Waiting on Wednesday: Refuge for Masterminds (Stranje House #3) by Kathleen Baldwin

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine where we spotlight upcoming releases that we're eagerly awaiting.  Once again I've picked a book that is part of a series I've really enjoyed.  It's not out till May, so I've got a while to wait, although I'm going to hope for an advanced copy, egalley or ARC, before it comes out.  You can read my reviews of the first two books here:  A School for Unusual Girls, and Exile for Dreamers.  Here is the blurb from Goodreads for this third book in the series:

Lady Jane Moore has a secret. A secret that must be kept buried. For if anyone discovered the truth, her life at Stranje House would crumble. And with Napoleon Bonaparte’s invasion of England underway, everyone at Stranje House is already in danger. Mortal danger.

Jane knows it. She may not be like Tess, who has the advantage of prophetic dreams. Nor is she like Sera, who notices every detail no matter how miniscule and draws conclusions based on the smallest thread of evidence. She doesn’t possess Maya’s ability to soothe the tempers around her with a few well-spoken words. Neither is she a brilliant scientist like Georgie. According to Miss Stranje, Lady Jane Moore is a mastermind.

Nonsense!

Jane doesn’t consider herself a mastermind. Quite the contrary, she believes herself to be an ordinary young lady. It’s just that she has a rather excessive bent toward the practical. She tends to grasp the facts of a situation quickly, and by so doing, she’s able to devise and implement a sensible course of action. But that’s all there is to it. Well, there is the fact that she also organizes the players in her plans with quiet efficiency. So much so, that occasionally Lady Jane’s friends tease her for being a bit managing.

Do they expect her to sit back and do nothing when trouble is brewing? Not likely. Not when the people she cares about are at risk. Call it being a mastermind if you must, it is a trait that comes in rather handy in a world full of spies, sabotage, and double-dealing. Especially now that Lady Jane and Sera have rooted out the truth: There is a traitor at Stranje House.

Someone is sneaking information to Lady Daneska and Ghost, Napoleon’s spies. Jane is determined to find out who it is before the bonds of friendship at Stranje House are ripped apart by suspicions. Her desperate hunt for the traitor ensnares Robert Fulton’s nephew, Alexander Sinclair, a brash American inventor, in an ambush that puts his life in danger. Sinclair may well be the most maddening man in all of Christendom, a wicked-tongued rascal with boorish manners, but for some reason, Lady Jane cannot bear the thought of the golden-haired genius being harmed.

Is Jane enough of a mastermind to save Alexander, her friends at Stranje House, and possibly England itself? 

Have you read any of this series yet?  Does it sound good to you?  I love how every book seems to be more about one of the girls.  And I do love the cover of this one best I think!  What book are you eagerly awaiting this week?  

And while you're here, make sure you go check out my Book of Choice Giveaway! 

Blog Tour - Review and Giveaway: Exile for Dreamers (Stranje House #2) by Kathleen Baldwin

About the book:

Title: EXILE FOR DREAMERS

Author: Kathleen Baldwin

Pub. Date: May 24, 2016

Publisher: Tor Teen

Format: Hardcover, eBook

Find it: Amazon | Barnes and Noble | iBooks | Goodreads  

Synopsis:

A School for Unusual Girls is the first captivating installment in the Stranje House series for young adults by award-winning author Kathleen Baldwin. #1 New York Times bestselling author Meg Cabot calls this romantic Regency adventure "completely original and totally engrossing."

Tess can't run far enough or fast enough to escape the prophetic dreams that haunt her. Dreams bring nothing but death and grief, and Tess refuses to accept that she may be destined for the same madness that destroyed her mother. Until her disturbing dreams become the only means of saving Lord Ravencross, the man she loves, and her friends at Stranje House from Lady Daneska and her lover, the Ghost-agent of Napoleon, who has escaped from Elba. Can the young ladies of Stranje House prevail once more? Or is England destined to fall into the hands of the power-mad dictator?

"Enticing from the first sentence." -New York Times Book Review

A School for Unusual Girls is a great next read for fans of Gail Carriger's Finishing School series and Robin LaFevers' His Fair Assassin series.   

Review:
I was so excited to get to be a part of this tour, as I really enjoyed the first book in the series, A School for Unusual Girls.  Something I really liked about this one is that we got the story from a different girl's viewpoint, and I'm hoping that the next book will be yet another one of the girls!  The first book was told from Georgie's point of view. This time we get Tess's point of view.  Tess is kind of the strong, silent character.  She has prophetic dreams, as well as a connection to animals.  And, she likes to run.  Every morning she goes running.  And usually she will meet Lord Ravencross at a certain point.  One day when Georgie decides to go on the run too, some men show up and try to capture Georgie.  Lord Ravencross, Gabriel, come up to try to save Tess from the men, and ends up getting shot.  They are able to stop the men, killing them.  But before that, they hear some unsettling talk.  It seems that Lady Daneska, once a girl at the school, and Tess's best friend then, is out to capture Georgie, or maybe it is Tess she is after.  It seems that Daneska had told Napoleon about Tess's dreams, and he is really a believer in dreams and the psychic, and wants to use Tess to help him fight his war.  But there are other things Napoleon might want in the house.  An American who is working on building a submarine type of boat.  He had escaped from Daneska and the Ghost and was being hidden at their school while he continued to work on the plans.  Yet another secret they must try to keep from getting out.  The girls plan to try to capture Daneska and feed her the wrong information, and hope that if they "allow" her to "escape", she will take that info back to Napoleon, and cause him to not be prepared.  Their plan will have many road blocks, as well as take many turns off the planned route.  And in the end, there will be more for all the girls to think about and do to help their country.  Not to mention Tess will have to admit her feelings for Ravencross, and decide if he is worth giving a chance for her future.  And there are new romances on the horizon, that I hope we will see in future books!

That's a bit scattered review I know, but I didn't want to give away anything important.  It's good.  There, go read it!


 About Kathleen :

"I love adventure in books and in real life. I've roamed the Rocky Mountains, wandered the desert, enjoyed way too many classes in college, was stalked by a mountain lion, lost an argument with a rattlesnake, fell in love at least a dozen times, finally met and married my very own hero, and together we've raised four free-spirited children."

Award-winning author - Kensington published four of Kathleen's Regency romantic comedies, including MISTAKEN KISS, a Holt Medallion finalist. DIARY OF A TEENAGE FAIRY GODMOTHER, was a Golden Quill finalist. Her upcoming Historical YA series with TorTeen, A SCHOOL FOR UNUSUAL GIRLS, is a Junior Library Guild Selection and won a Marlene.

News and more at: www.Kathleenbaldwin.com

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• 3 winners will receive a finished copy of EXILE FOR DREAMERS. US/Canada Only.

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Tour Schedule:

 Week One:

5/23/2016- Once Upon A Twilight- Interview

5/24/2016- Stories &Sweeties - Review

5/25/2016- Curling Up With AGood Book- Guest Post

5/26/2016- Lisa Loves Literature- Review - You are HERE!

5/27/2016- The Cover Contessa- Interview

Week Two:

5/30/2016- The Best Books Ever - Review

5/31/2016- A Dream Within ADream- Guest Post

6/1/2016- Wishful Endings- Review

6/2/2016- BookHounds YA- Interview

6/3/2016- Pandora's Books- Review  

Review: A School for Unusual Girls (Stranje House #1) by Kathleen Baldwin

First, thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan/Tor Teen for allowing me to read an e-galley of this title.  I must say it had intrigued me from the synopsis, but when I picked it up I had kind of gotten worried it wouldn't live up to the summary.  However I'm pleased to say that it was a good read, one that was hard to put down to do anything else, even though I did have to go back to work after lunch as well as go to sleep at night.  I was a little worried I might be even somewhat bored with the history, but at the end the author talks about how the history in it is actually a bit of a change from what really happened.  Not that I would have known what was different was changed, as that is not a period in history that I've paid a lot of attention to in the past. 

The main character is Miss Georgianna Fitzwilliam.  She has just been shipped away by her parents for setting their barn on fire. And this isn't the first time that she's done something so unladylike. The year is 1814 and girls are expected to find a husband.  But Georgianna has never been a normal girl.  In fact she doesn't care if she finds a man. She is more curious about science things and what she's read.  Well her parents are embarrassed by her and so they ship her off to this school.  The school that when they take a tour there are girls on a stretching rack, and in a coffin that is filled with nails. And there is blood leaking out of the bottom of the coffin.  Georgianna tries to run when her parents go to sign the papers, and gets lost.  But in getting lost she stumbles upon two men discussing the very thing she was doing that caused her to set the barn on fire.  They are saying how they need her invisible ink, to send messages to save lives.  So now she is really confused.  And when she finds her way back to where Miss Stranje, her parents have left.  And she finds that things may not be as they seem.  She meets the other girls when she is taken to her room.  They are all wondering about her and going through her luggage as they try to figure her out.  All of them have their own "talents" or reasons that they were dropped off at the school. 

She will learn that her invisible ink is needed to try to help keep Napoleon from coming back and taking over again.  And she will have to work with Lord Wyatt to help England.  Of course he is the kind of guy that irks her, while also making her smile.  Working together they will grow to know each other and see what can be done for their country.  We will also learn about the other girls a little, and see the love interest that will probably be the big part of the next book focused on her.  There will be a kidnapping, a race to get the ink formula in the right hands, and a very daring rescue attempt. 

If you're a fan of books with girls who know what they want to do and are good at, and use their talents to do good, you will enjoy this.  The villains are also interesting, and have definitely real reasons for being the way they are.  I'm excited to read on and see what else these girls will do, as well as what will happen with this alternate history, if they will be able to get things back onto the track as they are today.