A School For Unusual Girls by Kathleen Baldwin Book Review

Summary:

It’s 1814. Napoleon is exiled on Elba. Europe is in shambles. Britain is at war on four fronts. And Stranje House, a School for Unusual Girls, has become one of Regency England’s dark little secrets. The daughters of the beau monde who don't fit high society’s constrictive mold are banished to Stranje House to be reformed into marriageable young ladies. Or so their parents think. In truth, Headmistress Emma Stranje, the original unusual girl, has plans for the young ladies—plans that entangle the girls in the dangerous world of spies, diplomacy, and war.

After accidentally setting her father’s stables on fire while performing a scientific experiment, Miss Georgiana Fitzwilliam is sent to Stranje House. But Georgie has no intention of being turned into a simpering, pudding-headed, marriageable miss. She plans to escape as soon as possible—until she meets Lord Sebastian Wyatt. Thrust together in a desperate mission to invent a new invisible ink for the English war effort, Georgie and Sebastian must find a way to work together without losing their heads—or their hearts...

My rating: Two worms!

I received this ARC in exchange for an honest review through Netgalley.

The story starts with Georgiana being sent to a especial school that will turn her into a “proper lady” after an experiment gone wrong was the last drop that finished her parent’s patience. But the place that is rumored to be run by a cruel headmaster is not what Georgiana thought, and as she meets Lord Sebastian Wyatt adventures ensues.

The premise sounded fun, if it weren’t for the unoriginal character and heavy emphasis on romance. Georgiana spends her entire time complaining about being “too exceptional” for this world, while at the same time thinking too little of herself.

“Being exceptional is a curse. A curse I bear.”

She was the typical YA heroine, skinny and with red unruly hair that instantly made her hideous, for some reason.

“Has she not looked at me? My figure is flat and straight. I doubt I shall ever acquire much of a bossom. I have stubborn freckles that will not bleach out no matter how many milk baths or cucumber plasters Mother applies. She detests my ginger hair. Red is definitely not in Vogue.”

She suffers from a severe “not like other girls” syndrome, in which she thinks she’s better because she doesn’t like dances, dresses and doesn’t want to marry because no man would ever want her.

“I haven’t the slightest desire to attend their boring balls, nor do I want to stand around at a rout, or squeeze into an overcrowded sweltering soiree. More to the point, I have no intention of marrying anyone. Ever.”

But of course once she meets the handsome Lord Georgiana will fall into insta-love in less than two days! Yeapy! *sarcasm*

Georgiana is supposed to be extremely smart, yet she spends most of the book being absolutely clueless. She never grows out of her insecurities and prejudices and passes on a rather dangerous message.

Georgiana thinks she’s worth less because she’s plain, with red hair, freckles and because she dislikes parties and being “lady like” so, instead of learning to appreciate herself and accepting her body and personality the way it is, she relies on a man that tells her he likes her like that, and so her value is ultimately defined by that guy rather than by herself.

Nothing especial or interesting here.