April 05, 2013

Review: Prom & Prejudice by Elizabeth Eulberg

Prom & Prejudice
Author: Elizabeth Eulberg
Publisher: Point
Publication Date: January 4, 2011
Pages: 231
Source: Paperback/Library

From the much-buzzed-about author of THE LONELY HEARTS CLUB (already blurbed by Stephenie Meyer, Lauren Myracle, and Jen Calonita), a prom-season delight of Jane Austen proportions.

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single girl of high standing at Longbourn Academy must be in want of a prom date.

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?

Review: I really loved this book. Ok, so I've never actually read Pride and Prejudice (I know, so bad right?) so I don't know exactly how it relates (though I think I get the general idea of it). So this book was so good! It the first Elizabeth Eulberg book I've read (though I have all her other books just waiting to be read on my shelf now) and I totally love her writing! So overall I really loved the idea of the story. Lizzie a scholarship girl in a school where money means everything. Due to that, most of the people at her school don't exactly treat her all that well. They seriously treat her like the plague! I mean like the girls at her school purposely went out of their way to make her life a living hell. And the boys from the boys school next door don't exactly treat her any better. So when one of those boys even shows a small amount of interest in her she doesn't think he's for real.

I loved the message I got out of the book. Ok. So pretty much everyone in this book was judged based on how much money their families had. And Lizzie being the scholarship girl was pretty much at the bottom, making it harder than ever to fit in. Now I know lots of us have dealt with bullies but these girls just took it to all new levels. They seriously acted like they were better than everyone just because their families had tons of money! So I completely understood why Lizzie was standoffish when Darcy showed any interest in her. When almost every other person treated her like trash, why should she believe he's any different? I mean people have been known to fake being friendly or interested in you just to get close to you and then just do something absolutely horrible to you. But then again, people also deserve the chance to not be judged right when you meet them. I felt like that was the first massive problem between Lizzie and Darcy. Darcy just judged Lizzie (based on an incident that we don't find out about til way later in the book) based solely on her being a scholarship student and then Lizzie just judged Darcy by the way he acted after he found out about it... Which is how everyone else treated her pretty much. Judging someone when you first meet them is never the best thing. I mean I know it still happens but still.

This thing with Lizzie and Darcy! It totally just started out with the both of them just accompanying their friends places and it turned into this huge thing that they themselves just couldn't see (mostly Lizzie, but still). The little bits of flirtation here and there. His showing up in her life tons (like walking her home after work). Lizzie really didn't wanna admit it but there was something between them, she just didn't want to end up getting hurt or used by a rich guy. I do have to say though. Darcy is ten times better than Wick! I just immediately got this strange feeling about Wick. Something about him felt off and I just didn't like Lizzie's friendship with him. After Darcy told her about what Wick had done after their huge face off I knew I was right to have those feelings about him. He was not a good guy and even though it took a huge fight between Lizzie and Darcy for him to open up to her about what Wick did to his family (which also explained his aversion to Lizzie after finding out she was a scholarship student) I was glad it came out! I had wondered why Darcy didn't like him and I just knew Wick was lying about why. I also hated that Wick said they had to take advantage of their situations. Um. No. They didn't. Yes, Lizzie could take advantage of her scholarship and get a good education, but I knew Wick was all kinds of wrong with the way he said "take advantage." The take advantage he was talking about was using people for all kinds of different things, and I don't care how rich or poor you are, you should not be using people like that. I'm glad Lizzie finally found out the truth about Wick! And I'm very glad she realized her feelings for Darcy!!! :D

I did however dislike the pain that was caused in Jane's life because of Lizzie and Darcy. Jane had this incredible relationship with Charles and his sister got all jealous of Lizzie and Darcy and took it out on Jane instead of Lizzie! She told him to break up with Jane just to try and keep Lizzie and Darcy away from each other on their outings and it was just horrible. I was so glad that Darcy talked some sense into Charles and got him to apologize for treating Jane like trash because of his sisters jealousy! Jane totally deserved her happy ending!

So I loved the ending! From Darcy and Lizzie taking down Wick when he tried taking advantage of Jane's sister to the absolutely adorable "will you not go to prom with me and let me take you on date instead?" thing... It was great! Wick finally got what was coming to him and Lizzie got her happy ending with Darcy! Such a good ending! Oh, and the moral of this story is not to judge anyone! Give them a chance! :)

5 Stars!