Thank you for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a fantastic take on the classic novel The Great Gatsby. With gender swapped characters and modern technology, the blend of classic and contemporary is seamless in Gatsby.

A thoroughly enjoyable novel with an engaging writing style and strong pacing.

4.5 stars rounded up
Nic Carraway is an aspiring journalist who, after finishing Yale College, moves to New York and rents a boathouse in West Egg.

West Egg is different from the East Egg. The former means new money, and the latter the old money and more ‘prestige’. Nic has a cousin, Danny Buchanan, who married Tomasina (but everyone calls her T), and they live in the East Egg. Nic was always close to Danny, and soon invitations to their house followed.

On the social media platforms, Nic follows Jay Gatsby, a beautiful and mysterious influencer who hosts lavish invite-only parties. Imagine Nic’s shock when she discovers that Gatsby lives right next door to her boathouse! Imagine her further shock when she receives an invitation to one of her parties…

Soon, a friendship blossoms between Jay and Nic. Is it premeditation or chance? The truth may be a lot uglier than Nic anticipated…

This is a modern retelling of The Great Gatsby, a classic novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald. I loved how it was transported to modern times with mobile phones, social media, and all the fancy tech you can imagine.

The author kept closely to the original story, and I loved how she swapped genders for the key characters – I thought that was cleverly done, and it brought a fresh and exciting take on the story.

This book shows the ugly side of social media, how we present ourselves, and how we are perceived by others. As I was reading it, I thought of the well-known saying “All that glitters isn’t gold,” and that’s so true in this case.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and its beautiful, lyrical, and dreamy prose.

I definitely recommend it.

Thank you to Borough Press for approving my NetGalley request.

It is now more than a century since F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Great Gatsby was published, but the appetite for this slim novel and its myriad interpretations in fictional and filmic versions shows no signs of abating. So it is inevitable that Crowther’s work that transposes Jay Gatsby into the twenty-first century will be guaranteed a large and interested audience. I was intrigued to see what she makes of the ingredients of the original Long Island novel. It did not long to find out that this is a brave twenty-first century remix. Firstly, the meretricious and compelling Jay Gatsby figure has morphed into a woman with a clear societal role – that of a successful social media influencer. The narrator-neighbour Nic Carraway is now also a female (and has lost the ‘k’ to their first name). Whereas the precise living circumstances of Fitzgerald’s Nick Carraway were never fully revealed, Crowther’s twenty-first century version of Nic lives in a rundown fisherman’s hut on loan from her friends I much poorer circumstances than Gatsby. Crowther’s Nic is on the crossroads of her life that can euphemistically be termed “a career and mental health break”. Enraptured by her outwardly successful neighbour, Nic takes up Gatsby’s challenge of reuniting her with a former lover. The ensuing plotline broadly follows the original storyline, although I was sometimes left wondering why the author decided to use it as a blueprint for her own impressive efforts. Crowther’s novel offers enough concepts– such as social media influence and stardom, obsession and persecution, entitlement and privilege, mental health struggles and social inequalities –to stand on its own two feet, away from the original Gatsby, although the concept has been reworked in an original, well-written way. I enjoyed reading this novel and cannot wait to see what Crowther writes next – hopefully a sequel to modern-day Gatsby and Nic.
My thanks go to the publishers and to NetGalley for the free ARC that allowed me to read and review this novel.

I don‘t even know why I requested this from #netgalley as I expected to hate it, but I really liked it!

This is a modern re-telling of Gatsby that flips genders and takes place under the glare of social media. I enjoyed all the flips and thought the links to the original book were rather clever.

It reminded me a bit of Idol by Louise O‘Neill (as well as the original Gatsby of course! 🤦‍♀️) so if you liked that, you‘ll like this also.

Crowther’s Gatsby puts a fresh spin on Fitzgerald’s classic, embracing a gender-bending reinterpretation with plenty of clever nods to the original. I had fun picking out the Easter eggs and callbacks - it adds an extra layer for Gatsby fans who love spotting familiar details in a new light.

Like the original, I struggled to connect with any particular character. I found the writing was sometimes overly flowery, making it hard to stay fully engaged with the story.

That said, fans of The Great Gatsby who are open to a unique retelling will probably enjoy Crowther’s take. While it didn’t entirely hold my attention, I can appreciate the ambition behind it.

Thank you HaperCollins UK for this eARC. Opinions expressed are my own.

This is a modern retelling of Gatsby. There is a difference of perspectives. Author has tried to show Daisy’s character. We definitely get to see different sides of each character. The book is compelling and it’s written well. The plot had some of the things I didn’t see/notice in the classic.

Thanks to the Publisher

Thanks to Netgalley and Borough Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

2.5 / 5.

Not for me I'm afraid. I was quite excited by the premise of this one but unfortunately I DNF'ed it at 49% and I just couldn't force myself to continue. I found it incredibly overexplained. I was being told everything instead of shown it. I was being spoonfed information about Gatsby when I wanted to discover what she's like myself through the narrative. Not a whole lot happened in the first half of the book. I just kept waiting for it to pick up but it never did. It was too repetitive for me - lots of description about the influencer life, about money, about fame. Nic would go to another event. And we'd get another description about fame and money. And then she'd go to yet another event. And the cycle continued.

The Great Gatsby is one of my favourite pieces of literature, from the first time I read it I was transfixed with the story, the characters, the setting. There was so much about this book that I loved when I read it for the first time and there was so much that translated in Crowther's retelling. Part of what I love about The Great Gatsby is the beauty of 1922, and I was worried that this retelling would shed the authenticity that came from the 20th Century, I was concerned that the influence of technology would alter the way I viewed the story. I was relieved to be wrong. Although social media and technology is prominent throughout the book, with Gatsby being an influencer it was only right for social media to play such a role and I feel that the roles of the original characters translated so well with the 21st century.
What I found interesting about this book, is that even though I knew the story and how it played out, there was still elements that surprised me, the way that the yellow car became Gatsby's downfall was so effortlessly tied with the argument that social media can be a downfall as well. I really liked how Crowther wrote these characters, how she played with the societal expectations of people today in a similar and yet different way that Fitzgerald did. In particular Danny Buchanan, the Peter Pan complex was so interestingly utilised and intertwined through his character in the same way that Daisy was the beautiful little fool of the 1920s, however when I reflected on the characters of Daisy and Danny I found myself viewing Danny as a villain in a way that I never saw Daisy. The Great Gatsby arguably portrays Daisy as a victim of her society, easily manipulated and raised to believe in the expectations of her, destroying the romanticism of the story, however the use of the Peter Pan complex in my mind shows Danny as a villain, a manipulator himself, another contributing factor to the downfall of Gatsby.
Overall, there was so much about this book that I enjoyed, it stuck near true to the original which I was worried about, as the classic was so substantial and although it could never quite reach the same level of honour that The Great Gatsby holds to be however it was a strong retelling and an interesting view to take through the gender swap of the characters.

This was a really interesting read for me. I liked the premise from the outset however it didn't quite meet my expectations as much as I wanted it to. I really liked the modern adaptations to the book with the use of smartphones etc. this felt cleverly integrated into the plot and didn't feel forced. However, the character development and connections with the reader left me wanting more. Still a really interesting book to discuss, however, based on its reimagining.

Glamorous Reimagining..
A glamorous reimagining of a classic in this pacy, contemporary tale of life amongst the super rich and an outsider. With a well drawn cast of eclectic characters populating a fast paced and often frothy plot and a firm sense of time, place and societal context, this is nicely done. Character driven and compelling.

I am a The Great Gatsby super fan. I don't know what it is about it that I love so much but any and all retellings I will lap up straight away and this was no different. This really wasn't my favourite retelling that still is Self Made Boys and always will be. But, this was a fun book that I did end up enjoying just wasn't my favourite.

A century on from the original The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald this reimagining adds a new twist by gender flipping all the characters. A century on the themes hold up to today's world ... with social media / influencers and the A list world of north eastern USA under the spotlight.

Nic Carraway, having finished university, spends the summer in a boathouse, considering her next steps into journalism and writing. Her neighbour turns out to be Jay Gatsby, social media influencer who holds big stylish parties. Jay previously had a relationship with Nic's cousin Danny and over the summer the relationship is re=established ... with deadly consequences.

Having studied and adored The Great Gatsby at school (a long while ago) this was a welcome return to a fabulous story that felt so easily transposed to the 21st century.

This is an unusual book it imagines what life would be like for a female Gatsby if she lived in the present.
She is a social media influencer and the book looks at the pressures of life on social media.
I did really enjoy the Great Gatsby so it was interesting to see how I would feel about this story.
I must say I did enjoy it. The different perspective.
The author made the characters step off the page.
You want Gatsby to succeed and in the original he was trying to fit in underneath the showy personality.
I really didn't like Tom in the original he was selfish and shallow. There is a similar character in this one. I wasn't a fan of Daisy (Danny) either.
Definitely worth a read.
Thanks Netgalley and The Publisher.

Nic Carraway has recently graduated from a prestigious school and wants to make her way as a writer. Her parents agree to support her for the summer and she gets a cheap rental in East Egg. Her cousin Danny is from far more wealth than Nic and she was the one who set him up with his wife, T, who also comes from money. They live in a mansion nearby, as does socialite Gatsby, the divorced wife of a scandalous actor and a high society influencer. Over the course of the summer Nic sees how money influences people and is exposed to scandals at every level, she finds a friend but how much does she really know.
This is a modern-day interpretation of the Fitzgerald book 'The Great Gatsby' and it works very well. The writing is somewhat florid at times but the plot still holds up, especially as the genders are changed. As with the original it is hard for this reader to have any empathy with any of the characters, morals are lax and money is the answer to everything, so the first part of the book really drags for me. However, once the plot moves to the endgame the book really picks up and the last few chapters about the aftermath are probably my favourite parts.

Loving the Great Gatsby as I do, with hindsight I shouldn’t have elected to read this in return for a review. No one will ever manage to do that book justice, and a retelling was doomed from the start. Like the many many remakes currently washing out the box office, original material would be preferable. That being said, I can’t criticise Crowther for trying - she wrote a whole book, she got it published. It’s more than most will do in their lifetime. I’m not sure if it was her intention for it to be so intensely overwritten (perhaps to reflect Nic’s own personality?), or the work of an over-zealous editor, but I struggled to take it seriously. I persevered in reading it mostly out of fascination and curiosity, but I can’t say I enjoyed it.

In this enticing gender-swapped contemporary reimagining of The Great Gatsby, Jane Crowther harnesses Fitzgerald’s exploration of wealth and ambition into an insightful commentary of the digital age.

The Great Gatsby is my favourite American novel, so my standards were high for this adaptation, and it lived up to them. If you couldn't read the original because the story or writing style was too antiquated, please, please consider reading this instead. It updates the classic novel in a way that is truly relatable today while maintaining the original's view on the world.

The story follows Nic Carraway and her mysterious neighbour Jay Gatsby, a hugely popular social media influencer whose carefully curated online presence masks her yearning for her old sweetheart. As Gatsby pursues Nic’s married cousin, Danny Buchanan, the novel exposes how social media has become our era's version of Jazz Age excess, with digital metrics replacing the traditional social currency. The dreamy writing style maintains Fitzgerald’s lyrical quality while introducing contemporary language.

This is a perfect adaptation of Gatsby’s themes for the digital era. The influencer culture is a striking and apt parallel to the 1920s nouveau riche, while the gender-flipped characters—especially Gatsby as a female influencer—give incisive commentary on the performance we all must do on social media. I especially like how Jordan was handled in this interpretation, expanding upon my favourite enigmatic character who was featured little in the original.

While this reimagining will please readers interested in the marriage of classic literature and contemporary social commentary, its greatest achievement is how it illuminates timeless themes of ambition, identity, and performance through the lens of our digital age.

Thank you so much to The Borough Press and NetGalley for providing a review copy of this book at no cost and with no obligation. I reviewed this book voluntarily, and all opinions are my own.

A modern retelling of The Great Gatsby? What more could I ask for! With TGG being one of my favourite books of all time, I was ecstatic to receive an ARC thanks to NetGalley. I loved this book and the interesting take on the original with the addition of the gender-flipped perspective. Even if you’ve never read The Great Gatsby, I still encourage you to read this book!

Think you knew The Great Gatsby? Think again in this refreshing gender-flipped retelling of the classic novel. Nic Carraway inadvertently becomes Jay Gatsby’s neighbour when she gets a summer lease in Long Island. Nic’s welcomed into Jay’s life, the parties, the opulence, and in return, Nic reintroduces a long-lost love to her neighbour. But this summer is hot and fraught with history and longing. It’s such an interesting take on what we think we know as the classic text, and it’ll definitely have you appreciate all the intricacies of each character.

I love how this book is a gender flipped reimagining of The Great Gatsby, it brings it into the modern era and felt very exciting.

A modern day retelling of The Great Gatsby? Absolutely count me in! This book works both if you have read the original or not. This book flips the genders and adds modern touches to bring in the relevance.

The book is both for fans of classics and for the ones looking to read a literary fiction. It is interestingly written and I love the premise of the book and the concept of leveraging the classic with a twist. Recommend!

Thank you HarperCollins UK, HarperFiction and NetGalley for this e-arc in exchange of my unbiased review.