"He's a total loser. No one likes him. And if you start hanging out with him, you'll be buying yourself a one-way ticket to Loserville City."
"Is that anywhere near Dorktown Village? I was hoping to see that just once before I die."
Summary from Goodreads:
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, 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 on campus. 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.
I didn't really know what to expect when I got Epic Fail from the library, I just knew I liked the cover and the fact that there was something to do with Hollywood royalty. I'd never heard of Claire LaZebnik before so I have no idea what else she's written (and I don't know if I will try any of her other works) but I was glad I found this book! It's supposed to be a modern take on Pride and Prejudice, I guess but I have never read the book (I think I saw the movie and didn't like it) so it wasn't until I read the summary of Austen's book that I could see the similarities. Our main character Elise was so awesome and just full of witty remarks (like the quote I posted above). I love that she stood up for herself and for other people. The romance wasn't the best for me but it was cute. I just didn't really like Derek - I definitely fell for Webster Grant (Derek's enemy) because he was so charming! After awhile I got over Webster's charm though and started getting creeped out and suspicious! Even though we eventually learn more about Derek towards the end of the book, I wish we got more earlier on. It felt a little weird how some things came together. One of my favorite moments was when Elise actually got Derek to be a little playful and they had a fun game of Ping Pong. He was just a really closed off character which I would usually be all over but not so much this time. I was glad to see the sister relationships featured so heavily, but I really wanted to smack Elise's younger sister Layla! She was such a brat and she definitely has a lot of growing up to do! Overall, Epic Fail was an epic win that teaches you not to judge people so quickly!
Rating: 8/10
