Review: The Time-traveling Fashionista - Bianca Turetsky

Where I got it: ARC for review from publisher

Rating: 4.5 stars

Cover Rating: 4 stars (Sparkly and pretty and very eye-catching. Quite nice.)

Genre: Young Adult

Publication Date: April 5, 2011

Publisher: Poppy

Page Count: 258 p.

Louise receives an invitation in the mail inviting her to attended a vintage clothing sale. She loves vintage clothing and has a dance coming up that she would love to find a new dress for. She decides to go with her best friend Brooke. When Louise finds the perfect dress and tries it on she is transported into another life and another time. She becomes Miss Alice Baxter aboard the Titanic. She gets to meet some of her favorite fashion icons like Cosmo and Lucy Duff-Gordon and the owners of Macy's  Isidor and Ida Straus. Louise does not realize at first that she is on the Titanic, but when she realizes it, she tries to warn the captain in order to save everyone. Only, it's 1912 and no one is going to listen to a young woman actress spouting nonsense about and unsinkable ship sinking.

So this was a pretty fabulous novel. This was a very interesting approach to writing about the tragedy of the Titanic. It was a little bit too much about fashion at times for my taste, I am certainly not a fashion savant by any means. Besides that fashion aspect though this was an intriguing historical fiction read. Time traveling into the body of someone aboard the ill-fated Titanic would be quite terrifying despite the excitement of a first-hand account. I expected Louise to be a lot more frightened than she seemed upon learning what ship she was aboard. Louise did tend not to really act like a twelve-year-old though. I mean she seemed to switch back and forth. When she spoke of school she seemed like a typical seventh grader but when she kept her cool and spoke of clothing she seemed much older. I was interested in seeing which characters were really there and I found that there was a Mrs. Hélène Baxter, but she was from Canada and was not an actress. I did however find that there was an American silent film actress by the name of Dorothy Gibson, who would make quite a good Alice Baxter. The Duff-Gordons and Ida and Isidor Straus were aboard the ship. This was a well-written historical fiction novel for young teens that are interested in the titanic, or fashion. One thing I am disappointed by in the ARC is that the illustrations were not finished in time for distribution. I will certainly be checking out the finished hardcover to view these. This was a fast and fun read even through the tragedy. I would recommend you check this 2011 debut out.

First Line:
"The invitation arrived on an ordinary Thursday."


Favorite Line:
"And at a time when she must have looked like a two-hundred-pound Little Bo Peep."