Review: "Dashed" by Amanda Quain

Dashed by Amanda Quain
Published July 2024 via Wednesday Books
★★★★

Between Quain and J.C. Peterson, it feels like I'll have my Austen-inspired book needs taken care of for a while. Dashed takes on Sense and Sensibility, focused on Margaret—the youngest of the three sisters, rather neglected in the original book.

3.5 stars, and my favorite of Quain's books to date. I admit to some bias here—I fell madly in love with Beatrice, and thus Emma Thompson, in Much Ado About Nothing when I was about eight, and extended that love happily to Elinor in Thompson's adaptation of Sense and Sensibility. (I'm not sure I'd seen a Disney film at that age, but my parents could sometimes be convinced to rent a Shakespeare or Ye Olde British Book adaptation and haul the elderly television out of their bedroom closet.) I've read the book—I'm not a total heathen—but Emma Thompson is forever cemented in my head as Elinor, and anything that manages to be more or less in line with her portrayal is bound to hit the spot.

So Dashed: in which Margaret is relieved to have some breathing room from Marianne for the summer, which she'll be spending on board a cruise ship with Elinor and Elinor's husband Edward...but then Marianne shows up, and those hopes and plans are, ah, dashed.

I won't go too much into the plot here, although I will say that this does not make me regret never having been on a cruise ship. I do wish that Margaret's reluctance to get into a relationship were a little more original (I've seen it many times in YA and romance books...but never in real life), but I appreciate that this is an original spin on a side character rather than a retelling. It gives Quain a lot more room to play with both characters and plot, while also...this:

"Edward accidentally stayed up all night reading the guidebook," Elinor said, as Edward accepted coffee and grinned sheepishly. They were, I realized with some horror, wearing matching button-down shirts, each emblazoned with leaping dolphins on a light blue background. With Elinor's tight bun and bright red hair, she looked like Ms. Frizzle had gone back to school to become a nautical librarian; Edward just looked like he'd wandered into the bargain bin at a Jimmy Buffett concert. (loc. 860*)

Not taking itself too seriously, then, which bodes well if Quain tackles Emma next...

*Quotes are from an ARC and may not be final.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.