A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray

I wanted to like this but I felt like half this story was a cheap knockoff of A Little Princess. Girl losses a parent, has to leave India to go to a strict boarding school. The other girls don't like her, she befriends a girl who is unpopular or a “charity case”. I liked the beginning, but once they went back to England I lost all interest. I Googled the ending and I'm glad I didn't waste anymore time on this book. Huge let down

Elitist, over-romanticized, anachronistic crap. Which is too bad, because Bray isn't a bad writer and the story was interesting enough to keep me mostly engaged (I slept through some of it - audio version).

4.4
This was a reread of an old favourite that I was planning to donate.
I didn't think I'd even finish it, but it really surprised me, I still really enjoyed it. I love the setting, I love some of the characters, I love the magic.
I'm now looking forward to rereading the rest of the trilogy.

Prompt 45 from 2021 Popsugar Challenge: A book from my TBR chosen at random

Notable quotable: 1. In every end, there is also a beginning. 2. Women who have power are always feared

This is easily the best book I've read so far this year. It heartbreaking and inspiring and beautiful. I meant to read this years ago, and I have no idea why I didn't. I love when main characters have red hair, because that's something I was bullied for all through school. It warmed my heart that Gemma didn't have to go through that. I'll definitely be reading this again, and adding it to my collection.