Prada & Prejudice

by Prada & Prejudice

Callie is on a class trip to London. She's supposed to be having the time of her life, but instead she's feeling just as left-out and unpopular as ever. One day, in a scheme to get the popular girls to like her, Callie goes out and buys a pair of red Prada heels. However, on her way back to the hotel Callie trips and suddenly finds herself stuck in 1815. She meets friendly Emily, who mistakes her for her friend Rachel and takes her in.

At first Callie thinks this is all some big joke or misunderstanding. (In fact, it's starting to get annoying right before she finally realizes she's been catapulted into the past). Soon she's becoming close to Emily, and trying to figure out how to save her from marrying a man much older than her - in the hopes that she can marry the man she loves instead. Of course, this is Prada & Prejudice - a non-so-subtle reference to the beloved classic Pride and Prejudice - so there must be a "Darcy" figure. Alex is a duke, and it is his house where the two friends are staying. Alex is gorgeous, but he really rubs Callie the wrong way. He's conceited, and selfish, and apparently hiding a pretty big secret.

Can Callie find a way to help Emily, confront Alex, and make it back to the twenty-first century before the real Rachel shows up?

This is a cute book, with some funny moments. Despite the nod to Pride and Prejudice, I almost think it would be easier to read this book if you didn't know much about the Regency time period. I'm not an expert, but I found Callie's complete ignorance to be frustrating. For example, she gets all bent out of shape about classes and superiors. Of course the duke acts like he's better than you - everyone in the time period would say that he is!

Another thing I thought was strange was that Callie often wore her 3-inch red patent leather heels around in 1815. I didn't think they wore heels back then.

Lastly, and the real reason this book gets 3-stars instead of 4 or 5, is that the ending was a bit of a let down. I'd been wondering from the beginning how things were going to work out since it was pretty likely Callie would return to her own time by the end. What would happen to the guy she liked and the friends she made? That aspect of it wasn't entirely satisfying.