Synopsis from Amazon:
A modern adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice based on the Emmy Award-winning phenomenon, The Lizzie Bennet Diaries.
There is a great deal that goes into making a video blog. Lizzie Bennet should know, having become a YouTube sensation over the course of her year-long video diary project. The Lizzie Bennet Diaries chronicled Lizzie’s life as a twenty-four-year-old grad student, struggling under a mountain of student loans and living at home with her two sisters—beautiful Jane and reckless Lydia. What may have started as her grad student thesis grew into so much more, as the videos came to inform and reflect her life and that of her sisters. When rich, handsome Bing Lee comes to town, along with his stuck-up friend William Darcy, things really start to get interesting for the Bennets—and for Lizzie’s viewers. Suddenly Lizzie—who always considered herself a fairly normal young woman—was a public figure. But not everything happened on-screen. Luckily for us, Lizzie kept a secret diary.
The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet provides more character introspection as only a book can, with revelatory details about the Bennet household, including Lizzie’s special relationship with her father, untold stories from Netherfield, Lizzie’s thoughts and fears about life after grad school and becoming an instant web celebrity.
Written by Bernie Su, the series’ executive producer, co-creator, head writer, and director, along with Kate Rorick, the novelist, TV writer, and consulting producer on the series, the novel features a journal-entry format and design, complementing the existing web series, while including plenty of fresh twists to delight fans and new readers alike. The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet expands on the phenomenon that captivated a generation and reimagines the Pride and Prejudice story like it’s never been done before.
I am a big fan of the YouTube series, The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, even though I hopped on the bandwagon after the show ended. Even so, that then gave me a 100 videos to watch, which was great for binge watching.
After obsessing over the show and re-watching episodes the creators decided to bless us fans by extending the story further by publishing a novel based on Lizzie’s diary and it’s fantastic. Besides retelling some events we’ve already seen on the show, what was great about the book was all the behind the scenes stuff. From actually reading Darcy’s letter to learning more about Jane and Bing’s relationship there was so much we don’t see on camera.
It was hard to remember that the show wasn’t real and these aren’t real people but characters. It’s just so authentic. Also, I got the audio book, which is read by Ashley Clements who played Lizzie on the show, which made the book even more fun. It was cool hearing her voice again and her doing the voices of the other characters as she would do on the show for costume theater.
In addition to behind the scenes things we also just got more information about other characters. There were a lot of things that didn’t happen on the show that happen in the book and it’s great. Especially some special Darcy and Lizzie moments that were very cute. I suggest getting this book and getting the audio one at that. It’s really the only way this book should be read/listened to. Trust me, it’s worth every penny.
Favorite Line: Truthfully I can’t just pick one plus if I could it’s pretty difficult to do that with an audio book (I should’ve written them down).
Stars: 5 out of 5. From getting to hear Lizzie’s wit again and learning more about the characters this was definitely one of my favorite books this summer. I actually liked Lydia more after reading the book (I found her kind of annoying on the show). Also the pie graphs and charts Lizzie uses to explain things are hilarious.
Borrow or Buy: Buy. Definitely buy. I’ll probably re-listen to this audio book again at some point. Also audio books are great because you can listen to them everywhere (except in bed because you might fall asleep).
Other Reviews
Zakiya N. Jamal 
Excellent review, I loved how you mentioned that we saw more depth in some characters such as Lydia and Jane/Bing. The book added so much more to the show, if only I listened to audio books.
Thank you. The audio book is totally worth it. The only thing is you can’t see any graphs or charts that are in the book. You can only hear her read them.
Hello! I am a huge fan of The Lizzie Bennet Diaries and Pride and Prejudice and can I ask if I can get a copy? I really love the book and don’t have the means to buy the audio one 😦 . Here is my email if you want to bookishkitsune@gmail.com . Have a great day!
Hi Trisha. I honestly don’t sure how to go about doing that. However if you can’t afford to buy it you can do the Audible 30 day free trial. Then you can get a free audiobook.