Review: A Spy in the House by Y.S. Lee

Title: A Spy in the House
Author: Y.S. Lee
Source/Format: Purchased, Paperback
More Details: Young Adult, Historical, Mystery
Publisher/Publication Date: Candlewick Press, March 9, 2010

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Synopsis from Goodreads...

Rescued from the gallows in 1850s London, young orphan (and thief) Mary Quinn is surprised to be offered a singular education, instruction in fine manners — and an unusual vocation. Miss Scrimshaw’s Academy for Girls is a cover for an all-female investigative unit called The Agency, and at seventeen, Mary is about to put her training to the test. Assuming the guise of a lady’s companion, she must infiltrate a rich merchant’s home in hopes of tracing his missing cargo ships. But the household is full of dangerous deceptions, and there is no one to trust — or is there? Packed with action and suspense, banter and romance, and evoking the gritty backstreets of Victorian London, this breezy mystery debuts a daring young detective who lives by her wits while uncovering secrets — including those of her own past...

I first read A Spy in the House by Y.S. Lee several years ago, but I didn’t remember much about what happened. So, I was really excited to give the book another read, and I have to say that I still enjoyed it just as much as I did before. Rereading the book basically reminded me why I got into the series in the first place.

For starters, the plot was incredibly interesting. A Spy in the House was definitely a mystery at heart, intertwined with historical elements based in 1850s London, and the concept of a secret agency made up of women, exclusively. Lee did a relatively good job capturing the time period, and portraying what it was like for women of the time, through the eyes of the main character, Mary Quinn.

I liked Mary as a character. Her life wasn’t easy, but she grasped the opportunities that came to her. She had a desire to do more with her life than take up a profession more common to the time period, which significantly limited her options to things like teaching or being a governess. There was also a slew of interesting character that came from a variety of backgrounds. As such, I liked the way Lee showed the different characters and their interactions with Mary throughout the course of the novel.

The case handed to Mary was interesting. It dealt with missing cargo ships, questionable merchants, and a great deal of playing the part of a lady’s companion. From the very first page, there was enough suspense and action to keep me interested. There was romance, but it was nicely balanced with the mystery and never took the focus away from the plot.

So, A Spy in the House keeps its place as one of my favorite books, and I look forward to getting to A Body at the Tower and The Traitor in the Tunnel. And maybe, finally, I’ll get around to picking up the last book to see how the series ends.

The Friday 56 (55) A Spy in the House by Y.S. Lee

The Friday 56 is a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice where every Friday you pick a book and turn to page 56 or 56%, and select a sentence or a few, as long as it's not a spoiler. For the full rules, visit the the page HERE

Synopsis from Goodreads...

Rescued from the gallows in 1850s London, young orphan (and thief) Mary Quinn is surprised to be offered a singular education, instruction in fine manners — and an unusual vocation. Miss Scrimshaw’s Academy for Girls is a cover for an all-female investigative unit called The Agency, and at seventeen, Mary is about to put her training to the test. Assuming the guise of a lady’s companion, she must infiltrate a rich merchant’s home in hopes of tracing his missing cargo ships. But the household is full of dangerous deceptions, and there is no one to trust — or is there? Packed with action and suspense, banter and romance, and evoking the gritty backstreets of Victorian London, this breezy mystery debuts a daring young detective who lives by her wits while uncovering secrets — including those of her own past...

"Miss Closet must have paused to repin that hair. It was scraped back severely now, when a few minutes ago it had been tumbling down her shoulders."--A Spy in the House by Y.S. Lee

Comments: I've just started my reread of this one. I read A Spy in the House a long time ago, and don't remember what happens in the book. So, I'm really excited to read it again. What are you reading this week?

Review: Earth Girl by Janet Edwards

Title: Earth Girl
Author: Janet Edwards
Source/Format: Purchased, UK Paperback
More Details:  Science Fiction, Young Adult
Publisher/Publication Date: Harper Voyager, August 16, 2012

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Synopsis from Goodreads...

2788. Only the handicapped live on Earth... 

Eighteen-year-old Jarra is among the one in a thousand people born with an immune system that cannot survive on other planets. Sent to Earth at birth to save her life, she has been abandoned by her parents. She can’t travel to other worlds, but she can watch their vids, and she knows all the jokes they make. She’s an “ape,” a “throwback,” but this is one ape girl who won’t give in. Jarra makes up a fake military background for herself and joins a class of norms who are on Earth for a year of practical history studies excavating the dangerous ruins of the old cities. She wants to see their faces when they find out they’ve been fooled into thinking an ape girl was a norm. She isn’t expecting to make friends with the enemy, to risk her life to save norms, or to fall in love...

I first heard about Earth Girl a couple of years ago, when it was still a new release and not out in the US yet. I did mark it as one I wanted to read just based off the synopsis alone. Honestly, I sort of forgot about it. However, recently I purchased the entire trilogy. And even more recently, I finally read Earth Girl. I’m glad I did, because Earth Girl turned out to be a really good book.

The story follows Jarra after she signs up for a class that's not based on Earth. She was considered “Handicapped” because she had a disability that limited her to Earth. She couldn’t travel to other worlds, and thus, she and other characters with similar disabilities experienced prejudice just based off things they couldn’t control. So, when Jarra came up with a plan to fool the "Norms", I was sold on the story. I was also really curious to see how Jarra’s scheme turned out.

I absolutely loved Jarra as a character, and I could understand why she would do what she did. Jarra’s disability was one of the main focuses of the book, and I think Edwards did a good job at depicting the prejudice that some “Norms” had towards the majority of the residents on Earth. Jarra was out to prove a point, and I did enjoy seeing her evolve and grow as a character. She showed a wide range of emotion—joy, anger, and even bitterness—while also maintaining her passion for history and her enthusiasm to study it.

The setting was really cool. I liked getting to see common places in a new way. Edwards did an excellent job reimagining such locations as excavation sites, rather than as they are today. I enjoyed the vivid details, and it made it easier to picture the sites. Another aspect I liked happened to be the world itself. There were a lot of cool ideas, and for me it just worked.

In the end, I ended up enjoying Earth Girl, and I’m glad that I finally got around to reading it. I'm looked forward to reading the rest of the trilogy soon.

Our Thoughts Precisely Is Officially 3 Years Old!

Today is March 15th, and three years ago today, Our Thoughts Precisely was started. Hooray! I don’t really have anything planned for today since I’m busy with other things and reading. But, I just wanted to drop this post here to acknowledge the day. I also want to say thank you to the readers, who've taken the time to stop by the blog.

So, yeah, Our Thoughts Precisely is officially 3 years old. Now, back to reading.

Musing Mondays (48) 6 Books, Series, or Trilogies With Settings I Would Never Visit

Musing Mondays is a weekly meme hosted by Jenn at Books and a Beat, that asks you to muse about something book related each week.

My Musings for the Week...

Random Weekly Question from March 7th: Which characters (from which book) do you think deserve their own spin-off story? Why?

Oh gosh, this question is kind of hard. I have a multitude of favorite side characters, many who could have their own stories. But, for today, if I had to choose one character who I would like to see get their own story, it would most likely be Blake from Finding Serendipity & A Week Without Tuesday. He is a prominent character in the books. I would still like to read a book entirely from his point of view, just to learn more about him and his writing process. I think it could be cool.

Other Musings...

So, this post is kind of inspired by a Musing Monday post I did a couple of weeks ago. I listed some of my favorite book settings, just a few of them. It got me thinking about all the wonderfully complex settings, in many different books, I wouldn’t visit them even if someone tried to pay me to do it. These are the worlds that I’m really glad don’t actually exist, mostly because they’re dangerous—primary villains, natural disaster type perils, and so on. They make for a good story, I just wouldn’t visit them.

6 books, series, or trilogies with settings I would not visit even if someone paid me to do it...

• The Madman’s Daughter by Megan Shepherd: back in the nice little post about favorite settings, this one ended up being on the list. It fit so well with the story, but this is another one I would avoid altogether. There are many reasons for this, but I won’t say—too many spoilers.
• The Elemental Trilogy by Sherry Thomas: The world in these books was pretty cool, but the villain turned what would have been a nice place into an absolute nightmare for the main character.
• Mythos Academy Series by Jennifer Estep: The mythology was used in a pretty cool way, but Mythos Academy is a place I would avoid.   
• The Darkest Minds Trilogy by Alexandra Bracken: This is another favorite trilogy. The characters, world building, and plot were all fantastic. Still, I wouldn’t want to visit Bracken’s version of the US. The environment was constantly dangerous, but it made for a really good trilogy. 
• The Watchers series by Veronica Wolff: I might not have enjoyed The Keep as much as I did the previous three books. However, this series, undoubtedly, belongs on this list. The Isle of Night was six different kinds of terrible. I wouldn’t go there. Period. End of Discussion. The vampires are my main reason for this—they ruled the Isle, and their rules were unnecessarily strict and completely absolute.

So, those are six books, series, or trilogies that are some of my favorite books, but they just have settings I wouldn’t touch with a ten foot pole.

What are you reading this week?