DNF Review – Pride by Ibi Zoboi (3/5 stars)
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Length: 304 pages
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Release Date: September 18, 2018
ISBN-13: 978-0062564047
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: Owlcrate
Rating: 3/5 stars
“Zuri Benitez has pride. Brooklyn pride, family pride, and pride in her Afro-Latino roots. But pride might not be enough to save her rapidly gentrifying neighborhood from becoming unrecognizable.
When the wealthy Darcy family moves in across the street, Zuri wants nothing to do with their two teenage sons, even as her older sister, Janae, starts to fall for the charming Ainsley. She especially can’t stand the judgmental and arrogant Darius. Yet as Zuri and Darius are forced to find common ground, their initial dislike shifts into an unexpected understanding.
But with four wild sisters pulling her in different directions, cute boy Warren vying for her attention, and college applications hovering on the horizon, Zuri fights to find her place in Bushwick’s changing landscape, or lose it all.”
I got this book from an Owlcrate. I read the first 60 pages of this book and decided to set it aside. It’s not an awful book but not something I really was into either. It’s one of those contemporary YA romance books set in the “hood” so to speak. It’s also a retelling of Pride and Prejudice. Neither theme really appeals to me much and the story didn’t draw me in.
The book starts with Zuri and her sisters as they watch the wealthy Darcy family move in across the street from them. Right away you can tell that this is a book where the sisters will fall in love with the charming Darcy brothers. However, the “twist” is that this book is set in Brooklyn and there are ramifications for Benitez’s welcoming the wealthy Darcy’s.
Overall this was just not my thing. The writing style is okay but I found it hard to engage with the story or the characters.