Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

I will not be giving feedback on this book as I couldn’t really get into it but I think others may enjoy it.

This is a difficult book to decide on a rating for, I was extremely close to DNFing this book multiple times in the first half. I hated almost every character or I felt completely indifferent. I wasn't interested at all, but surprisingly in the second half the story and characters began to improve. It's definitely not a book I'd recommend and I won't be continuing with the series so I think 2 stars is a fair rating.

A modern retelling of Anna Karenina, with touches of Gossip Girl, Riverdale and Pretty Little Liars. I enjoyed how modern and young this book felt, however it was VERY long, and the majority of the characters were unlikable! But rich kids aren't really meant to be likeable I suppose. I have also heard there's a sequel so I look forward to reading it.

I have been debating whether or not to review this title for the longest time, ever since I was approved, because I read it then, but I could never finish it (I stopped at 85-90%). If I ever do finish it, I will come back here to update and edit my review, but why could I not finish it?

I was very interested in the book because I thought it was a very clever and interesting idea, and it could bring this story closer to so many readers, and while it started out nicely and it did not have a dull moment, I felt incredibly disconnected from the story and the characters. I did not care for any of them, and they acted so immaturely (even for their ages) and selfishly that it made me dread reading the book.

I tried hard to not care about that but characters were really boring and annoying, especially out two leads, which took a lot of the story from me. Steven was the only character who I cared about, but he was surrounded by the rest of the cast, which made it both good and bad for me.

The book picks up again in the last part, and you do see some development from all the characters, but at that point I was too tired with it. Despite me not enjoying this book it is a very modern take and it is nice to see the parallels with the original story and try to see what's coming, that was a very cool point about the book, but the characters made it incredibly dull for me. They're not badly written, on the contrary, but they're just annoying to read about.

I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher via NetGalley. This in no way impacted on my view.

I so wanted to like this book, but it was a waste of my time. I ended up DNFing the book after 4 days when I only got 120 pages in. I know the gist of the original Anna Karenina, and will have to agree that what I saw in part 1 seemed to parallel the source material okay enough. But the main issue I had was with the characters and the setting. They were just so completely vapid and pompous, caring more about their looks, and their money, and their drugs/alcohol than anything else, and there was nothing reeldeemable at all. Out of all of the character we meet in Part 1, Dustin was the only ‘okay’ one, and I’m not going to waste my time on something I’m not enjoying any more. Really disappointing!

Unfortunately, I have not been able to read and review this book.

After losing and replacing my broken Kindle and getting a new phone I was unable to download the title again for review as it was no longer available on Netgalley.

I’m really sorry about this and hope that it won’t affect you allowing me to read and review your titles in the future.

Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity.
Natalie.

I read this so late, but I'm glad I eventually did. It's such a great book! I haven't read the original classic, but I might have to after reading this one (and that definitely says something because I don't think I've read any of the classics)

This was an epic read which did a great job adapting Anna Karenina to a modern setting. I loved the way the narrative style, settings, themes and characters had all been updated, and found the novel engrossing.

My one hesitation about the novel is about the overtly hedonistic lifestyles of the main characters - the level of drug taking, excess consumption etc work well to create the world, but for a YA novel (or for any novel) I find it a little disappointing that the destructive behaviour of many of the characters is normalised and glossed over. However I guess the slightly depressing feeling I was left with is true to the original!

A retelling of Anna Karenina with a Gossip Girl vibe. SO much drama! Which made this a very addictive read. Anna K, a Korean American teen with very rich parents is our main character. But we follow a few more of her high society friends. It's a love story, but it's a tragic one. I never read the original story, but reading other reviews this retelling stayed really true to the classic. The writing style is a bit diffrent, but it fit with this story, it gave me even more Gossip Girl vibes. I liked Anna mostly, but it was a bit hard for me to connect to the characters because their life is so different from mine and this story is a bit over the top (but still, very addictive). This book probably isn't for everyone, and I can't really call it a escapism read because of all the stuff that can be triggering to some (substance abuse, lots of sex, cheating, death of a loved one, self harm, and I've probably missed some). But overall I enjoyed this and I learned there is a sequel coming and I'm very interested to see what's happening next.

YA adaptations are hit and miss for me, I usually love them or hate them. Unfortunately it’s more towards the latter for me with this book. I struggled to connect to any of the characters and the book just felt like it dragged. If I’m honest I had to force myself to finish it, which took some time.

This book was really long. Most of the characters were unlikeable and, honestly, annoyed me. I normally love YA adaptations but this one for me just didn't work. The writing was good.

The novel was an interesting read. It is a retelling of Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, set in the present day in the world of teenagers from the richest families. It hit the brief of the retelling, with Jenny Lee extracting the substantial bits of a 800 page book and condensing it to half its size. The novel was divided into three parts, and it was the third part I had the easiest time reading because it presented most of the plot’s progression. Arguably, this is also the portion that felt rushed because the novel no longer dwindled on the feelings of the characters. With that, it caused an imbalance with the novel’s pacing: the first two parts moved in a glacial pace, and the third part wrapped it up too quickly. Still, it was an enjoyable read even if I found my interest rise and revert at certain parts

Really entertaining read that felt like Gossip Girl's version of Tolstoy but in a great way. Think the drama of Anna Karenina lends itself perfectly to teen High Society. Full review to come

In the New York 1 per cent, there’s a whole different type of royalty when it comes to the teenagers of the rich and privileged. When 16-year-old Anna K meets Vronsky on a journey home to New York to help her cheating brother placate his girlfriend, she’s struck with love at first sight. The only problem is, Anna already has a boyfriend - the perfect Alexander. And Vronsky has been dating Kimmy, who believes she’s in love with him too - even though she’s dazzled poor Dustin who knows he doesn’t have much of a chance with the third hottest girl in school. Between parties, dog shows and Coachella, there’s a whole lot of drama as Anna and Vronsky face their feelings for one another, despite whatever burns down around them.

This is a very fun, flavoursome teen version of Anna Karenina which just enough crazy parties, alcohol and drugs to really keep a reader fulled for more, more, more. I think squishing Anna Karenina down into a teen story would be a really tough job but I think Jenny Lee definitely did a great job here with characters who despite being wealthy beyond measure, are not total scumbags either and are actually characters full of heart and who you really want to root for. I actually liked these teen characters way more than the original characters they were based off - which could be down to the air of teen innocence they all still had clinging to them, despite the copious drugs they had sampled in their short lives.

Think Anna Karenina, meets Gossip Girl, meets Cruel Intentions - and you’ve got Anna K!

While I enjoyed this read, and I really felt like the dramatics were ramped up enough in the last 20%, I just couldn’t put it down, I don’t think this book will be for everyone. You need to love the unbelievability that is the life of a rich New York teenager - think Gossip Girl and 90210 - and the absolutely dramatics that comes with teenage characters not akin to Georgia Nicholson in Full Frontal Snogging - but at a whole other level! Some people will absolutely hate the level of crazy and over the top everything is in this book from the very first scene that is Lolly finding out Steven cheated on her while in the Hermés store, and then locking herself in his mother’s closet and taking naked selfies in his mother’s fur coat. There’s a lot of teenage slang in this book as well which I found quite hard to read a lot of the time as it’s not something I like in books at all. A lot of it is really cringe, and I do find it hard to believe that teenagers actually talk like that (but hey I’m an old person now so what do I know!).

I 100% do not think this book will age well, and will only have a few golden years to it from its publishing date which is a shame because you can tell how much heart and effort was put into the book. There are just one too many pop culture references in it, that in a few years time and as young people now grow into teenagers and pick up this book, they probably won’t care much about. I can’t see 16/17 years old now wanting to read a lot about Justin Bieber and One Direction, and I do think this will be the same in this book in a few years albeit Ariana Grande and Billy Eilish. There’s also way too much unneeded movie info dumps in this book due to some of the characters being movie buffs. This does come from the author being a TV producer and obviously a film fan, but I just think a lot of that dialogue could be cut and wasn’t necessary.

I really liked Dustin and Kimmy’s story which wasn’t a surprise as Kitty and Levin were my favourite in Anna Karenina. I do wish Dustin and Kitty together got a little bit more time on the page as that didn’t really happen as much as I wanted it to.

You also have to be okay with insta-love with this book, due to it being based on a book that is all about love at first sight! And also teens doing hardcore drugs a lot of the time too, obviously.

In the acknowledgements, it seems this book is being made into a TV show before it’s even being published and that is interesting after reading the whole book. And looking back, it makes some sense that the book seems written for the sole purpose of becoming an on-screen adaption. It will be intersting to watcher and I’m looking forward to seeing the modern day Anna K and Vronsky come to life.

'Anna K.' definitely took me by surprise. I had never read 'Anna Karenina' before and I didn't intend to either. But after reading this, the idea has definitely crossed my mind a few times. This story was just incredible. It transports you to a very lavishing and fancy lifestyle which is such an escapism. There's a real ease and likability with the book that kept me reading. The characters for one, I thought I was going to hate a lot of them but actually despite their wealthy backgrounds, they all have a great moral compass. The character development in all the characters (and there were a few of them) was amazing. I haven't seen a book where all the characters in the book go through growth and so well too. There's drama and twists but I think the real heart of the book is the characters.

Overall, 'Anna K.' is a great book. It's a little heavy in some of the themes in covers but the character development is spot on.

I’m a total sucker for reading about the lives of spoiled rich kids - there’s a reason Gossip Girl was so popular. Unfortunately this modern retelling of Anna Karenina fell flat. The characters were almost universally unlikable and it made for an unpleasant read. The pacing also felt very strange at parts - whole chunks of narrative and plot were squeezed into a couple of paragraphs but a party stretched for pages. The sex scenes also felt a little bit too explicit for a novel about 15/16 year olds.
An interesting concept but not for me.

Please note that this book is not for me - I have read the book, However I had to DNF and because i do not like to give negative reviews I will not review this book fully - there is no specific reason for not liking this book. I found it a struggle to read and did not enjoy trying to force myself to read this book.

Apologies for any inconvenience caused and thank you for the opportunity to read this book

This one was a really interesting read. It's basically a kind of Anna Karenina meets Gossip Girl., a modern retelling of the Tolstoy classic. I think it did a nice job of bringing the atmosphere of the original but never quite reaches the same level of poignancy. Nevertheless it is a fun read that I think the older teen/YA market will very much enjoy.

Ok, so as it turns out not for me. I didn’t like any of the characters. It’s pitched as crazy rich Asians does Tolstoy, but the mega excess and selfishness of the characters just didn’t work for me. I do sometimes find YA a bit much for me I general and this was definitely that. Lots of drugs and sex in this, so probably not for the younger end of the market either.