Marisa Reads
Pride and Preston Lin by Christina Hwang Dudley
MarisaMarisa Nayebaziz April 18, 2024

Pride and Preston Lin is a new novel by Christina Hwang Dudley that offers a fun, refreshing take on Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Set in Santa Clara, California, and with an entirely Asian cast of characters, this modern interpretation follows the classic in a satisfyingly faithful manner. Instead of the four Bennett sisters, we have the three Cheng sisters—Jenny, Lissie, and JoJo—and instead of Longbourn House, we have The Four Treasures—their aunt and uncle’s Chinese restaurant. When the girls’ parents passed away a few years ago, their aunt and uncle took them in, and the restaurant became a sort of second home to them. Lissie, an English major at San Jose State, works there part time to help ends meet, and one fateful night, a particularly interesting party comes in to eat. There’s a cute, friendly guy who would be perfect for Jenny, and a more serious (but just as cute) guy whom Lissie starts to hit it off with, when she breaks a cardinal rule of waitressing: she forgets a customer’s allergy, and serves her a dish with shrimp. Just her luck, the serious-but-cute guy is Preston Lin, a Stanford Ph.D. student who doesn’t take mistakes lightly, and his good friend is the afflicted customer. A big blow-up ensues, and Lissie puts Preston on her personal blacklist forevermore. Of course, fate has other ideas, and now she keeps running into Preston at every turn… Lissie starts to wonder if she misjudged him, but she’ll have to deal with her own pride (and his prejudice) before she’s ready to give him a second chance.

I absolutely loved this book. There are so many Austen spinoffs out there, and it can be hard to figure out which ones are worth your while, but Pride and Preston Lin is a definite yes for me. Dudley’s writing is smart and zippy, her characters show impressive emotional depth, and she creatively updates the story for the modern age. I’m always impressed when a P&P retelling get the dynamic right between the Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy characters; in my opinion, it has to be a slow burn, but not too slow that we don’t get enough time for Mr. Darcy’s redemptive arc, and it has to have a witty, banter-y quality because the two are not only romantic soulmates, but intellectual soulmates, too. Lissie and Preston’s chemistry is pitch-perfect—he’s reserved where she’s outspoken, she’s stubborn where he’s willing, and you can’t help but cheer for them to get together. Plus, what a delight to watch it all happen with an all-Asian cast, especially by an author who captures the nuances of Asian American culture so perceptively. Pride and Preston Lin is a fun, romantic, delicious ride.

I’d recommend this book to…

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