Prada and Prejudice

A Fun Historical Romance with a Smart and Funny Heroine

I am a sucker for a good love story so it shouldn't come as a surprise that I loved Mandy Hubbard's PRADA AND PREJUDICE. But simply labeling this tale as a romance would be grossly underestimating it.
My favorite love stories are the ones that are able to combine the romance with a deeper character arc, and not only does Mandy do this, but she is able to add in magic, dresses, balls, and a few not-to-subtle nods to one of my favorite novels of all time, Pride and Prejudice. To top it all off, she adds in her signature wit. The perfect recipe for a page-turning hit!

There is much to love about this story. The friendship between Callie and Emily is fun and completely spot on. I am so glad Mandy took the time and allowed Callie and the reader to experience the girly stuff we all think of and idolize when it comes to this period in history. The beautiful dresses, the hairstyles, the balls, and the dancing. Emily is the perfect fashionista to guide Callie through these experiences and it adds dimension to their relationship. One of the best things about this friendship is that it endears the reader to Callie even more. By Callie loving Emily, constantly pointing out how adorable and sweet she is, and wanting to take care of her, it automatically makes us not only care Emily, but about Callie, too. We agree with her-Emily is as cute as a button-and by having Callie not become jealous, but instead protective over her, we as the reader like Callie even more. Finally, their friendship also serves as the perfect catalyst for Callie's emerging strength. My favorite line involving this subplot beautifully captures why this relationship was so essential to the plot:
"Why is it that I can't defend myself to three pretty girls from my class but when it comes to Emily, I am as fierce as a lioness with cubs?"
Callie'
Callie's character arc is also extremely well done and completely believable. She starts out insecure and not fitting in, and by transporting her to a time when she REALLY doesn't, she is forced to grow. As in real life, there are growing pains. Things aren't perfect and as Callie says, "Even pretending to be someone else didn't fix it." But she keeps on trying because she has to, and eventually, through the confidence she gains from her relationships with Emily and Alex, she emerges stronger.

Finally, Callie and Alex's relationship is pure entertainment. There is enough mystery to keep the reader guessing, despite us knowing there are obvious miscommunications happening all over the place. Their banter is hilarious and sexy, and their unraveling romance made me swoon. Their first kiss takes place in the middle of one of their classic fights and leaves both Callie and the reader shocked and wanting more. Their second kiss is short and sweet, and at first, I wished there had been more. But then I realized that this story wasn't really about that. Sure it was a romance-and you get plenty of that without the kissing scenes (in fact, the tension and build up for these scenes are pretty hot!)-but this story was more about character growth and I think that could have been lost if too much emphasis had been placed on the hooking up.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

a friend gave me this book i didn't expect it to be a good book

a friend gave me this book i didn't expect it to be a good book but it actually was a really nice story

Amazing book

Very recommended

Very Cute!!

Callie is very lovable and I love how she tried to make her mark even in Regency England. But she learns a lot, not only about how things were way different in 1815 England, but how she can change and be more confident. When she gets back to present day, she stopped trying to make the popular girl like her, and just take her own path.
If you like Austen, then you will love the romance and time period. Perfect for middle school to early high school girls.

Great Read!

This is a great book for girls ages 12-15. Summary: Clumsy high schooler Callie goes on a school trip over summer break, where she soon finds she is lonely, her best friend having moved away. To fit in, she buys $400 Prada heels, and trips and goes back in time to 1815. She is mistaken by a sweet optimistic girl (Emily) as Emily's best friend, who she hasn't seen for years. She soon meets handsome Alex, Emily's cousin and the Duke of Harksbury, who she mistakens for arrogant and self-centered. This book is one of my favorites of all times. Callie's modern character in the strict and proper castle of Harksbury, trying to keep herself hidden as Emily's best friend was very funny.

!!!!!MUST READ!!!!!

This book is a must read! The book was a non-stop page turner, and so intriguing I want more! Laugh-out-loud moments with soft romantic ones as well. Hoping to read more from this author or maybe even a sequel to this one?

worth begging for :)

i was doing a book report project for school and then i read this book. I spent a week BEGGING my teaching to let me do this book instead. It didn't work :( but i still LOVE this book :)

<3LOVED IT!!!!!

its soooooooooooooooooo amazing it had me laugh soooo hard!!! if ur hesitant about reading dont be cuzz its the BEST BOOK EVER!!!!

Prada & Prejudice

I really enjoyed this story, throughout. I couldn't wait to read the ending because I wanted to know what was going to happen. BUT, I was really disappointed with the ending of this book, it was kind of confusing, and definitely didn't conclude the book in a good way. To be fair though, the beginning and middle of the book was really enjoyable and funny.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Cute and quick read...

it's a nice modern twist to a great classic story. The characters are likeable. Overall the story is a fun read.

Reviewed by Sarah Bean the Green Bean Teen Queen for TeensReadToo.com

Callie is on a class trip to London and she's miserable. When she overhears a group of popular girls talking about how they plan to sneak into a club that night, Callie is determined to join them. But first she needs something to make her cool - Prada heels!

Callie is a huge klutz and one step in those three-inch Prada heels sends her tumbling over - and waking up in 1815!

There Callie gets mistaken for a long-lost friend of Emily. Callie soon gets mixed up in family scandal, engagements, and high society - and she can't seem to keep from butting heads with the arrogant (but very hot) duke Alex.

This book was so much fun - I loved every minute of it! Callie is a fun modern girl and Regency England just isn't sure what to do with her. I loved the author's ideas of how a modern girl would react to the customs and society of 1815. Callie's adventures were creative but felt realistic. I mean really, what would a modern girl do about corsets and the lack of indoor plumbing?

I really enjoyed the interaction between Callie and Alex. Mandy Hubbard gives a perfect nod to Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy and their relationship was loads of fun to read.

The thing I loved the most was that the story jumped right in! I get annoyed when books tell you in the synopsis that something will happen, but it takes pages and pages to even get there. Callie lands herself in 1815 by the second chapter -which means most of the story has a historical setting and the action starts from the beginning. I love that!! (Thank you, Ms. Hubbard!)

This was an enjoyable, delightful read that readers of romance or historical fiction will enjoy. I can't wait to read more from this fabulous new author!

One of the best books i've read

I just finished reading this book and let me tell you, i will never forget this book. I just finished it and i already want to read it again. It has romance, and mystery. You'll want to know what happens page after page, and its really thrilling. The end ties everything together and your just left totally satisfied with the great book. I definitely recommend this book.

The fantasy of every Austen-loving girl!

For anyone who wants to read something that depicts the fantasies of any Austen-esque loving girl, this is it! The book only took me two days to get through, and it was honestly one of the best I've read. It was an amazing mixutre of sarcasm, romance, humor, and of course, killer corsets (literally, who could survive one of those?!?!). The only thing I didn't understand about this book was why it was classified as an adult novel. To me it seemed like a teen book. There wasn't anything that was inappropriate to a reader 13 years or older.

Isn't this every Regency romance fan's fantasy?

I have a confession to make: I used to daydream about time traveling back to Regency England, where I could pretend I was a young miss and find myself a really hot duke who fights with himself about whether or not to compromise my innocence. Oh yeah, I read those romances.

So how excited was I to find Prada and Prejudice, this great YA novel that does exactly that -- sends its heroine into the past, where she meets a duke and gets mixed up in mistaken identity, arranged marriages, and odd etiquette.

I really enjoyed the book, especially the awkwardness of the time period and the differences poor Callie doesn't understand between now and then. I did, though, kind of wish she was a Regency Romance fan. This is probably only because that's how I would have written it. But since I didn't write it, I like what Mandy Hubbard did.

I spent a lot of the novel wondering how she was going to end it, but I wasn't disappointed. It's a perfect ending for this story. Romance and Austen fans should definitely read this.

A Good Lite Read

This was a fantastic story to read on a rainy day. Nothing to heavy but nothing so mindless you find yourself wondering why you brought it. While you do at times find yourself saying "that went to easily," some situations have a tenduncy to be underexagerated, it was still a great story of a young girl finding herself in a creatve way. I was worried that this would simply be the retelling of a classic and because so i set it aside on my book shelf for a couple weeks, but it turned out to be a great new story filled with the basic priniciples on becoming confident in oneself in a creative fashion.

Too cliche or not too cliche

While I enjoyed the concept of Prada & Prejudice, I was not a fan of Callie. I suppose I would probably be whiny as well if I found myself in a different time period against my wishes, but I did not want to read non-stop complaining. Sometimes I wanted to shake Callie silly when she miscontrued whatever the Duke said without even getting to know him better. It drove me nuts when people do that! Probably befitting the "prejudice" aspect of the title. I don't recall ever getting this irritated with Elizabeth Bennett, but I think Jane Austen made it more subtle.

That said, it was fun to see how Mandy brought 1815 to life and made it a teenaged girl's dream-come-true (or not). I'm a little surprised that the Callie's Pradas didn't have more center-stage, especially since they would be pretty newfangled back in those days.

Prada & Prejudice was a cute, fluffy piece that harnesses the essence of Pride And Prejudice and delivers it from a teenaged girl's perspective. If you are looking for something fun and light-hearted, then add this to your summer reading list!

A gentle reverent nod to Pride and Prejudice

When fifteen year old heroine Callie Montgomery purchases a pair of red Prada pumps with sky-high heels she thinks her life will change from high school geek to A-list fashionista in one smooth step. She's out to impress her savvy classmates while traveling on a school trip in London. Not only is Callie socially awkward, she is an admitted klutz. It only takes her three steps out of the Prada shop in her new shoes to trip and hit her head. When she wakes up, her surroundings have changed from city street, to country lane. She is taken in at Harksbury, a palatial country manor house where she is mistaken for an American cousin Rebecca Vaughn. Rebecca's first visit to England is highly anticipated by Emily Thornton-Hawke, who warmly greets the cousin she has never met with open arms, and in full Regency era attire. Thinking that British people are very odd, Callie asks to use the telephone, but only gets blank looks. She plays along with impersonating Cousin Rebecca and gradually begins to realize that somehow she has traveled back in time to 1815. Her twenty-first century manners and memory of Regency history hamper her ruse, especially with the arrogant but dishy Lord Alexander Thornton-Hawke, Duke of Harksbury. He thinks she is outspoken and ill-mannered; she thinks if he wasn't such a complete jerk, he'd be a great catch.

A high-concept time travel fantasy, Mandy Hubbard's debut novel Prada and Prejudice reminds us how far we have evolved socially pitting twenty-first century personal freedoms against early nineteenth-century social stricture. Hubbard's first person writing style is direct and engaging. Her heroine Callie/Rebecca is endearingly insecure, struggling to find herself in a teenage world flooded with designer clothes and confusing priorities. She cleverly contrasts her heroine's modern sensibilities against the double standard for women in Regency times. Eventually, she is able to influence Alex to change his views on out of wedlock children, arranged marriages, and of course being an arrogant aristocrat, indirectly addresses issues like primogeniture and feminism without even knowing it. She is just being herself, outspoken and direct. In addition, being Rebecca changes Callie's perspective as she gradually realizes that by traveling thousands of miles to England, or back two hundred years into the past, she can not escape herself. Wherever you go there you are! Like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, her red shoes are not her ticket to happiness. It was there all along, waiting to be discovered, in herself.

Light, bright, and sparkly, Prada and Prejudice has made a grand entrance into the emerging Young Adult fiction genre. It is not a Jane Austen sequel per se, but gently nods with reverence at Pride and Prejudice, presenting a hero and heroine whose relationship and characteristics readers will recognize from Austen's famous literary couple Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy. With Austen being the grandmother of chick-lit, we have seen this premise used many times before in modern novels; Bridget Jones' Diary, Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict and Twilight, and in the movies You've Got Mail and Lost in Austen to name a few. If Prada and Prejudice represents the next evolution is Austen inspired fiction geared for young readers (and those young at heart) we are on very good footing indeed. Well done. I recommend it highly for those in need of a quick escape, and a hearty laugh.

Laurel Ann, Austenprose

Very cute. =]

I loved this story from the beginning. I thought the ending was a little weak, but other than that it was a great romance. Funny too.

Giggling fits permitted. :)

Who said a school trip to London was going to be easy? And more importantly, why did Callie trip and fall in London? Maybe it was because getting used to five inch Prada heels can be difficult. Or maybe it was fate. Ever since her best friend moved, Callie has become a wannabe and waking up in 19th century England wasn't planned on her to-do list to catch the eyes of the cool crowd. When a girl in a corset and long dress comes along and insists that Callie is Rebecca, her friend from America, Callie can't help but take the opportunity. Falling in love with a duke, breaking a planned marriage, and going courting can be troublesome, especially when everyone thinks you are someone you're not.

I could say, that I know several authors that could take Prada and Prejudice to the next level. I could also say that the writing was too childish. But I won't. That would lying. Author Mandy Hubbard has a unique sense of dry humor and an eye for outstanding storylines that made this book phenomenal. The writing was charming and repeated thoughts that needed to be echoed. The metaphors are fun to think about, along with everything else. This book is great to read out-loud, especially to a group of middle school girls. The sentences are smooth and slide off the tongue so naturally, it's easier to understand and listen to. I will be looking out for future releases by this author!

Contains:

*an illegitimate child that was spoken of

No text was provided for this review.