Epic Fail by Claire LaZebnik

Description:

At Coral Tree Prep in Los Angeles, who your parents are can make or break you. Case in point: 

• As the son of Hollywood royalty, Derek Edwards is pretty much prince of the school—not that he deigns to acknowledge many of his loyal subjects. 

• As the daughter of the new principal, new-girl-on-campus Elise Benton isn’t exactly on everyone’s must-sit-next-to-at-lunch list. 

When Elise’s beautiful sister catches the eye of the prince’s best friend, Elise gets to spend a lot of time with Derek, making her the envy of every girl. Except she refuses to fall for any of his rare smiles and instead warms up to his enemy, the surprisingly charming social outcast Webster Grant. But in this hilarious tale of fitting in and flirting, not all snubs are undeserved, not all celebrity brats are bratty, and pride and prejudice can get in the way of true love for only so long. Fans of Susane Colasanti (When It Happens), Polly Shulman (Enthusiasm), and, of course, Jane Austen will love finding out if Elise’s love life will be an epic win or an epic fail.


Epic Wins:

• Heck it's called Epic Fail what more do you need? Oh you want a retelling of Jane Austen's epic book Pride and Prejudice too? Well then wish granted!!
• Shall I write an ode to the cover? No? Okay!! Lets just talk about it's palpable awesomeness. Can't you feel it? It's like right there. *points up*
• Steps taken to get Epic Fail: 1. Take Pride and Prejudiced  by Jane Austen 2. Push the refresh button 3. Add a sprinkle of Epic  4. Enjoy!
• Lizzy Bennett is one of my favorite literary characters. One of those characters that goes against society rules and speaks her mind. Elise is a type or shadow of Lizzy. When you describe Lizzy you are describing Elise.
• The vaguely familiar plot but with refreshing twists from present times.  This novel proves that what Jane Austen wrote years ago can still apply today... in epic ways. 
• I rather loved Derek the way one would love Darcy. :D
• One of my favorite falling-in-love scenarios is the hate-turned-love because it allows the character to actually fall in love (I'd say it's the opposite of Inst-love).
• It was so cool to see Austen's character types brought to life in a modern day setting.

Number of times epic is used:
*counts* 6-7-8-9-10 *gives up* lets just call it a million!


Overall:
A bright retelling of the classic Austen book, but a with a mad dash of epic. . 


just sayin, 
-Kare