I wish I could give 1/2 stars, and I'm still out on whether I want to give it a 3 or 4! Honestly, I thought this was a really cute, fun, quick read. As one might note by my bookshelves, I love books that include Pride and Prejudice in some way. I guess I'm not as much of a purist I used to think!

The basic premise is that insecure Callie, while touring in London with a tour group filled with teens, trips and goes back in time after a rather big purchase at the Prada store. She wakes up in the early 1800's in England, and finds that she is mistaken by a Duke's family to be their friend Rebecca, who they are expecting in from America. Callie has to not only take on this persona of this Rebecca so that she has a place to stay, but must also fight off the strange attraction she feels for the snooty duke she has found herself under the same roof with.

As a YA novel, I thought this was really cute, and definitely one I'd recommend to any of my students or friends. It was lively, and a quick read, that made me laugh in a few places. I also really enjoyed watching Rebecca learn how to have more self confidence, which in the end, was truly what the book was all about. Overall, a fun read! ( )

This was a fun, entertaining read, playing off of one of the stalwarts of romance, Jane Austen. Callie is clumsy and miserable, her best friend Katie has just moved away. Her parents are divorced and at the last minute, she decides to join a class trip to England before the start of sophomore year. Callie is already sneaking away from chaperone Mrs. Bentley, trying to figure out how to fit in with the almost A-list girls on the trip. After deciding retail therapy is the way to go, she trips and falls in her new red Prada shoes on the street in London. When she awakens, her surroundings have changed remarkably. Where once where shops and cobblestones, are woods, and more woods. She follows a road of sorts to what appears to be a castle. There, she is mistaken for an American traveler, Rebecca Vaughn. Her friend Emily hasn't seen her since they were young. The duke of Harksbury, man of the manor, comes off as judgemental and rude from the beginning. I enjoyed this story immensely as Callie/Rebecca tried to fit in with this 1815 life and I saw her self-confidence rise ten-fold. ( )

Title: Prada & Prejudice Author: Mandy Hubbard Publisher: Razor Bill Number Of Pages: 214 Publication Date: June 11th 2009

Summary From Back Of book: Fifteen-year-old Callie buys a pair of real Prada pumps to impress the cool crowd on a school trip to London. Goodbye Callie the clumsy geek-girl, hello popularity! But before she knows what’s hit her, Callie wobbles, trips, and conks her head…and wakes up in the year 1815.

She stumbles about until she meets the kind-hearted Emily, who takes Callie in, mistaking her for a long-lost friend. Sparks soon fly between Callie and Emily’s cousin Alex, the maddeningly handsome—though totally arrogant-Duke of Harksbury. Too bad he seems to have something sinister up his ruffled sleeve…

From face-planting off velvet piano benches and hiding behind a claw-foot couches to streaking through the estate halls wearing nothing but an itchy blanket, Callie’s curiosity about Alex creates all kinds of trouble. But the grandfather clock is ticking on Callie’s 19th century shenanigans. Can Callie save Emily from a dire engagement, win a kiss from Alex, and prove to herself that she’s more than just loud-mouth klutz before her time is up?

Review: WOW! I found Prada & Prejudice to be super amazing! It was beautifully written and very funny! One thing I will say is that I might re-read it, which is rare for me. I am pretty sure that says a lot! The characters were awesome and interesting. One thing I really want to know if there will be a sequel..Mandy can you tell me? Anyway I would give Prada & Prejudice 5/5 stars! (If I did grade books!)

I recommend this book if you like regency novels, romance, Prada, and YA novels! ( )

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 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 & 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 angst ridden and 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. By Callie/Rebecca's motivation to help Emily break her engagement to a man thirty years her senior she does not love, and influence Alex, the Duke of Harkesbury's to change his views on out of wedlock children, arranged marriages, and of course being an arrogant aristocrat, she directly 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 & 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 & Prejudice represents the next generation in 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 ( )