Happily Ever After Book Club discussion

The book for March....Sway!! I'm excited to read this debuts! We'll hold out chat on the 20th, but can leave comments before if you finish early. :) Happy Reading!!

Yay! I just bought it today! What a coinky dink!

Great timing, Emily!! :)

Well...what did everyone think of Sway? Since Austen's Persuasion is one of my favorite books, I always enjoy these modern retellings. I thought this was a good debute and I'll check out more from the author.

While I did enjoy the book, it kept me wanting to read, there were a few things I would have liked better. I wanted to feel more between Ava and Eric, one of my favorite things about these kind of plots is seeing the characters fall in love again. Ava and Eric spend a lot of time apart (most of the time Eric is pretty rude to her) and they're both dating others. I would have liked to see them together more, and not just in flashbacks. I'd have liked to see them in the present time relearning things about each other. Both obviously would have been through a lot in the past eight years and changed quite a bit from when they last knew each other as teenagers. So yeah, I liked them and liked their story, but would have liked to have seen them fall in love as adults.

It's been a while since I've read the original Persuasion, but while I was reading this book I felt like I always knew what was going to happen next because it followed the book (at least the way I remember the book) so closely! I love Persuasion and I really enjoyed this contemporary re-telling of the story, but personally I would have liked a twist along the way -- something to make it a little unique.

I felt the same way Alisa. I feel like that with any Austen retelling, I like when they follow the idea of the story, but really make it their own.

I loved the musical setting. Clever use of some of the original words in the song lyrics that brought her back! It was fun to see, and a cute retelling.

Haha--as I was reading this, I kept thinking, "This is sooo familiar. I just know it's based on an Austen book" and I couldn't for the life of me remember which one! I loved that it was set in modern times and I loved the music elements, but (as I put in my review), I think I tend to be a little harsher with contemporary books and I think it's because it's so much easier to put myself in their shoes. Eric was mean!! Of course, in Persuasion it didn't bother me quite as much, but I wanted more swoon and less evil eye. I devoured it anyway and really enjoyed it!!

Katie wrote: "Haha--as I was reading this, I kept thinking, "This is sooo familiar. I just know it's based on an Austen book" and I couldn't for the life of me remember which one! I loved that it was set in mode..."

I agree Katie, there were times when Eric was just plain mean. I did not care for that at all. There's one thing to be upset about how things ended between them and not wanting anything to do with her, but its another when you go out of your way to hurt her feelings or rub a new relationship in her face. I just didn't buy them suddenly getting back together when they had spent no quality time together in the book. Maybe if we had gotten things from his POV I would have felt differently.

Agreed! I still couldn't help but love it though. :)

His POV would have been a fun twist...

I enjoyed it as well. I wonder if she has plans to write more Austen retellings?

I wonder! That would be awesome and it would be fun from the opposite point of view--I agree with that twist, Alisa!

I love that idea too Alisa!!!

Alisa wrote: "His POV would have been a fun twist..."

Alisa, I too love your idea of a twist of changing to the hero's POV. It still would have been a modern retelling of Persuasion, but an additional fresh twist. I always wondered in the original Jane Austen novel what the hero was thinking and felt about everything that had happened in the past.