This is a fun little novel by a first-time author; although it’s classic teen lit, I think it’ll stick around awhile. Julie’s best friend, Ashleigh, is an enthusiast, otherwise known as a fangirl. She jumps from obsession to obsession, and although Julie is more than happy to come along for the ride, Ashleigh’s latest may just push her over the edge. You see, over the summer, Julie gave her friend a copy of her favorite book: Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Former tom-boy Ashleigh grabs ahold of the language, the dress, and the manners of her 19th Century counterparts, and eventually seeks what every Regency heroine does: True Love. She plans a scheme to crash a local all-boys boarding school dance to find said love, Julie is truly afraid of what she’s awoken. But Julie finds her own Mr Darcy by the end, and a series of quite hilarious and fun events makes for quite an enjoyable novel.

Although a reading of Pride and Prejudice will make for the most enjoyment of the story, this is a fun teen romance without a lot of the heavy “problem novel” stuff. But it’s not all fluff, either – Julie’s parents are divorced, her mom struggling to make ends meet while her father tries to create a new family with his new wife. Julie is a bit like Bella of Twilight fame in that what she really wants is to see everyone around her happy, often at the expense of her own happiness.

I personally adored this story – a little something for the Jane Austen fangirl in all of us. ^^