green Gables anyone!? Also, it really is reminiscent of that series, which I love [both books AND movies]

I don't usually read books like this.....it wasn't science fiction, it wasn't fantasy....no end of the world scenarios...or magic, [unless you count that one girl with the shrooms...] and usually when I find a book that has none of that, there's always romance and a happily ever after....[Kasie West, anyone?] ...this book though? yes, there was attraction, and there were even a few kisses, but this was a coming of age story.....Like I said, if you know the AoGG story, you've got the gist of this.

I wanted to believe the writing was amazing....but, you know......it wasn't totally on par with the course.....but thats fine, this was a debut novel, and for that, I think the author did a wonderful job.....I loved the modern take on AoGG....the story itself was a nice change of scenery from what I usually find myself reading, but I felt like...they weren't really inconsistencies....but I felt like.....some details were overlooked? things that needed more explanation. I felt that some of the actions of the main characters... [Hmm...I'm having trouble explaining this.......] I don't know...I felt like, there were certain times when I thought reactions to some things would be stronger. Whether good or bad. I thought things that the writing made you think seemed important at the time, would actually be important at some point, but didn't end up meaning anything. The characters were likeable, I suppose...but I really - AND THIS COULD TOTALLY JUST BE ME... - just couldn't find myself connecting with any of them. They had their moments, and I liked them, but there was no true connection, where I felt drawn to them, where I felt their pain or happiness, where I wanted to laugh with them...

And I did have a few slight issues....and thats where my rating greatly factors.....there is a quite a bit of sterotypical bullshit in this book....and the bullshit would be the prejudices that come with those stereotypes. Do I realize that this takes place in a small town? yes....and I know how some small towns work...but seriously...? the Mexican orphan girl from LA? yeah shes OBVIOUSLY a gangbanger.....yep. ANYWAY That stuff....no, it didn't necessarily ruin the story for me....but, it was brought up MORE than once, and it was kind of annoying.

AND THEN...there was the ending... I understand that in REAL LIFE...the story doesn't just stop because the writing itself ended, so the abrupt-ish ending of the book SHOULD have been fine....but, unless there is a sequel coming, that I haven't heard about yet...the ending was incredibly disappointing, and most certainly unsatisfying. It was a HEA...in a way, but I felt like there was just....so much unsaid....I felt that it was rushed and even though you KNEW to expect it, it came from out of nowhere...and the details of the epilogue itself? that was some VAGUE shit, seriously....*sigh* ANYWAY...AGAIN...

Overall this was a really sweet, adorable, easy read. I enjoyed it, except for those few things I bitched about, haha. I think as far as debut novels go, it was really good. Its on my shelf here at home, and I can definitely see myself rereading it....AND also reading future things written by this author. [And I hope its a sequel to this.............................just sayin']

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[Kelly]

I have zero baggage for Anne of Green Gables coming into this, having never read it, so I didn't spend any time looking at or thinking about the take on it.

Rather, this was a totally fresh story of Ana, a child who got lost and shuffled through the foster system in LA. When she's given the chance to intern at a farm in Northern California, she finds herself so cautious about losing the opportunity that she loses a bit of herself. But as she pushes more and more, she discovers a best friend and a romantic interest.

I get why this book isn't marketed for YA. The voice isn't there and there's a little too much dwelling on the back stories of the adults here, Abbie and Emmett. But YA readers will absolutely eat this up. Ana is hardened and sharp, not taking anything from anyone, yet she has this immense desire to make other people happy so she doesn't lose the opportunity here for a new life.

The setting in a poorer town with a big reliance on migrant workers was well rendered. It's a rural story, and it's about finding those people who "get" you in those places -- an especially important thing to someone at 15 and someone who has never had that sort of connection before.

[Cam (Lana Belova)]

"Remembering the words of her abuela, she reminded herself to always extend a hand, either physical or metaphorical, even toward those who recede."

So far the plot seems similar to Anne of Green Gables. But I like the author's writing style.

[Hallie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maybe 2.5, because I'm not at all sorry to have listened to this, but on the other hand, I'm *cross* about a huge part of the story.

When Katayoun read this and didn't like it, I took the warning of a fellow Anne of Green Gables fan, and dropped it from to-read to maybe-read. I was also curious though (as was Katayoun about how I'd react), so when I found the audiobook while searching Scribd for everything I could find, I decided to go ahead and listen. The narrator was fine, so none of my disappointment - or crossness - had to do with that. (The audio isn't very well-edited though, so I wouldn't push people towards it either.) The thing is that I can often get a lot of enjoyment out of the logical puzzle game of watching how an author chooses to update an older book to keep essentials of plot and character in place, without the distortion of mapping directly onto the year 2015. A case in point is Another Little Piece of My Heart, a YA retelling of Persuasion, which I found very entertaining in large part because the reason for Anne's character to give up her bf was quite clever. It certainly isn't the bloody brilliant novel that >Persuasion is, but you'd have to be incredibly optimistic to expect or need that, to enjoy it. That's the way I was expecting to find this fun, when I read the first positive review, and did so, for a while.

The reason for Ana's being sent from L.A., where she's in the foster care system, to the Garber's family farm in northern California, is a bit shaky, but the farm when she gets there, and setting in general, is great. It's quite fun spotting the similarities and differences between this and the original, such as the fact that the character of the two siblings is reversed, roughly speaking, with Abbie the softer and more positive one to Emmett's gruff inside and out manner. (He's pretty harsh for quite a bit of the book and Abbie doesn't quite make up for Matthew.) If you think Anne had a hard life before Avonlea, she's got *nothing* on Ana, to the extent that it's really hard to imagine the character we see having come from those experiences. But, all of this was pretty minor and there was enough that worked for me to be quite happy, until we met Rye Moon, the Diana equivalent. I wasn't mad keen on her from the first, although I kind of respect the author's decision to make her a lesbian. But she's endlessly disgusted with her small hometown, and I could take only so much of her "must be more than this provincial town" song, but she has absolutely zero ability to understand that expressing her *jealousy* of Ana for having lived in (East) L.A. is ludicrous. As well as this, she tells everyone in school that Ana was in a gang in L.A., which is the most horrifically insensitive thing anyway, but worse because Ana's parents were in a gang, and they and her grandmother were all gunned down by rival gang members. Oh yeah, and 6-year-old Ana was forcibly tattooed with her parents' gang sign - possession and 'protection' both, though as it was done the day her grandmother had been shot in the street, not so much of the latter. Then Rye goes on to whine more about how she wishes SHE could be kicked out of home, and maybe live in a group home in East L.A. - nothing much wrong with her parents or anything, either - and doesn't get it when Ana keeps saying that she won't just get grounded if she gets in trouble, but will be sent back. And THEN, she blames Ana for something she not only didn't do, but actually told Rye point blank she'd never do. Telling her parents that Ana forced her to take the magic mushrooms, after trying to push Ana to do them? And after Ana and Cole rescued her from her own stupid getting-high-alone stunt? INEXCUSABLE. Rye's refusal to forgive Cole for what he did to her, unintentionally and for which he's apologised many times, while doing far, far worse to Ana and never apologising, was really the icing on the HELL.NO cake.

I doubt Diana is anyone's *favourite* character, but she's sweet and kind and would never dump Anne in trouble just to get out of it herself; in other words, she's a true friend, as is Anne. The time they're not allowed to see each other is really sad because everyone (except Diana's mother) understands that getting Diana drunk was an honest mistake that should be forgiven, if not laughed over. The parallel here was entirely Rye's own doing, and her blaming Ana was rotten. When Ana kept giving Cole the "you don't know how lucky you really are" lecture he deserved a lot less than Rye did, it was particularly irksome. Because yes, everybody and their uncle (and dog too!) has it better than Ana, but Cole's family was really quite awful and it's not as if rich kids with two living parents can't have legitimate problems too. I guess I'd probably have been able to go along with a lot of changes and different directions even if some of them didn't work as well as others, but can't understand how someone could love Anne of Green Gables enough to want to retell it, and yet miss so badly on one of the most important relationships of the book.

[Arlene · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful story about a girl’s quest to find a place where she can belong. A beautiful novel about loss, struggle and friendship, Ana of California turned out to be a story filled with small surprises and big hopes. I finished this story quite quickly because I was drawn into the characters and their lives.

Ana Cortez has bounced around the foster care system for over ten years. When her social worker informs Ana she’s reached her final straw, a chance to work as a farm hand in Northern California is her last hope before she gets thrown into a girls home. When Ana reaches Garber farms, she’s determined to make it work, but unfortunately she can’t tell a weed from parsley or when and how to properly pull garlic buds from their stems. Not for lack of trying, Ana makes mistake after mistake, but the Garbers and the farm workers come to care for Ana’s determined ways.

However, when she inevitably makes a mistake that has some of the townies judging her despite the progress she’s made, Ana wonders if she’s cashed in the last bit of hope she stored up for a decent life.

Overall, I really enjoyed Ana’s story. Reading that she came from Southern California, it was interesting to have some frame of reference to the places she grew up in. I really appreciated Ana’s determined nature despite the loss and tragedy she’s experienced at such a young age. I would have like to learn more about Ana’s life outside of her past that defined her. I sensed she had some amazing skills, so it would have been nice to learn what she aspired to be when she grew up. However, I suppose when someone is so focused on surviving the here and now, future plans are tough to define with any clarity.

I was drawn to Abbie and Emmett’s life, and it was interesting to get some tidbits about their past. Further insight into both of these secondary characters would have been nice, but I was pleased with what was shared. These two were both worthy characters that added an additional level of substance to the story.

Ana of California is what I would categorize as a hidden gem, which I’m so glad I jumped into. Very enjoyable story that was casted and narrated perfectly.

[Kara Babcock · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ana of California is one of those books that had to grow on me. This isn’t particularly a problem with the book but more my mood going into it. I guess I was hoping for something more, but Andi Teran’s story tends to move at a more sedate pace than I was expecting. I would hesitate to describe this as “coming of age” or anything so grand as that, but this is a novel where small things have big impacts for the protagonist and the people around her.

Ana Cortez is almost sixteen and an orphan. Out of options—going back to the group home is not an option—she reluctantly agrees to work on a farm in the small town of Hadley for the summer. The farm is managed by a brother-sister team, the brother not really down with Ana’s presence, the sister far more enthusiastic. As Ana gets to know her new foster family and meets more people her age in Hadley, her role as fish-out-of-water provokes all manner of small conflicts that allow us to get to know these characters and, ultimately, Ana to know herself.

Ana of California epitomizes, in some ways, telling rather than showing. I say this because telling is not necessarily as problematic as people make it out to be—there are situations where exposition is a welcome respite. In places, Teran uses this to her advantage, with conversations between characters fleshing out the backstory and providing insight into the dynamics of Hadley prior to Ana’s arrival. In other places, though, the telling-not-showing vibe is less useful. Teran’s omniscient narrator has a habit of jumping into various characters’ heads—not in and of itself a bad thing—and then explaining a bunch of stuff to us that we then hear again, much later, when Ana learns it. This narrative choice is interesting—this would be a very different story if it were told solely from Ana’s perspective—but the precise way in which Teran executes it leaves much to be desired.

These qualms didn’t sit well with me for the first part of the story, but my mood gradually improved. As Ana interacts more with the residents of Hadley, starts to form relationships, starts making her own choices—good or bad—and basically exercises more agency, I warmed up, both to her and to this book. Her learning curve feels real and believable. And for a story that often exists in a low gear, it has surprising moments where it ramps up to high gear and full speed and delivers insightful commentary on racism, poverty, crime, etc. This novel is far from fluffy, and I’m really glad I stuck with it.

Abbie’s little romantic arc doesn’t do much for me. I’m much more partial to Ana’s relationships, both her complicated thing with Cole and her friendship with Rye. In the case of Cole, there’s definitely a filigree of romance, but it’s not always there. And I really like the ambiguity of the ending, both in terms of how Cole makes that decision, and how they might or might not end up “together” (for some value of together). The whole development of this relationship steers clear of some of the more stereotypical tropes of girl-meets-boy-girl-falls-for-boy, for which I’m grateful. Similarly, Ana’s friendship with Rye has some interesting ups-and-downs that fit with her outsider role in Hadley, from the way Rye constantly misjudges Ana’s past to Ana not always being ready to discuss her feelings because, hey, this is the first time she’s actually had a best friend.

It has been far too long since I read Anne of Green Gables, so I’m not going to compare Ana of California to its influence. Suffice it to say that I can see the parallels. In short, while Teran’s writing doesn’t always work for me, and the story might be so-so, I came to appreciate this book’s emotional intelligence. Depending on what you’re looking for, that might actually be all you need.

[Jaclyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

The reason that I picked up Ana of California is solely due to the fact that it’s a reimagining of one of my favourite books, Anne of Green Gables. As always with retellings there is some (or a lot) of risk involved in taking on a book that is beloved by so many people. For the most part, I think Ana of California says true to the essence of Anne while standing alone as it’s own work.

Ana was orphaned followed the murder of her parents and then her grandmother by gang members in L.A. For years Ana has been bouncing around foster care until her social worker offers her a last chance in a farming program. If Ana works on a farm until she turns sixteen she just might be able to get herself emancipated. Ana knows that she has to make this new situation work, and she knows this means keeping her mouth shut more often than not. Of course, this is not always easy for Ana.

Emmett and Abbie Garber are a brother and sister duo that have been running the family farm; however, times have been tough in more ways than the financial. Abbie makes the decision to take part in the farm program that brings Ana to them. Unlike Emmett, Abbie is thrilled to have Ana living with them, appreciating both Ana’s hard work and her positive presence. Of course, having read Anne of Green Gables it's clear that Ana's growing relationship with the Garber's is going to hit some pretty significant roadblocks.

For those that have read Anne of Green Gables the plot of Ana of California isn’t surprising; it follows Anne in broad strokes. That said, Ana was her own character. Yes, she Anne Shirley-esque with her rambling words and imaginative spirit, but Ana was also her own character, which I thought was a good move on the author’s part. I’m a big Anne fan, but I don’t want to read the exact same story. With Ana of California the author succeeds in modernizing a classic tale for existing fans while also crafting an engrossing story for readers unfamiliar with Anne.

As much as I enjoyed Ana of California I did find that the ending was a bit rushed and unbalanced in comparison to the first three quarters of the book. There was so much care evident in the first part of the book in how Ana and the Garbers were introduced to readers, then all the sudden readers are thrown new characters of Rye (a.k.a. Diana from Anne) and Cole (a.k.a. Gilbert from Anne) who were not explored with the same depth that Abbie and Emmett were. Abbie and Emmett were fabulous and I only wish that as much time would have been spent on Rye and Cole. For me Ana of California needed to be longer.

For fellow rabid Anne of Green Gables fans, I think you'll appreciate this homage to a classic. Ana of California pays tribute to a classic but also offers an engrossing coming-of-age tale of a funny, endearing and quirky heroine.

Originally reviewed at The Book Adventures.

*Review copy provided by the publisher via Edelweiss.

[Ian · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was very readable for much of it! I never read Anne of Green Gables, so it's possible some of my criticisms of the read have something to do with the author attempting to preserve some of the spirit of her source material. But I liked the idea of a Mexican American girl from a tough neighborhood moving out to "intern" on a farm that was essentially already being tended to by Latino American farmworkers. I thought it would be interesting to see what that would look like.

Ana is a solid character. She's written to be very sweet, maybe not enough edge for a girl in and out of neglectful Los Angeles foster homes. But this is written for an audience much younger than me, so I'll forgive it that! I also liked the sister and brother pair Emmett and Abbie Garber who agree to have her out at their Northern Cali farm for the summer. They both come with their own baggage and each of them are given distinctive, memorable voices. Anna's time on the farm is entertaining; she's clueless as to how it all works, which makes for some unfortunate scenarios. Luckily, she finds a fiercely loyal and sweet teacher in Manny, the head of operations at the farm and a group of low-key (Latino-American) farmhands who don't give her too much grief and grow to respect her. She also makes a good friend in Rye Moon, the daughter of a shopowner in town. Unfortunately, Rye is written WAY over the top, and I found her to be pretty irritating.

The story started, for me, to lose its way in its introduction of the romantic male lead, Cole. He's a rich, formerly wild kid with (of course) a secret heart of gold. The pair don't have a ton of chemistry or Teran doesn't do enough to convince us of their great love for each other. Unfortunately, their love figures prominently in the end and takes over much of the story.

[Kaitlyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

There is some of this I really loved (the adaptation of the raspberry cordial shenanigans for example) and I really, really wanted to love this retelling of Anne of Green Gables (a childhood favorite, standby, best friend) featuring a Latina foster kid but I felt like Teran hit the plot points without capturing the spirit of what she was adapting.

Like, Anne is about childhood (reclaiming and refashioning it), this is necessarily about adulthood (learning to grow into it, even against one's will) and the way that discrepancy was forced into resolution felt really hollow to me.

I think where Teran gets lost is in not giving the story room to breath. I don't care about anything when I'm being asked to care about ten thousand things at once. There's too much: Abbie and Emmett's respective and combined backstories, Cole's stuff, Rye's stuff, Rye's stuff with Cole, Cole's stuff with Abbie and Emmett, Ana's history, Ana's future, Ana's art, Abbie and Emmett's business.

I don't even know what the point was -- I think maybe Cole's family's stuff with Emmett but there's nothing to grab onto. (The shifting perspective doesn't help. Could we just stay in third-person limited Ana pov please? Like I do not even care for a minute what is motivating Will the restauranteur with a thing for Abbie.) This was all very pleasant to read (and I will probably order it for my library for that very reason) but ultimately pretty hollow.

Maybe in retrospect Montgomery's book would feel the same way. I don't think so but I don't really have an argument for why not.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a GORGEOUS book. Now, coming off the complete downer that was MARCH, I am glad that I had already picked up and read the first few pages of this. Ana is the modern version of Anne with an E, she of Green Gables and Prince Edward Island. I would not pick up something like this, for fear of besmirching the memory of one of my most beloved books. But this book was absolutely lovely.

I loved Ana, a foster child whose last chance at a home is to spend the summer at a family run farm. The blurb on the front of the book, from Emma Straub, says that "by the end" she wanted to scoop Ana up in her arms. I got there by about page two. Ana just captured my heart at once. Abbie and Emmett, the siblings who run the farm, are wonderful, as are all the characters. Except Rye. The one fly in the (organic lavender) ointment here is Rye, who takes the place of Diana as Ana's best friend. She doesn't seem to listen to, or understand, Ana, but wants full support and understanding from her, and in the end, I felt that their friendship was unsatisfactory and unfounded.

But that aside, such a wonderful book. I would not hesitate to give this to a teen, or an adult, and there is no need to have read ANNE OF GREEN GABLES. This books stands firmly on its own.

[Victoria (RedsCat) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although Ana of California is being promoted as an Anne of Green Gables re-telling, this novel stands firmly on its own. Ana is older than Anne and her circumstances are darker and the story heavier.

Ana of California is a good, solid story of a bright and artistically-talented young girl who has had a traumatic childhood, followed by a grim youth spent in multiple foster homes. Despite the experiences of her young life, she is still big-hearted and open-hearted and wants a place to call home and people to call family.

There are lots of bits pulled, but altered, from the L.M. Montgomery story and you'll have fun finding them.
There is a beautiful farm owned by a brother and sister who are both single, a mischievous best friend, and amusing re-imaginings of some of Anne's bigger scrapes.

The story is built around many likable characters, but don't expect them to be mirrors of the original Anne's world. The plot-line is good, sometimes heartbreaking, and the setting is a lovely small town in Northern California. I found the book to be uplifting and satisfying.

(Thanks very much to Penguin Books and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review!)

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been re-reading many of LMM's books this year, and I was delighted to see this retelling of AoGG. Ana of California was a fun, easy read, with plenty of clever nods to AoGG that made me smile when I caught them.

But.

LMM's stories were always as much about setting and character and internal change as they were about plot. They were compelling without having to have high-stakes plot situations. Teran's story relies too heavily on plot and fraught, with every character carrying "secrets" that don't make that much sense as secrets. At least four characters have "secrets" that create false tension in the story.

Green Gables was a world I always wanted to re-enter because of its beauty, but Ana's California is a Hallmark movie set that I rushed through to find out what would happen, and don't feel compelled to visit again.

A fun summer book with unrealized potential to be more.

[L Y N N · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full review at Smoke & Mirrors: http://books-n-music.blogspot.com/201.... That was an excellent read! Although I kinda wish I hadn't had this comparison always going on my head as I read--"How does this compare to Anne of Green Gables?" This was a great book! On its own! No comparison to AoGG needed! Nicely done. Loved the characterization and the juxtaposition of two teens with very different background stories who each feel alienated and abandoned to a great degree. I definitely recommend this one!

[Fallon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. I wanted so badly to like this one, since I loved Anne of Green Gables as a kid, but there's just no "there" there. Good first start for a debut author, but there's no depth to the characters and it comes off as flat.

[Wendy Darling]

Hmm. I am very suspicious, being that I LOVE Anne, but this talk of tomato plants and blackberry bushes makes me a teeny bit hopeful. Teeny tiny. We'll see!

[Rabiah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally posted at: http://iliveforreading.blogspot.com/2...

When I found out that Ana of California was based on L. M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables, I knew I HAD to sign up for the blog tour. Anne of Green Gables and the rest of the books in the series are some of my favourite books that I read when I was younger. I loved reading about Anne’s adventures as she grew up, that all starts at Green Gables. I even went to Prince Edward Island, where the book is set, when I lived in Canada, and visited the house that inspired Green Gables. It was closed though at the time, but my mom and I kinda just went past the ticket booth just to get a glimpse of the house. I loved visiting PEI–it was such a magical place and I could totally envision the setting mentioned in the series as my family and I drove around the area. Anyway, that being said, I was also a little afraid going into Ana of California because Anne of Green Gables is such a treasured classic (for me as well as plenty of others) and sometimes retellings can go wrong. I was so happy that this wasn’t the case. I enjoyed Ana of California immensely, and loved the parts of the book inspired by the original classic as well as Teran’s own spin to the story.

I haven’t read Anne of Green Gables in a long time, but I don’t think much is mentioned about Anne Shirley’s past. What I liked about Ana of California is that Ana does have a past, which is slowly unveiled as the book goes on. It was a slight mystery to begin with but of course, learning about it later on in the book also supports the idea that Ana opens up to these people in Hadley. I also liked the diversity featured in this book–Mexican heritage, Native American heritage, a character who’s a lesbian–the characters in this book come from all walks of life. In this book we also get to see a bit more of Abbie’s story, which was pretty interesting. I think that’s why this book, despite having a fifteen/sixteen-year-old protagonist, was marketed as an Adult book–although it’s very clearly a YA book despite the label. I just wish we got to see more from Emmett’s point of view, but there’s also a bit of mystery to his character that is revealed towards the end of the book.

As I mentioned before, I haven’t read the classic in a while, but some things that did pop up in Teran’s reimagining reminded me of Anne Shirley’s story. For instance, the hair incident? That’s truly a part of the original story that I can’t forget! So glad that it was included in this one–I was hoping it would be when I started it. There’s also the argument Anne has with Mrs. Rachel Lynde, who spurs this hatred from Anne because she calls her ugly, in Anne of Green Gables. Ana has a similar spat with a similar woman, and seeing the parallels between the two situations, in this novel and in the classic, made me nostalgic. All the references to Montgomery’s book just made me want to re-read the series even more!

Ana of California was a real treat: I savoured this book from start to finish. From the beautiful descriptions of the farm to Ana’s wonderful musings to the intertextual allusions to various rock songs, Andi Teran’s fantastic debut has rekindled my love for Anne of Green Gables, making me fall in love with Ana’s story as well. Can’t wait to read more from this author–hopefully, it’ll be another delightful reimagining.

[Laurel-Rain · Rating 4 out of 5]

For almost ten years, Ana Cortez had been at the mercy of the foster care system. In and out of homes, mostly in East LA, she is now at a crossroads. Next stop: a group home. Unless her social worker, Lupe Saucedo, can come up with a creative solution.

As she meets with Ms. Saucedo, Ana learns that, indeed, a new possibility is available to her. She can be placed in Northern California, in redwood country, where she can intern on a farm for the summer. And perhaps longer. The ultimate goal: emancipation.

From the first moments after her arrival in Hadley and to the home of Emmett Garber and his sister Abbie, Ana feels on trial. Every word, every glance, every misunderstanding…they all point to failure, even though she is trying hard. But nobody seems to give her a chance, especially Emmett Garber, who has his own issues and little understanding of Ana’s.

Abbie is impressed by Ana’s creativity, however, and the efforts she has made to do what is required. Small mistakes make it harder, but there are a few moments of connection developing between them.

Naturally, there is a boy, Cole Brannan, who is drawn to Ana, and she to him. But his parents have issues with the Garbers, making Cole a forbidden love. And the attraction between them evokes all of Abbie’s worst memories about her own past errors in judgment.

How do the past mistakes of all the characters play into the events of that summer and fall? Why are so many people unable to give Ana the benefit of the doubt? And, finally, what frightening event will change how everyone sees her? Will Ana finally achieve her dreams of belonging?

Throughout "Ana of California," I felt myself rooting for Ana, wishing that I could somehow make others understand her and give her the chance she so sorely needs. She was an appealing character, and I could understand why she connected to the girl named Rye Moon. But I found Rye unlikeable.

Rye, with her somewhat Bohemian style, resonated with Ana. But she seemed to create situations that would evolve into trouble. Lashing out seemed to be Rye’s MO, and this behavior made it hard for this reader to connect to her.

Small town life might have appeared to be a good idea for Ana, but the smallness of the town contributed to many of the problems, too, with residents jumping to conclusions, reacting out of their own preconceptions about Ana and her life. Misunderstandings and miscommunication ran rampant. In the end, this mix added to my fascination with the story, and with my inability to put this book down. 4.5 stars.

**I received this e-ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

[Kay · Rating 2 out of 5]

just read Anne of green gables because this is not it

[The Candid Cover (Olivia & Lori) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full Review on The Candid Cover

Ana of California by Andi Teran is one of those books that is perfect for a lazy afternoon in the sun. In a new spin on an old favourite, Andi Teran has created an updated version of Anne of Green Gables that includes a spunky main character and oozes in diversity.
ENTERTAINING RETELLING

Ana of California is an entertaining retelling of the classic Anne of Green Gables. Andi Teran has kept the main ideas from the classic, but retold the story in a way that is modern and full of energy. Like Anne, Ana is a feisty foster child that is sent to live on a farm with a new foster family. The story, however, turns upside down with a new set of friends and experiences that a teenager 100 years later would be faced with.

FEARLESS AND SARCASTIC MAIN CHARACTER

As any fan of the classic story would expect, Ana is the ultimate protagonist for the book. She brings humour to the storyline with her fearlessness, sarcasm and wit. Readers will easily find Ana both loveable and flawed. Ana stirs up quite a bit of trouble everywhere she goes, however it is easy to forgive and find her hopelessly adorable. This makes for a relatable and believable main character.

LOTS OF DIVERSITY

Chock full of diversity, Ana of California definitely gives a new perspective on the older version. Ana is Mexican and has to deal with some racism that is extremely unnecessary. She is also a foster child, which makes her life even harder, especially with her poor behaviour and track record. Ana isn’t the only diverse character, though. Her best friend, Rye, is a lesbian and is constantly bullied by classmates.This book definitely raises awareness about these topics in a unique way.

If you are a fan of Anne of Green Gables, I recommend Ana of California to you. It is very similar to the original and it is interesting to compare the two books. Ana of California is such a sweet book that is sure to become a favourite read this summer.

[Hannah • So Obsessed With · Rating 3 out of 5]

While Ana of California was creative, it didn't live up to my expectations. It was a pretty quick and easy read, and there were elements I truly enjoyed. Unfortunately, I wouldn't have picked up this book without the connection to Anne Shirley and that's the element that left me disappointed. I don't think you have to be a fan of Anne of Green Gables to read this book - you can easily dive into the story without any background knowledge of its inspiration. If you are a fan, I'd have a few reservations. I think I would have liked it more if it hadn't been a retelling. I held it to a higher standard because of my love for the original, and it just didn't meet it. It was an interesting twist on the plot of the beloved book, but it just didn't capture the spirit or charm.

See my full review at So Obsessed With!

[Martinique · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful little gem that had me engaged from the very first paragraph. The characters are intriguing and like a new friendship slowly develop as you get pulled further into the story. I couldn't put this down once I started. Andi Teran does a masterful job creating the intimacy of a small town coupled with the strong desire for privacy from the main characters. The world and characters of Hadley, California come to life in a way that makes me want to visit and meet all the residents of Hadley. This is a book I can't wait to share with my kids. My daughter will love this bookI'm recommending this book to everyone.

[Laura Maxwell-Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book!

[Sarah TheAromaofBooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5*

As a retelling of Anne of Green Gables, it's a bit weak. But viewed more as a riff on the theme, it does pretty well.

Ana is set in modern-day California. Ana is an orphan being shuttled around the foster care system who is just about out of options. At 15, Ana is one of those people who wants to get things right, but never can quite seem to. Horrified at the prospect of returning to a group home, Ana accepts an opportunity to live an work on a farm.

Abbie and Emmett, brother and sister, have run their family farm together for years. Abbie is convinced that having a younger person around the farm will help with the work and with the overall spirit of the place, which is a little down since Emmett’s wife left him the year before. However, she neglects to tell Emmett that the orphan heading their way is actually a girl. Prejudiced against Ana when she arrives, Emmett says that she is on a month trial.

I have to say that while I felt like the swap of having Emmett be the one who isn't sure about keeping Ana worked, on the whole his character somewhat annoyed me. He was so ridiculous about some things. For instance, he wants Ana to weed a certain section of garden - but doesn't bother to tell her what the good plants look like, even though he KNOWS she knows nothing and is a total city girl... yet still blames her for pulling the wrong plants??? This is setting aside the fact that she is FIFTEEN and you are an ADULT. It just felt like he was constantly picking on her and finding fault with things that weren't actually her fault, and I didn't understand WHY. She's actually doing her best and not causing any trouble, so I had no idea why he was so hung up on making sure she got sent back, especially when his sister is the one who has to do all the extra work and she's way into having Ana there. Emmett's motivations for disliking Ana felt weak.

Ana herself was a very sympathetic character. Struggling to do the right thing but so often accidentally making the wrong choice, there were also a lot of moments where she did do the right thing, but the prejudices against her painted the incidents in a bad light. It was a good reminder that the people around us frequently are struggling with things of which we are unaware, and being slow to judge is a good thing.

Overall, I felt like Teran did a decent job modernizing this story. Some aspects of Ana’s past are much darker than Anne’s, but for the most part it was handled pretty deftly. I appreciated a YA story that didn’t revolve around sex, too.

Places where this book really falls down as an AGG parallel are with some of the other characters. Diana’s replacement, Rye, was incredibly annoying – she spent all of her time whining about how she hated her small-town life, being jealous of the fact that Ana lived in LA (hello?? She’s a penniless orphan?? Her parents were murdered in a drug-dealing incident involving a gang?? While you have two incredibly loving and supportive parents?!), refusing to forgive her ex-best friend despite repeated apologies for what he did, and lying about Ana not once, but TWICE to get herself out of trouble! Rye’s character really brought down the overall tone of the book for me, even setting aside the fact that she is nothing like the sweet, kind, innocent Diana from the original – on her own, Rye is still obnoxious.

There were other places where the story stuttered. Sometimes, the third person narration would give me some background on characters and situations that Ana still didn’t know about, or would jump to what another person (usually Abbie) was thinking/feeling. This was a little confusing and distracted from the flow of the story, plus it made it hard to keep track of what Ana did and didn't know about other characters' back stories. I think the story would have flowed better if it had made distinct jumps from one POV to another (e.g. a chapter with Ana and then a chapter with Abbie).

It also felt like some things were just kind of skimmed over, so I still had a lot of questions about some of the different characters. I really thought this book could have been longer and more fleshed out.

With my midwestern farming mindset, I couldn’t quite get my head around the farm where Ana was living. Is this really what farms look like in northern California? Just like… tons of random crops all going at the same time, all of which have to be hand-picked (we tend towards acres and acres of one crop around here)? I also wasn’t convinced that Abbie, on her own, was somehow doing all of this cooking/food preservation, especially in her home kitchen. But, you know, maybe they do things differently in California…???

There was also random stuff, like at one point they meet a character and he has a bunch of deer antlers for decoration and Ana wants to know if hunts them. He says he's never killed a deer in his life, he just collects them from garage sales and stuff... but never actually mentions the fact that you don't have to kill a deer to get its antlers??? Almost all antlers you see in decorations are natural sheds, because deer lose their antlers and grow new ones every year. Which also means you rarely find them in "pairs" because deer don't usually lose both at the same exact time and place. So the whole "he had pairs of antlers" around and then gives Ana a "pair of antlers" to take home just sounded ridiculous to me.

Then of course there's the entire mountain lion encounter that just... oh my gosh *eye roll*



Home » A Novel » Ana of California // by Andie Teran
Ana of California // by Andie Teran
Posted on January 11, 2019 by Sarah

//published 2015//

I still randomly subscribe to book boxes when I have a little spare cash (it’s an addiction). They pretty consistently send books I wouldn’t necessarily pick up on my own, and sometimes they even end up being books that I enjoy. I wasn’t too sure about Ana since the synopsis said that it was a book in “the tradition of Anne of Green Gables.” Sometimes there are books in your life that you are so emotionally bound to that you know it’s kind of unreasonable, but there you are. AGG is of those books for me, and I have seen other interpretations of it that do that wonderful story and its perfect characters a huge disservice. So I was nervous about Ana.

And in the end though – I was pleasantly surprised, as this story ended up being a 4* read for me.

Ana is set in modern-day California. Ana is an orphan being shuttled around the foster care system who is just about out of options. At 15, Ana is one of those people who wants to get things right, but never can quite seem to. Horrified at the prospect of returning to a group home, Ana accepts an opportunity to live an work on a farm.

Abbie and Emmett, brother and sister, have run their family farm together for years. Abbie is convinced that having a younger person around the farm will help with the work and with the overall spirit of the place, which is a little down since Emmett’s wife left him the year before. However, she neglects to tell Emmett that the orphan heading their way is actually a girl. Prejudiced against Ana when she arrives, Emmett says that she is on a month trial.

There were a lot of things to like about this book. First off, if you’ve never read Anne of Green Gables (I hope that isn’t true), it would have no impact on the reading of this story, which is completely its own thing (in a good way). But if you HAVE read the classic, it was fun to see where Teran had borrowed concepts and given them her own twist without getting out of hand. For instance, having Abbie be the one who immediately loves Ana and wants her to stay while Emmett is the grumpy one, felt natural and fun. The whole thing where Anne accidentally gets Diana drunk had its own updated version here that still felt believable and moved the story forward.

Ana herself was a very sympathetic character. Struggling to do the right thing but so often accidentally making the wrong choice, there were also a lot of moments where she did do the right thing, but the prejudices against her painted the incidents in a bad light. It was a good reminder that the people around us frequently are struggling with things of which we are unaware, and being slow to judge is a good thing.

Overall, I felt like Teran did a decent job modernizing this story. Some aspects of Ana’s past are much darker than Anne’s, but for the most part it was handled pretty deftly. I appreciated a YA story that didn’t revolve around sex, too.

Places where this book really falls down as an AGG parallel are with some of the other characters. Diana’s replacement, Rye, was incredibly annoying – she spent all of her time whining about how she hated her small-town life, being jealous of the fact that Ana lived in LA (hello?? She’s a penniless orphan?? While you have two incredibly loving and supportive parents?!), refusing to forgive her ex-best friend despite repeated apologies for what he did, and lying about Ana not once, but TWICE to get herself out of trouble! Rye’s character really brought down the overall tone of the book for me, even setting aside the fact that she is nothing like the sweet, kind, innocent Diana from the original – on her own, Rye is still obnoxious.

There were other places where the story stuttered. Sometimes, the third person narration would give me some background on characters and situations that Ana still didn’t know about, or would jump to what another person (usually Abbie) was thinking/feeling. This was a little confusing and distracted from the flow of the story. Also connected, although a bit of a personal preference, but having two main characters whose names start with the same letter is always a little confusing to me, I think because I’m a very fast reader. Sometimes I would have to go back to the beginning of the paragraph to remind myself if these feelings belonged to Abbie or Ana.

It also felt like some things were just kind of skimmed over, so I still had a lot of questions about some of the different characters. I really thought this book could have been longer and more fleshed out.

With my midwestern farming mindset, I couldn’t quite get my head around the farm where Ana was living. Is this really what farms look like in northern California? Just like… tons of random crops all going at the same time, all of which have to be hand-picked (we tend towards acres and acres of one crop around here)? I also wasn’t convinced that Abbie, on her own, was somehow doing all of this cooking/food preservation, especially in her home kitchen. But, you know, maybe they do things differently in California…

I wanted this book to last a little longer, because the ending felt somewhat rushed. It’s no shock to the reader that Ana is going to stay with Abbie and Emmett as her forever home, so it would have been nice to spend a little more time with that part of the story. I would totally read a sequel to this story.

One of the things about AGG that I love is the sense of hope throughout the story. While Anne has some dark times, she is always optimistic and working to become a better person. Throughout the story, Anne never really gives into despair, although she may have reason to, and although there are some characters that are easier to dislike, there isn’t anyone truly mean-spirited or evil. Some adaptations of AGG that I have seen/read fail to capture that spirit, turning the story into something much darker and more depressing in tone (I’m looking at you, Anne With an E). All that to say, I think that the real reason that I enjoyed Ana of California was that Teran stuck with the vibe of the original, allowing Ana to come through the dark times of her life a stronger, better person, still looking for the good in other people, still willing to trust, still trying to be open and accepting, despite the betrayals of her past.

Ana stands on its own as an enjoyable story, but even more rare, I felt that it did give homage to the spirit of Anne of Green Gables as well.

[beatricks · Rating 4 out of 5]

The givens: 1) I have a love-hate relationship with adaptation, and tend to avoid adaptations of things I love, because I cannot help but scrutinize and negatively compare them to the original; 2) I am That Anne Fan who once rode a Greyhound a day and a half across Canada to visit Prince Edward Island; 3) I am about as Northern Californian as it gets and have a strong affinity for Mexican culture.

I went into this only thinking about givens 2 and 3 - all my favorite things! One book! Then was immediately reminded of #1. I struggled with the first few chapters and then had to return the unfinished book to the library anyway. Luckily, they also had the audiobook. Pleasant surprise! The author, Andi Teran, does a credible job as narrator, and I found it much easier to get into from her various voices than from stark, not-written-by-LMM words on a page.

Part of my difficulty with the first few chapters was the departure the book takes in the Matthew and Marilla characters, here called Emmett and Abbie. Both are divorced (Emmett only recently, in a subplot that adds little to the book IMO) and here Emmett is the cranky one while Abbie accepts Ana immediately. Ana, of course, is our Anne -- a Latina foster system survivor who spent what free time she had at libraries reading and learning about art and music. She's older than Anne was at the beginning of AoGG, almost 16, and an artist rather than a writer. She's in love with an all-girl punk band called The Hex and Frida Kahlo. Whereas the Matthew, Marilla, Diana, and Gilbert characters all deviate significantly from their progenitors, Ana feels pretty true to Anne's spirit. Plus her last name is Cortez, which I choose to take as a nod to Cordelia.

I think I started getting into it more around the time Rye, the Diana counterpart, was introduced. I have secretly always felt Diana didn't really get Anne and is not interesting enough to be her ultimate BFFle over, say, Phil Gordon; this book plays with both of these ideas by making the quality of Rye's character far more ambiguous than Diana. She is a delightfully catty hipster fashionplate who frequently alienates Ana even while bonding with her over feminism and the Hex, and she's also a lesbian (yet never falls in love with Ana, smh) and a fellow WOC. She isn't always a great friend but she's a much more dynamic character than Diana Barry ever was.

I was also initially charmed by the Gilbert character, Cole. He rides bikes and immediately crushes on Ana; they trade insults over favorite bands (he prefers Minor Threat to Fugazi) and books ("typical" is how she deems his interest in the Beats). He also calls her Curls, which is not really an insult the way Carrots is, but makes her feel insecure and prompts her into hair-ruining mischief a la Anne's green dye. After that, the similarities to Gilbert stop -- and it's not like Gilbert is an amazing character either, just a good match for Anne, so I didn't mind... until his sad little rich boy family angst and mildly assholish backstory just KEPT cropping up. Like, put a leash on it, dude. No one really cares, especially when you keep complaining about it to Ana.

And he got to do that because, unlike Gilbert and Anne, Cole and Ana work out their differences pretty damn quickly. (It's Rye who holds a grudge against him, actually, which makes for a rather different dynamic.) It's cute, at first -- their mutual attraction is convincing and I love Andi Teran's girlish voice for Cole. But when the climax of the book revolves around them as some kind of low key Romeo and Juliet couple, it stops feeling like Anne of Green Gables in a few ways. Forbidden lovers were a favorite of Anne's in her matchmaking years, but they were completely absent from her or her children's (Rilla of Ingleside is maybe even more my jam than Green Gables) relationships. Anne and Gilbert were bitter rivals for years, then friends while Anne assiduously worked to keep things platonic, even rejecting his first proposal before they finally got together after three books. I love the rivals story, and it wouldn't have hurt Ana and Cole to have some of that. But moreover--

--- there's a fourth given. Didn't know I needed it.

4) Try as I might not to be That Feminist who dismisses all romance out of hand as a distraction for Strong Female Characters, sometimes I kind of am.

I know all the reasons why that's a one-dimensional and stupid attitude, and there are plenty of love stories that I enjoy. I am not made of stone, but I do resent the implication that romantic love is a requirement for a happy ending and that a single lady ain't enough on her own. And I think part of that fierce insistence is owed to books like Anne of Green Gables in my childhood, where the heroine was so lively and wonderful and unstoppable that while boys may swoon in her wake, she and her story are complete as is.

So anyway, I didn't like how integral the romance became to the resolution of the book. This whole last section was full of weirdness for me. Anne of Green Gables doesn't really have a plot. I get that. There's no suspense after the first few chapters when Marilla decides to keep Anne, and the closest thing there is to a climax is Matthew's death. So Ana of California, forced to manufacture a plot with stakes, rearranges existent plot points and comes up with a few new ones. Ana spends the whole book worried she'll be sent back to a group home, and plus there's this bullshit with Cole, and then -- THEN -- comes the raspberry cordial incident, translated to "Rye does shrooms and Ana is blamed for it." At the climax of the book, Ana is in desperate straits of being doubted and doubting, turned away from all hopes of belonging.

A little aside: I reread the entire Anne series last year, including Anne of Ingleside, which is my least favorite. Turns out that's because a) it kind of sucks and b) although LM Montgomery most likely wrote it as a cynical cash grab for sentimental Anne fans to buy, it is a rather unhappy book filled with story after story of Anne's family being lied to by false friends and/or being convinced that their family members don't love them. These stories are supposed to be cute, but they just relay a sense of persistent anxiety at odds with the rest of the series. I was reminded of this creeping dread in the last section of Ana of California. It's not a good feeling.

But here's the thing that really took away the fifth star I wanted to give it. Anne saves the day. That's how she wins Diana's parents' approval back after getting Diana drunk, by saving Diana's little sister's life. If there is one defining characteristic to Anne beyond her imagination and tendency to get into scrapes, it is that she is always better than her circumstances and goofy mistakes, and beneath the appearance of flightiness there is intelligence, resourcefulness, grace, and good humor.

(I KNOW. SHE'S A PARAGON. SHE'S NOT A REALISTIC CHARACTER, AND THIS IS NO LONGER A GOOD LOOK IN GOOD BOOKS - sidebar to the haters, shut up, no one asked you)

Anyway. A chapter literally called "Anne to the Rescue" is what results from the tragic raspberry cordial incident, and Ana was really bummed out and upset about her [arguably much worse than Anne's and certainly more realistically traumatizing] backstory, so now, I am thinking, is the time for Ana to find her own inner strength as well as impress the fuck out of the haters whom no one asked. I wanted her to surprise someone if not save a life; to show people what she is made of and to feel good about herself, to shine. A moment of heroic redemption.

But that doesn't come, and in fact a character who has no direct Anne counterpart seems to get the most credit for saving the day. This climax is about proving to Ana that she is already loved, rather than proving to others that she is worthy of love. Which is probably also cool, but when I've spent all book waiting for Ana's moment of brilliance, kind of a bummer for me personally. As much as I don't want to just stack up the two books side by side and say "this fails as an adaptation of my favorite book," because it's obviously not trying to be a super faithful retelling and it is more charming on its own merits and drug jokes anyway, I really wish that particular parallel were included. She deserves it.

[Katherine Tobiya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Omg this book was awesome! Picked this up from Goodwill, the cover and synopsis intrigued me. And I'm so glad it didn't disappoint. It was a really unique read with a great set of characters. My favorite was the setting of the book for sure. Being from East LA I can understand the familiarity in that, and I loved the town of Hadley in Northern California (don't know if it's real or not). It made me want to live there, the author described it so well, quaint little town, with a beach and forest and farm life. Great ending as well and has a little bit of everything for everyone :]

[coriolis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe 3.5 stars? Not sure.

I wanted a modern retelling of Anne Of Green Gables, which is one of my favorite children's classes. And based on the name alone, I guessed this was just that. And it definitely was. It puts a little bit of a twist on the classic Anne story, making Anne Ana instead, and a little bit older.

I definitely enjoyed this book, and I especially loved some of the parallels it drew to the original story. It just didn't WOW me. And let's be real here, the love interest was no Gilbert Blythe.

Cute story, but pretty forgettable.

[Rachel Hope · Rating 1 out of 5]

I debated giving this book another star, but it really doesn't have much going for it except the banter made me giggle in places. I did actually finish this one, but the writing is poor. It's too shallow for an adult/YA and has too many content issues for a younger reader.

[Julie Sellers · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the best retellings of Anne of Green Gables I have read. A beautiful take on the classic novel.

[Anita · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a reimagining of my favourite story ever, Anne of Green Gables. The best thing I can think of to say is that Ana is a very worthy Anne and Maude would be happy with this I think. Also, I guess, I enjoyed the setting and the supporting cast very much. I'm sure people will find problems with it but I really enjoyed it and can't wait to read more from this author