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A Great and Terrible Beauty
A Great and Terrible Beauty (Gemma Doyle, #1)
by
Start date
October 1, 2011
Finish date
October 31, 2011
Discussion
Books of the Month
Why we're reading this
We voted and this one was chosen as the October YA BOM. Link to discussion;
http://www.goodreads.com/topic…more

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What Members Thought

Logan
Dec 09, 2010 rated it liked it
Shelves: borrowed-library, historical-fiction, young-adult
First impressions: Wow. The first few chapters of this book are gorgeous. Gemma is a feisty 16 British girl living in India with her parents, and witnesses the tragic death of her mother under mysterious circumstances she has a difficult time processing. We don't know what Gemma saw, but it was scary and strange and compelling.

Lasting impressions: I think the summary says it best. This book is complicated. The friends Gemma makes in her new English boarding school are difficult to like, because ...more
1 like ·   · see review
Jessica
Oct 05, 2012 rated it liked it
Shelves: victorian, young-adult, almost-read, urban-fantasy
I enjoyed this, but it isn't up to the standards of Libba Bray's newer books. I was disturbed by how quickly our heroine joins forces with the mean girls, and the story felt recycled from a Lois Duncan book I read in the 7th grade (Down a Dark Hall, which is fabulous in a retro way!) I am rather sad, as the idea of it was great - a story about supernatural goings on in the Victorian era is totally my bag. But, alas, this was not all it could have been. I might read the others, as I bought the se ...more
1 like ·   · see review
Rachel N.
Oct 26, 2015 rated it liked it
After Gemma Doyle's mother is murdered in India she is sent to a girls boarding school in London. Gemma is sixteen and at first she is bullied but soon she befriends the girls who were bullying her. Gemma also has strange visions and soon learns she has the magical ability to connect to an area known as the Realms. The book is set in the late 1800's but little is made of this setting except to show how constrained the girls choices are and to mention corsets a lot. Very little happens for two th ...more
 · see review
Nicole
Apr 02, 2008 rated it it was ok
Suzanne
May 07, 2008 marked it as to-read
Michelle
Jun 04, 2008 marked it as to-read
Heather
Aug 22, 2008 marked it as to-read
Shelves: young-adult
Brenda
Sep 05, 2008 rated it really liked it
eRin
Nov 02, 2008 marked it as to-read
Amanda
Apr 08, 2009 marked it as to-read
Meg
Apr 15, 2009 rated it really liked it
A
Jun 17, 2009 marked it as to-read
Shelves: young-adult, sci-fi-fantasy
Gaijinmama
Sep 18, 2009 marked it as to-read
Deyara
Oct 10, 2009 rated it liked it
Beth Tabler
Apr 30, 2010 rated it liked it
Kami
Feb 17, 2011 marked it as to-read
Kat
Mar 16, 2011 rated it liked it  ·  review of another edition
Shelves: 2011
Cha
Jun 11, 2011 rated it really liked it
SandyC
Oct 01, 2011 rated it really liked it
Shelves: 2011-read
Darcie
Dec 08, 2011 rated it really liked it
Shelves: rate-4, 2008
Kim DeCina
Jan 31, 2013 marked it as to-read
Shelves: bookopoly
Eveline
Aug 30, 2015 marked it as to-read
Renee
Oct 28, 2018 marked it as to-read  ·  review of another edition
Shelves: owned
Cambria
Jul 19, 2022 rated it liked it
Rebekah
Apr 28, 2024 marked it as to-read
Shelves: story-graph
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