Netherford Hall

For more of my reviews, check out my blog.

I really wanted to like this one more than I did.

Netherford Hall is the start of Natania Barron's paranormal Austen retellings. This particular book is a queer Pride and Prejudice retelling with witches, and vampires. I love anything related to Jane Austen, and you all KNOW how much I love paranormal romances, so yeah, I jumped at this one. Unfortunately, it didn't really HIT the way I wanted it to. I don't think it's really the author's fault, either. I think this one is fully on me.

Netherford Hall is written GORGEOUSLY – Natania Barron is an AUTHOR, I just found myself not really caring about the characters, one way or another. I did like how bright Poppy was, but I thoroughly did not care about Edith, like, at all. She had a horrid backstory, and a horrible event happen to her and her family and it just didn't feel like she cared very much? It would have been nice to see some emotion on page, instead of her being sooo stoic. I know she's supposed to be Darcy in this Pride and Prejudice retelling, and that's literally what he's known for, but still. I want to care about the characters, especially the main two!!

The background / additional characters were lovely, though. Tons of representation – POC, queer, etc. All well done, and without really drawing attention to it in any particular way. This version of Britain is perfectly content to let people live their love lives however they want, which is so very refreshing. I wish more romances were written like this – we have enough prejudices in real life, thanks, we don't need to read about them, too! (Not all the time, at least) I really adored Edith's uncle, Auden, and I hope that we see more of him in future books.

I have an ARC of the next book in this series, The Viscount St. Albans, but I'm not sure I'm going to dive into it right away. I might need a bit of a break before I jump back into this world. Hopefully, I like the next book better than this one. Three and a half stars.

Rating: 3.5
tldr;Netherford Hall is a fun read and though I had some issues I will still recommend it and will continue reading the series. I'm invested in the characters individually and hope to see more interactions and growth in the coming installments!
What I loved 

• The characters — all of the characters were whole and individual. They all had wonderfully different personalities and felt very real! I'm so invested in them individually that it's the reason why I can't rate this lower than 3 stars!
• The imagery — everything was so wonderfully described and made it so easy to feel like I was there. Could be seen as a bit flowery but not overly so in my opinion 
• The setting — I adore that this took place completely in the country. Not many historical or regency tales take that route and it was very refreshing. 
• The magic — the magic and magic system felt very similar to other magics but also completely unique in the way it was approached and I think as we get to see more into the magical world it will get even more interesting 

What I didn't love

• The pacing — it was very slow. I do think there were many scenes that could have been replaced with something else to help move the plot forward 
• Multiple storylines — I think that this is the crux of my issues. There were simply too many stories and plot lines to be fully explored in a novel of this size. The story technically has three main characters: Edith, Poppy, and Auden (who isn't even mentioned in the blurb but gets his own POVs and romance storyline). There are internal and external conflicts for all three to face and not enough time to expand on any of them. 
• Not enough time to build the romance — at the end of the novel we are supposed to believe that three couples have fallen in love. I do not. I believe they could fall in love but I don't believe them to be so when such confessions are made. The story was so focused on all the the internal and external conflicts of the characters that there were not nearly enough interactions between the love interests themselves in order for such strong feeling to have been formed. 

spoilers, please to not read unless you've finished the book!

The only thing I'm actually concerned about is the relationship and romance between Viola and Silas. He's supposedly in love with her and vice versa but we only saw their initial interaction and so I think if the second book picks up where book one of ends then it's going to be very difficult for Barron to make their romance believable for reader's

1.75/5

I was disappointed by this book. I was expecting something better, frankly.

For a book that is marketed as a Pride and Prejudice sapphic retelling with magic it lacks the most important part of the book: the romance between the characters. The chemistry just wasn't there, there was no banter or any connection, really. Is it a retelling? A bad one. It's more of a distorted copy - one that includes all the iconic lines from the original book like “it is the truth universally acknowledged” etc. Unfortunately, the style it was written affected the book.

Jane Austen lived in 19th century so she wrote the way she spoke. It feels authentic because it was authentic to her. Unfortunately, Natania tried to copy Austen's style too much. It didn't feel genuine or effortless - it felt pompous and disgenuous.

The characters weren't written well. Poppy was a fun character, but the rest weren't. Where Edith was supposed be a brooding Darcy and Poppy a light-hearted Elizabeth, it gave them a role reversal. Darcy (Edith) was the one who struggled trying to keep the family together from cousins who tried to take away everything, while Elizabeth (Poppy) ... What, exactly? There weren't many elements from Darcy's live in Poppy, perhaps except for a loving sister. But unlike the original book, Poppy wasn't the eldest and she didn't have to be a parent to her siblings.

Like I mentioned, the writing was just bad. The chapters were long and pov changed between the paragraphs so fast, it was jarring. I couldn't get into a mind of one character and try to understand their motives and try to like them, before I was ripped away from them, forced into someone else's pov and the process began from the start again. I didn't like that, and it made me enjoy the book even less.

Thank you, NetGalley and Rebellion publishing for providing me with an ARC for my honest opinion.