A Great and Terrible Beauty (Gemma Doyle, #1) in Around the Year in 52 Books

Feb 22, 2009 Maggie rated it really liked it

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

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Mar 05, 2009 Ann rated it really liked it

Shelves: england, magic, 19th-century, paranormal, london, forbidden-love, female-relationships, fantasy, young-adult, victorian

If I'd read this book as a teenager, I think I would have been completely obsessed with it. I loved the Victorian Gothic atmosphere, the eerie relationships, the dark magical and supernatural elements. I even enjoyed the cattiness (it reminded me of Gossip Girl with corsets). There were a few gratuitous sexual elements to it, but in many ways it worked with the girls' spirit of rebellion. They are also easily skipped. This is a little bit of a guilty pleasure book for me, but I enjoyed every pag ...more

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Mar 12, 2010 Liz rated it liked it

Shelves: young-adult, 2010-book-list

It was entertaining, but nothing exceptionally good. It was an intriguing concept & a fast read, even though at times, I wondered when it would end. I hate cliff hangers because now I feel like I need to read the rest of the series. Not sure if I really want to or not.

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