Review: Prada and Prejudice by Mandy Hubbard

Thanks for humoring me in my last post. I couldn't help but find it funny. We're over our midweek hump, and I'm eager and excited for the next two days to come and go. At school we're reading Oedipus the King in my junior classes, and we're finishing up "The Knight's Tale" and Beowulf in my AP classes. They've both been great pieces to teach, and have given me a little "umph" factor in my motivation as a teacher. I love it when I see students engage with a text, and rather than simply say, "This is boring," or, "Why are we reading this," they follow along and even ask questions. It's just really a great feeling.

Okay, enough about that! In my own time, I'm reading great "kick-back-and-relax" escape reads. Mandy Hubbard's novel, Prada and Prejudice just happens to be one that I read over the readathon that was a cute little, relaxing read.

Synopsis: In this YA novel, 15 year old Callie begins the story on a school trip to the UK. Feeling a sense of insecurity over her social position, Callie believes that if she were to buy an expensive pair of real Prada high heels, that she might gain the respect and attention of the popular girls she is traveling with. This is all thwarted when she trips in her new Pradas on the sidewalk outside the store and wakes in the Regency period. Callie wanders up to a home, and is mistaken as a much awaited visitor who is also going to be coming from America. Callie takes on this person's identity so that she has somewhere to stay, and so she can figure out how she came to this crazy place! While there she comes to learn that she is staying in the home of a very handsome duke, who she feels is too big for his britches. For Callie, it becomes a challenge to survive without humiliating herself and the people she is staying with, all while trying to figure out why she's there and if she can get back to her tour group!

Review: I read this for the 24-Hour Readathon. This was a great choice, as it was a light read, and I could get through it pretty quickly. I suppose the engagement-factor was high. Callie did drive me crazy a bit, with her incessant need to fit in, but as a high school teacher I can acknowledge that these insecurities are pretty normal. I did enjoy Callie's mishaps and slip of the tongue in the Regency time, but felt that she had only just become comfortable with her life there when everything changed. The ending was a bit predictable, but the story was cute, and the characters and relationships were constructed well enough to be engaging. Overall, I'd say that it's a cute, fast read for anyone who ever wished they could slip back in time to the Regency period!

This book also counts as another for my participation in the Everything Austen Challenge. This is my 3rd of 6 completed.

For more information, see: Prada and Prejudice.