Apparently, The Time-Traveling Fashionista at the Palace of Marie Antoinette is the second in a series of books by Bianca Turetsky, the first being The Time-Traveling Fashionista On Board the Titanic. I was not aware of this when I accepted this title for review or I might not have accepted it at all. (I hate reading books out of order.) Gratefully, although the first book is referenced, this second book can stand alone if necessary.
As I mentioned last week, I’m not a big fan of modern novels because you never know what you are going to find in them. Middle Grade adventures I’m more at ease with, but even still, this particular title was a stretch as it seemed very teenage-esque. Honestly, I wasn’t sure I was going to like it but I felt like taking a gamble and I can truthfully say that I’m glad I did so. Although I did not enjoy this book in its entirety, I found the whole idea quite interesting.
The Time-Traveling Fashionista is twelve-year-old Louise Lambert. Louise has a fashion style all her own – or at least, one that sets her apart from her friends. She favors vintage wear and loves haunting second-hand shops and thrift stores looking for good deals on aged fashion. Every so often she receives an invitation from two mysterious ladies, Marla and Glenda, to attend a private “Traveling Fashionista Vintage Sale.” Curious things happen whenever Louise attends these sales – things she cannot quite explain. When she steps into various vintage gowns they seem to transport her back to bygone days when the dresses were at the height of fashion. In the case of this book, Louise tries on a blue dress which magically whisks her away to the time of Marie Antoinette. Or, is Louise merely dreaming?
To a certain extent the entire book revolves around fashion. Author Bianca Turetsky clearly is a fan of designer clothes herself. She name drops various designers and quotes from them throughout the book. There are “twenty-five full-color fashion illustrations throughout” the book, to illustrate the dresses and “looks” which Turetsky is describing for her readers. Being very much a non-fashionista, I can’t say that I really “clicked” with that aspect of the book. Nor did I really get into the teenage society of parties and references to Kim Kardashian. I’ll confess to you right now that I skimmed past conversations between Louise and her friends about cute boys. (Turetsky actually does use the word “cute” and also keeps the boys and girls at a comfortable distance from one another.) I read only as much of their girl-ish conversations as I had to to confirm that there was nothing physical happening between the boys and the girls. (I have serious eye-rolling issues with the idea of teenage relationships.) Louise almost gets her first kiss, but misses the opportunity. Other than that, nothing remotely “interesting” happens between the sexes and we’re left only knowing that Louise is capable to having crushes. Predictable. Normal. I’ll just ignore that (as I don’t think it added to or subtracted from the story).
What I loved about The Time-Traveling Fashionista at the Palace of Marie Antoinette was that Turetsky tied in so much history. She painted the landscape for the reader of life pre-revolution in France. She introduces us to Marie Antoinette in a primitive way, yes, but in a way that makes the reader curious to learn more. She talks of Antoinette’s family history, her age, hints at dissatisfaction in her mate (but isn’t explicit by any means), and, of course, talks about the clothes. (She also managed to squeeze in the, “Let them eat cake” line.) Marie Antoinette is a character of intrigue and mystery who is a great curiosity. Her life is unfathomable to, well, pretty much all of us. I’ve long wanted to learn more about her, but haven’t taken the time. (I love history. Currently I’m ensconced in World War II – my favorite time period – and I haven’t gone back so far as to learn much about Atonoinette. But now I have an even greater desire to do so!) If Turetsky can draw tween girls into a fun and magical “We Were There” type of story and teach them some history while doing so then I’d be happy. (So few people seem to care about history these days.) Personally, I don’t really go for the clothes aspect but it is an aspect of history that had its influence and it is one that a great many young girls do care about. I’m left confessing that Turketsky came up with a clever idea.
In summary: this one wasn’t exactly and entirely my cup of tea but I still found parts of it which I very much enjoyed! (I might even go so far as to say that I would like this fairly well as a movie.)
Thanks to the Hachette Book Group for sending a copy of this one my way in exchange for my honest opinion.
Carrie loves being pleasantly surprised by books. Her best book surprise to date is still The Mysterious Benedict Society and you can hear her harp about that fairly frequently over at Reading to Know.
Melissa Mc says
My daughter has read both in the series multiple times…I’d try to read them, but can’t pry them out of her hands long enough.
Heather E. Carrillo says
This actually sounds somewhat decent. I liked reading what you wrote about teenage romance. I enjoy when my own opinion is confirmed by someone else. haha!