From Barnes and Noble:
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.
Rating: 4/5 stars
What it’s like: Charlie Bone, Vampire Academy, House of Night, and The Infernal Devices
What I thought?: I didn’t overly love it. The novel is set in the 1800’s. The spy school floats, which I find interesting and strange at the same time. They have mechanical butlers and maids which is startling because I’m trying to picture them at Hogwarts. The cast of characters I didn’t find overly relatable but they weren’t too bad. There’s your typical mean girl, the narrator, her best friend, and then other characters. It’s a simple character set up. The book does have its funny moments. The plot isn’t overly engaging. They’re trying to find something but I wasn’t enthralled by them searching for it. I will read the second book to see if it gets better, but I may switch to one to the author’s different series.