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Pride and Protest by Nikki Payne
416 pages | Published by Berkley
The Set Up: In this Pride & Prejudice retelling, Liza is fighting back against a developer gentrifying her DC neighborhood. She and the corporate CEO, Dorsey Fitzgerald, immediately butt heads. Dorsey dismisses her activism as all talk, and Liza believes he’s motivated by corporate greed, but the more they get to know each other they realize how wrong they are.
2025 is my year of Pride and Prejudice retellings. I’m honestly thinking of doing one a month and ranking them as I go - any suggestions??
This one was a fun modern spin, and I loved the iconic enemies to lovers story played out in this world of activism. Unlike some versions of the story where Elizabeth and Darcy just rub each other the wrong way at first, Liza and Dorsey were truly on opposite sides of a major issue. Rather than a mutual dislike, there were real stakes and real battle at the heart of their disagreements.
I thought the general pacing at the end was a bit fast, but their romance throughout was absolute perfection; to quote Kacey Musgraves, “I'm alright with a slow burn.”
There was so much interesting cultural exploration in the book, too. Especially with Dorsey’s character as an adopted Filipino man in a wealthy white family - it made him a unique version of Darcy.
Overall a great retelling for those of us who love the original story!
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