Monday, May 30, 2011

Review: Prom and Prejudice by Elizabeth Eulberg

Is there anything better than a cute little read that makes you smile and want to share?  That's exactly how I felt about Elizabeth Eulburg's Prom and Prejudice.  It was cute, it was short, and it was a fun P&P take off.  What could be better?

Synopsis:  From Goodreads, "After winter break, the girls at the very prestigious Longbourn Academy become obsessed with the prom. Lizzie Bennet, who attends Longbourn on a scholarship, isn’t interested in designer dresses and expensive shoes, but her best friend, Jane, might be — especially now that Charles Bingley is back from a semester in London.
Lizzie is happy about her friend’s burgeoning romance but less than impressed by Charles’s friend, Will Darcy, who’s snobby and pretentious. Darcy doesn’t seem to like Lizzie either, but she assumes it’s because her family doesn’t have money. Clearly, Will Darcy is a pompous jerk — so why does Lizzie find herself drawn to him anyway?

Will Lizzie’s pride and Will’s prejudice keep them apart? Or are they a prom couple in the making? Whatever the result, Elizabeth Eulberg, author of The Lonely Hearts Club, has concocted a very funny, completely stylish delight for any season — prom or otherwise."

Review:  As far as remakes of Jane Austen's famous Pride and Prejudice go, this one is pretty cute.  With our famous "Lizzie" and Darcy now as teens studying in a famous prep school, the result of this romance is not marriage, but prom.  If you know the story behind the original story, then the personalities of the characters make perfect sense, even if the resulting reasons to be proud might be different.  Darcy, in this remake, is so sweet and mature that he almost seems unreal for a teen boy, yet that makes him even more endearing.  Let's be honest, we're reading his as a character, and not necessarily as a real to life teen, right?

I really loved this short, clean read.  Lizzie and Darcy both have valid reasons to not like the other, and I think that their conflicts are age appropriate and help forward the story.  The resolutions along the way are nicely put together, with new ways of showing why Darcy was so stand-offish with Lizzie and how he really is a good, well-mannered guy.  Is getting Lizzie and Darcy to prom the real "resolution" to this story?  I can't really say that's it, but the overriding story is very cute and fun to compare to the original.  I'll be recommending this one to many students I teach, and my adult friends that enjoy a cute remake of Pride and Prejudice.

*FTC Disclosure:  Review is based on a book provided by the Amazon Vine program.

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