I am ever so slightly obsessed with Pride & Prejudice and so was really intrigued by the premise of Lydia Bennet as a witch.
This novel started off really strong, I loved the fact that it was written in the first person and the use of language was perfection, I could clearly envision Lydia from the BBC adaptation of P&P as I read each page.
I also marvelled at how cleverly Melinda Taub tied in witchcraft to certain elements of the Pride & Prejudice story we know and love. The explanation of the elopement was amazing, Wickham’s secret was a fun twist and Kitty’s storyline was sheer genius.
I must say the story waned for me after a few chapters: it wasn’t a book that was impossible to put down at all. However, the pace at the end of the book picked up and reignited my interest and overall I did enjoy the story.
The amount of research that Taub must have done for this book has to be immense! The whole narrative is Lydia writing to a mystery person and, as she alludes to herself, it is less a letter and more a memoir, filled to the brim of snippets from both Pride & Prejudice and a nice little nod to Sanditon (an easter egg that I greatly appreciated).
Overall, I found The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch to be a really fun novel with such a clever concept. It wasn’t a bingeable book in my opinion but sometimes we love a slow burner!
Thank you to Netgalley for a free copy of this e-book. All opinions given are my own.
The Disney Bookworm 