I love Julie Berry. She's quietly breaking boundaries in young-adult literature, and doing it with hard work and beautiful prose, and good on her for that.

 

This one is exceptionally researched, as always. The framing device--having the stories of these four human characters told through the eyes of the Greek gods who are watching and influencing their lives--is a brave one. However, it asks us to be invested in the gods' story, too (Hephaestus's jealousy over Aphrodite's affair with his brother, Ares, god of war), and...I wasn't, terribly...invested, I mean. I was amused, though, and that's probably enough.  

 

Another trouble I had with the novel was a slight lack of depth of all the characters. They all had definite personalities, and we know what we're meant to feel about them, but they remain a bit distant and perfect. Aubrey felt the most rich to me, despite having less page time than others. The gods were a bit inscrutable--which maybe gods should be.  

 

Just keep at it, Julie. You're doing wonderful things.

This is not the kind of children's book that adults love. Or at least, not this adult. The premise is interesting, and I think little girls may very well love it. But it seems like a fairly standard one-dimensional story of a misfit girl, rejected by her conventional family, battling mean girls and mean teachers. Only this story has a genie.

 

Audiobook via Audible monthly freebie. DNF at 10% after about an hour and a half of audio. The performance by Jayne Entwistle is very good, but not as inspired as her delightful readings for the Flavia de Luce series.

The sisters of Prickwillow Place find someone they know to be murdered. It is up to them to figure out who did this and why.

The book is intriguing and fun with a touch of humor. We begin the story by being introduced to the girls with a quick look into why they were sent to St. Etheldreda's School for Girls. Then shortly after, we have the death of the headmistress and her brother, leaving the girls to solve a mystery while trying to hide the events from the townsfolk.

While the plot is not hard to predict, the characters are what make this entertaining. The girls range from tween to early teen, so while they're very young, they're intelligent and capable, free of the usual angst and dramatics you might have expected otherwise. The plot is kept light-hearted and overall amusing, even adding a little romance now and again.

An adventure full of character and charm, the story is as much about the mystery itself as it is about the friendship between the girls.

DNF at 15%. It was okay, but just not very interesting. Too twee for my tastes.

 

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