Prom and Prejudice by Elizabeth Eulberg

Title: Prom and Prejudice
Author: Elizabeth Eulberg

Release Date: 1st March 2011

My Rating: 4/5

Blurb:

Everyone is obsessed with the prom. Everyone except scholarship student Lizzie Bennett, who isn't interested in designer dresses or expensive shoes, even if her best friend Jane is - especially now that hottie Charles Bingley is back from London.

Will Darcy, on the other hand, is a pompous jerk. Lizzie assumes he dislikes her because she is a scholarship student - so why is she drawn to him anyway? Will Lizzie's pride and Will's prejudice keep them apart, or will there be a prom date after all?

My Review:
I love reading Elizabeth Eulberg. Her books make me happy. Prom and Prejudice has proved she wasn't a one-hit-wonder with her awesome debut The Lonely Hearts Club.

Prom and Prejudice is funny, witty, and sometimes fluffy, with great characters who react honestly and how you can imagine you might have in the same situation. There is the age-old class/status war between Lizzie and the snobby rich kids at Longbourn and Pemberley Academy and the consequences of assumptions, misunderstandings, misinterpretation that occur in the teenage world of love and lust. But it's not all sunshine and rainbows. There is danger from an unexpected source, anger, pain, distress, lies and the ever present risk of being emotionally hurt.

While Prom and Prejudice is a modern retelling of Jane Austin's Pride and Prejudice, you in no way have to read the original as this one is a story in it's own right. I haven't read Pride and Prejudice because I am not a fan of historical fiction (don't try and talk me into it, I'm not budging). I know a lot of people who have read both versions- some loving them both and some only loving the original or the retelling. From my point of view, reading it without bias, or influence, I loved it.

The Lonely Hearts Club by Elizabeth Eulberg

Title: The Lonely Hearts Club
Author: Elizabeth Eulberg

Release Date: 1st May 2010

My Rating: 4/5

Penny Lane is sick of boys and sick of dating, so she swears off it all and starts the Lonely Hearts Club.

What Penny doesn't realise is just how many of her friends feel the same way and want to join her club. Even some girls she'd never have thought would care, want t o sign up. Then the unthinkable happens...

So what do you do when you are the founding member of an anti-dating club and you start to have feelings for a guy who obviously likes you back?

Elizabeth Eulberg's debut novel is fun, with a great message behind it, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it!

Penny and her friends are sick and tired of wasting their time on lying high school boys who don't treat them right. The solution? The girls swear off boys, get together, have fun and support each other, much to the annoyance of the male student body!

This is a story about taking control, being yourself and not changing for a guy. A story about friendship, appreciating and supporting each other, major girl power and how strong girls can be together.

Penny and the rest of the members of the Lonely Hearts Club are great role models for girls and there are no overtly dramatic parts like, 'Oh my life is over because he doesn't like me. I'm going to crawl up into a ball and die!' It is a happy, fun book and although they certainly have their share of problems to deal with, they combat them as a group and have the best year in high school they could ever imagine. There is always something happening in this story, it's fast-paced and never gets boring.

It's great to have a story about real girls and high school issues with a main character who is likeable and who has a supportive family. Aside from Penny there is a fantastic cast of characters in this book, someone for everyone to relate to.

The Beatles are a continuing theme throughout the book. From the name of the book and the cover (which looks fabulous), song lyrics (a way of leading into chapters and also Penny's way of expressing her moods and feelings towards others), Penny and her sisters' names are taken from Beatles songs and Penny's own obsession with the Beatles (passed down to her from her hilariously obsessed parents who live and breathe Beatles, from the doorbell chime to the Walrus in her dad's dental office and their vegetarianism because Paul McCartney says so). I have read some reviews where readers who are not Beatles fans have found the Beatles-mania annoying. I am not a major Beatles fan (yes I know there is something wrong with me) but I had no problem with any of the references. I loved it and I think it works really well BECAUSE it is a continuing theme .

I don't think this would appeal to adults. It is very much a read for high school aged girls and those in their early twenties who still love YA books.