Yikes.
I wanted to love this, I really did: a Gossip Girl style retelling of Anna Karenina (which I am listening to on audio at the moment FYT) but alas, I didn't. This is a DNF for me.
Perhaps it's the wrong book at the wrong time; times are hard and I need a book I can get lost in. This isn't that, for me. There's too much telling and not enough showing and it makes the whole thing feel stilted. The characters are flat, and unlikeable and I'm just not connecting at all. I wanted to love it. I just....don't.

I’ve noticed that there is currently a spawn of YA contemporaries that focus on socially elite teens and the crazy dramas that they find themselves in. Apparently these books are like crack to me, so I was delighted when I was approved for yet another one on NetGalley.

17-year-old Anna K is at the very top of NYC society. Her life revolves around her two prize-winning Newfoundlands, her fantastic grades and her perfect but dull boyfriend Alexander. Her Korean-American father couldn’t be more proud. However, Anna’s brother Steven and his girlfriend Lolly are embroiled in a sexting scandal. Lolly’s sister Kimmie is trying to piece her life back together after her ice dancing career comes to an end. Steven’s best friend Dustin is battling his unrequited love for Kimmie as well as trying to keep his family together. And amidst it all, Anna is harbouring a secret desire that if pursued could shake up her whole world.

I had no idea that this book was a take on Anna Karenina until the very end because I haven’t read it. The Russian classic has been on my ‘someday’ TBR for a long time but I’ve never found the time to truly dedicate to it. However, Lee’s new rendition has bumped the source material further up my list and I’m considering reading it over the coming months. Thinking back over the plot of Anna K, I can clearly see how it could resemble an epic 19th century romantic coming-of-age novel.  

There are several instances where the stark differences between how boys and girls are treated by society are explicitly pointed out. As more terrible things unfold, the contrast between the treatment of male and female parties of the same scandal reach truly shocking but completely believable levels. Of course, this is an issue that has been very prominent since the dawn of time and Lee does a great job of illustrating just how little has changed.  

I should probably add a disclaimer here. I’m not one to root for unfaithful partners or illicit relationships and this was the only real issue I had with the story. However, I fell in love with Vronsky’s love for Anna -if that makes sense! He notices every tiny detail about her face and the way she carries herself and I couldn’t help but be enthralled by it. 

I have no idea how realistic it is that a playboy like Vronsky would really think all of these things but he actually made me fall in love with her too! Before this point, I actually found Anna to be a bit of a cookie cutter perfect rich girl with not much about her. However Vronsky painted her in such a vivid and romantic way that I began to see her through his eyes and I warmed to her. She begins to realise how much more there is to the very small, mapped out life she had and I gained a lot of respect for her as a young contemporary woman.

Dustin and Steven’s friendship was one of my favourite aspects of the book. I love reading about mutually beneficial male friendships because it’s such a refreshing change from the cool guy and sidekick dynamic or the cold distant non-friendship that we’re so used to seeing between men. I also loved the realisation that at first, their lives seem so different but as the story goes on, it transpires that they actually have a lot in common. Both have uneasy relationships with their fathers, both have a little way to go in learning how to be with women and both are in need of a close reliable confidant which they find in each other. 

Kimmie’s story definitely produced a few tears and anger at the injustice of it all. Lee developed her character so well and I felt hugely protective of her. I shipped her with Dustin immensely and I was beside myself with desperation for them to get together. Kimmie’s narrative has many shades to it -at times very dark shades- and it was all dealt with in the healthiest, most hopeful of ways, which I have to congratulate Jenny Lee on.

Anna K is a true celebration of feminism in all its forms. Whether you’re a successful, independent Anna, a kind, forgiving Lolly or a fierce fighter like Kimmie, life will work out for you. Women are solely in charge of their own lives and their own destinies, no matter what role they choose to take. 

Despite there being a huge amount of tragedy, serious subject matter and enraging social issues, I finished Anna K feeling truly empowered as a young woman. There are a lot of characters to keep track of, which took some getting used to but they’re all so distinctive and well fleshed-out that it didn’t take long to figure everyone out. It has a touch of Crazy Rich Asians about it -not just in substance but in style too. I was back in the heady fug of the trials and tribulations of elite society that gives me much more satisfactory escapism than a lot of actual fantasy does nowadays. Now to crack open the Tolstoy, I guess!

Not knowing anything about Anna Karenina (the story this book is based on), I went into this totally fresh. A definite enjoyable read which will go down a storm with my Sixth Form students.

Comparisons to Crazy Rich Asians and Gossip Girl made me want to read this book and those references weren't entirely off the mark but it didn't quite live up to those comparisons. This is a modern re-telling of Anna Karenina and whilst it's been a long time since I read the original it does clearly use the classic for it's framework and captures the essence albeit in a teen drama-ish way! I enjoyed the teen angst and the plot twist at the end and I'll definitely be recommending it to the library's teen readers!

It was a fun, light read with interesting characters to follow. It was also a nice Anna Karenina retelling, 
If you liked Crazy Rich Asians, I suppose you might like this. 

Thanks a lot to NG and the publisher for this copy.

I love Gossip Girl, The Thousandth Floor and Crazy Rich Asians so this book was clearly for me!  
I didnt realised it was an Anna Karenina retelling until the end which makes me just want to re read it. 

I loved the characters, and felt like I was following them around watching their lives, I sympathised with them for having meddling parents and kinda wished it was a world I could visit, just for a week!

Being insanely rich doesn't remove all the problems. Life still throws heartache, betrayal and pain at the New York elite.

I received a free copy from Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.
I will precede this by saying I have never read of watched any incarnation of Anna Karenina, so I am clueless to how similar Anna K. is to the original. I don't know which ideas and storylines are purely this author's, and which echo Tolstoy.

It starts with Anna's brother Steven, who is caught cheating by his girlfriend. Anna is brought in to see if she can save the relationship; and meets Count Vronsky. Despite being in a serious, long-term relationship with Greenwich royalty, Anna starts to question her feelings, and her sense of duty to her boyfriend's family.
There are multiple other relationships covered in this book, but those are the main ones.

This book was... intense.
There were parts that I really enjoyed, with the relationship between Anna and her brother being very sweet and endearing, underneath all the craziness.
I liked Kimmie and Dustin's story (and the extended family/friends). Kimmie is nothing more than a pretty face, mooning over her crush, as though it's the end of the world. I liked that she did (eventually) move on from that, but in her own way, not conforming to what society expects.
Dustin and his drug-addict brother have an interesting relationship. Dustin is younger, so he has to balance his history of worshiping his older brother, and trying to figure out how many more chances he should give him.

The not so good...
I didn't like the third person omniscient narrative, where it is constantly head-hopping.
I was curious, as this isn't a very common choice for narratives in modern books. I confess, I googled it and found out that Tolstoy did the same thing, so maybe it was a conscious choice by Jenny Lee.
Either way, it didn't work for me.

There is alot of excess in here.
The drugs in particular. I found it excessive and unnecessary. I don't think there was a single page without some reference to drug use/actual drug use.
Along with the constant partying, this may be authentic, for all I know; but it made everything very repetitive and long-winded. They're having another outrageous party and doing more outrageous drugs-as-though-they-were-sweets. And repeat.

I thought the lives of these kids was bloody extreme.
I mean, the cast are all about 15 - 17 years old. I get that they're rich kids, and mummy and daddy provide the clothes, cars, horses and anything else they could ever want. But they're having intense relationships, and having to make choices that you'd expect from people twice their age.
Yeah, sure, maybe one or two; but this is the whole cast.

(p.s. a gelding is a MALE horse with his balls chopped off; not a female)

Overall, despite some interesting storylines, this was too slow and rep for me.

Like the author, I love Anna Karenina and couldn’t resist a YA re-telling, even though I don’t like reading YA.

She’s done a pretty good job. I like the author, after checking her out on social media. So it’s hard to be critical and I’m rounding up to 4 stars, because I think her heart was in the right place. Most of it sort of works. It’s easy to read. It takes a stab at some big current issues, including class, sex, love, race and feminism. And I hope it gets young adults to not give a f and be who they are. Even if they aren’t fabulously wealthy.

However, it needed a bit more editing for it to be truly great. I found the way some of the characters talked to be unbelievable. Especially Geneviève. It was trying to be too 19th century and failing. And it was painfully on the nose. It could have been finessed to show not tell more.

ALSO GOD DAMN HIGH TEA IS JUST DINNER. It’s afternoon tea she meant. This is a massive pet peeve of mine.

I’m super happy that Anna didn’t die in the end. But thought Vronsky dying was too much after Nicholas. I was moved by the letter he wrote to his brother.

I like the intertwining stories and Kimmie and Dustin were great. It made me think how Tolstoy doesn’t sacrifice Kitty because she was a ‘good girl’.

Read it if you like Anna K or not. Lee is funny too (I loved the line ‘ virgitarian to carni- whore.’). It could have read a bit more modern, but overall, I liked it. I had a few late nights where I’d read it for hours. It made me think of when I was in Moscow up all night reading Anna Karenina.

I think if Anna Karenina wasn't one of my all-time favorite books, I would have enjoyed Anna K more. Instead, I just felt like the comparison or the idea of a retelling did both the original and this story a disservice because I found myself constantly drawing comparisons between the two. 
While I liked the Upper East Side setting and definitely appreciated the Gossip Girl vibes, the writing was very immature at times and I couldn't connect to any of the characters or their actions - it was hard to match their feelings with the way everything was just told to the reader instead of showed. 
Though perhaps better suited for younger readers concerning the writing style, the subject matter perhaps shouldn't be recommended to younger readers so I am a bit like a fish out of water, unable to tell which age this is actually geared at. 
It was a lot of silly fun at some moments, though.

BOOK REVIEW: Anna K by Jenny Lee

3 stars

TW: Drug abuse, sex, revenge porn and mental illness 
A modern retelling of Anna Karenina. Anna K is compared to gossip girl and crazy rich asians. Although I see the links to both, it was more like the UK tv series Skins but with the elite teenagers of New York rather than teenagers in Bristol. 
The book is about 380 pages with TINY writing and no chapter breaks. I was expecting a fun read and what I got was a bit of a long slog. 
The writing is slightly odd, as if an outsider is writing about the story and all the character's feelings. This made me feel quite shut off from the characters and it took my nearly all of the book before I felt any connection to them at all. 
I generally enjoyed the story and the characters but at times was a bit bored. I think it could have been shorter and had more impact as it did drag at times.

I also thought that sometimes it didn't feel very authentic. There were too many pop culture references and lingo that the author thought 17 years olds would use (ridiculously over the top). It just got a bit much and felt fake. 
There is a lot of drug use and references to sex. This is marketed at the YA market and I think it should probably be more New Adult due to some of the content. Drugs were pretty much the main focus, it shouldn't be "Anna K: a love story" but "Anna K's friends: a drug story". The love aspect was also an insta love/lust with very little growth, which completely let me down. 
Overall a good read but the writing style and pace let it down.

Please note that I received this book in exchange for an honest review.

WOW. I hadn't read 'Anna Karenina' before I went into this book so that ending destroyed me! I was 100% not expecting what happened and had to reread the Grand Central Station paragraph just to make sure I hadn't read that wrong. I absolutely LOVED this book! It was like a Gossip Girl throwback and although all of the characters were VERY flawed in some way or the other, I really grew to love them. 

Thank you so much for the review copy!

Anna K is depicted as a modern retelling of Anna Karenina, but I think to describe it as such does both books a disservice. The classic in Russian literature encompasses a wide cast, including a look into the social commentary of its time, with a doomed love affair at its heart between Anna, Vronsky and her husband Alexei. It’s well written, full of tension and drama, complex and compelling. Anna K is, unfortunately, not. While treading a similar plot and character names, it’s otherwise incredibly problematic with blasé descriptions of casual sex, drug abuse and repeated cheating between multiple characters that I just didn’t find appealing. 

I will say that the modern setting of rich upper New Yorkers was fun, and sits well with the original story as we explore the lives of the rich and beautiful. However, all of the characters are just awful human beings with no redeeming qualities. They’re all selfish, mean and shallow with superficial problems and cliched characteristics. The only character I enjoyed was Murf, and unfortunately he wasn’t utilised enough In the story for me to care about him all that much. I also found some of the conversations the characters (particularly Beatrice) had between each other incredible offensive and insensitive, with racist comments and opinions on abortion just thrown in for shock value. It felt crass, and made me feel uncomfortable. The writing style is also strange, with lots of telling instead of showing with regards to the characters emotions and actions. This means I never developed much of an attachment to any of them, and felt very disconnected from the story. 

In terms of the story itself, it’s a slow moving plot that interweaves the lives of the large cast around this doomed love affair between Anna and Vronsky. We go from a ‘love at first sight’ moment at Grand Central Station to Anna questioning her feelings for her boyfriend Alexander while debating whether or not she should risk her relationship for a boy she’s met once. It feels very instalove, without much (if any) build up before Anna and Vronsky’s relationship takes a deeper turn. The small amount of tension that is created by the love triangle is wasted within the space of a few pages, and could have been so interesting if it had been given more space to develop. It’s also feels very illogical, with scenarios set up that just didn’t feel realistic or believable. Also, these characters are supposed to be 16 and 17. Not once did they act their age. 

Unfortunately I really didn’t enjoy this one. Stick to the original classic if you want to see rich aristocrats cheating on their partners.

This wasn’t really for me. I just couldn’t seem to connect with the story or characters sorry.


Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

DNF. I couldn't get into the detached style of writing the formatting for this arc was horrible! Every time a sentence started with a word that had TH(the, this, that, these,etc) the TH was cut off and took me out of the story.

So this is a Anna Karenina retelling. I didn’t remember much about Anna Karenina, just some things about the ending but of course I also just ignored what I knew and pretended I knew nothing. So I went into this book, not having any expectations really but… woah. This book was a retelling yes, but it could very well be an entire season of Gossip Girl.

At first, I really had quite a few problems with this book. I couldn’t stand any of the characters at first, they all were kind of bratty rich kids from New York high society who just threw around their money and having sex with anything not up on a tree by three. Parties, drugs, expensive clothes and cars. And nobody really reflected on what they were doing until the bad stuff starts to happen.

The thing is, there was some amazing character development there. And while I couldn’t get into the story at first, my opinion completely changed and I ended up loving the book.

The story is centered around Anna, her brother Steven and their friends. The story starts out with Steven cheating on his girlfriend Lolly. He doesn’t know what to do, so he calls his sister for help, his perfect sister who has the perfect boyfriend, the perfect reputation, the perfect grades.

So except for Anna and Dustin, I found every single person in this book to be horrible at first. I got so annoyed at them. At one point I actually ranted to friends and called the book a „misogynist shit show“. But. And here comes the big but. I did not expect it to become so good? I wasn’t looking at the book as a whole at that point and I actually feel bad about it. So, before I ramble on, let’s bring some more structure into this.

The whole group are teenagers from 15-19, with Anna’s boyfriend Alexander being the oldest at 19. And you know what? On an emotional level they totally act like teenagers. Which is annoying while I read it but in hindsight I actually liked it? Does that make sense? They’re rich, privileged teenager and they totally act on it. They’re spoiled and selfish and think the world is turning around them. They’re gorgeous, they’re all powerful in some way. But you know what they say: the higher you climb, the lower you fall.

But each and every single person has something happening to them that opens their eyes in some ways. The development was amazing and so well written. I definitely did not see it coming. They grew so much and actually became quite wise. The youngest in the group became the wisest and also my favourite character. Everyone in the group learns so much during the story, they suddenly have a lot to put up with and deal with actual problems.

I totally loved the group dynamic.  loved their drama and the romances that awaken and die and I especially enjoyed the love between siblings and between friends. The journey from almost-strangers to a tight knit group was just so much fun to read.

The only thing I was constantly annoyed with was the writing. While the writing style wasn’t bad, the choice of words sometimes made me cringe so hard. I don’t know if younger people really talk like that but bruh. I had to read „I transformed from virgitarian to carni-whore“ and boy do I not ever in my life want to read that again. I also don’t want to see another „V-train leaving the station“. I’m sorry but no. Just no.

So all of that said and my initial problems, I very much enjoyed Anna K. I’m a sucker for character driven stories and I love seeing character development (it’s one of the most important things for me in a story) and there was so much of it. There were so many emotions, love and heartbreak, happiness and anger, sadness and hope and I suffered through all of them alongside the characters. This is an incredibly well woven story.

I did like this one but it was a little bit teeny. It wasn’t very maturely written and the content was a little bit teen like but then again that is the intended audience. The cover is lovely and bright and if I was ten years younger then I’d have loved this one.

I tried to like this. I've read lots of fantastic reviews of it, and I was really looking forward to trying it. Unfortunately, it didn't live up to the hype and I had to DNF.

First of all, the font was awful in the copy I was given. I want to be fair; my version is a proof and so is probably quite different from the real one. But this version leaves out the 'th' on this, they, than, so on, any time they start a sentence. That doesn't sound so awful, does it? But it kept dragging me out of the story to try and figure out what was just said..

Secondly, it was very complicated. It kept introducing people and then going back in time to explain their life up to now. I kept losing track of who was who and why they were there and how they related to everyone else.

I'm sorry this didn't suit me. I'm sure it's going to do really well. It just wasn't for me, sadly.

Anna K by Jenny Lee was a book that caught my attention from the beginning. It was so engaging and I almost forgot it was based off a classic novel! The corruption of the upper 1% and their world really interested me as a girl that has never even peered into their ways of life.

Even though Anna was the protagonist, the characters of Vronsky and Anna's family really immersed me. This is definitely a good stepping stone to actually reading Anna Karenina at one point. Thanks so much for this ARC and I thoroughly enjoyed it xx

Anna K: A Love Story is a contemporary Y/A retelling of Anna Karenina, the iconic Russian novel by Tolstoy. Although I haven’t read Anna Karenina yet, I’ve heard a lot about it and am vaguely familiar with the plot, including the doomed love story between Anna and Count Vronsky so I was intrigued to see how it would all play out in a modern setting with teen characters. Jenny Lee has written such a witty, smart and addictive book which touches upon a variety of deeper issues while still managing to be deeply entertaining the entire time. If you’re familiar with or a fan of Gossip Girl, Crazy Rich Asians and 90210 then you may enjoy this book as it has a similar feel to it.

I feel like this book will get a mixed reception due to some of the issues it portrays – infidelity being one of the main ones – and the way in which this is done and I was definitely conscious of this whilst reading. There’s quite a lot of it so be warned, but I think it’s important to state that it’s not something that’s swept under the rug and the very real consequences of it is explored. I also appreciated that Lee touches upon racism, gender norms, and privilege and explores these issues, even if it’s not as nuanced as other novels, it is still present. I also liked that Lee takes this classic novel and revives it for a modern audience, with the majority of the characters being people of colour, which I’m 1000% here for.

The book is told in multiple perspectives which worked so well in allowing each character to get the spotlight and some more depth. While the overarching storyline is the love story between Anna and Vronsky, the other storylines also kept me interested. I thought Dustin’s storyline in particular was so moving. Dustin deals with his brother Nicholas’ addiction issues and the impact this has on his parents who are separated, as well as navigating his first foray into the world of love and relationships. Steven (Anna’s brother) also grew on me, more-so because of his care and consideration for Anna than anything else, I loved seeing such a strong, loving sibling relationship amidst all the drama going on.

While the novel does explore some deeper issues, there is more than a fair amount of excess and rich privileged teens being rich privileged teens. Think lavish parties, head to toe designer outfits, private jets with absolutely no consideration of money or cost. This was all pretty entertaining to read and while it’s definitely over the top at points, it’s also kind of believable. I will also mention that there’s A LOT of casual drug use and alcohol consumption in these parts of the novel so bear that in mind, if that’s not something you’re comfortable reading about then best to steer clear. There’s also scenes of a sexual nature, nothing too graphic but still quite prevalent.

Another thing which struck me about this novel was the way the final parts of the story play out and that ending? I wasn’t familiar with the ending of Anna Karenina so I didn’t expect what happened AT ALL. It was equal parts tragic and quietly beautiful and that’s all I’ll say. An extra plus for me was the authors note at the end which was so cute, I love getting that small insight into what inspired Lee to write the novel and about her own life.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book although I can see it being a bit like marmite; you will either love it or hate it. Regardless of the issues it has, I don’t think Anna K, should be disregarded as superficial or vacuous by any means as it does portray the reality of issues teens are facing and does with honesty and humour . I managed to really resonate with the story and it gave me a whole range of emotions and even made me shed a tear or two which I didn’t expect as I thought it was just a peppy rom com…reader, I was so wrong but I’m glad I read it anyway.

This was an adorable take on the classic Tolstoy novel that we all know and love. 
Anna K has strong gossip girl vibes and as someone that loved that show i did enjoy reading this. 
i would say this is very much on the younger side of YA so if that is not your thing you might not love this book.