From the Bookshelf of Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge…

A Great and Terrible Beauty (Gemma Doyle, #1)

Libba Bray

Start date: February 9, 2016

Finish date: February 18, 2016

Why we're reading this: YA bestseller
[close] YA bestseller

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What Members Thought

Sep 16, 2016 Hannah added it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2016, ya, fantasy

It's always scary to reread your adolescent favorites and worry about whether you had absolutely awful taste back then.

I did not. ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Feb 22, 2009 Maggie rated it really liked it

Shelves: historical-fiction, read-2009, young-adult, paranormal-fantasy, 2009-spring-challenge

I was a little worried at first that maybe this was just going to be a sort of typical teenage/young adult whine-fest sort of book. It started off a little bit "mean-girlsy" for me. But in all honesty, that really is how high school girls are a lot of the time. Trust me, I know, I substitute teach part time at an all girls private school! And then, I was worried it might take a sort of Harry Potter turn, and I was getting all: "Ugh, I've read this story already!"

But, I kept with it, and it reall ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Jul 29, 2012 stephanie rated it really liked it

Shelves: series, historical-fiction, young-adult, paranormal, 2012

i liked it. definitely enough to pick up the next book - it was an easy read for me, and i liked gemma. i did not like ann very much, but felicity is amusing (in a good way) and pippa has an interesting storyline.

i also like the historical setting, gemma coming from india and then back to mother england. kartik, carriages pulled by horses, gypsies speaking romani. it's a very pretty book. which i was in the mood to appreciate. plus, i liked the mystery of it. and it wasn't a veiled critique on ...more

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Jul 29, 2008 Christina, Join Me on Storygraph! rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2008

This was pretty good, although it did annoy me at times. I'm interested to know what the heck is going on, so I guess I have to read the rest of the series---I hate that the book didn't really have closure.
...more

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Sep 19, 2008 Natalya rated it really liked it

A fun quick read. I thought of it as a girl version of Harry Potter with a little bit of Twilight thrown in (no vampires, but same fast story line). Great read between heavier books.

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