Book Review: Prejudice Meets Pride

Title: Prejudice Meets Pride
Author: Rachael Anderson
Publisher: HEA Publishing
Release Date: April 2014
Series?: Meet Your Match #1
Genre: contemporary, chick lit, romance
Format: e-book
Source: I Am A Reader 

Find the book: Website | Goodreads 

Synopsis

After years of pinching pennies and struggling to get through art school, Emma Makie’s hard work finally pays off with the offer of a dream job. But when tragedy strikes, she has no choice but to make a cross-country move to Colorado Springs to take temporary custody of her two nieces. She has no money, no job prospects, and no idea how to be a mother to two little girls, but she isn’t about to let that stop her. Nor is she about to accept the help of Kevin Grantham, her handsome new neighbor, who seems to think she’s incapable of doing anything on her own.

Fun, compelling, and romantic, Prejudice Meets Pride is the story of a guy who thinks he has it all figured out and a girl who isn’t afraid to show him that he doesn’t. It’s about learning what it means to trust, figuring out how to give and to take, and realizing that not everyone gets to pick the person they fall in love with. Sometimes, love picks them.

Review

I was skeptical of this book from the start, there was just something about the cover, but I ended up loving it! Rachael Anderson has written on a unique premise: artist Emma Mackie gives up her dreams to raise her two nieces for a time, until their dad can come back into the picture. At first there wasn’t much to Emma – just a stubborn woman with really no options and no prospects – refusing the help of her neighbor Kevin, who ends up saving the day several times and even lands Emma with another dream job by the end of the novel, but at the beginning he saw Emma as a scatter-brained, incompetent single mom.

Throughout the novel, Kevin learns a lot about Emma and her situation. Emma learns a bit about Kevin. Feelings start to develop, and then things come to a screeching halt a couple of times. It is obvious that Kevin comes from money, and as that is one of Emma’s essential problems in the novel, it creates conflict in a few different ways that play out in the novel.

I think I loved this novel in several ways because I am a lot like Emma – I hate feeling that I owe somebody a debt, whether for a kindness served or an actual debt from a gift. I grew up the way Emma survived through college. I have her same mentality in that regard, so it was easy for me to assimilate into Emma’s mindset and background. What I was not prepared for was Emma’s history before turning 18 and coming to the United States. (She is originally from Sierra Leone.) In the beginning of the novel she made a comment through dialogue that made me think she had a baaaaad family upbringing and wanted to get the hell outta Dodge, but I found out that it was not quite as I had pictured it.

The nieces are adorable – and Emma teaches them quite a few life lessons – and they teach her a good one as well. One that lands Kevin with a mud pie in the face! 🙂

This novel is a sweet, fun read, perfect for summer. The characters were The banter was just right, the dialogue between all of the characters perfect. I wish I could go live on their street, where the neighbors are nice and friendly and in your business in the nicest way. A slice of small town living in the suburbs. 🙂

About the Author

USA Today bestselling author Rachael Anderson is the mother of four and is pretty good at breaking up fights, or at least sending guilty parties to their rooms. She can’t sing, doesn’t dance, and despises tragedies. But she recently figured out how yeast works and can now make homemade bread, which she is really good at eating.

 

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