Growing up, Marnie Stephens believed that destiny was real and the universe had a plan. But at 30, real life has become more difficult than divine. Especially when Marnie wakes up at a hospital in Boston with no memory of how she got there...or the last year of her life. Her doctor tells her she suffered a head injury; her boyfriend, Matt, insists they broke up months ago; and her hair is somehow eight inches shorter. Before she knows it, she finds herself in an apartment she doesn’t remember with a new neighbor, Ben Morgan, she’s sure she won’t forget. As Marnie sets out to retrace the last year of her life, the last thing she needs is to start falling for Ben, the grumpy (and incredibly attractive) neighbor helping her. But the universe has other plans.

In honor of Jane Austen’s 250th birthday, nine authors --- Adriana Trigiani, Sarah MacLean, Eloisa James, Elinor Lipman, Audrey Bellezza, Karen Dukess, Emily Harding, Nikki Payne and Diana Quincy --- have come together with wildly imaginative reboots of the lives of several of Austen’s minor characters. Written with plenty of love and wit, these clever stories star everyone from PRIDE AND PREJUDICE’s snobbish Caroline Bingley to the modern descendant of SENSE AND SENSIBILITY’s Eliza Williams, and much more. Blurring genres and taking us across the oceans, LADIES IN WAITING is a heartfelt celebration of Jane Austen and her timeless masterpieces.

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 is still living at home with hardly a plan in sight. Now, 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 never thought he would see Anne again after she dumped him for accepting a job overseas. 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. 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.

Beatrice Nilsson is a good lawyer and an even better friend. So when the marriage of her two closest pals ends in divorce, Bea picks a side and storms the office of attorney Nathan Asher to tell him exactly what he can do with his alimony petition. Unfortunately, what should end with a few choice words soon spirals into uncharted territory when Nate shows up at her NYU Law office a few days later as a newly minted adjunct professor --- and her new colleague. Bea still hates Nathan. But between weekly meetings and networking events, walks around Washington Square Park and late-night pizza, that hate begins to feel a lot like something else. And as uncomfortable truths emerge about the divorce that started it all, she might have to choose between her friends’ happily ever after and her own for the very first time.

Will Darcy is everything Elizabeth Bennet is not. Aloof, arrogant…and rich. Of course, he’s never cared about money. In fact, it’s number one on his long list of things that irk him. Number two? His friend Charlie’s insistence on setting him up with his new girlfriend’s sharp-tongued sister. Lizzy is all wrong for him --- from her money-hungry family to her uncanny ability to speak to him as bluntly as he does everyone else. But then maybe that’s why he can’t stop thinking about her. Lizzy is sure Will hates everybody. He thinks she willfully misunderstands them. Yet, just as they strike an uneasy truce, mistakes threaten Charlie and Jane’s romance, with Will and Lizzy caught in the undertow. The two must sift through the gossip and lies to protect the happiness of everyone they love --- even if it means sacrificing their own.

Emma Woodhouse has lived 23 years in her tight-knit Upper East Side neighborhood with very little to distress her…that is, until her budding matchmaking hobby results in her sister’s marriage --- and subsequent move downtown. Now, Emma must start her final year of grad school grappling with an entirely new emotion: boredom. So when she meets Nadine, a wide-eyed Ohio transplant, Emma not only sees a potential new friend but a new project. If only her overbearing neighbor, George Knightley, would get out of her way. The only thing that frustrates Knightley more than a corked whiskey is his childhood friend, Emma. But despite his gripes, Knightley can’t help but notice that the girl next door is a woman now…one who he suddenly can’t get out of his head.