Well, that was fun and enlightening. I love etiquette books, and am neutral on advice columnists in general except for Daniel Ortberg's Dear Prudence. But then there's that whole other aspect: the how-to-do-anything-better field is one I appreciate. Paradoxically, I have never been a fan of the Self-Help book genre. Yes, I think there is a great deal we can all learn from the billions of other people in the world, many of whom have struggled with the same issues and also, at the same time, skeptical of the idea that reading a book is ever going to really turn anyone's life around. Mari Kondo has much to teach me about how to best put things away, for example, but neither her book nor show is going to convince me to spend a month finding every book in the house and putting it into one big pile in order to hold each one and wait for the spirit to move me in a joy spark or not way.

Much of the historical stuff was completely unknown to me. I had heard of Poor Richard's Almanack, but knew next to nothing about Franklin or his publishing. I knew of Graham, but Alcott was a surprise. Etcetera.
Clever and also entertaining.

Library copy

American-born Frances Wynn, Countess of Harleigh is finally done with mourning the man who was found dead in another woman's bed. She needs to get away from the new heir to the title and with her own funds she leaves for London. An anonymous letter implicating her in the murder of her husband leads her down a track of investigating the truth. Add in her sister and a dashing new neighbour, who knows the truth too and you have a fun read.

I really enjoyed this one and I'm looking forward to reading more. Frances is well aware of the problems of society and keeping herself well regarded while also knowing that she wants some freedom. It's an interesting look at a turn of the 19th Century world of privilege.

This review can also be found at Carole's Random Life in Books.

I thought that this book was just okay. This is really a pretty generous 3 stars but I am going to go with it. I have wanted to read Gail Carriger's work for a very long time and I remember being excited when I got my hands on a review copy of this book years ago. Somehow it got lost in my tbr pile but I decided that it was time to give it a go. It really wasn't all that I had hoped it would be but I am glad that I gave it a read and did find many parts of the book quite enjoyable.

This book felt younger than I expected it to feel. I do read quite a bit of YA but I thought that this story had more of a Middle Grade feel. That is not a bad thing - just an observation. My main issue with this story is the fact that I was often rather bored. For some reason, I never felt any connection to the story or the characters and often found my mind wandering. 

The story revolves around Sophronia, who is sent off to Finishing School. This isn't like any other Finishing School. While she is taught important things such as how to curtsey properly, she is also trained in the art of espionage. I thought the school was pretty interesting and enjoyed seeing all of the various steampunk elements that present. There were a few more intense scenes that I thought were really well done as well.

I thought that Moira Quirk did a good job with this book. She was able to represent all of the different characters very well with her voice. I thought that the dialogue in the story flowed quite nicely. I found that she read the book at a nice pace and had no issues listening to her narration for long periods of time.

I think that this is a book that other reader might like a bit more than I did. I thought that the book did many things quite well but I was often bored and eager to finish the book so that I could move on to something else. I do hope to read more from Gail Carriger soon but I will probably choose a book from a different series.

I received a digital review copy of this book from Little Brown Books for Young Readers via NetGalley and purchased a copy of the audiobook.

Initial Thoughts
Maybe 2.5 stars but I am rounding up for now. There were parts of this story that I really did enjoy and other parts that felt rather dull. I just had a hard time really staying interested in this book but I did like the characters. I listened to the audio and thought that Moira Quirk did a great job with the story.

Our etiquette certification programs are organized after complete your training. We inform about increase social skills, character education, and self-worth. Our classes effects to kids with etiquette programs, empowerment workshops, and celebrations parties. We reduce problems such as low confidence, suicide, and low self-worth.

Boy’s etiquette specially created for boys to improve their social status. These classes are divided into three age groups: 6 to 9, 10 to 14, and 15 to 18 years old .we always teach about topics like meaning and importance of manners, meeting and greeting, sportsmanship, and first impression.