Review: The Dashwood Sisters' Secrets of Love (Giveaway!)

Title: The Dashwood Sisters' Secrets of Love
Author: Rosie Rushton
Genre: YA
Published: 2005
Pages: 325
Rating: 7 / 10
Challenges: N/A
Awards: none

Synopsis:

The Dashwood sisters - Ellie, Abby, and Georgie - have always live an affluent life in their cozy Holly House in Sussex, England. Then one day, tragedy strikes, and the girls are forced to uproot their lives and move to Norfolk, a windswept country on the east coast of England. The sisters are devastated, but what starts off as the toughest challenge they've ever had to face quickly becomes a turning point in each of their lives.
Practical Ellie has always had her head firmly on her shoulders, until she loses it over a boy named Blake. He's perfect, except for two not-so-tiny problems: he's her horrible stepmother's nephew, and he just happens to have a girlfriend.
For impulsive Abby, moving to such a sleepy village is tantamount to social suicide. To amuse herself, she decides to play matchmaker for a new friend at school, but her scheme backfires when the guy falls for her instead. And things get even trickier when she meets Hunter, a boy who just might be too good to be true.
Even youngest sister Georgie finds herself in uncharted waters when suddenly boys are interested in her for more than her love of extreme sports. But will Georgie lose her inner tomboy just to be seen as a girl?
With lots of laughs and a spat or two, the Dashwood sisters navigate the ups and downs of sisterhood and romance, eventually discovering their very own secrets of love.

My Review: This is a very cute book. I won't go as into detail with this review as I normally would, because it should be rather obvious what the novel is about and how it ends. It's a modernized version of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility. It's a very cute update, but nowhere near as great as the original.
Things I liked: The youngest sister, Georgie (Margaret in S&S) gets a lot more screen/page-time in this version. The relationship between the Dashwood sisters and their father is explored more.
Things I didn't like: The "Lucy Steele" character in this novel is a raging bitch. I couldn't understand why Blake stayed with her. The same goes for the "Willoughby" character: in S&S, he really does love Marianne, but can't marry her for financial reasons. His loss. In this novel, Hunter is a complete jerk. I could tell from the get-go that he didn't really care about Abby. Having those two characters so unilaterally unsympathetic really bugged me.
Those small quibbles aside, I enjoyed this book. It's a fun, easy read. I registered my copy on BookCrossing; if you'd like to be entered into a drawing to win it, leave a comment. I'll draw a winner next Sunday.

Other Reviews:
AustenBlog

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