This book was horribly written. Absolutely flat characters, plot, dialogue...everything was completely surface only. And even that was questionable. I never felt like I got to know or cared about a single person or situation in the book. Nothing was believable. At all. It's really quite sad that it ever got published.

This was my least favorite of the 4 books I've read by Morton. I'm not really sure what it was about it, but it just didn't pull me in like the others. I felt a bit like I was always on the outside of the story, so there were times when I just wasn't in the mood to pick the book back up. I was impressed by how many different threads she was playing with and how she brought them together. And really the ending went well...the reveal worked. But I just felt like this one was more forced than the others. Also, I thought the sisters' death was just too...fast. I suppose I understand it, but it was maybe not as heavy as I felt it could have been. I think most of the book didn't seem as heavy as it could have, considering how dark everything was. Especially, Raymond Blythe... All in all, just not my favorite, though I have to say the 3 Blythe sisters' names were perfect. I loved them!

This book was a lovely read. Written from a very interesting perspective, that of a young "tongue" (spy) in the Russian court of the Empress Elizabeth, who befriends a young lonely girl destined to become Catherine the Great. I enjoyed the perspective both because it was different and because it offered a chance to get a side story and another view of the court. So we got to see how things were not just for Catherine but also for a "commoner" in the city and court during that time. Also, I loved how we got to see the rise of Catherine and her youth, starting as Princess Sophie. It is an angle that is not examined that often and I enjoyed it. The details all seemed wonderfully accurate, in general, and the writing was exactly right for this type of novel. The only thing that bothered me was the constant foreshadowing of terrible consequences and things to come from the narrator. It never seemed as bad as it could have been, because it was all built up too much beforehand. It actually ended up taking away some of the gravity, rather than adding to it. All in all though, a wonderful and enjoyable read.

So this book was alternatingly really awesome and sub-par. I loved Bess, the character, her stories and the time periods they were in, and how the story as a whole was constructed. I particularly think the story about Bess's family was the most well defined and best created (character and story wise). Also the writing was well paced and kept me interested and moving through the story. But on the flip side, the same elements that kept showing up (understandably so, since the book was written in a cycle) just weren't portrayed the best that they could have been. Bess's suspicion and need to be loved played against each other too predictably and just seemed flat. Tegan was great plot construction but in the end I didn't understand why she was necessary at all. What Elizabeth did to defeat Gideon could have been done without Tegan. And so the gravity of the end was really lightened. All in all, it was a nice light read, but it won't be something that sticks with me long.

Thoughts while reading: So far, I am loving all the references to famous British literature! In fact, the literary humor in general is really quite phenomenal.

Upon finishing, I have to explain my rating. I normally am not a mystery reader. In fact I only picked this one up because my parents actually met the author, so I felt like (as a reader) I needed to see what she was about. With my little experience of mystery novels, I'd say she did a damn fine job, it's just not where my reading interests usually lie. So...3. We developed characters (though sometimes there seemed too many, I understand sometimes you have to do that in order to to make the ending not too obvious), each with their own issues and concerns tangential to the main plot. Though I could not stand Havers...she just really got on my nerves. And the priest...ARGH. And as an American, I hope the dentist was an exaggeration...ugly man. But overall, lots of depth. And, though the story was heartbreaking, like one of those ones that you just can hardly comprehend for all the sadness and cruelty, it was well put together and nicely paced. I felt that perhaps there were a couple times where there was almost too much showing and not enough telling...as in, the characters seemed to be having "aha!" moments and I wasn't quite caught on yet. To the point where I started to feel a little behind. And in the end, for all the build-up, the ending just seemed too perfect, or easy. Shocking and horrible, but nothing crazy unexpected or twisty. So, I felt a little bit like I read the whole book just to get to a long winded explanation of why what we found out on the first page was the truth (and there are books that do that no problem, but it's a bit of a let down if that's not what the book builds you up to expect). In any case, overall very impressive and for real the literary allusions and uses were just awesome and made me feel great when I caught them. Just not really my thing.

Just like all the others, this book was beautiful. I love the way the magic and reality are seamlessly combined, so things like "we swam so much that summer, we grew gills" could either be a metaphor or could have actually happened. It's so easy to get lost in a book like that. As always, I felt warm and fuzzy and happy after reading this, and I didn't want to put it down for a second. While I will say a few parts were less compelling, or well placed, as some of the others (for example, I think Cricket's character development was a bit...off), I really enjoyed Selma, Devin, Eby and especially Lisette. And I liked the little background stories we got on the characters throughout the book; that was different and added a little extra depth.

This was probably the best character exposition piece that I have ever read. Mixed with an astute social commentary. And the language was just beautiful. Every line, every piece of dialogue, every description, was perfectly sculpted and intelligent. I feel like in that respect, after reading the about the author section, the author was almost writing about a male version of herself. And for a female to have written in what seems like such an insightful way about a man (I can only assume, not being a man myself) is incredibly impressive. I very much admire this author. And the story itself was well drawn out. I honestly could not decide how I felt about Nate, but I think that's what made this portrait of him feel so real. Sometimes I would be so angry with his assumptions and other times I would examine my own thoughts/actions based on his inner dialogue to see if I was guilty of some of the things he described. But in following him through his "love affairs" I found I really could not put the book down, despite the fact that really there was no plot, in the traditional sense. It was almost like reading an indie film about "a day in the life." In the best way. Honestly, very very insightful read. I definitely recommend it.

So for some reason I am drawn to stories that take place in this period of Russian history. I cannot say why, because most of them are heartbreaking, but I just get emotionally pulled into them. In any case, this was my second book by this author, and I really enjoyed it. Nothing overly deep or original here, but the slight mix of the mystical in with such a cold period of time was very well crafted. I enjoyed the characters as well, the relationships they formed with each other and how they "played" off each other. I will say there were a few spots that seemed too easy, like Maria's "bad memory" fixed all the love triangle issues. And I feel like the exploration of emotions around who killed who's parents was a bit underdramatic for what it should have been. However, the story was well paced and written.

Best 2 opening lines of any book I've read in a long time!! This book was a very interesting mix of Ender's Game, The Hunger Games and a little bit of Jaspar Fforde's Shades of Grey. It did follow the basic plot-line and character building of a fantasy/sci-fi novel, nothing incredibly original or mindblowing, but altogether well crafted and compelling. It was also nice that it wasn't spoon-fed to us, there was a small amount of exposition here and there, but for the most part is it assumed that the reader is smart enough to pick things up, work out the intricacies of this world, on their own. That is something many sci-fi writers miss, and I really appreciate when it's done right. I always enjoy reading about the personal struggles of characters that integrate like Darrow did...how perhaps not every Gold is horrible and there are different kinds of people in every strata of society. It's always an interesting study and I'm excited to see how it progresses in his relationship with the enemy's daughter. One thing that made me a bit sad was towards the end when Darrow ripped up the flower petal from Eo (after he thought Mustang betrayed him). That was his symbol, his connection to his past, his love for he wife. He seems to have adopted the Slingblade instead and I feel like that's dangerous, since anger is already an issue for him. But we'll see where it goes... In any case, a very fast moving read, one that I very much enjoyed, and I'll be reading the next ones as soon as they come out!

I really feel like this book was a 3.5 star book, but of course I cannot do that. The story was beautiful, a mix of coming of ages and reflections of the old. Different POVs and time periods. Lots of self exploration that was very compelling. And the style of writing, an excerpt from a character's book or screenplay or pitch mixed in with the normal prose, was a really interesting device. I appreciated the character and plot development very much. But for some reason, the book just never took off for me. I enjoyed it, but didn't get that "can't put it down feeling," and unfortunately in this case, that a super important part of reading for me. Too much for me too overlook the lack of it in this book.