A Great and Terrible Beauty

A Great and Terrible Beauty was not what I expected it to be at all and I was rather bored with the whole book. I kept waiting for the actual story to start. The pacing was slow, full of fluff, and I did not care about a single character.

Gemma dreams of going to London and after the death of her mother that dream comes true. Arriving in London her Grandmama quickly packs her off to a boarding school where Gemma meets three girls and their adventure soon begins.

I just did not like the book at all. The story did not appeal to my taste and I just wanted to be done with it. I will not be reading the other two books.

The Flight of Gemma Hardy

The Flight of Gemma Hardy was a delightful read that I had a hard time putting down.

Having lost both her parents at a young age Gemma is taken in by her uncle and aunt. Upon the death of her uncle her aunt treats her as nothing more then an annoyance and finally sends her off to boarding school as a working girl. Determined to learn all she can Gemma works as hard as possible while using every free moment she has to study.

While I did like the story I did have some problems in parts. The first half seemed like a faster pace reading and parts of the second part drug a bit. Even though it is a retelling of Jane Eyre I did not feel like I was ever re-reading Jane Eyre. The writing was elegant and well done, I never stumbled wondering what was going on or was confused about which character was which.