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.

Thanks to Penguin Random House and NetGalley for the Advance Review Copy in exchange for an honest review.

I'm not going to beat around the bush. I didn't like this book. It's one of those books where almost everyone is awful and vapid and the dialogue made me want to crawl into a dark hole and die.  It just felt bitchy and nasty, and didn't have any of the charm of the source material.

Review not posted anywhere else.

This is a roaring, stomping and energetic novel that updates and upgrades Anna Karenina for 21st century teenagers. There's a lot of Gossip Girl-esque money, labels and corruption, and I think Jenny Lee has hit the nail on the head for who Tolstoy's characters would be if they were today's teenagers. It's a bit long, and a bit pricking with brand labels in places, but in all it's a great intro to Tolstoy's masterpiece and very well done

This one is hard to rate because I was very close to dnfing it at the start because of the writing style. Wish I had listened to the audiobook from the start because I’m sure I would have rated it higher then.
My official rating will be 3.5 but I won’t rate it 4 stars here because of what I already discussed.

Anna Karenina meets Gossip Girl.

The book follows the lives of a group of New York wealthy and scandalous kids. Anna is the main character. The perfect daughter, the perfect student, the perfect role model, the perfect friend, the perfect girlfriend. That is until she meets womaniser Alexei Vronsky. 

The two have little in common but a connection is forged when they first meet in Grand Central Station after her brother Steven sends for her as he cheated on his girlfriend and wants her back.

The social issues addressed in the book are super important. On the other hand, I think the parents in the books were horrible role models and some didn’t even care enough for their kids to help them stop their drug abuse - Anna and Steven’s parents in particular.

The various relationships were complex and intriguing and the different dynamics between siblings was depicted really well. 

Alexei is my fave and I’ll slap anyone who talks trash about  my boy.

I really couldn’t get into the writing style of this author. It was super confusing and jarring to jump around all the characters without any clear division. If you want to give this one a try, I recommend listening to the audiobook. It’s really good and addictive to listen to with all the drama going on.

I would recommend this to people looking for rich people’s drama, people who love Gossip Girl like I do and, obviously, to people who love Anna Karenina.

This was a very different take on a classic, which I thought was very well done. It was really interesting to see the characters evolve in Manhattan with all of the riches (and less riches, for some). I'd recommend it!

Having read Anna Karenina last year, this was such a treat. I love retellings, and it was so refreshing to see a retelling of something that's not a fairytale. This is a pretty close retelling, but it's updated in very crafty ways so that it reads contemporary, and I thought this was so well done. This is not to say the book is exactly the same as Anna Karenina - it definitely has some surprises in store. I would very much recommend this to fans of Anna Karenina and/or Gossip Girl. Please do be aware that you will likely not enjoy this book if you don't like reading about unlikeable characters.

Rep: biracial (half Korean & half white) MCs, Black Jewish MC with anxiety, Jewish MCs

CWs: attempted suicide, overdose, fatal train accident, car accident, rape/dubious consent, cheating, animal death, depression, fatphobia, diet talk, drug (ab)use, alcohol use, mention of panic attacks