| Title | : | Epic Fail |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0061921262 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780061921261 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 295 |
| Publication | : | First published August 2, 2011 |
- 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.
Epic Fail Reviews
-
I am tempted to create a shelf called the gobblers. Gobblers are books that you soak up in one sitting and are usually oodles of fun. I used to be a gobbler fanatic. Picking up these types of books frequently and reading them like candy. I miss those days sometimes...
Anyways this particular story centers on Elise Benton. She's moved to a L.A. with her family and the changes of course are taking some time. Elise is going to a prep school where everyone knows a movie star, and her mother is the principal. Ouch. There is one class in particular, Astronomy, that will be the most interesting. On the one hand in this class we have Derek Edwards, the brooding hunk with famous parents, and on the other we have Webster Grant, the easy-going guy with a fun attitude. Elise is a girl with a steady head on her shoulders and will not be wowed by the rich people environment, but there is just something about Derek. Grant says he’s trouble. Her sister Juliana is all doe-eyed with a boy named Chase, who happens to be best friends with Derek. What ensues are misunderstandings and misjudgments that create a big mess. A mess Elise is going to have to figure out.
Overall the book was fun and sweet and it's not meant to be anything else than that really. There are some interesting tidbits like how Derek and his family deal with the fame. It even actually got me thinking of how annoying it would be and how much of a tough skin you'd have to develop having your every move monitored. I do think the book suffered a little though with the characters. Elise and her sister Juliana are great together, and the guys were cool too. Once we get to the Benton family, well not so cool. The younger sister Layla is plain annoying and the mom... well she was kind of dim. But I get it, in the original novel they weren't meant to be favorable characters either. The other characters do make up for it though, so I was content to just watch and see how the relationships turned out. The whole group of them: Elise, Derek, Juliana and Chase were so cute.
What the author did well was make me believe this could be a story that carried itself and not need the layout of
Pride and Prejudice. A reader can honestly pick up this book and have no prior knowledge of P&P, but since I had read it I knew how things would turn out, so some of the fun was probably taken out of it because of that.
I thought about saying nothing about the cover but alas I can't help myself. This cover is kind of misleading. The tagline epic fail doesn't play a prominent role at all and the holding of the notes isn't important either. About the only thing the cover depicts correctly is that there is in fact a guy and girl in the story. I guess the publishing house wanted to appeal to a teen audience, but I'm not a fan of the cover. Just sayin'
All that aside though this is a wonderful light read, and I even giggled. I don't giggle very much, so I guess that means something right? -
Do you love Pride & Prejudice?
Do you enjoy light-hearted YA?
Do you enjoy a cute love-hate bantering relationship?
YES to all three?
READ THIS BOOK. <3 Five stars for all-around adorable. Reminds me of a lighter take on Kelly Oram and Meg Cabot. Fluffy, fun, light romance. -
Yeah... Fail...
(Still on my phone in the middle of a forest with bad reception. So review coming soon :D) -
Rating: 1.5 STARS
The way I see it, Epic Fail was a pretty bad book with some ok moments. That's my overall reaction. Maybe it's not an EPIC fail, but it is somewhat of a fail nonetheless. It's just confusing, the characters are weird and flat, and - in my opinion - it's all quite boring. The majorityallof the characters annoyed the hell out of me at one point or another, there a lot of stupid situations, and not many good developments of anything, but at least there are a few (keyword: few) fun moments in the end to make it an ok option when in the mood for a quick, light reading, that won't leave you with anything substantial.
Elise Benton's family moves to Los Angeles after her mother gets a job as the principal of a private school there, school which Elise and her three other sisters will be attending. In this school there are many rich kids, famous kids, kids with famous parents, etc. One of them is Derek, son of the hottest couple in Hollywood. Elise notices how everyone seeks Derek's attention and she vows to not be "that type of girl", befriending instead the 'loner' Webster. Staying away from Derek proves harder than it seems though when her sister Juliana starts dating Derek's best friend.Tun Tun Tun. Not
The biggest problem I had with this book is that all the characters were morons, seriously. From the principal mother, to the younger sister, it's like they were all lacking serious social skills or something. They get better at the end, but for 3/4ths of the book, I didn't know which one I wanted to slap first.
Elise's constant need to prove to everyone how different she isnotfrom other girls in that she will not be following Derek around or giving him any special treatment because he's semi-famous is particularly irritating. Especially because in this quest to prove how much better she is than everyone else she ends up being the first one to judge, she's seriously hypocritical, and just the fact that she was so "proud of herself" for befriending Webster says it all. It's like the only reason she was befriending him was because he was a loner and this proved how much better she was than the rest of the school's population. Gaah, I wanted to yell at her to get off her high horse and get over herself. She never even gave Derek the benefit of the doubt. Not that Derek was without flaws, I mean somebody teach the guy how to smile, seriously Derek, you can smile for free! Just turn the corner of your mouth up, almost no effort at all. Try it. But still, in the Derek vs. Webster situation, you could spot from a MILE AWAY who was the good guy and who wasn't. I mean from the second Webster appeared he just acted cocky and too-full-of-himself for me to have any doubts. And that fact just made Elise' attitude that much more unlikeable. Maybe if the author had written more intrigue, like if we the readers weren't able to tell who was trustworthy and who wasn't, maybe then we would be able to sympathize with Elise more. But the fact that I knew from the beginning and Elise kept being all like "I'm better than everyone because I don't want to be friends with Derek and I choose the loner one" just had me rolling my eyes so much it actually started to hurt and I had to stop and give my eyeballs a rest. The fact that Elise was so close minded to even consider anything outside her quest to be above the rest was exasperating.
Of course, she eventually comes to the realization that she's wrong and gets a bit more likeable, but that's close to the end of the book. Derek also becomes more likeable once he spits out "Webster's mystery", which he should have said from the beginning, but whatever. And Webster, well... he gets a two-dimensional character with not depth at all. In the end, I was somewhat excited to see Elise and Derek together, I mean I did get this book for a fun guilty-pleasure romance after all, and they did have potential. Even if Elise had annoyed me the whole book and Derek had basically been given no development as a character, I kind of liked the idea of them together. Yet when it's about to get better the book suddenly ends. So abruptly in fact that I considered the possibility that I had gotten a bad version and was missing the last pages or something.
Apart from Elise and Derek getting together (come on that's not a spoiler, we all knew it) nothing gets resolved. I mean nothing. The book actually spends more time dealing with issues such as the family conflicts, the Webster thing, etc. than the Derek&Elise romance, at least from my point of view, and yet in the end when they get together none of the other stuff is even addressed.
For example, the family dynamics. First there's Layla's strained relationship with her family. Even though she was a bit annoying, I felt really bad for her, she kept being excluded from everything and of course it was going to make her mad and had her acting out. There was no satisfying conclusion to this, I was hoping for maybe one last sister-bonding or something where they show her that they don't exclude her from everything, or some character growth for Layla, or something... but no. Also their parents and their rules proved a bit too much at some points. Seriously what was up with all of them going to greet whoever was at the door TOGETHER as a big group all the time? Couldn't one person go alone? If I ever rang the doorbell to someone's home and I was greeted by sixcreepysmiling faces I would just run the other way. On that note, when Derek mentions this to Elise, saying her family is a bit intense, SHE FREAKS OUT AND GET MAD AT HIM. WTF? I mean Elise your family is intense, embrace it. It's not like he was insulting them, just pointing out the obvious, a fact which Elise had also pointed out on numerous occasions by the way. I mean Elise is sixteen years old and isn't allowed to wear make-up! I'm not a huge make-up fan myself but give them the choice gosh. And get this, they all can have cellphones but they can't use them inside the house. Not even a text message. OK. None of these family issues were ever addressed, there was never some development to this, or the their dynamic, which would have been interesting to read. But no, like most of the book, it stayed in its comfortable two dimension. On top of that, the mom's attitude towards Derek's famous parents was creepy to say the least. Seriously, she is a grown woman, what was she doing getting all fan-girly at a pseudo-celebrity! (Cause he wasn't famous you know, his parents were. Someone tell the mom that). Her whole attitude was just plain strange, not even a little bit professional, and I found it very hard to believe considering she was the principal of his school.
Moving on, then there's the Webster thing. The guy was going around seducing younger girls to take advantage of their rich families and he never gets into any trouble for it. Nothing comes of it. In the end it was just a plot device to have some drama between Elise and Derek, *sigh*. Still the author brought up a serious issue like this and, once her characters got together, forgot about it. It would have been much more exciting to see Elise and Derek team up to make sure he stopped taking advantage of younger girls for his own benefits, or something along those lines. At least some kind of conclusion, Elise's mother is the freakin principal, DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS. Again nothing.
So much of the story revolves around Juliana and Chase yet there is no substance there. We are told they like each other from the beginning and that's it. I know it's Elise's story but seeing as they are always together maybe we could have gotten to see some interactions more often, but no. The one conflict between Juliana and Chase is pretty moronic and made no sense. I mean it seems like Chase would have told Julianna he wasn't taking his cellphone seeing as he knew it was forbidden. And then if they were normal people they would have talked about it rationally once they were back instead of avoiding each other for reasons NEITHER OF THEM UNDERSTOOD. Plus Chase's sister, the reason behind the cellphone conflict, is just another two-dimensional character to add to the list, not to mention a huge cliché.
So in conclusion, I didn't really enjoy this book at all. The characters were flat, not one of them was well-developed or given much depth at all. I really didn't like any of them enough to care about what happened in the book. Also, I feel like there were too many issues introduced and yet most of it got forgotten along the way. If the book had just focused on the romantic aspect, on developing a nice relationship with interesting characters then I probably would have liked it better. Instead of developing the characters, the author favored the inclusion of several issues that just served as conflict to further things along, and when the main characters go together forgot to give them any kind of resolution. I'd rather the book focused on ONE thing and develop it more thoroughly than have several plots opened and never go too deeply into any of them. -
3.5 stars
Cute.
Not mind-blowing, but it was a really cute young adult retelling of Austin's Pride and Prejudice.
Dereck's (Darcy) parents are famous Hollywood actors, and he's learned to be cautious around people.
Naturally, he comes off looking snobby...
Elise's (Elizabeth) mother is the new prep-school principal, and her father is a teacher.
Both are embarrassingly strict/wacky...
The plot sticks relatively close to P&P, but it still goes off on its own here and there. Only one sister is missing (but it was the boring preachy one, so who cares, right?), and the Wickham/Lydia thing played out a tad differently (but only a bit!). Overall, I thought this one stayed a bit truer to the original than another retelling I read last year,
Prom and Prejudice, so I was pretty happy with that part.
I can't stress enough that this is Brain Candy, because if you go into it expecting anything other than a fluffy Beach Read, you're going to be sorely disappointed.
I was hoping for this book to be a nice distraction on a Sunday afternoon, and that was exactly what it was! -
3 stars
And yet..... =)
This was so adorable! It followed the main points of Pride and Prejudice but still had it's own story, which I really appreciate. It wasn't perfect, and honestly I think that it should have been longer...there was a lot more material the author could have worked with. Overall it was a fun read. I definitely recommend it if you are looking for a good P&P retelling (that doesn't have zombies).
----------------
Pride and Prejudice set in high school?
-
Rating clarification : 1.5 stars
☂ I didn't like that book. Some parts made me roll my eyes. Others made me cringe. Anyway, that's only my opinion and I can totally understand why readers might love it. No judgment here :) ☂
- The plot was predictable. Highly, highly predictable. I know that's a retelling of Pride and Prejudice but come on. That's annoying to guess everything before the characters, because you end up doubting their common sense. Buuut I'll come back to that.
And for those who'd tell me that I mustn't expect something unpredictable when I read a YA contemporary romance, I'd answer that 1) There are some pretty good contemporary YA out there, like
here or
here or
here (but obviously that's only my opinion) and 2) Of course if the romance part is predictable I haven't any problem with it. But the whole "who can we trust?" thing is only boring when the only person for whom that's not obvious is the main character.
The Epic Fail was the characterization. → Sorry about that, but I had to throw that joke, you know?
#1 Elise was a moron. A stupid moron. Seriously. She likes to think she's different from other teenagers who judge people by their parents but she does the exact same thing. Okay, I must admit that Derek doesn't help her here at first but come on, take Webster for example : that's pretty obvious he's hiding something from the beginning. Okay, maybe not the very first time they met, but when he begins to basically bitch about everyone and play with her forteen-years-old sister at lunch, I must admit I had like, thousands doubts.
#2 Derek was okay, I mean, the guy is cute. And bi-dimensional. And boring. OMG, he was so. damn. boring : the dude is a freakin smiley : basically he owns 2 facial expressions. He grins, he doesn't grin. Annnd he grins, he doesn't grin. Then he grins, he doesn't grin.
Well. You saw my point. But he was a cute little smiley, I give him that.
#3 Chase and Juliana were decent enough - oh, except the whole love at first thing nobody never explains. Duh. They just met and they're in looooove, what a pain in a ass I am to not understand!
#4 Chelsea is a huge cliché : Oh, welcome mean blond cheerleader. It's been a long time! Her character is simply bi-dimensional and some of her actions just not make any sense :
#5 The mother was so creepy dammit! How in the hell can she be the school principal and acting all fangirly with famous parents? How? All her interest in Elise and Derek possible relationship was creepy as hell. I swear I was freaking out at some point.
So. I'm pretty sure I made it clear I didn't like the characters so much. That's not what bothered me the most though. No. Here's what made me want to throw my reader across the room : the ending.
- Nothing is resolved in the end :
✘Webster's issue : I mean, the guy is, I sum up : hanging out with YOUNG teenagers, DRUGGING them, taking pictures in inappropriate situations when they're HIGH, because he wants to take advantage of their parents' celebrity and he is never ever threatened by, I don't know, maybe I'm a dumb one but do you guys have heard of something called POLICE? They're those guys in uniforms you're supposed to call when you see such behavior.
✘Elise and Derek's relationship : The fact almost everybody thinks Elise decided to go out with Derek because his parents were famous is a quite interesting issue to deal with - Too bad the book ended without any resolution.
However, the writing was okay and I did laugh a few times, that's why I rounded up my 1.5 to a 2. And because I'm such in a good mood, being in Christmas vacations and all.
PS : Oh, what's the deal with the diet coke not so subliminal advertising? Seriously. I almost expected to see a polar bear appearing at some point.
For more of my reviews, please visit:
-
Epic Fail = Epic Fail
I didn't like the story at all. Nah. An elite school filled with rich spoiled bastards and bitches. The main characters are pretty unlikable (count the other characters as well. Whiny damn sisters.). Elise is too whiny and Derek is an arrogant jerk. I'm so annoyed with these two and they are not cute. They are both boring in my opinion. This book is just plain boring.
-
One Word Review: Nice. Not bad but not great.<
If you like high school YA with a Pride and Prejudice retelling, then it can be your ideal read but there are better enemies to lovers out there. -
I simply loved this book. Period. No More No less. :)
Contrast to its title Epic Fail , this one is an Epic Win! for me. It's a great modern rendition of Pride and Prejudice that has kept its own identity separate from the old classic. Its a great re-imagined version or counterpart to the classic love story of the headstrong and opinionated Elizabeth Bennet and the intimidating, aloof,and handsome Mr. Darcy which was retold in a modern day setting of outrageous teens with the characters Elise Benton and Derek Edwards.
Though its just a retold story it seems to be a different one. A typical person who doesn't have a clue about the story of Pride and Prejudice would never think this is a retold story to that one. The author seems to bring out something new through the structure of Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy's life and that what makes me love it more.
Its a typical lovey-dovey kind of read, Yes, but i really do enjoyed it. It was funny and sweet. The characters are well flourised. It consists of all the classic argues present to a typical high school relationships. It was a beautifully written novel and I can't really deny the fact that i do really love the story of Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy, its a simple one yet full of love, happiness and trials and as i've said often time i'm a sucker for happy endings and stuffs :) So, yea. ♥ -
Epic Fail... to me this book was an epic fail indeed. I did not like this book. The characters were boring. The storyline went all over the place. At time, I almost wished we could read more about Juliana and Chase because Elise and Derek were so boring.
There's just too many things I didn't like in this book. How the parents were so controling and old fashion. For example, the girls all have a cell phone but they can't use it at school or at home!?!? So I guess that gives them the ride back from school to use it?
The thing is, there was potential. It could've been better if the parents didn't work at the school. If the girls weren't total goodie two shoes. If the ending was different...
The ending: Really what was that about? I turn to the next page expecting more and I see : "About the author..." For a minute I was wondering if I'd skipped ahead without noticing (I'm on a Kindle). It just felt unfinish, but no it truly ended this way!
I get that this was supposed to be a modern twist on Pride and Prejudice, but I have never read it. (GASP!!! I know... How could this be possible!!) So I have nothing to compare it too. All I know is that to my illiterate ;-) eyes, this story was missing something. -
“No one's family is normal. Normalcy is a lie invented by advertising agencies to make the rest of us feel inferior.”
*Might contain spoilers*
What? How can you just end it like that? I felt like many chapters where missing and that we didn't get the full story, or the perfect ending... I mean, I felt like we only got the beginning of their relationship. Made me wish for a sequel.. However, it was a quick read and definitely not a waste of my time, which I actually was afraid it would be. I didn't even wanted to stop reading, but I had to because I could barely keep my eyes open, but as soon as I woke up, I went back to reading it :)!I got lost in him, and it was the kind of lost that's exactly like being found.
The story was actually pretty awesome and adorable. I was a bit surprised at how much I adored it. It was funny as hell, with comments that I ended up laughing through the whole book. It was a bit...immature for me, since I love new adult and adult books more, but it was cute, easy and just what I needed at that time.“Basically, the world is a giant shithole. But some of us are capable of imagining something better.”
Now the characters were quite cool, specially the heroine Elise Benton , mainly because she has my name (JK). I love Elise's comments, they were sarcastic, witty and funny. She was smart, not so shy, but still shy if you know what I mean. She's a great sister and a good friend.“He was tortured, brilliant, funny, gay . . . basically my dream guy.”
“Even the gay part?” he said with the ghost of a smile—which for all I knew was what passed for hysterical mirth with this guy.
“Especially the gay part,” I said. “I’m weird that way. “
“How’s that working out for you?”
“I’m beginning to think it’s not a good long-term romantic strategy.”
Derek Edwards was... weird, I think. I had difficulty to, I don't know, connect with him? I get why he is how he is, but still I wish we got to know him more. But he did have his moments and I did like him, but like I said, I wish we got more.. Derek was so...insecure? He was polite, yet cold and shut off. But we got to know him a bit better and he got a bit more confident specially when it came to the .“Man, I hated not being able to figure someone out.
And from the slightly uncertain look he gave me as we all went to class, I suspected he felt the same way.”
Now to the other characters.. Juliana Benton was cute and I loved the sister-bond she and Elise had. They did everything together, even Juliana's dates :P Chase Baldwin was super nice and a good guy for Juliana. They had insta-connection and guess they had the "love at first sight" thing, but since they weren't the main characters, it was alright and quite adorable :)“You have a nickname, too?” he asked me.
“I could tell you, but then I’d have to shoot you,” I said apologetically.
He nudged Juliana’s elbow with his. “Will you tell me?”
“No way. She knows where I sleep.”
Enter the people I disliked fiercely, Layla Benton, Chelsea Baldwin and later in the book, Webster Grant.. They were soooo fucking annoying that I wanted to slap them hard in the face. Specially Layla. I wanted to strangle her at some point. What is up with her?! She needs to get over herself and I almost feel sorry for Elise having her as a sister. Mean, I know, but damn you'd feel the same if you read this book.. Webster was pretty cool in the beginning, with his awesome and easy humor but then he turned creepy and disgusting and I'm glad Elise cut him loose. Chelsea was just plain annoying. Enough said.“Value people because of who they were deep down, not because of their names or their parents’ clout.”
I got a bit disappointed in the end, and it kinda ruined the book a bit (or a lot, depends on how you look at it), I was a little undecided on what to rate it. So I just settled on....
Rate: 3.5/4 stars -
I have a love/hate relationship with retellings. On one hand I want it to be close enough to the original that I can see the parallelism. On the other I want it to be different enough that it's its own story. Because if I wanted to read the original, then I would just do that.
Given all that, I actually liked Epic Fail.
I liked how the author wasn't afraid to change stuff in order to give the story a contemporary feel. She axed one of the sisters, changed names and scenes... and I thought it worked! I particularly loved how she madeLizzieElise's mother equally annoying and embarrassing while making her a modern working woman.
And the basic feel of P&P is still there. You know... this:
I'm not quite sure how the story will look like to someone who hasn't read P&P before, but if you have then this will basically a nice and fluffy reminder. :) -
This was a quick read, and fun, but suffered from trying to remake Pride and Prejudice. Seriously, unless you're really good, authors, don't do this! But what do I know? It's YA, so a little leeway might be extended. Still, that ruined some of the fun for me as a) it projected some plot developments too early (like knowing that the Wickham analog is a no good slime ball) and b) any deviations come across as weaknesses (deserved or not).
Take Caroline Bingley/Chelsea, for example. In this book, she's a conniving bitch actively working to undermine Jane/Julia's relationship with her brother because . . . uh . . . well, mainly because that seems to be the only way LaZebnik could produce the falling out from the original given that they were in High School and you couldn't very well have Darcy pull Bingley away on business and keep him away, could you?
Indeed, the whole parallel falls rather dramatically apart around the half-way mark because of the difference between wealthy English gentlemen and High School students. I mean, you can't really have the guys called out of town, or have Lydia ruining herself and coming back triumphant at having a man forced to marry her, or have Elizabeth visit Darcy's estate with her aunt and uncle while on a trip while he isn't there (only then he is) . . . you see the difficulty. This is why it's so much easier to adapt Emma to a High School setting as all the action is local to a single neighborhood and all the players are present the entire story (at least, mostly).
So yeah, not an impressive adaptation, I'm afraid. It was a quixotic undertaking to begin with and the compromises were too frequent and too intrusive to feel like it was adequately done. And I really resented having the reveal on Webster/Wickham so early.
Which is too bad because the actual romance is touchingly well done and I liked the characters very well all on their own. I kind of wish LaZebnik had ripped these characters completely from their Austen origins and let the story flow on its own. All she really had to do was remove the Webster/Wickham thread, tone down Chelsea a bit (or ramp her up with motivations that made more sense) and create a reasonable conflict elsewhere in the school (it's a High School full of celebrity children, that's teeming with juicy, juicy conflict that any author should be able to mine for golden story nuggets).
As it stands, it was a fun-enough story as a straight-up YA romance. It may have made a higher rating if it hadn't voluntarily jumped into the big leagues by leaning so obviously on Jane Austen, but sadly, we'll never know... -
It hurts to write this review, because I was so excited for this book. I love everything Jane Austen, and when I read modern versions of Pride and Prejudice, it just makes my heart happy.
Sadly, this one didn't quite do the trick for me.
While the characters were supposed to be modern versions of Jane Austen's characters, most of their personalities were too different. Elise (Lizzy's modern counterpart) began the story as a girl unsure of herself who let herself be bullied around by two other characters, and who even felt inferior when Derek (Mr. Darcy's counterpart) ignored her or brushed her off. Jane Austen's Lizzy would never have felt inferior in those situations! Later in the story Elise's personality starts to show and she is a much more interesting and funny character, but she is still full of self-doubt and has little sense of self worth...until she gets the guy. Yeah....
The other characters were either flat, and showed hardly any personality beyond what we are told should be there, or were outright obnoxious. The romance between Chase and Juliana (Mr. Bingley and Jane) happens outside of the scenes in the book, so they seem to fall in love after just a few class periods. The romance between Elise and Derek starts out promising (he's very much like Mr. Darcy in the beginning), but quickly turns typical. Average, at best. Something about the story kept me reading all night long, so it's not without redeeming factors, but I still felt like something was missing.
The good points of the book are the fantastic modern parallels to Jane Austen's day. Some of them were very clever and I applaud the author's ability to take what Jane Austen saw was wrong with the time period, and relate it to what is wrong in our time period, too. I also really liked the relationship between Elise and Juliana. They didn't get along perfectly, but they talked to each other and helped each other throughout the story.
Overall, this is a very quick read that boasts some cute scenes with the main characters. If you think you will be able to keep this separate from Pride and Prejudice in your mind, you should definitely give it a try.
This review was originally published on my blog. Read the full review at:
The Reading Fever. -
*published on Mundie Moms on July 10, 2011*
Who doesn't love a romance story in the summertime? Well, I obviously do and any story that keeps the structure of my beloved Pride and Prejudice is definitely worth the perusal.
Claire LaZebnick brings the rhythm of Pride and Prejudice's plot into the modern day setting of Coral Tree Prep School in Los Angeles. Imagine a school where every kid is not only privileged but also related to a movie star or someone famous. Then imagine a more academic family moving from snowy Massachusetts to sunny L.A. because of their parent's jobs. What if that family consisted of four daughters, and contained the new principal of Coral Tree as well as a new teacher there? Okay, now you are all with me.
Epic Fail is told from Elise Benton's point-of-view. She's the second oldest daughter and the one who is partnered up with Coral Tree's resident hottie, Derek Edwards. They are brought together only because Elise's older sister has fallen for Derek's best friend and sisters tend to stick together. You can already tell that I loved that sibling bond part, right? Well, I did. But, my heart went out to Elise as the moments of awkwardness and misunderstanding grew between her and Derek. Yes, I've read P&P dozens of times and yes, I fall for the plot's high and lows every time. This adaptation had them all but tweaked them just enough to keep me interested.
If you are looking for a smart, funny romance be sure to pick up Epic Fail when it comes out in a few weeks. As for me, well, I have to do something about that dreamy look in my eye that manifested itself after I turned the last page. -
This book is a 21rt century version of
Pride and Prejudice.It's very to see the similarities between those two books.The similarities are the names(Elise Benton-Elizabeth Bennet and Derek's sister Georgia-Mr. Darcy's sister Georgiana)the plot,the end making a little predictable the book without making it boring.It's an easy read and if you like pride and prejudice you will like this one tooElise Benton moves with her family to California and with her sister Julliana continue their education to a new high school where their mother is the principle.There Juliana mets Chase and they immediately have a connection.Elise is forced to sit with her,Chase and Chase's friend Derek at lunch.Derek is a little hostile to everyone else and that makes Elise to dislike him and later refuse to go to the dance with him.She meets Webster and they start hanging out and he makes her believe Derek is the bad one between the two of them(reminds you any character?).Elise and Derek come closer when they realise that someone broke up Chase and Julliana's relationship.After that pretty much they start to become something more than friends(as you already have guessed,I guess).
I think everyone will enjoy this book(I know I did).The characters had a development,Elise stopped having prejudices and realised that everything is not what it seems and Derek stopped having so much pride and seeing in the other people that everyone wanted something from him or they hang out with him cause his parents are famous.The writing was very good and the book is definitely not a epic fail.
-
A modern version "Pride and Prejudice".This is all I can say about.
It was a fun read but there wasn't any mystery.After a first few chapters I had completely figured out the story,but the story- telling was good,so I kept on reading till I finished.Also I'm aiming for 100 books by 2011.So I can't leave any book unfinished :)
I love Jane Austen so Pride and Prejudice is also one of my favorites.But this constant retelling and reediting of her books is kind of boring and also not necessary.Whether it's a movie or book adaption of the story it's basically the same .I'm sure writers can do better that trying to make a statement by retelling another person's story.At the end everyone is going to remember the book only as another adaption of Pride and Prejudice.
I don't want to discourage anyone from reading it.It was enjoyable,well except until towards the end.But I can't help comparing it to Pride and Prejudice.
I think there could have been some more Elise & Derek scenes,because there is only one or two parts that is completely about them being together and not Chase+Jules being around.Their relationship was not developed properly.And I'm still thinking why it's called "Epic Fail".But that is publisher's choice.
Also I feel the story ended very abruptly.We get the idea towards the end that Webster Grant,got away with all his crimes.There should have been a bit of punishment for him.Then introducing Georgia at the end seemed pointless to me.She came to meet her brother saw Webster with another girl,most probably felt like an idiot and then left.
But then at the end it's a fun and quick read. -
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Elise Benton =
Elizabeth Bennet
Derek Edwards =
Fitzwilliam Darcy
Juliana Benton = Jane Bennet
Chase Baldwin = Charles Bingley
Webster Grant = George Wickham
EPIC FAIL = The Ya-Lit version of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
And that’s what the book is all about in a nutshell.
But being a die-hard
Pride and Prejudice fan means that I would like to ramble on for a bit.
Elise Benton and her three sisters are the newest students at Coral Tree Prep, LA. The effluent school is littered with the rich, poutingly-perfect, privileged offspring of some of the country’s biggest and smallest celebrities. Coupled with the fact that Elise’s mother is the school’s new (highly unpopular, slightly bizarre and extremely regimented) principal, this means that the Benton sisters have a steep social-path to climb. Elise finds herself as a reluctant member of one of the most hallowed cliques in the school when Juliana catches the eye and admiration of Derek Edwards’ affable best friend, Chase Baldwin.
And who, pray tell, is Derek Edwards?
Derek, with his sullen superstar good looks, is a God among the twittering demigods of Coral Tree Prep. He is the offspring of Hollywood’s most famous celebrity couple and is pretty much the uncrowned prince of the school. While Elise is not exactly immune to Derek’s rare smiles and flashes of warmth, neither is she floored by his snootiness and odd tendency to sometimes act like a Grad A Jerk. Instead, she prefers the sunnier charms of social outcast, Webster Grant.
And lo and behold! The saga of Lizzy and Darcy comes alive in a new and revamped setting.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Elizabeth Bennet is one of my all-time favourite fictional heroines. She was someone I aspired to be. In a time when other damsels were simpering and clucking and having fainting frenzies, Lizzie was the exception. Strong-willed, a tad opinionated, not prone to frills and fancies and yet... a simpatico young lady who was doused with wit and wisdom. Fitzwilliam Darcy is my eternal fictional crush. I never tire of the seemingly snobbish gentleman who yearned for the love of Lizzie despite his better and questionable judgement.
Epic Fail did a brilliant job of modernising my favourite duo. Elise Benton was an intelligent heroine who never acted like a lovelorn loon. Derek Edwards was brooding Darcy brought to preppy life. The dialogue was quirky and smart and a throwback to the banter from
’10 Things I Hate About You’. The Benton family was the embarrassing coterie that we cringed over in the original story. And then ofcourse, we have the plot twists and the character follies that symbolize misplaced pride and unfounded prejudices.
I judge the power of an engaging read by it’s ability to compel me to finish it at a fiendish pace. I was done with this book in half-a-day. It’s not a classic. It’s not perfect. It has a few pitfalls. And no, don’t go by it’s lack-lustre cover.
It’s a bendy, light-hearted summer read that does justice to the mother of all chick-lit books.
In short (and I know it’s hackneyed), the book is an EPIC WIN. -
4 heart-warming stars- This story flows beautifully, so prepare to devour it in one sitting.
“I got lost in him, and it was the kind of lost that's exactly like being found.”
Epic Fail is a modern retelling of Jane Austen's Pride and the Prejudice (P&P).
Meet Elise (Elizabeth)
Juliana's a year older than me, but she sometimes seems younger - mostly because she's the opposite of cynical and I'm the opposite of the opposite of cynical
Meet Derek (Darcy)
A pair of dark eyes that hid more than they revealed and some broad shoulders and a mouth that could be cold and thin and then suddenly widen into a generous grin just when you thought such a thing was impossible
Plot
Basically, the heroine Elise ( Elizabeth) and her three other sisters; Juliana (Jane), Layla (Lydia) and Kaitlyn (Catherine), are uprooted from their middle class lives in Massachusetts and thrust into an elitist LA Private school. Here the offspring of the rich and famous rule the hallways…
As the daughters of the strict and unpopular Principal, Elise and Juliana band together at the bottom of the totem pole.
“I was isolated but not ostracized, ignored but not abused”
Derek (Darcy) being a son of a Hollywood royalty (think Brangelina) and his best mate Chase (Charles) are on top of the totem pole.
So, when the beautiful and gentle Juliana, immediately falls for the rich and all-round good guy Chase (Charles), Elise and Derek are subsequently lumped together.
And, so begins the courtship between Derek and Elise. As in P&P, Elise judges Derek on a poor first impression and cosies up to the seemingly charming Webster (Wickham). Whereas, Derek judges Elise’s family and lumps her with their actions.
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
Overall a fantastic, sweet story with a witty, independent and likeable heroine AND a brooding, intelligent, swoon-worthy hero :)
Moral of the story ... “Value people because of who they were deep down, not because of their names or their parents’ clout” -
This book is a disgrace to the masterpiece that is Pride and Prejudice, and I haven't even gotten to read the book yet. I just know this book is BAD.
Epic Fail is a modern-day retelling of Pride and Prejudice, which initially brought about my interest. Please don't read this. It will ruin the ACTUAL BOOK for you. Epic Fail is cringy, unfunny really, and is a literal copy of Pride and Prejudice. Jane Austen would be ashamed.
I didn't mean to read this book right now. I have around 21 books checked out of the library which I have to finish this month, and this ebook is not helping me out. It took me about 5 hours to read the whole thing, and despite how fast I read it, this book is not interesting.
Epic Fail is, again, an EXACT COPY OF PRIDE AND PREJUDICE. All the plot points were completely copied into this book, the only change needed was to make it fit "modern day". Every single dang plot point. I kid you not. Plus, it's like LaZebnik just took the worst qualities of P&P (which aren't that many in the first place) and stuffed it in here along with more bad qualities.
Let's talk about the characters. I did not like Elise very much. I don't know why, but even her jokes were not very funny, let alone Percy Jackson/Jace Herondale funny. Drake (or was it Derek? that goes to show how bland he was) is your Mr. Darcy impersonator, and he wasn't good enough. Mr. Darcy is freaking amazing and basically everyone's ultimate book boyfriend and perfect. Derek is Bland with a capital B. In fact, all the characters were bland in this book. I didn't feel nothing for no one. I'm ashamed to say I liked Juliette and Chase. They were also Bland®, but out of all the characters, I would want to be their friend the most. Lastly, Layla was bratty and annoying. The original characters were just.... better.
The author tried to include a real-life issue in this book, what with Webster being (spoilers!) a pervert, but it wasn't really deep or a main-enough issue, you know? It's the definition of a fluffy contemporary.
Do me a favor, will ya? I know Epic Fail might sound interesting because it's a retelling of a classic, but just read or reread Pride and Prejudice because you would be better off than reading this dumpster fire.
At one point of my life, I probably would have liked this book. This is not that point of my life.
2 stars :( I wanted to like this, I really did. I'm not gonna give up on the author, though.
You may be wondering that -
There were many things I didn't like about this book, in fact I have trouble finding something I did like.
The characters were all a bit stupid, and their conflicts were hard to believe. They all had major communication issues, I mean seriously If they had managed to talk amongst each other like normal people then they would have avoided so many of these absurd misunderstandings.
Things I didn't like *SPOILERS*:
- Derek getting mad at Elise for trusting Webster more than him. Yes, Derek was right and had legitimate reasons for disliking Webster, but I thought it was stupid that when Elisa defended Webster Derek was all like "I thought you had better judge of character" What the hell? What is she supposed to think? She's not a mind reader! If someone is perfectly nice to me, funny, charming, and then this other person is somewhat of a jerk, cold and kept his distance, I'm naturally going to gravitate towards the nice guy. Maybe if Derek had communicated better the fact that Webster was a lunatic Elise would have understood, but she was new and had no way of knowing what a freak he was if no one bothered to give her a logical explanation as to why he was being thrown out of the party.
Elise also had her annoying moments. Especially when she felt almost proud about being mean to Derek. One of these moments was when she turned Derek down after he asked her to the semiformal. Elise kept getting mad at everything he said for no reason: first when he suggested they meet at Chase's house explaining that her parents were a little "intense". Elise got all offended at his implication, almost as if Derek had said her family was the plague. I mean, seriously, the time Chase and Derek had picked them up at their house before the party her family acted extremely weird. They were all over Derek, almost jumping into the limo to see what it was like. Not only was Derek clearly right, but he really didn't say anything bad! Then when he was going over the plans for the night of the dance she got all annoyed because "he assumed she was going to say yes". I mean, give the guy a break! He was obviously nervous about the whole situation and was just running his plans by her. Elise even got mad when she found out Juliana had told Derek that she though Elise would go with him, and said: "It made me furious Jules spoke for me". Seriously, RELAX, "Jules" was just giving him her opinion!
I thought they were cute at the end, I liked them a bit better when they were together.
- The whole Chase and Juliana break up was a bit absurd. Again, if someone had come up and TALKED like a normal person then this whole misunderstanding would have been avoided. Neither Chase nor Juliana confronted each other after they thought the other had broken up with them. I mean, a normal person would be like "what the hell? one second everything was fine and now you are breaking up with me? what happened?" But no! They just gave each other dirty looks and never talked about it. That being said, I also thought Chase and Juliana were the most normal characters in the book. I actually liked them the best.
- The rest of the secondary characters, mostly Chelsea and Webster, were one-dimensional plain bad character that acted stupid for no reason. They were just introduced in the story to create problems between the main character.
- Then there was the parents. They had over the top strict rules that lacked any logical explanation. The girls were allowed to have cellphones but couldn't use them in the house? not even text message? (Elise also mentions they've tried to sneak text messages but it's not worth it because the punishment is worse. WTF. How would the parents even know? Do they go through their text messages and check the date? that's messed up). They also couldn't wear make-up? Seriously maybe the younger ones I understand, but Juliana is a SENIOR and Elise a JUNIOR. What's the harm in putting on make-up? It's a really stupid rule. They also couldn't wear anything too revealing so they would put on a jacket before leaving the house, but seriously was the mom THAT stupid to not realize there might be something she didn't approve of under the jacket?
And aside from them being majorly strict parents, the mom was the principal at school and the father was a teacher there.
On top of everything I just mentioned we are supposed to believe the mother was all over the fact that Derek's parents were famous? She sucked up to him like a 15 year old fangirl. It didn't make any sense at all.
Also the girls didn't even try to help their situation that much. For example when the mother suspended Chelsea, and Chelsea asked Juliana for help she didn't do anything. I understand Juliana couldn't have changed her mother's decision, I get that, but she could have at least pretended like she was going to try. She really didn't help her situation at all.
Basically I felt like these storylines had no substance, they didn't make sense, and they were mostly based on character stupidity. It all just seemed forced and not believable. Most of the time I was just really really BORED. -
Epic Fail? Not this novel. Advertised as a young adult novel I suppose a 63 year old man ought not be interested. But as a reader of the classics, especially Austen, Thackeray, Trollope, Dickens, Bennett, etc. I was drawn to LaZebnik’s novel because I have read her other novels. And she does not disappoint.
Do we know what will happen? Most probably adult readers will figure it out. But we don’t read Austen to be thrilled by some plot reversal – we read for the enjoyment of the language and to be privy to the thoughts of the characters. And LaZebnik does not disappoint.
Here we have an old story told with verve and élan. Like Austen, the wit lies just below the surface and though you will be tempted to speed through the novel in one sitting because the writing flows so naturally resist dear reader. The satire of modern LA is too good to let slip through your fingers, as it were.
Elise Benton is a joy. Where was she when I was in high school to whisk me to romantic rapture? What half way intelligent boy would not fall in love with her? Juliana is her sister and older by a year and possesses just those tweaks that yield her a beauty while her sister must get along on her wits.
Derek Edwards is the son a famous movie couple – handsome and aloof. We will discover why he is aloof and why the pretty young things at the private high school interest him not.
That Elise’s fashion hindered mother is principal at the school does not help her coolness quotient.
A joy to read. -
This was good but I will not rush to put it on my favorites list. Why you might ask. While this book was told to me to be clean and there were some spots that pushed the envelope. Not that bad but when you think about having a little sister in a situation such as what Elise's little sister was in. It makes you take a second glance at this book. I mean being locked in a bathroom because you are scared about the people outside because they are taking pills. I would be the first person to that house and would slap and yell at everyone, personally. As well as being at a party and seeing people make out isn't the best picture. I mean puh-leeze. But other than this, the book you are looking at here was an amazing book! Please read everything below for the details you might need before reading this book.
LANGUAGE: Some. Not much but I would say if you are looking for a book without language then this isn't your book.
AGE RECOMMENDATION: 13 and up for the scenes above.
PARENT NOTE: There is no underage drinking in this book but you might want to read what I wrote above if you didn't. If you have any hesitation about handing this book to your child please read it first.
CLEAN: Not Clean. It is more of a Sweet Romance.
Want any more details? Message me! I would love to help you out. -
3.5 stars. This was cute, quick, and easy to tear through. If I hadn't known that this was a retelling of Pride and Prejudice, I might have gone lower out of a desire to want to smack the younger sister around repeatedly. Okay, well I still wanted to, but at least I knew that she had been written that way for a reason.
The book was fun. I'm a bit over the average girl hooking the perfect guy, but in this case, it made a lot of sense. The "hot" guy was a well-known son of famous movie-star parents, and was used to girls tripping all over themselves to get to him. So naturally, he was going to fall for the girl who didn't know who he was, and didn't care once she found out. I don't blame him, really. Who would want to go through life knowing that people only wanted you because of your name?
There isn't much else to say about Epic Fail. There wasn't much epic going on, but there also wasn't much fail going on either, so it was a decent read. I had been recovering from a cold and wasn't in the mood to try and work through something heavier, and this book worked out nicely for me. -
IT WAS REALLY CUTE AND FAST READ I READ IT IN ONE SITTING.
-
Reviewed at
http://bookstobrightenyourmood.blogsp...
Epic Fail is one of those books you really have fun while reading them and totally forget about having ever read them in the next hours I'm afraid.
I am huge Jane Austen's fan and since I spotted this book which is basically a retelling of Pride and Prejudice (one of my favorite books ever), I just had to read it. Granted, retellings aren't my thing. Granted again, that every single retelling of a fairy tale or book I have picked until now, wasn't such a good idea. But for some reason I keep picking these stories and I will continue doing so because something about the idea of transferring a classic story in a whole different universe or era plainly fascinates me!
As I said, Epic Fail is a retelling of Pride and Prejudice in the 21st century where the protagonists are teenagers.
The idea behind the book is good and I really wanted to see how all those complicated characters from Austen's novel would be handled from a different author and how all the setting from the original book would be ingested in our modern society.
I'm sad to say that the whole project for me was a bit of a failure. The characters in Epic Fail, resembled those of the original story but only on the surface. Elise wasn't Elisabeth and Derek wasn't Darcy. Don't get me wrong, I didn't expect to meet the same characters but since everything else was the same, with the necessary adjustments of course, I kind of expected that the characters would still possess the same essence, sort of.
Instead, Elise did everything Elizabeth did,acted in the same way, only in Epic Fail I just failed to see the motive behind her actions. Same goes with every other character. And especially with Mrs Bennet... You see Mrs Bennet, whether you liked her as character or not had a motive behind her outrageous actions. Mrs Benton on the other side had none... LaZebnik tried to make her a funny character, tried to make her act like a bizarre woman, but the result was a middle aged woman acting like a teenager with no reason at all... She drooled over a couple of teenage boys just because they were famous? I just wasn't convinced.
The transfer of the setting from Victorian England to 21st century L.A. was interesting. Not perfect but better executed. The story followed more or less the same pattern with Pride and Prejudice with the necessary adjustments and omissions. For example, Charlotte is almost a non existent character, Mister Collins went on permanent vacation and Lydia, actually came off as a way better person in Epic Fail.
All in all, Epic Fail is a fun book to spend your evening but just that. The writing gets a bit awkward at times, thus making me feel awkwrd in turn and to be honest, I won't remember it for long. Not a bad book, but not anything special either in my opinion. -
I seem to be on a streak here. Got some free time and decided why not go for light reads. No over thinking and complicating things.Just plain entertainment. Guess what?? I got to read one of my favorites in a modern package. If you check out the synopsis you will know which book I am talking about. It is none other than "Pride and Prejudice". Now I knew the premise resembled the book when I decided to start it but was not sure to what extent it would go. After reading the book I must say this whole new possibility for that age old classic is innovative. It had its own charm and charisma, while most of the story line was borrowed heavily from the classic. I was waiting for the events to turn out like the classic and this one did not disappoint me. If you want a hint as to how much so, the main character is named Elise, a slightly different name from her counterpart Elizabeth, Darcy becomes Derek, Jane becomes Juliana and Lydia becomes Layla. But it will be entirely unfair of me if I fail to see the amount of creativity gone in to the book. The premise, settings and environment are entirely believable and amusing and there are a couple of fresh new concepts and twists introduced. But there are certain points in the book where you feel like the story just drags on and you just want to get to the end. The end is not much conclusive for my liking. There were a number of loose ends which has all the potential to be made in to a sequel. But since there are no plans expressly stated by author till now on that matter I think I have to be content with all the loose ends hanging out there and try to come up with my own version of a agreeable end. The book as a whole is satisfying and I would recommend it to all those readers who would like to revisit a classic but with a modern twist
-
Short review first appeared on my blog:
Book Addict 24-7
Epic Fail by Claire LaZebnik is a cute adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, including the snotty younger sister, the perfect oldest sister, and the opinionated middle sister. Like its predecessor, LaZebnik's tale shows us the dangers of judging people at first sight and not giving them a chance to remedy your already made judgment of them.
Elise, the protagonist, is thrown into the world of the rich and sometimes famous when her mother becomes the principal of one of the city's most elite schools. There she comes in contact with the school "prince" and his cold demeanor. Reading this was an intriguing experience, especially because it felt like I was reading P&P all over again, but set in our modern time. And I know what you're thinking, "Duh, it is an adaptation!" But I've read adaptations before that have strayed so much from the story in order to be completely new and original, that it often takes me a while to realize that I'm reading an adaptation.
Much like P&P, I was intrigued and addicted, so I devoured this one. It's a quick read, the romance is cute (especially because we all would love a little Darcy in our lives), and the comic elements are entertaining. One of the only issues I had with this one was the simplicity of it. The characters resolved their issues a little too easily, and the romance happened a little too quickly (but okay, I understand it was a little like this between Jane and Bingley).
All in all, I did enjoy this one a lot and recommend it to anyone looking for a light adaptation of a Jane Austen classic!
