REVIEW: Anne of Avenue A by Audrey Bellezza &vEmily Harding

In Anne of Avenue A by Audrey Bellezza & Emily Harding, Anne Elliot had lofty ideas about her future when she graduated with her MBA. She was going to take Wall Street by storm and show the boy’s club that she had the wits and talent to make a name for herself. But after time in the trenches, she found herself working for–okay, running–her father’s TV production company for the past several years while he flits about NYC going to spas and who knows what else. But thanks to his horrible handling of money, the grand apartment Anne grew up in, and currently resides in with her father, is going to have to be sold or rented out. And that basically leaves her homeless. And without a job while the production company shuts down temporarily. It appears Anne will have to become an acquaintance’s roommate for the time being all while watching someone else move into apartment 8A. She just never expected it to be her ex-boyfriend, Freddie Wentworth.

‘They were like two puzzle pieces that fit so perfectly, they didn’t have to worry about anything else. Then, when they finally did, it was too late.’

Freddie spent years trying to forget Anne Elliot and the time they were together in college. He’s still not sure eight years later why she broke things off with him. But he went on to prove that he was capable of creating his own successful hydroponic company in Argentina even without Anne’s business mind helping in the background. Now back in NYC, Freddie feels like he’s in the right place again, finally. He even finds a wonderful apartment in a prestigious neighborhood. The thought niggles the back of his mind that he’s pretty sure Anne used to live nearby but he never dreamed she would still be living there–albeit as a roommate instead of in her family’s penthouse apartment. The one he now owns. And that puts Freddie back in Anne’s orbit just when he was trying to find a new direction in his life. Is it bad luck bringing them to the same place again? Or has fate intervened giving them a second chance?

‘He had spent years separating himself from Anne Elliot, both mentally and physically. It was easier when he wasn’t in New York, but now that he was back, he didn’t want to fall into old patterns.’

The third retelling in Audrey Bellezza and Emily Harding’s For the Love of Austen series, ANNE OF AVENUE A brings Persuasion into the modern day complete with NYC’s frenetic energy and a second chance romance that was tender and nostalgic–once the MCs got past their animosity.

“I don’t know how to be strangers with you,” she replied.
He stilled. It was so honest yet so unflinchingly brutal that he felt like the air had been knocked from his lungs.

Audrey Bellezza and Emily Harding’s For the Love of Austen series has been wildly entertaining so far. Each book is a retelling of a Jane Austen classic and this particular novel, ANNE OF AVENUE A, is a contemporary version of Persuasion. Here, Anne and Freddie might be located in NYC (the perfect backdrop that was like a character itself) instead of Bath, England, but Austen’s biting wit, charming characters, and sense of irony was still prevalent–and relevant.

As a huge fan of second chance romances, I went into this story hoping the animosity would be at a simmer instead of a boil and that Freddie and Anne’s attraction would be red hot. Thankfully, that was definitely the case. They sadly never seemed to get their timing right in all the years they knew each other, something that I think leant a realistic spin on their relationship. But seeing them as adults on the brink of thirty showed their growth and maturity over the years. And it allowed Anne and Freddie to see their younger selves in a different perspective as well as knowing themselves better now so they could decide whether to try again together.

While I had fun with all the awkward situations Bellezza and Harding threw them into and seeing Anne and Freddie get to know each other as adults, it was the secondary cast that had me laughing in nearly every chapter. They were quirky. They were honestly a big old mess most of the time. But our couple’s friends, family, and neighbors won over my heart and turned this into an even more delightful story than I expected.

QOTD: Are you a Jane Austen fan? If so, do you read retellings of her classic novels?

Book Info:

Publication: Published: October 28th, 2025 | Gallery Books | For the Love of Austen #3

Jane Austen’s Persuasion meets the Big Apple in this swoon-worthy holiday romance from the authors of Elizabeth of East Hampton and Emma of 83rd Street.

Eight years ago, Anne Elliot broke Freddie Wentworth’s heart when she refused to give up her five-year plan for the sake of adventure. But despite big dreams, Anne, now thirty, is still living at home with hardly a plan in sight. Anne tries to be optimistic—she knows better than anyone that regret will get you nowhere—but that goes out the window when, thanks to her father’s bad spending habits, her childhood apartment is rented out to the very man still living in her head rent-free.

Freddie Wentworth never thought he would see Anne Elliot again after she dumped him for accepting a job overseas. He spent years trying to forget her, and he’s been mostly successful. So when a job opportunity takes him back to New York, he’s shocked to find out that Anne is not only his new neighbor, but also the former resident of his new Greenwich Village penthouse.

Nearly a decade after Anne and Freddie’s fateful romance, the only thing they still have in common is a desire to leave their relationship firmly in the past. But between a disastrous off-Broadway show and a drunken Thanksgiving dinner, nosey neighbors, and flirtatious friends, Anne and Freddie suddenly find their lives more intertwined than ever before. When old feelings start rising to the surface, they must decide whether to put their hearts on the line or walk away all over again.