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jennybeastie's review against another edition
5.0
Deeeeeeeelightful. I fell in love with the title, and the book did not disappoint -- regency? yes. Cool magic? oh yes, sewing glamours is amazing! Shenanigans? definitely. Also, fearless heroines (several), smart women, dastardly plots foiled and an ope door to a sequel. Hells, yes.
scostner's review against another edition
4.0
If you were a 16-year-old young lady in London in 1818, all you should be worrying about is the social season and whether you have the right gowns for the right occasions. Unfortunately, Annis Whitworth has just received the news that her father is dead and then his lawyer brings the news that all the money from his banking accounts has mysteriously disappeared. Suspecting that her father worked as a spy for the War Department, Annis decides to take up the family trade and use her ability to sew magical glamours to find out who killed her father and where his money went. (BTW - glamours are magical clothing that can disguise someone, even to changing their facial appearance.) If she is lucky, she may even make enough money to prevent her aunt from being hounded by creditors.
The characters of Annis, her Aunt Cassia, and the redoubtable maid Millie are a pleasure to read about and cheer for. Society of their day may have thought that women were weak and sheltered creatures, but these ladies can use knives, crack ciphers, and mend a ripped seam as well as any male agents. The supporting cast of Miss Spencer (friend and patisserie owner), Mr. Harrington (her father's man of business), and the insufferable society snobs Lord and Lady Prippingforth and their nephew Mr. Hustlesmith, provide plenty of opportunity for our heroine and her allies to use their skills of the verbal, physical, and wardrobe varieties.
A middle grade read-alike for Curtsies and Conspiracies, without the werewolves and vampires, but with magical glamours instead. Annis is sure to become a favorite character and leave readers hoping for a new adventure soon.
I read an e-book provided by the publisher through NetGalley.
The characters of Annis, her Aunt Cassia, and the redoubtable maid Millie are a pleasure to read about and cheer for. Society of their day may have thought that women were weak and sheltered creatures, but these ladies can use knives, crack ciphers, and mend a ripped seam as well as any male agents. The supporting cast of Miss Spencer (friend and patisserie owner), Mr. Harrington (her father's man of business), and the insufferable society snobs Lord and Lady Prippingforth and their nephew Mr. Hustlesmith, provide plenty of opportunity for our heroine and her allies to use their skills of the verbal, physical, and wardrobe varieties.
A middle grade read-alike for Curtsies and Conspiracies, without the werewolves and vampires, but with magical glamours instead. Annis is sure to become a favorite character and leave readers hoping for a new adventure soon.
I read an e-book provided by the publisher through NetGalley.
bookish_nel's review against another edition
3.0
This was a fun and charming little novel! The character list was a lineup of powerful and cunning women who were magical, spies, or both. Many characters from other YA regency novels also made appearances. I loved the focus on female friendships and relationships, and the world that Jones built complete with magical transformative fashion. However, some of it was a bit too cheesy, especially toward the end.
jesunflower's review against another edition
4.0
Review in Italian: coming soon!
Review in english:
I received an e-ARC of this book through NetGalley!
Say what you want, but a nice cover always makes me happy. Especially then if the plot of the books revolves around the Victorian period and clothes and spies. Could there be something better?
Our protagonist, Annis is a girl whose father was a spy for Her Majesty and now that he is dead she finds herself with her aunt having to work to live. The fact that a respectable girl of a certain rank should be reduced to work was a fateful event at the time but with the addition of magic and glamor and her dressmaking skills at least she is not forced to become a companion lady.
At first I did not understand much about the magic involved in this world. In short, the author does not explain why magic exists and why some people have some special gifts and others do not. I can understand that from the point of view of the protagonist there is no need to explain anything because that is the only world she knows and therefore she assumes everyone knows everything about that but as a reader things have not been simple at first.
The fact that Millicent was well equipped with magic also gave me a bit of discomfort, and even more so having find out who Fog was at a very early stage of the book. I would like to be able to say that by reading mystery books I can always find the culprit but the clues left by the author are really too easy to connect.
Also, our protagonist seems so be awake and capable of decrypting messages and so on but why can she not see which other characters are spies? I mean, I could.
Recommended? Absolutely yes. Although there is no romance and there are some minor flaws here and there I think it's a rather interesting reading. Especially the descriptions of the clothes of the time that are just wonderful.
Ps movie? Why not?
Pps Quotations at the beginning of each chapter are great! ^^
Review in english:
I received an e-ARC of this book through NetGalley!
Say what you want, but a nice cover always makes me happy. Especially then if the plot of the books revolves around the Victorian period and clothes and spies. Could there be something better?
Our protagonist, Annis is a girl whose father was a spy for Her Majesty and now that he is dead she finds herself with her aunt having to work to live. The fact that a respectable girl of a certain rank should be reduced to work was a fateful event at the time but with the addition of magic and glamor and her dressmaking skills at least she is not forced to become a companion lady.
At first I did not understand much about the magic involved in this world. In short, the author does not explain why magic exists and why some people have some special gifts and others do not. I can understand that from the point of view of the protagonist there is no need to explain anything because that is the only world she knows and therefore she assumes everyone knows everything about that but as a reader things have not been simple at first.
The fact that Millicent was well equipped with magic also gave me a bit of discomfort, and even more so having find out who Fog was at a very early stage of the book. I would like to be able to say that by reading mystery books I can always find the culprit but the clues left by the author are really too easy to connect.
Also, our protagonist seems so be awake and capable of decrypting messages and so on but why can she not see which other characters are spies? I mean, I could.
Recommended? Absolutely yes. Although there is no romance and there are some minor flaws here and there I think it's a rather interesting reading. Especially the descriptions of the clothes of the time that are just wonderful.
Ps movie? Why not?
Pps Quotations at the beginning of each chapter are great! ^^
bookbrig's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.0
My favorite part of this was the magic, and I loved the way fashion and magic mixed. I didn't love our leading lady quite as much as Sophronia, but I think it could be a good fit for fans of Etiquette & Espionage.
ninetyninecats's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
3.75
selfwinding's review against another edition
3.0
This is one of those books that I stopped reading for fun halfway through and started reading for craft, so my "review" is mostly notes to myself about what I learned from reading it. (Nerdy writer notes, ahoy!)
The characters are engaging, and the story is interesting, but the pacing and structure didn't support the plot as well as they should have. The plot seemingly was derailed a few times and each time I settled into the "new" story, the plot was yanked back the other way. It almost entirely came together at the end, but it felt like an ellipsis, rather than a period (or better yet an exclamation mark) about the whole thing. (Clearly there are lessons here about how neatly to tie the bow of subplots and how to bring everything together in the climax and denouement.)
That said, the characters are fantastic and I loved seeing Annis and Millie come into their own through the novel. Their relationship was particularly striking and one of the reasons I wound up enjoying the book.
The characters are engaging, and the story is interesting, but the pacing and structure didn't support the plot as well as they should have. The plot seemingly was derailed a few times and each time I settled into the "new" story, the plot was yanked back the other way. It almost entirely came together at the end, but it felt like an ellipsis, rather than a period (or better yet an exclamation mark) about the whole thing. (Clearly there are lessons here about how neatly to tie the bow of subplots and how to bring everything together in the climax and denouement.)
That said, the characters are fantastic and I loved seeing Annis and Millie come into their own through the novel. Their relationship was particularly striking and one of the reasons I wound up enjoying the book.
krisis86's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars. I just grabbed this off the shelf at the library and had no idea what to expect. But I quite enjoyed the story. It was fun and cute and enjoyable all around. Annis was annoyingly thick - the twists were very easy to spot from miles away. But I still enjoyed the whole darn thing. Well done Ms. Jones.
biblioholicbeth's review against another edition
3.0
Annis Whitworth’s father is dead. Her mother has been gone for years, and her father traveled a lot. It is on one of these trips that he dies under mysterious circumstances. Annis is convinced her father was a spy for England, and so she sets out to carry on, as she sees it, the family business. Unfortunately, with her father’s death, came a serious decline in “circumstances,” and this is when she learns she can sew glamours. Seeing that as an excellent way to convince the spymasters that she should be within their ranks, she also hatches a plan to try and pay off their family debts by opening a small shop in a town far away from London. However, the events her father was involved in quickly catch up to her, and soon begin to spiral out of her control.
The setting is early 19th century England, and Jones...
To read the rest, click on http://vampirebookclub.net/review-murder-magic-and-what-we-wore-by-kelly-jones/
The setting is early 19th century England, and Jones...
To read the rest, click on http://vampirebookclub.net/review-murder-magic-and-what-we-wore-by-kelly-jones/
cupiscent's review against another edition
3.0
This came together very satisfyingly, and I look back with great fondness over the journey Annis has taken, and the equal parts charming and rollicking conclusion, but things felt very rocky at various points along the way.
Part of that was tonal. At the outset, this gives every indication of being a charming Austentatious society adventure with some light magical flourishes sewn on, but the first big plot point pitches us into pretty dire financial straits and our main character learning a lot of lessons about just how precarious a young lady's situation could be. In that light, her wild schemes involving fashion and magic seemed just a little too whimsical, and not knowing whether this was going to be fun or heartbreaking made me a little intellectually queasy.
In some regards, the storytelling and development was a little too simple - or perhaps skewed a little too young - for the YA that the book seems to be aiming at. (Various of the clues were quite obvious, but never put together by the characters, and Annis seems younger than she is purported to be at various junctures.) But I must say that I loved how being a silly young society miss still requires a whole host of subtle skills, in which Annis is thoroughly skilled. I enjoyed the contrast of that skillset and knowledge with that of others, especially Millicent. And ridiculous as the Hustlesmith ballroom pile-on is, I cannot deny its immensely cathartic satisfaction.
So all in all... yes I enjoyed it overall, though not without caveats. I really wish I could give half stars on here, because it's not quite four, but better than three.
Part of that was tonal. At the outset, this gives every indication of being a charming Austentatious society adventure with some light magical flourishes sewn on, but the first big plot point pitches us into pretty dire financial straits and our main character learning a lot of lessons about just how precarious a young lady's situation could be. In that light, her wild schemes involving fashion and magic seemed just a little too whimsical, and not knowing whether this was going to be fun or heartbreaking made me a little intellectually queasy.
In some regards, the storytelling and development was a little too simple - or perhaps skewed a little too young - for the YA that the book seems to be aiming at. (Various of the clues were quite obvious, but never put together by the characters, and Annis seems younger than she is purported to be at various junctures.) But I must say that I loved how being a silly young society miss still requires a whole host of subtle skills, in which Annis is thoroughly skilled. I enjoyed the contrast of that skillset and knowledge with that of others, especially Millicent. And ridiculous as the Hustlesmith ballroom pile-on is, I cannot deny its immensely cathartic satisfaction.
So all in all... yes I enjoyed it overall, though not without caveats. I really wish I could give half stars on here, because it's not quite four, but better than three.