The Time-Traveling Fashionista at the Palace of Marie Antoinette

The Time-Traveling Fashionista #2

by Bianca Turetsky, Sandra Suy (illustrator)

What if a beautiful dress could take you back in time?
Louise Lambert's best friend's thirteenth birthday party is fast approaching, so of course the most important question on her mind is, "What am I going to wear?!" Slipping on an exquisite robin's egg blue gown during another visit to the mysterious Traveling Fashionista Vintage Sale, Louise finds herself back in time once again, swept up in the glory of palace life, fancy parties, and enormous hair as a member of the court of France's most infamous queen, Marie Antoinette.
But between cute commoner boys and glamorous trips to Paris, life in the palace isn't all cake and couture. Can Louise keep her cool-and her head!-as she races against the clock to get home?

Genres: Historical Fiction, Time Travel, Fantasy, Young Adult, Middle Grade, Fiction, Fashion

258 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2012

Reviews

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

1/7 challenges complete for Booktube-A-Thon 2015

Another cute and fun read from Bianca Turetsky! I love the illustrations as a companion to the story. Illustrations are done by Sandra Suy, which are wonderful. I'm not sure yet if I will read the next book but this was a great break from my typical dark and intense reads. Plus time traveling...who doesn't love time traveling!

[Maya · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Time Traveling Fashionista is a historical fiction novel that takes place in eighteenth century
France. The story follows Louise Lambert, an eighth grader in love with vintage fashion. Unfortunately
Louise is facing family problems. Her dad lost his job and her mom won't let her go on the Paris field trip
she's been dying to go on for years. To get away from her crisis at home, she visits a vintage fashion
sale looking for a dress for her best friend's party. Upon arrival, she meets two crazy women who
show her a beautiful dress from the 1800's. She tries it on and is taken back in time to when the dress
was made. As she tries to make it back to the 21st century, she becomes friends with the dauphine: Marie
Antoinette, meets Louie XVI - the future king of france - and attends royal parties. It's all fun and games
but can she make it back home before it's too late?

I really enjoyed reading this book. Although it is the second in the Time Traveling Fashionista series, and I hadn't read the first, it still loved it. It was a fun twist on the usual historical fiction novel and I also found it very interesting. It seemed to have everything; history, romance, suspense, gore, the list goes on. The Time
Traveling Fashionista: At the Palace of Marie Antoinette had great descriptions, lots of fascinating facts and
maybe even a few illustrations, a great book for any middle schooler looking for an entertaining and captivating read.

[Emma Decker · Rating 5 out of 5]

SPOILER ALERT! 12 year old Louise a vintage expert is celebrating her friends 13th birthday and wants to find something vintage to wear she receives a letter to a traveling vintage sale, and finds an old dress from the time of Marie Antoinette and goes off into an adventure at Versailles and discovers the fashion and life of Marie Antoinette. The characters in this book are romantic, and a little funny because Marie Antoinette acts like a little girl and is in love with the gardener but as Louise gets closer to home she gets closer to the guillotine and nearly losses her head! My favorite part of the book is when Louise is looking in a Hall of mirrors and sees another fashionista in disguise like she is.My favorite quote from the book is he Louise meets stella another fashionista "well" Louise started trying to phrase things in the most delicate way possible " you're, how do I say, advanced in your years....... "old I'm old??" Stella stopped walking and turned toward Louise giving her her full attention.

[Elyse (ElyseReadsandSpeaks) · Rating 4 out of 5]

In all seriousness, why aren't these books a bigger deal? Why don't I hear young girls talking about these books?! (And for the record, I work with children of all ages.)

These are such gems. Fashion, a 12 year-old protagonist into vintage clothing, even a history lesson in each book! I kid you not - I don't know much about Marie Antoinette and I'm so interested in reading more about her after finishing this book.

The artwork is great, the story is fun, and it actually leaves you wanting more. These aren't going to sit on my shelf. They're getting passed on to a young girl who will most likely love them.

Read these books. They're delightful.

[Julia (Shakespeare and Such) · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.8/5 stars, full review to come! While I like some of the messages about how history and fashion are inextricably linked, and how the past problems mirror Louise’s present problems on a grander scale, I think some aspects of these books have just aged so much so quickly. I wish there had been more time spent in the past and more depth given to those plot threads.

Plot: 3/5
Characters: 3/5
Pacing: 2/5
Writing: 3/5
Enjoyment: 3/5

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was I supposed to feel bad for the French royals? Because I didn’t 🤷‍♀️

[Gelse Tecalero · Rating 3 out of 5]

Do you ever wonder how it is like to live in the past? In this book Louis goes to the past. The genre of this book is fantasy. I think the book was okay it wasn't interesting in my opinion. Lonnie goes to a fashion sale and finds a dress but then she black out and is in a different place and year.

The story takes place in the modern times but also in the past. Lonnie wanted to go to Paris for her class field trip but her parents wouldn't let her go. Lonnie decided to go to a vintage store to make her feel better. She finds a dress that she likes and tries it on but she blacks out and she wakes up in Paris and in a different time period. The person that she's friends with in Paris is struggling with family problems. She goes to dinner but then it turned into something horrifying but later she woke up and she was in her dressing room. The type of conflict was person vs. person because she had to deal with not going to Paris and dealing with what she saw at the dinner. I think the theme of the story is accepting because she had to deal with her parents choice and dealing with everything that she ad to go through in Paris .

The third person point of view affects the story because it tells what Louise saw and what she felt that happened at the dinner and with her not being able to go to Paris with her classmates. A major even that changed the character i think is reading the letters her friend from Paris received from her parents. The setting adds to the conflict because you wouldn't expect something horrifying happen to a family in Paris.

I was surprised when Louise's friend that lived in Paris that was from the past received from her mother because the mother wrote things you wouldn't expect a mother to write for example she called her untalented. I liked the way the author made Louise get affected by what happened at the dinner cause I feel like you wouldn't be hurt by something that happened in the past. I liked the way the author added an actual family problem in the story cause when Louise parents wouldn't let her go to Paris and she started to get angry about it cause not everyone gets to go to Paris cause some people don't have the money for the ticket.

I would rate it three stars because I liked the way the author made Louise affected by something that happened in the past and also added an actual family problem. I would recommend this book to people who like books that take place in the past.

[Echo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Time travel is awesome. History is awesome. Historical fashion is awesome. So when I found this book for one buck at the Dollar General, I had to forgo my "You're not allowed to buy any books right now" rule and pick it up. I mean, a girl that buys vintage dresses that transport her into historical settings? Yes, please.
This is the second book in this series, but that doesn't make it difficult to follow. The first book is referenced a few times, but there's enough background information to keep you in the loop if you haven't read the first book.
There were a few things about this that would normally be gripes for me, but in this case I wasn't bothered. Some of the situations seemed a little far-fetched to me (e.g. an annual trip to France for seventh graders, especially while class is in session?, a 12-year-old girl going off on shopping trips by herself and buying vintage pieces from designers like Vivienne Westwood?, finding a dress from the 1700s in a vintage clothing shop and LETTING A 12-YEAR-OLD TRY IT ON??), but I shrugged my shoulders and decided it wasn't important given the tone of the book and the age group it appeals to. Either that, or that it could be explained away with magic. I'm also not normally a fan of books that describe every outfit the characters wear, but considering the whole premise of this series, in this case it's to be expected and seemed appropriate.
Also, I loved the illustrations throughout the book.

[Renata · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ah, okay, reading this one so closely after the first one meant that a lot of the charm had worn off for me. I mean, it was cute. Wouldn't super recommend it to most adult readers--Louise's complete obliviousness to all known history gets a little grating (especially given that she's allegedly a 7th grader in "AP French", which just seems like poor fact checking on the editor's behalf...) . These books WOULD be great for younger tween readers, though--very clean. Like, when Louise time travels back to Marie Antoinette's Versailles, she declines a glass of champagne because her mom would disapprove. And she *almost* kisses a boy but gets interrupted.

Oh, and I read this one in print and I really like the color illustrations of all the dresses! (I read the other one in ebook and it had b&w illustrations that weren't as pretty.) There's also limited historical information in the form of a little timeline and a chapter where Louise gets back to the future and reads about Marie Antoinette on Wikipedia.

And I do really like the series' insistence that being interested in fashion isn't just a silly girl thing. It's serious business (that might possibly lead to time travel).

[Esmeralda Verdú · Rating 3 out of 5]

En el palacio de María Antonieta me ha parecido una historia demasiado simple, que con algo más de desarrollo tanto en la trama como en los personajes hubiera ganado mucho más. Igualmente, me sigue gustando mucho la idea principal de viajar en el tiempo a través de vestidos vintage, y las ilustraciones que nos los muestran son preciosas. Esta vez tampoco hay romance, pero el final nos da pie a pensar que sí lo habrá en el tercer libro -que por cierto, no sé si será el último o habrá más-. Si buscáis un libro corto, ameno, entretenido, colorido y sin demasiadas pretensiones, esta es una buena elección. Al igual que si buscáis recomendarlo a una adolescente de temprana edad. Aunque como ya he dicho, se me hace mucho menos infantil de lo que parece a simple vista. Yo he pasado un buen rato leyéndolo y espero que pronto saquen el siguiente libro

Lee la reseña completa aquí: http://fly-like-a-butterfly.blogspot....

[Hannah]

9/5/12: I have read only 17 chapters and have already tumblr'd this shizz twice:
http://ireadeverything.tumblr.com/pos...
http://ireadeverything.tumblr.com/pos...

I will also be blogging it as part of a special fashion-themed series later in September.

[Belinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's a cover! Nice dress :-)

[Katherine Veach · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not entirely accurate. But still cute, loved all the gorgeous illustrations. I wish the main character was like 18 instead of 12. Haha

[Taylor]

I HAVE A HUGE LOVE FOR MARIE ANTOINETTE SO

[Marsha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Louise is in for another trip. She’s giddy to be taken on the annual school journey to France. But straitened circumstances at home destroy her chance.

Louise’s immaturity is on full display when she whines to her parents about her aborted trip to France. She understands in an abstract way that money is tight but she’s got a lawyer father and a mother who insists on wearing makeup and formal dress for dinner. She’s never really known hardship or privation. So she doesn’t react well when her plans are curtailed.

She’s got what I call First World Problems. Like a lot of privileged white girls, she doesn’t see much past the end of her own nose. In spite of her time spent on “The Titanic” (or perhaps because of it), she still yearns for a grand lifestyle and going to Paris was meant to be part of that. (Boo hoo, she can’t go to France. Big deal; there are children out there who can’t attend decent schools or have access to clean drinking water.)

Given the random jolts back in time Louise takes, where she’s often treated as an adult in high society, it can be hard to remember that she’s only twelve years old. She’s thrust into past times when women were expected to grow up quickly—especially a certain French queen who was forced to marry when she was only 14 years of age.

Louise’s trip to 18th-century Versailles is radiant with glorious dresses, bejeweled accessories and enough sweets to turn anybody diabetic. While the royals, nobles and aristocracy live the glamorous life, the peasants are starving and revolution is simmering.

Poor Louise! She knows vaguely that she may be in danger of losing her head but, thanks to her lack of attention in history class (again), she doesn’t quite remember when the revolution is supposed to occur. But she’s anxious to save Marie Antoinette as well as herself.

The story swings us through a decadent lifestyle, one that is rather startling for the young girl she is. Louise is exposed to a life of crazed excess and we wince with her as wine spills across tablecloths, pastries are crushed underfoot into the floor and grease stains the luxurious garments worn by the ladies. Men and women gamble with cards and dice and mistresses flirt with married men in full view of the court. This slice of high society is in stark contrast to the poverty, grime, stench and degradation that lies outside the castle and Louise is forced to the realization that some people have it far worse than she.

This sequel, like the previous one, is filled with gorgeous color spreads, mainly of women in fine dresses, with a two-page spread of the exterior of Versailles itself as a jaw-dropping entry. They are an absolute feast for the eye, especially the pale blue number that Louise first dons during the vintage sale. It is accentuated with what appear to be blue and white sparkles on the page, as if the dress itself were giving off aerations of light. You might not be keen on vintage fashion but it’s hard to deny how much like a princess she looks in that gown.

Her trip back to the present struck me as rather abrupt and jarring, with nothing really resolved. However, she and this reader came in for delightful shocks and raised issues I hope to encounter in the next book. I don’t usually care for book series. But I’m keen to learn just what happens next.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up this book and the third book, after reading the first in the series, which was set on the Titanic.

This is a wonderful set of books, for people who are interested in fashion, and grew up sketching outfits and different designs - if this is/was you, this is most certainly the series for you. I can’t draw and I will wear what I like and what suits me, rather than what’s currently on the catwalk and everyone else is wearing.

The illustrations in this are gorgeous though, and I do love looking at them. There are quite a few illustrations dotted throughout, and while it’s aimed at young adults, I think it can be read by anyone outside the target audience, with an interest in time travel or fashion.

There is a pretty good storyline as well, considering the author could have gotten away with a bare bones storyline - it’s based around a young girl, Louise, who is different to all her friends, with a quirky taste in fashion/anything vintage and can also travel through time, thanks to vintage clothes. You definitely need to read the series in order, as it does lead on from the first book, and gives more background to what is now happening in the second.

I really hope the author adds more to this series, rather than the three that are currently available. I think she had a great series on her hands, that isn’t about vampires, some form of Hunger Games, or some dystopian world in the near future - these seem to be the recurring themes amongst young adult books in the past few years. There are probably more though.

Yes, I’m not in the target audience for these books, but there is so much more in the teen/young adult market now, than when I was but a wee lass (Babysitter’s Club, Sweet Valley and Goosebumps seemed to be the most memorable ones that were in my section in the library.)

I would highly recommend this series and hope the third book is just as good - and doesn’t end the series!

[Audrey Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of my 4th grade students recommended this novel to me on the second day of school stating it was her absolute favorite and she'd read it four times. Never having heard of the series, I had to give it a try when she brought me her copy to borrow the next day. The storyline is fast-paced and the plot is enjoyable. Even though the writing is overburdened with adjectives and adverbs, I can still understand why upper elementary and middle school students would enjoy this story. Turetsky accurately pieces together fantasy and historical fiction with the inner-workings of surviving puberty. While I feel this book is a bit too mature for a typical fourth grader (the graphic description of the beheading of Marie Antoinette and the parading around of the Princesse de Lamballe's head on a stake, as well as the dating and puberty references); I think it's a great fit for any stylish 5th through 9th grade history buff.

[Cecilia · Rating 5 out of 5]

The important thing to remember is that this book is best suited for Middle Schoolers.
So to be fair if I was a middle schooler I would give it 5*, and thats why I gave it.
If I was grading unfairly I would give it 3*. I think most of the ratings from this book are from teens or adults and I think if you rate a book you should ask youself, " If I was a middle schooler would I like this book?"
Now, me I liked reading Young Adult and New Adult books.

I liked this book. I did not love it.
I liked the character Louisa and I love time traveling books so this is why I decided to pick it up.
I read the first book of her series, and being that I love anytthing to do with Versailles decided to pick this up.

I think its a great book for younger people. Bianca is a great writer.

Louisa discovers that her mom was a time traveling fashionista. And, in the past she discovers another girl who is from the future just like her. She also meets a guy in the future that reminds her of a guy from the past.

[Katie O. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Same likeable main character. Great portrayal of fairly typical 7th-grade angst and growing pains couched in a unique theme/setting. Nicely highlights how quirky habits or specific interests can make all the difference to a young lady. Writing is more relaxed and cohesive than book 1 - makes it easier to slip into the story. Also, this plot has slightly more plausible types of impacts Louise has (or doesn't have) on history. Extra layers of what it means to be a Traveling Fashionista add some fun heft; it's not just a repeat of book 1 in a new era. Still don't love the 'deniable plausibility' element (ill, head injury) wrt time travel occurrence, but it's not a deal breaker to overall enjoyment. Great job integrating the nicely paced plot with key elements of history and the personal experience of Marie Antoinette and others of her time. There's a lot of fun and fluff, but history is not sugarcoated.

[Kristina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably a 3.75 rounded up to 4. Louise still has a lot of doubts in herself, but she seems more confident traveling this time around. A couple twists at the end that were mildly predictable, but do make me want to continue to see the resolution of them. One thing I did really enjoy that was referenced several times was the idea that Marie Antoinette was still essentially a child when she was sent to Paris to marry the king - I think that is often overlooked when people talk about Marie Antoinette and the French Revlolution. It doesn't excuse the suffering of France, but gives context to Marie's actions as she was a teenager when she was brought to France. Overall a decent read.

[Small Review · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was surprised by how much I loved the first book and I was looking forward to this second installment even more because of the Marie Antoinette focus. I adore Marie Antoinette. Unfortunately, I don't think Bianca Turetsky does. Add in a meh love interest, considerably less time spent in the past, and another time-traveling fashionista with a bit of an attitude and consider me disappointed. So disappointed, in fact, that I decided to break up the series and give away my beautiful print copy. I guess I just can't abide someone dissing MA.

[Courtney · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this one way more than the first! I'm so glad I read it, but now I need the third one!
Because the character is already established we get into the time travel bit sooner. I didn't know very much about Marie Antoinette and this book was interesting and informative; it made me crave more historical fiction or a good classic.
The story is simple and I don't think we needed Glenda and Marla to retell us that our main character was learning a lesson, however, Turetsky did expand on the Fashionista world.

[Carrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This second book in The Time-Traveling Fashionista series was more educational than the first book! I enjoyed learning about Marie Antoinette outside of a classroom. I didn't remember all about her and her and the French Revolution from history all those years ago when I was in school! Highly recommend this for your Middle School students. It is an easy, quick, educational read!

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are middle grade fiction and as such are perfect for that age. They incorporate beautiful fashion illustrations, tidbits of history, and modern life lessons. Nothing in them has been questionable; just really cute youthful fiction.

Refreshing in the current “push all the envelopes” style of writing, especially for children.

[Isabella Thacker · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book almost as much as the first. The dresses were beautiful. The corsets are probably tight though. Marie Antoinette's story is very interesting. I would recommend this book to anybody who loves fashion and history.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once again, I FREAKING LOVED IT!! AMAZING AND WONDERFUL STORY!!! I love the time travelling trope soo much, such a fantastic concept, Louise goes to VERSAILE OMG AMAZING
That PLOTTWIST SHOCKED ME OMG I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!!!
I NEED THE NEXT BOOK

[Catalina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought to myself: really? it takes her half the book to realize that that girl is Marie Antoinette? but then I remember our heroine is a 12yo American teen, I mean c'mon how versed were we in European history at the age of 12?

[aem · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute middle grade historical/fantasy time travel story. A 12 yr old girl is transported back to the time of Marie Antoinette via a dress from that era. Her problems in her time are not so different from the issues in the past. Terrific and beautiful illustrations accompany text!!!

[Kiran · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was interesting that she came across another time traveler.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun, mostly believable, story-line. Lovely illustrations.