Most Ardently by Gabe Cole Novoa

Source: Netgalley- Many many thanks to the publisher!
TL;DR: This was incredibly readable, short, and filled with joy. There was conflict and stakes but ultimately it felt joyful.

Plot: Very similar to the source material – except it focuses on Oliver and his identity as the real conflict
Characters: True to the original, though no one had much screen time besides Oliver, Jane, and Darcy
Setting: There truly wasn’t a lot of the setting shown, but I liked what we got. I feel if this had been longer it would have been much richer in setting and description.
Remix: This was very true to the source, but the twist of Oliver was well explored and made since in the story.

Thoughts:

Most Ardently is a remix of Pride in Prejudice in which Elizabeth is instead, Oliver a trans boy trapped, pretending to be Elizabeth. Naturally, do the time of P&P Oliver must hide who he is and though this is incredibly similar in the structure and some of the story beats to the original, it does take into consideration things from that period that would have been important/affected someone like Oliver.

The story is short, and truly sweet. We see Oliver struggle with when or how to tell his family who he truly is. The only people who know are Jane and Charlotte (though slowly more find out through the course of the book) and ultimately he does find that place and time. The writing in this was readable and pacy and the moments of Oliver changing into the clothes that truly fit him and presenting as he wanted to be seen made my heart happy.

I genuinely loved a lot about this, and in the end it was nothing but joy for Oliver and Darcy. I do wish we’d had a bit more, more time with Oliver and his family and more pages. I feel it possibly was edited down to fit the series length requirements or something similar as the later half to this felt very rushed. If you’re interested, I really recommend this. The cover is stunning and the inside is just as rich and lovely.

4 out of 5 classic love letters