Review: Defy or Defend by Gail Carriger

Rating: 2.5 hoots out of 5 hoots

Published: May 3 2020

Number of pages: 240

Format: electronic advanced reading copy

Publisher: Gail Carriger LLC

Genre: espionage, romantic comedy, supernatural

Audience: adult

Get it at: Chapters Indigo

Shelve it at: Goodreads

Summary:

A vampire hive descending into madness. A beautiful spy with a sparkly plan. A handsome bodyguard who must keep both vampires and the spy from killing each other. A charming story of espionage, love, and makeovers set in the Parasol Protectorate universe.

My Review:

An electronic advanced reading copy was received from the author in exchange for an honest review.

Minor spoilers below!

I just want to say a big thank you to Gail Carriger for reaching out to me about her next new book in the Delightfully Deadly series. This series is the spin off from the Finishing School books and follows after Poison or Protect.

Dimity Plumleigh-Teignmott is back! For those who don’t know or haven’t read The Finishing Schools series, Dimity is Sophronia’s best friend and sidekick with a love for all things sparkly, hence her codename Sparkles in this story. After graduating, Dimity has earned her place in the Honey Bee where she takes on espionage missions for the War Office. A fitting position for a Finishing School graduate who has a knack for flirting while gaining many marriage proposals from her unsuspecting targets, and keeping dangerous yet, fashionable weapons hidden in her purse. 

Review: A School for Unusual Girls by Kathleen Baldwin

Published: May 19 2015

Number of pages: 334

Format: hardcover

Publisher: Tor Teen

Genre: historical romance

Audience: YA

Rating: 2/5 owl hoots

Find it on Goodreads | Chapters Indigo

Summary:

It’s 1814 and Napoleon is exiled in Elba, Europe is in shambles and Britain is at war. Stranje House is a School for Unusual Girls famously known for reforming daughters of the beau monde into marriageable young ladies. Or so the parents think…now Georgiana Fitzwilliam is sent to Stranje House after accidentally setting her father’s stables on fire. But Georgie has no intention of becoming a pudding head and plans to escape, until she meets Lord Sebastian Wyatt. Now she is on a desperate mission to invent an invisible ink that will save England from war forcing Georgie and Sebastian to work together.

My Review: 

I’ve read historical romance for adult fiction, but never for YA before so I was curious to read the story as the setting takes place in 1814. But what if Napoleon slowly rose to power and continued his rule over Europe? Kathleen explores these possibilities in her debut book along with the existence of Stranje House, a reform school for high society girls turning them into marriageable ladies. But this is just a ruse as the school’s true purpose is carefully revealed after the arrival of Miss Georgiana Fitzwilliam.