Review: CURTSIES & CONSPIRACIES by Gail Carriger (Little, Brown and Company, 2013)

From Amazon: Sophronia's first year at Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality has certainly been rousing! For one thing, finishing school is training her to be a spy (won't Mumsy be surprised?). Furthermore, Sophronia got mixed up in an intrigue over a stolen device and had a cheese pie thrown at her in a most horrid display of poor manners.

Now, as she sneaks around the dirigible school, eavesdropping on the teachers' quarters and making clandestine climbs to the ship's boiler room, she learns that there may be more to a field trip to London than is apparent at first. A conspiracy is afoot--one with dire implications for both supernaturals and humans. Sophronia must rely on her training to discover who is behind the dangerous plot-and survive the London Season with a full dance card.

In this bestselling sequel to New York Times bestselling Etiquette & Espionage, class is back in session with more petticoats and poison, tea trays and treason. Gail's distinctive voice, signature humor, and lush steampunk setting are sure to be the height of fashion this season.

Audience: Young Adult
Genre: Historical Science Fiction & Fantasy, Steampunk
Length: 320 pgs

Rating: 5

Review: I adore Carriger's voice, the characters, the Victorian-ness of it all. Sophronia is just fantastic, and I just adore her BFF Dimity more and more. I read so quickly and every time I had to put it down, I couldn't wait to get back into it. I loved seeing Sophronia's arc continue and show her becoming a strong young women, but she still has slip-ups and mistakes she needs to take care of. I had one tiny sticking point--early in the novel the teachers pit Sophornia's schoolmates against her, and when they all stop talking to her, Sophronia accepts it without even trying to convince Dimity to be on her side. She just took it in stride, which was necessary for plot movement, but was not believable. Overall I loved it and can't wait to read the third book in the series.

Content: 

Sex - 1 (Sidheag admits to seeing men/werewolves naked when they transform and describes in somewhat polite terms how unimpressive they are.)

Language - 0

Violence - 2 (There are fights and blood and such, but it's all handled very nicely.)

Overall rating - PG-14 (Only because of the above discussion of naked men--everything thing else is PG)

Source: Review copy via NetGalley

Try this. Want a historical with a quirky fun voice? Read Rules of Murder by Julianna Deering.

Review: ETIQUETTE & ESPIONAGE by Gail Carriger (Little Brown, 2013)

From Amazon: It's one thing to learn to curtsy properly. It's quite another to learn to curtsy and throw a knife at the same time. Welcome to Finishing School.

Fourteen-year-old Sophronia is a great trial to her poor mother. Sophronia is more interested in dismantling clocks and climbing trees than proper manners--and the family can only hope that company never sees her atrocious curtsy. Mrs. Temminnick is desperate for her daughter to become a proper lady. So she enrolls Sophronia in Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality.

But Sophronia soon realizes the school is not quite what her mother might have hoped. At Mademoiselle Geraldine's, young ladies learn to finish...everything. Certainly, they learn the fine arts of dance, dress, and etiquette, but the also learn to deal out death, diversion, and espionage--in the politest possible ways, of course. Sophronia and her friends are in for a rousing first year's education.

Set in the same world as the Parasol Protectorate, this YA series debut is filled with all the saucy adventure and droll humor Gail's legions of fans have come to adore. 

Genre: YA Steampunk, Fantasy, Historical

Audience: Young Adult

Length: 327 pgs

Rating: ***** (I really loved it!)

Review: Gads, guys, it's been so long since I finished a book. So much other things going on and it hurts me. THIS book was the perfect one to coast in on. Lovely and epic voice. I started Parasol Protectorate (and put it down for personal reasons) and LOVED the voice and the idea and all of it. E&E was so perfect. It had wonderful characters, all of them well thought out, probably all able to have their own story. The execution is hilarious. It felt like the end wrapped up quickly, but it still really worked. Like a cross between Harry Potter and Georgette Heyer--witty, fun, great school world. I'm excited to read the second one!

Content

Sex - 2 (Characters decolletage and bosoms are discussed a few times. It is discussed that certain teachers look more like prostitutes than teachers. The girls speculate that a werewolf teacher may be naked under his coat, and another insinuates that she has heard that werewolves are good in bed, though it is not said bluntly. "I hear they make the best...oooh la la.")

Language - 0

Violence - 2 (There are fights with Flywaymen, with a werewolf, and between spies at a ball. Nothing remotely graphic.)

Substance Abuse - 1 (Some boys spike punch at a ball.)

Content Rating - PG-14

Source - I received a copy via Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

As of writing, ETIQUETTE & ESPIONAGE was on sale on Kindle for $2.99