Her actions, though inevitably wrong, make sense. Oops) into colossal snarls, following her own misguided compass, you can always see why she thinks she's right. One of the joys of Emma for me is that, even when Emma is getting herself (and those around her. I've got as much Emma in me as I do Lizzy (that's right, I'm a self-important smartypants who knows whats best for everyone else, but never takes her own advice. But as I've always said, Emma is one of my favorite characters, and I relate to her a lot. Now, like Emma, whom many readers have MAJOR likability problems with, some readers may never connect to Kate, or may want to jump ship before she learns some lessons and wins her likability points.

It's one of those strokes of perfect obviousness that is borderline genius - of course! Of course a modern Emma would get her manipulation skills and ability to spin things to her benefit from a politician father! Of course someone whose grown up in a world where people are both passionately fighting for what they feel is right while also being absolutely sharks would pick up some of Emma's puppet master tendencies.

There's some really smart thinking in using the daughter of a politician to reframe the story of Emma for the modern day - the theme of manipulation for the greater good and that sense of well-meaning superiority that is such a part of Emma's world fits perfectly with a daughter who has been raised on the campaign trail and in front of cameras. What I can speak to is the Austen of it all, and I gotta say, it hits Emma notes in very clever ways, much the same way Clueless did: not over-the-top, but with all these little nods and easter eggs for Austen fans, while interpreting and reinventing the story in fresh, fun ways. I can't speak to the Friday Night Lights of it all, as I've never watched it (couldn't get past the nauseating shaky-cam of the first episode someone tell me if the camera work gets better and its worth sticking around?), but I'd imagine that any YA small town slice-of-Americana that heavily features football probably garners the same comparison. As I said in the video, it set up a lot of interesting contrasts well right from the beginning (there vs here, then vs now, us vs them). It was warm and endearing and funny, and captured the place-feel very well. Interference was strong from beginning to end. Basically I said it was on track to be a favorite of 2016, unless it took a nosedive, so now the question is: did it? There may have been 'delighted jazz hands' in the video, so. I was smitten right from the first page, couldn't get over the voice and the fantastic dry humor, and well, everything, basically. Those of you who watched my First Impressions video on Interference will likely have suspected I was going to love this. 4.5 This was a really fun and clever take on Emma, with a fantastic voice.

Interference by kay honeyman