Review: The Time-Traveling Fashionista

Summary: What if a beautiful vintage dress could take you back in time?

Louise Lambert has always dreamed of movie starlets and exquisite gowns and longs for the day when she can fill the closet of her normal suburban home with stylish treasures. But when she receives a mysterious invitation to a vintage fashion sale in the mail, her once painfully average life is magically transformed into a time-travel adventure.

Suddenly onboard a luxurious cruise ship a hundred years ago, Louise relishes the glamorous life of this opulent era and slips into a life of secrets, drama, and decadence. . . .

Dreamy and imaginative, The Time-Traveling Fashionista features thirty full-color fashion illustrations to show gorgeous dresses and styles throughout history. -- Poppy

THE TIME-TRAVELING FASHIONISTA by Bianca Turetsky is exactly the type of book that I would have loved as a girl. (Heck, I liked it a lot and I'm way past my teen years.) This novel encompassed so many things that make it an ideal read for today's tweens and teens alike. It had a very likable (and realistic) main character, interesting supporting characters, an intriguing storyline, and time-travel. Plus, it included some a mini-history lesson about the sinking of the Titanic. It was just an all-around fun read!

Louise is a pretty typical teen girl. She goes to school and visits with her friends, but she does have one thing that sets her apart from the average girl -- she loves vintage fashion and style. She prefers to buy vintage clothes rather than the latest trendy outfits at the mall, and she has a true appreciation for the amount of work involved in these older designs. Louise thinks her life is pretty ordinary until one day when she is invited to a vintage fashion sale. She tries on a beautiful dress and her life takes a surprising turn when she ends up time-traveling to the voyage of the Titanic.

I thought the premise behind THE TIME-TRAVELING FASHIONISTA was extremely cute, and I enjoyed following Louise aboard the Titanic where she was a famous young actress. I loved how the author portrayed the glamor of the voyage along with some of the fashions of the time period. But I also really liked some of the interesting characters that Louise encountered both in the present day and the past. I am putting on my mom hat here, but I also liked there was a little history lesson about the Titanic included within the pages of this entertaining story.

While I found the story and the characters in THE TIME-TRAVELING FASHIONISTA to be very fun, the added bonus of the colorful illustrations made this book extra-special. Included within the pages of this novel were thirty beautiful drawings which definitely appealed to the part of me who loves fashion. I can't even pick a favorite picture because so many of them were amazing. I especially loved the ones that featured the fashion of the 1910s.

THE TIME-TRAVELING FASHIONISTA is the first book in a new series, and I definitely enjoyed it enough that I plan on reading the next novel -- it will be available in April 2012. I'm not exactly sure how the series will work -- I'm assuming that there will be another dress that allows a character to time-travel, but after that, I haven't a clue. At the end of this novel, there was mention of a "club," so I think it might be cute to have different girls experience the clothes and the time-travel. No matter how the sequel works, I'm in!

There is a terrific website devoted to THE TIME-TRAVELING FASHIONISTA which kept me entertained for quite awhile. I can only imagine how much fun girls would have. You can make a mix-tape, look at the gorgeous illustrations that appear in the novel, and learn more about the Titanic disaster. I love how much the website captured the appearance and feel of the book.

I think tweens and teens who appreciate adventure, time-travel, and of course, fashion will definitely appreciate THE TIME-TRAVELING FASHIONISTA. I know I did!

Thanks to the publisher for sending a copy of this novel.