I likely would rate this book higher if we had volumes combined. It was SO short and even some of the pages only had a line or two of text - I don't even think it took me an hour to read. It felt like an introduction, maybe half a novella, not a real book. We were just starting to get into Emma's story. She has a nice voice, but some of her decisions or circumstances don't quite feel logical or realistic - why would a 20-year-old heiress put up with rats in an attic of a house she owns? The journal style does fit her story well, overall, but it lends itself to frustration and some silliness - why would she explain all her relatives like that?