Lily has just finished school and isn’t sure what she wants to do next. Sure, there’s the possibility of Uni or finding a job but for now, Lily decides to just enjoy the summer laid out in front of her at her favourite place in the world – Pippi Beach. Lily loves the sun, the sand and the small community that lives there all year round like she does with her mum Lydia and 15 year old sister Rosie.

This small Australian beach town swells with visitors over the summer months, and Lily among other Pippi residents is surprised when famous faces arrive to stay next door. There’s been famous people before of course, but these faces are current megastars – especially the incredibly handsome Dorian Khan with his own string of current movies.

Lily’s mum is ecstatic with possibilities, and falls straight into her routine of getting noticed. They are all instructed to wear their best bikinis (her included of course), to lie around looking nonchalant at the stars’ arrival all while looking amazing.

Lily won’t be drawn in to her mum’s usual performance, and even when they meet the stars themselves as they join in with Christmas and New Year festivities – the main attraction (according to those around her) Dorian Khan, is rude, uncommunicative and standoffish.

Lily’s cousin Juliet is too busy getting to know Dorian’s friend to notice, and they seem to have hit it off, but just as sudden as they arrived, the stars are gone, back to Hollywood and lives far from Pippi.

A trip to LA has been planned for years between Lily and her friend Fiona, and a few months into the new year they see the sights with much excitement. Staying with relatives who are connected to the movie business, they are swept up into premieres, parties and all things Hollywood. Fiona is enamoured with it all including their host, but Lily finds it all superficial and is keen to go home to Pippi.

Seeing Dorian Khan during their stay hasn’t helped, and her opinion of him hasn’t changed. But the longer they are in LA, the more she learns about the people she met the previous summer. Not all is as it seems. Even Dorian’s past isn’t as clear cut as she has been led to believe.

I enjoyed Stuck Up & Stupid immensely – not only is it a great read, it is formed around the plot of Jane Austen’s classic, Pride & Prejudice.
This novel however is set today among holiday homes on a quiet beach in Australia, instead of the English countryside in 1811.

The rich landowners of Jane Austen’s novel have been replaced with handsome movie stars, and Mrs Bennett of Longbourn Estate with a modern mother keen to hang out with the rich, famous and handsome twenty somethings that are nearly half her age.

Stuck Up & Stupid stands on its own entertaining merits, but as a huge fan of Pride & Prejudice, I really enjoyed mapping the plot and its characters to the original. This is well done without forcing any elements to fit – giving the story a current face while being engaging, funny, heart wrenching and with just the right amount of angst in the conclusion.

Would make a great book study, comparing both versions.

Authors – Angourie Rice & Kate Rice

Age – 12+

(2023, Walker Books Aust, Pride & Prejudice, Retelling, Beach, Holiday Homes, Australia, Movie Stars, Hollywood, Romance, Misdirection, Lies, Famous, Friendships, Phonies, Directors, Los Angeles, LA, Love Story, Movie premieres, Relationships, Family, Sisters, Aunts, Romcom)