My sister recommended this book for me because I love historical fiction but often feel that it isn't accurate or intellectual enough and thankfully this was the complete opposite. Richly full of detail and real life historical knowledge plus an exceptionally well constructed story meant I was instantly hooked. Based in Victorian Britain, we are introduced to Jem and St. Saviour's as the hospital is about to be knocked down due to the expansion of inner city London during the industrial revolution. Jem is an intriguing character with a lot of depth, but I was equally impressed at how the other characters were interwoven into the story - no excess parts for no good reason.

The book also kept me guessing to the end, and I was definitely left wondering what next for Jem!

I bought this because it was on the front stand in my local Waterstones as thriller of the month. I have genuinely never picked up a book from that area that I disliked until this one. It would have been a 1 star rating but I realise some people probably will enjoy it, but I'm certainly not one of them

I wasn't quite sure if you were meant to dislike the lead character Ani immediately and warm to her as you discovered her tragic tale.. the characterisation was pretty unclear. I think I am really the author's target demographic, but her pop culture references were shallow and pretty obvious. The reason why the film Mean Girls is so good is because of the brutal honesty and black humour.. LGA seemed to want to be Mean Girls but threw in some adult 'themes' for show. I was really unimpressed with pretty much the entire book - it was also too long! I read quickly but it became such a struggle I almost broke my "finish every book rule".

We chose this for Book Club, having not read any YA novels since we started two years ago and the premise seemed great - young girl dealing with amnesia goes on an adventure.

I'll be honest - one of my friends in our BC told me she hated it so I literally put it off as late as I could, then ended up reading it in 2 days and I really enjoyed it.

Without going into spoilers, yes, the writing is repetitive, yes, she does kiss her best friend's boyfriend and yes, it does seem a bit gimmicky. But I've read some reviews on here that say Emily Barr exploited amnesia as a gimmick, which I certainly don't agree with. I found some of the moments where Flora was lucid quite magical, especially her sense of adventure, but also the panic she felt when she couldn't remember anything. I read Elizabeth is Missing a few years ago and felt the same as I do now, as both deal with a medical condition, but in a literary manner - it isn't meant to be a clinical paper.

To me, the repetition makes you feel uncomfortable because it is a bit of a basic fear. Who wants to think about not remembering a large chunk of their life? I did see some of the twists coming at the end, but loved how they were written, they came out at just the right places. I also liked the fact that although it seems like Flora's life is better (in her mind) because she kissed a boy, it is actually better because she is independent, and most importantly, she isn't defined by her medical condition.

This is a YA novel, so isn't really going anywhere new, but it is written with good intentions, and has a great character at its heart. I really did quite take to wee Flora!