Review: Persuaded by Misty Dawn Pulsipher

Title: Persuaded
Author: Misty Dawn Pulsipher
Genre: Romance, Contemporary,Retelling, Adult
Publication date: July 25th 2014
Pages: 337 (Kindle)
Source: received from author (Thank you!!)






What's worse than never getting over your first love?
How about watching him fall for someone else...

Hanna Elliot had worn the ring faithfully at first. Some part of her still clung to the hope that all was not lost. As the days turned into weeks, she finally took it off and set it atop her dresser. When weeks gave way to months, the ring finally went back into its box, where it gathered dust until it was moved to Hanna's unmentionable drawer. For the first few years,  she had taken it out on the anniversary of the day she'd received it, allowing herself to wallow in what might have been.

She had been all but stamped out of Derick Wentworth's mind.
Sure, he thought about her occasionally, especially on cloudless nights when he lay on the bow of the Laconia looking up at the stars. But as time went on, Derick began to feel grateful that it hadn't worked out, for one thing was certain: if he ever did settle down, it would be with someone who knew her own mind. Someone who went after the thing she wanted without hesitation. Someone who would never allow herself to be persuaded otherwise.

Persuaded, a modern adaption of Jane Austen's Persuasion.

Goodreads

Persuasion is my favorite book by Jane Austen, possibly because it’s about redemption and forgiveness. It’s always tricky for an author when they decide to rewrite a classic. Some of the retellings I’ve read didn’t do the original justice. But Pulsipher did it right with Persuaded. When I was reading this book I kept thinking that this retelling was truly how it could have been written in the first place by Austen when she had lived in the 21^st century. Everything just felt right from the start till the finish.

There were some changes in this book of course. Pulshipher made Persuaded her own with the little nuances she added to the book and thanks to the changes she made she kept me on my toes the entire time. I was always excited to find out which scene would happen next and how it was interpreted in her version of the book.

I liked Hanna a lot. She’s a really sweet girl, even too sweet at times. She has a hard time saying no to people and there are times, definitely at the beginning of the book that she lets herself get walked on a bit. But her intentions are always pure, she’s always kind to everyone and she has a good heart. One of her problems is that she only sees the good in people, when there is something bad she tries to cover it up. But at the story developed, she grew stronger. She was still the same girl but she voiced her opinions louder. And she realized that there were times that she had to think about herself first and not about the people surrounding her.
At first I did struggle a quiet a bit with Derick’s character. He was a great guy but it never really occurred to him that he might be hurting Hanna’s feelings with his actions. He was a guy that first did everything before he thought about it. But just like Hanna his character developed throughout the story. In the end he realized that he too might have been wrong and might have made mistakes. He gets his life back on track and from that moment on I loved him.

The romance was really sweet in this book. I love second-chance stories, the moment that they reconnect is always so great. There was definitely chemistry between Derick and Hanna. And it was great to see how they figured out which role the other still played in their lives.

Overall I really enjoyed this book. It was well written, the storyline was great, and the book flowed nice and easily… I would recommend this book to everyone who loves classic retellings or who is looking for a great clean romance story. I’m looking forward to any other retellings Pulsipher might write. 

El