Austen's second novel and I have honestly no clue how to rate this. This novel is far superior in writing, character development and complexity of story than her first novel but I just enjoyed Northanger Abbey way more. 
 Of course NA was extremely straight forward, there weren't many sub-plots etc but I just loved Henry Tilney as a love interest and his relationship with Catherine was actually super fun and cute to read about. 
 Whereas Sense and Sensibility is much more complex - we have two compelling protagonists with various love interests/options - and the writing is much more mature but portions of this book dragged like a bitch. I can't put it another way. It was a nice read but sadly nothing special. A huge problem that I had with this is that the romance just wasn't my thing because THERE BARELY WAS ANY. By the end of this novel (as in every Austen novel, I believe) our main girls are married off but I just didn't feel it. We barely got to know their husbands-to-be and I totally didn't feel any chemistry. 
 But let's go through this tale chronologically: 
 The novel starts out with the old Mr. Dashwood dying and telling his son that he has to take care of his three half-sisters and Dashwood's other wife. Mr. John Dashwood agrees to do so and wants to give his relatives a nice sum of money each year. John's wife - Fanny who is a very interesting character to loath - is totally against it and manages to convince her husband in a rather Slytherin-type-of-way to give them a lot less money. A sum on which the three girls and their mother can rarely live on. 
 It turns out that finding a house with that little rent is rather hard and so the three sisters (Elinor, Marianne and Margaret) and their mother have to live for a while alongside Fanny. There they get introduced to Edward (whom I call Edgar because Edward Cullen is still dominant in my brain) who is Fanny's brother. To Fanny's dislike there is a mutual attraction between Edward and Elinor. 
 Very early on in the novel I managed to pick up on some great things. The most important being that I early saw that Elinor was supposed to embody "Sense" and Marianne "Sensibility". I loved that I picked on that one on my own and I appreciate that Austen made that interpretation easy for an unexperienced reader. 
 The next thing I do whenever I read Austen is spotting the Pianoforte because apparently Austen loves including Pianofortes in her work (in S&S Marianne plays piano). I also really like how she tries to incorporate the girl's hobbies in her works to give them a deeper character. All of her heroines (at least so far) love to read and immerse themselves in books, Elinor paints, Marianne is musical. I think that's just a great tool that Austen uses to show that these woman are not all about finding a hubby 24/7. 
 Thirdly, I loved the sass in this one. I wished that Marianne and Elinor's mom had more scenes with Fanny because their mutual hatred was just too good to read about. 
 [the mom talking about Edward] to say that he is unlike Fanny is enough. It implies everything amiable. I love him already.' 
 So after some time passes the young Dashwoods move out to a cottage in the county and are immediately welcomed by the landowners - the Middletones (and Lady Middletone's mother - Mrs. Jennings). I loved the dynamic here because most of the adults in this novel are quite ridiculous and obsessed with marrying off young girls. 
 Mrs. Jennings was a widow [...] She had only two daughters, both of which she had lived to see respectfully married, and she had now therefore nothing to do to marry all the rest of the world. 
 Very early on in the novel when Marianne is infatuated for the first time, we learn a lot of her beliefs. She thinks that 27 y/o are old and how no exciting life, are too old to marry and therefore she wants nothing to do with them (Colonel Brandon falls into that category). 
 I was kind of a sucker for Willoughby and would have liked him to turn out decent but oh well, ya can't have everything. I loved Willoughby and Marianne's first encounter and that he picked her up and carried her home after she tore her ancle. It was the most romantic moment of this book (which doesn't mean that it was a great romantic moment, but it was one of the few that happen throughout this story). 
 I honestly think that this is more a of a tale of sisterhood than a romance novel. Throughout the entire novel the bond between Marianne and Elinor and that they looked out for each other and genuinely had the other's best interests in mind, was much more important than any love relationship. I also really appreciated how they tried to learn a little bit from the other, so that Marianne became much more "sense" by the end of this tale (basically stop wining about Willoughby's sorry ass and get workin'), and Elinor a little more "sensibility" (basically that she allowed herself to hope that the thing between Edward and her could work out in the end). 
 Even though from a reader's stand-point I sympathized much more with Elinor. Marianne got on my nerves quite a bit because you could tell that her behaviour towards Willoughby was improper and she was just so oblivious of it and basically a little ignorant shit (at least in the beginning). Whereas Elinor had to be the backbone of the entire family because the mother is also just an incompetent twat and not able to control/ protect her daughters. 
 I also liked learning about 17/18th etiquette. The fact that it was a very big thing when a man called you by your Christian name is just really funny to me. Also that whole business of demanding a lock from your sweetheart to carry around with you is just a little crazy but oh well, good ol' times. Then on the other hand it was funny to see how strict rules applied to Catherine from Northanger Abbey who was rarely allowed to be alone in a room with a male (who wasn't considered family) and how quickly Marianne and Willoughby are just riding off alone and nobody says a thing (apart from the oldfashioned Elinor). 
 The writer of the introduction made a great point that Austen tried to show the Old Classicism (of the 17th century) versus the New Romanticism (of the 18th century) by showing how different Elinor (Sense) and Marianne (Sensibility) act when things get rough and how their life choices play out. The writer makes a statement that Austen probably sympathized with the old way more and wasn't all for woman losing their heads and acting upon their emotions solely because the real winner in this tale is our beloved Elinor and she is def portrayed in a better light than Marianne and is just superior to her in thinking and decision-making. Elinor sacrificed so much in order to protect Marianne (to keep her from gossip, out of Willoughby's sight etc.) and Marianne was just much more selfish. 
 'I am afraid,' said Elinor 'that the pleasantness of an employment does not always evince its propriety.' 
 So, let's talk about the love interests for a bit. I was hella confused. I kinda liked Willoughby in the beginning and even when he just dropped everything and left Marianne with no explanation I still thought that we might get a redemption arc out of him. He was just damn likeable (maybe a tad judgy but who isn't that age). The Colonel was an interesting character but the mystery to me was a little too much for me and I really couldn't tell (apart from the end where it became apparent) whether he was truly having the hots for Marianne or also falling in love with Elinor. I liked his tragic backstory with Eliza and that he took in her love child and cared for the girl. Nonetheless I felt zero chemistry between him and Marianne and I don't think they'll have a long and/or happy marriage. Edward (Edgar hehe) - I just didn't care for him at all. He remained quite the empty character throughout the entire novel and I only starting liking him at the end where he confessed that he was not going to marry Miss Steele or Miss Morton. I liked that he was more of a "soft" male character (he basically showed sings of distress whenever he was mentioned) and that he really appreciated Elinor. 
 Edward also has one of the best lines in this entire thing which made me fall in love with him a little bit. So to understand the scene you have to know what was going on before that: 
 'Hunters!' repeated Edward - 'But why must you have hunters? Everybody does not hunt.' Marianne coloured as she replied, 'But most people do.' 
 OKAY, got that? I now to my favorite scene in this novel in which Edward starts suspecting that something went down between Marianne and Willoughby and that Marianne is infatuated: 
 'Well then; I guess that Mr Willoughby hunts.' 
 LIKE YASS I love the sass and how witty he is. 
 One random question that I had whilst reading was WHY THE FUCK IS MARGARET A CHARACTER? Like she adds nothing to the story and is just an empty character... like what is she doing--- 
 Overall I really liked the people with whom they were staying in the county (so the Middletones, Mrs Jennings) etc but sometimes they would just get so damn annoying because they were just so nosy. I really felt like some portions of this book read like gossip girl because esp Mrs Jennings and their mom always assumed that everything was already a settled match/ engagement and I could honestly feel for the girls and how uncomfortable and pissed they were in these situations. 
 The turning point of this novel was (IMO) Willoughby's letter and it was written very well indeed. I was quite shocked and could feel Marianne's despair but honestly since I'm HamTrash I got real excited that he signed his letter with YOUR OBEDIENT SERVANT like yas that's ma guy ;)))) 
 Marianne was a litte overdramatic tbh Misery like mine knows no pride. okay girl, mourn yourself to death... she was also quite the bitch towards the Colonel who literally only wanted the best for her but Marianne's a spoilt brat and I kinda liked that she got her ass sad down by Willoughy :D 
 I didn't care too much for the Colonel's backstory and that Willoughby basically made love to his adopted daughter and then left her in ruin but well I guess this should have cemented my hatred for Willoughy... and I def see that he is an ass but I still like him because he has some sort of stamina and he just wants to make the best out of his shitty financial situation and who doesn't like sex? (sorrynotsorry) 
 In the second portion of this novel we get some pretty cool scenes but most of them are unfortuantely forgettable and not impactful at all. I liked that throughout her suffering Marianne stayed loyal towars Elinor and when the Miss Steeles belittled her and her art she stood up for her sister and praised her. Another scene that was just the epitom of akwardness was Edward walking in on Miss Lucy Steele (the woman he vowed to marry when he was a youth) and Elinor. 
 and Edward seemed to have as great an inclination to walk out of the room again, as to advance farther into it. Poor Edward muttered something, but what it was, nobody knew, not even himself. 
 The third volume of this finally gives some answers. I really liked the scene in which Elinor talks with the younger Miss Steele (I think her name is Anne) who spied on her sister and sex is quite explicitly mentioned. Like I'm pretty sure that's uncommun for literature (by a woman) of that time. I loved it! 
 The whole arc about Marianne mourning herself to death and then Willoughby riding to her aid was just a little too much for me. I liked Willoughby (as I said before) and even though he is an ass I could forgive him because he literally made no promises to Marianne and I'm pretty sure they didn't sleep with one another. I kinda felt for Elinor in this scene because Willoughby just lays it all out in front of her and burdens her with his past and shitty decisions and now she has to figure out how to tell Marianne all of this. Even though she is worried sick for Marianne might die. The sarcasm was pretty good in that scene and I loved the reveal that Willoughby's wife wrote the shocking letter, like that woman got nuts, man. 
 In the end all is well and we have that slight change in character in both our protagonists. Marianne regrets her foolishness and vows to do better in the future (I was kinda proud of her that she wanted nothing to do with Willoughby anymore) and Elinor realizes that she loves Edward a lot and cannot suppress her sadness upon seeing that he is about to marry another woman. Elinor now found the difference between the expectation of an unpleasant event, however certain the mind may be told to consider it, and certainty itself. 
 Just an in NA I think the ending was poorly executed because all the juicy fun stuff is not told by Austen, we are only presented with the result: in what manner he [Edward] expressed himself, and how he was received, need not be particularly told. LIKE WTF THAT'S WHAT I CAME FOR, JANE... 
 So yeah by the end I was happy for Elinor and Edward but just really confused why Marianne took the Colonel... 
 CAN't WAIT FOR P&P NEXT