EMMETT

This funny and sweet queer retelling of Jane Austen's EMMA, set in a wealthy Southern California high school, may remind listeners of the 1995 movie CLUELESS. Narrator Drew Caiden is pitch perfect as smart, handsome, popular Emmett. He prides himself on being nice and, as one of his acts of niceness, attempts to find a boyfriend for his former hookup. Caiden ably animates the friends and adults in Emmett's life, but his performance of Emmett is the heart of the audiobook. Emmett may be an elevated character, but Caiden makes him believable and sympathetic, even when he repeatedly misses his own opportunity for romance that's been right in front of him the whole time. J.M.D. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine [Published: NOVEMBER 2023]