Review: "Don't Want You Like a Best Friend" by Emma Alban

Don't Want You Like a Best Friend by Emma Alban
Published January 2024 via Avon
★★★

Beth's goal for the debutante season is simple—snag a wealthy enough husband to keep her and her mother from the poorhouse. And Gwen's is even simpler—have some fun and avoid being saddled with a husband. It hasn't quite clicked for either of them that there's something else they both desperately want...

I read this for the cover, mostly, and generally it's a fun read. What it's not, though, is historical fiction: only the evil villains (who are evil) have 1800s attitudes, while the 'good' characters are all extremely modern in the way they think; the dialogue and slang is distinctly modern and often American ("Damn, I guess I've got to go" (96)—said nobody, ever, in 1800s Britain). In some ways that makes this an easier read for me, as I'm not all that interested in historical fiction, but at the same time...if I'm going to read historical fiction, I'd rather feel that I can trust the accuracy of, uh, anything within.

Beth and Gwen are both fine, though they don't seem to have much going on beyond worrying about the future (Beth) and drinking a whole lot more hard liquor than would be socially acceptable for teenage girls in the 1800s or...ever, really (Gwen). This will still be a good one for you if you don't mind insta-love and historical inaccuracy—that came out snarkier than I intended—but it ends up feeling more like fantasy to me than historical fiction.