Prada and Prejudice- Mandy Hubbard

The Gist

Prada and Prejudice
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Callie Montgomery's school trip to England was supposed to fix everything. Her lack of popularity. Her lack of self-confidence. But why should things overseas be any different from back home? She's just as unpopular and clumsy in England as she was before, except now she's forced to hang out with three of the most popular girls in the school - they're her travel buddies. When Callie realizes that it'll take more than a few not-so-cozy days together to make them friends forever, she decides to do something drastic; she buys a pair of real Prada heels. The other girls are so seriously into fashion that the heels would have to impress them. But, on her way back to the hotel from the Prada store, she trips in her new heels and hits her head on the pavement. When she wakes up she's in another time. Victorian England. 

What We Think

Reviewed by Dream Catcher

Number of Pages: 238

I read this a long time ago as a sort of dare. My friends had bought me three books for my birthday that year. Pride and Prejudice, Pride Prejudice and Zombies, and Prada and Prejudice.  I have yet to read the other two.  But Prada and Prejudice called to me. For whatever reason it did. 

Let me rant a little. First about the plot. So it was okay. Eh. Time travel with Prada shoes. So. Question. If she hadn't gotten those Prada shoes would she have traveled back in time anyway? Did she just need to hit her head? Or were the Prada shoes magic? We will never know. Unless we all go out and buy some Prada shoes, trip five seconds after wearing said shoes, and hit our heads on the pavement. Ta daa. We'll either have a concussion or we'll be back in the Victorian era! Yeah. That's nice. You get the point. There were a few plot holes. It was a little romance-y and very victorian-y. But basically all it was was someone causing mischief in a time where mischief was scandalous. Which was fine. But not the makings of a great novel. I'm not asking for a paradox or anything like that. I mean, that'd  be  nice but they can't all be the best book ever. But at the very least I want something. There wasn't much of a plot here and that makes for a fluff book. You know the kind. The books you read when you don't really want to think. We all need a book like that every once in a while. But they're forgettable. That's what this was.
So let's get this over with; the cover and title. Eew. Scratch that. EEEWWW. They're the worst. I mean,  the cover is some girl's legs and her shiny, new time-travel shoes. With an aqua blue background. Ugh. If I were the publisher I would fire the cover artist. Sorry. The title is only slightly better. But hardly.  Kind of witty, but nothing genius. It's pretty laughable. But that certainly doesn't make it good. At all.
Characters...were actually not that bad. Yay. Callie (turned Rebecca) was a pretty decent character. Not the greatest character I'd ever read about but not the worst. Sometimes clever, sometimes relatable, sometimes interesting. But. You see I overused to word sometimes.  I did that for a reason - she was sometimes a good character. Sometimes. Emily - her medieval best friend - was a sweet character. Didn't have one mean or unpure thought in her head. She was polite and innocent - which honestly makes for a boring character at times. She was just okay. Alex - the Duke of Harksbury and complete jerk - was certainly an interesting character. Tall, dark and handsome, of course. He was the mean one who turned out to be more than that. Cliche, I know, but his character was important and never boring. His mother, the duchess of Harksbury, was just kind of there. I think she was supposed to be hated but I couldn't ever muster up enough enthusiasm to even dislike her. Eh. I think you can sense a pattern. Everything about this book is average. I didn't hate anything but I didn't love anything either.
Finally I'm going to write a few quick words on the writing. Pretty good. There. Done. That's really all that needs to be said. There was nothing remarkable about it but it wasn't bad. I think, as the author writes more, she'll improve on her style. She has potential.
So, if you're in the mood for some fluff book that you won't love and you won't hate, read this. And I'm not trying to be sarcastic. Sometimes you really just need one of those books. I know I do every once in a while. And this book fits the bill.  Not good, not bad, just forgettable. 


Real Teen Rating ~ C+ : Well, I guess it was good...