This delightful book popped up in my recommended list. When Angel said she wasn't sure what to get with her credit, I mentioned it to her. Needless to say she got it and I listened to it after finishing my yearly listen to A Christmas Carol. Interesting that both books should take place in the 1800s. However, Etiquette & Espionage has a steam punk / paranormal feel to it. The finishing school our characters attend is on a dirigible and has both a vampire and a werewolf on the faculty. Here is the Audible page for the book. Moira Quirk narrated and did a great job of giving each of the characters their own voice and providing fun accents as appropriate.
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Plot: Sophronia is just one of many of the Temminnick children, a family of country gentry, but she is her mother's most trying child. She makes mess, causes problems, and can't curtsy. She is in need of finishing. Sophronia has no interest or intention of being sent off to school where she will learn how to walk, talk, and act like a "gentlewoman." Regardless she obeys her mother and leaves for finishing school with the headmistress. But Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality is not what she was expecting. Even before she arrived at the school she was accosted by flyway men (like highway men, but in balloons as opposed to horseback) demanding the "prototype." She soon learns that the purpose of this finishing school is to teach young ladies how to finish anything and anyone. And it turns out that she was recruited on purpose.
My personal favorites: Since reading the web comic Girl Genius by the Foglios and Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan I've come to enjoy steam punk and the fun alternate history elements it holds. Etiquette & Espionage provided a great feeling world that didn't dwell on the mechanical aspects but delivered a great story of intrigue and adventure. The characters were a lot of fun, which is saying something for fourteen year old girls. Maybe it says something about my outlook on life when I say that it wasn't hard to imagine a school where teenage girls learn subterfuge and are naturally good at it for the most part. The pacing was good and I enjoyed their adventures. I also found way that they utilized common "womanly" items, such as sewing scissors, hair ribbons, and petty coats in covert operations.
Considerations: This book is considered Young Adult and it fits the description well. There was no swearing that I recall. And there was no sensuality or graphic descriptions. References to where a lady of quality keeps her spare handkerchief and such were all tastefully done without any vulgarity. The characters might not have always acted their age, but it didn't pull me out of the story. Despite what the girls are learning at the school I didn't feel like the story would ever take a violent angle or would become grisly or visceral. Overall, I don't see any reason to withhold the book to any young teen.
I've already put books two and three from this series on the wishlist and I don't doubt that Angel will pick them up in the next couple months and I look forward to listening to them. The total length was just under 9 hours.
Plot: Sophronia is just one of many of the Temminnick children, a family of country gentry, but she is her mother's most trying child. She makes mess, causes problems, and can't curtsy. She is in need of finishing. Sophronia has no interest or intention of being sent off to school where she will learn how to walk, talk, and act like a "gentlewoman." Regardless she obeys her mother and leaves for finishing school with the headmistress. But Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality is not what she was expecting. Even before she arrived at the school she was accosted by flyway men (like highway men, but in balloons as opposed to horseback) demanding the "prototype." She soon learns that the purpose of this finishing school is to teach young ladies how to finish anything and anyone. And it turns out that she was recruited on purpose.My personal favorites: Since reading the web comic Girl Genius by the Foglios and Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan I've come to enjoy steam punk and the fun alternate history elements it holds. Etiquette & Espionage provided a great feeling world that didn't dwell on the mechanical aspects but delivered a great story of intrigue and adventure. The characters were a lot of fun, which is saying something for fourteen year old girls. Maybe it says something about my outlook on life when I say that it wasn't hard to imagine a school where teenage girls learn subterfuge and are naturally good at it for the most part. The pacing was good and I enjoyed their adventures. I also found way that they utilized common "womanly" items, such as sewing scissors, hair ribbons, and petty coats in covert operations.
Considerations: This book is considered Young Adult and it fits the description well. There was no swearing that I recall. And there was no sensuality or graphic descriptions. References to where a lady of quality keeps her spare handkerchief and such were all tastefully done without any vulgarity. The characters might not have always acted their age, but it didn't pull me out of the story. Despite what the girls are learning at the school I didn't feel like the story would ever take a violent angle or would become grisly or visceral. Overall, I don't see any reason to withhold the book to any young teen.
I've already put books two and three from this series on the wishlist and I don't doubt that Angel will pick them up in the next couple months and I look forward to listening to them. The total length was just under 9 hours.
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