A School for Unusual Girls by Kathleen Baldwin Pages: 352
Published by Tor Teen on May 19, 2015
Series: Stranje House #1
Genres: Young Adult, Romance, Historical Fiction, Fantasy & Magic
Also in this series: Exile for Dreamers, Refuge for Masterminds, Harbor for the Nightingale, Santuary For SeersWelcome to Stranje House.
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 them 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…
A School for Unusual Girls is the first book in the Stanje House series by Kathleen Baldwin. This book, and really all three books, were such a big surprise for me. I completely love them! In my post of Riders by Veronica Rossi, I spoke about about much I enjoy binge reading books one right after another, so I decided to do it again with the Stranje House series. And I freakin’ loved it!
A School for Unusual Girls is such a different, in the best way, novel! It is part historical fiction, party magic, and part secret spy school. I have never read another book quite like it. One of the coolest parts of the book, is that you don’t really know what direction it is going to go in. Everything is so mysterious. You learn more and more as secrets are reveals and parts of the plot unfold.
At the Stranje School, there are a group of five completely special and diverse girls. I loved learning about each of the girls. They are all so different, and I am sure we are going to learn more about each of them in turn as the books so on. Georgie is the last girl to arrive at the Stranje school and she has no idea what is in store for her. Georgie loves science and chemistry in particular. She is trying to come up with the formula for an invisible ink. Her parents send her away to a reform school to try and mold her into a proper young lady, but really they send her somewhere so much cooler. Georgie, and the other girls’ adventures are just beginning and I was a captive audience from the very first page until the last. I was riveted. I loved getting to know Tess, Sera, Georgie, Jane and Maya. They are all so different and cool in their own way, and I loved seeing them all work together.
And I haven’t even spoken about the love interest. The romance in A School for Unusual Girls was great. It was slow burn and molded seemlessly into the plot of the story. Sebastian is so swoon worthy. I loved seeing him work with Georgie on her ink, and the historical elements of the story were an awesome addition. The book takes place right after Napolean was exiled to Elba (which we all know didn’t work out so well.) I loved reading about the history aspects in the book, because I knew what actually happened. It was fun to see these side events fit into history. Overall, A School for Unusual Girls was a FANTASTIC start to the Stranje House series. I can already tell it is going to be a favorite of mine. I am loving book 2 and and going to read book 3 immediately after! Book 2- Exile for Dreamers is Tess’ story, which is awesome! I love the set up for this series. If you have not read A School for Unusual Girls, you need to!
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About Kathleen Baldwin
Award-winning author Kathleen Baldwin loves adventure in books and in real life. She taught rock climbing in the Rockies, survival camped in the desert, was stalked by a mountain lion, lost an argument with a rattlesnake, enjoyed way too many classes in college, fell in love at least a dozen times, and married her very own hero. They’ve raised four free-spirited adventurous children.
Awarded 2016 Spirit of Texas, A School for Unusual Girls , is her first historical romance for Young Adults. It is a Junior Library Guild selection. Publisher’s Lunch listed it in their 2015 Young Adult BookBuzz. Kansas State NEA Reading Circle gave it a starred review in their 2016 “Best of the Best” for High Schools. Scholastic licensed it for book fairs, and New York Times Book Review called it “enticing from the first sentence.”
Kathleen is also an avid reader and adores the wit and humor of Oscar Wilde, P.G. Wodehouse, and Jane Austen. Her eclectic reading interests range from Frank Herbert to Meg Cabot, and on to the delightfully imaginative tales of Diana Wynne Jones.
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
Lisa Brown
I would want to hear either George Washington or Abraham Lincoln give a speech.
John Smith
“If you could hear anyone in history give a speech, whom would you want to hear?” I think I would say “who.” This use of “whom” is, at best, so archaic that it just sounds wrong. Anyway, I suppose Julius Caesar might be good.
william gossage
I would want to hear george washington
Linda Townsend
I would want to be in Camelot with King Arthur and hear him speak.
TeacherofYA
If I could hear anyone in history give a speech, it would be John F Kennedy for sure!
What a great giveaway so thank you!
danielle hammelef
If I could hear anyone’s speech, I’d want to hear Abraham Lincoln.
Margaret Appel
If you could hear anyone in history give a speech, whom would you want to hear? I think Teddy Roosevelt. He was an American statesman, author, explorer, soldier, naturalist, and reformer who served as the 26th President of the United States. I think anything he spoke on would have been extremely interesting.
Penny Olson
I’d like to hear Da Vinci.
Diane Elizabeth
I would like to hear Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
Edye
I’d want to hear C.S. Lewis!
Autumn
I would die to hear Walt Disney give his Disneyland opening speech!!
Victoria
I’ve never read any books by this author but this sounds great. Thanks for sharing your review 🙂