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Etiquette & Espionage (Finishing School, #1)

Gail Carriger

Start date: October 23, 2013

Finish date: October 31, 2013

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What Members Thought

Sep 19, 2014 Stormi (StormReads) rated it really liked it

Finally a book from my TBR pile that I really enjoyed. I was beginning to worry when the first two that had were flops. I had a feeling I would like this one because this author rocks! I love her adult books and her YA are just as fun.

What I thought of this book.

Etiquette and Espionage is about Fourteen-year-old Sophronia whose quite the tomboy. She is always climbing on things and sneaking around this drives her mother crazy. So her mom has decided to send her to a finishing school to work on h Finally a book from my TBR pile that I really enjoyed. I was beginning to worry when the first two that had were flops. I had a feeling I would like this one because this author rocks! I love her adult books and her YA are just as fun.

What I thought of this book.

Etiquette and Espionage is about Fourteen-year-old Sophronia whose quite the tomboy. She is always climbing on things and sneaking around this drives her mother crazy. So her mom has decided to send her to a finishing school to work on her manners and make her a lady. What her mother doesn’t know is that this isn’t just any finishing school, but one who teaches you not only to finish but how to fight, throw knives, etc.

Sophronia is a covert recruit which took me a little bit to realize that meant she didn’t know what type of finishing school she was going too. The other recruits all know it’s about learning not only how to act like a lady but how to do it while gaining information. Most of them have had parent in the school. The boys have a school for evil geniuses.

Sophronia’s curiosity about everything has her wanting to know what the prototype that everyone is talking about. They are getting attacked by flywaymen (yes, I said flywaymen not highwaymen) who are looking for the prototype that one of the girls was suppose to retrieve. She recruits some very interesting characters along the way.

What I really like about this author’s books is her outlandish names. If these are real names then I am sure glad I am not British because they crack me up. (Shrimpdittle, Barnaclegoose, etc) It’s set in the same world as her adult series and even mentioned Lord Maccon as one of the girls was raised by wolves. One of the teachers is a werewolf that all the girls drool over and one of the older teachers is a vampire. So it still has that feel of her other stories.

Overall I think if you enjoyed Gail Carriger’s adult novels then you will probably enjoy this young adult series. I know I will be going ahead with the series. I really think this author has the best imagination ever to come up with these stories.
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Aug 10, 2018 Rachel N. rated it really liked it

Shelves: read-in-2018, play-book-tag, humor, england, espionage, young-adult, steampunk

Sophronia Temminnick causes no end of problems to her mother so she is sent to Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality which it turns out teaches more than just etiquette, lessons include poisons and knife throwing. Sophronia befriends most of the debuts, other newcomers to the school, and the sooties who work in the boiler room. She also acquires a mechanical dog Bumblesnoot which I loved. The whole book is very tongue in cheek with lots of steam punk elements. It ...more

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Jan 26, 2015 Cora rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle, young-adult, vampires, werewolves, audible, school, steampunk, 1st-in-series, boarding-school, friendship

This was a fun book and a good start to a series. I liked the concept of a finishing school that is really a school for spies and assassins. The characters were likeable and easy to root for - the good guys were very good and the bad guys were very bad. The characters were a bit one-dimensional and the dilemma did not seem to be clear (we never know exactly what the item everyone is after does or why everyone wants it...maybe in the sequel). But if you are looking for a fun young adult series, y ...more

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Sep 12, 2023 Marla rated it liked it

Shelves: fantasy, adventure, series, audiobook, with-reservations, mystery, young-adult, vampires, historical-fiction, science-fiction

Cute story about Sophronia Temminnick, a 14 year old rambunctious girl who is sent off to finishing school. But this is a floating school that trains young lady spies. The head mistress doesn't know about the spy school portion of the curriculum. There's a vampire and werewolf on the faculty. Steam punk.

Studies were slow at times. Glad that Sophronia made friends, but girls weren't punished for rudeness or bullying. Sooties were good allies, but the dirty job and class exclusivity was sad.

Not ne ...more

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