The fun continues at Miss Geraldine's Finishing Academy, and I like that this carries on from the last book - there's clearly an ongoing storyline here, which makes this series less episodic. (Not that there's anything wrong with episodic series!) As before, I think the dual nature of the education provided is the strength behind the story. At one point Sophronia notes, in a sort of aside, that aristocratic women are in the perfect position to be spies, what with education and access and the ability to blend in and obfuscate that the Finishing Academy provides. I also liked that the manipulation of the students by the teachers was in service of the idea that friendships between girls are valuable social resources - this is one series that has no truck with the idea that feminine things aren't valuable in their own right, and I really appreciate that. The one thing I don't particularly care for is the incipient love triangle. It's kept very much in the background - thankfully so, as the conspiracies are far more entertaining - but I will never enjoy a love triangle, and less so when the characters are young teens. Especially as I have a fair idea where it's going...