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.

Extremities: Stories of Death, Murder, and Revenge by David Lubar

First thanks to Macmillan-Tor Forge and Netgalley for allowing me to read an egalley of this book of short stories.  I am very grateful in this case because of how good the stories are.  They remind me in a way of how good Stephen King's short stories are.  Some of the stories were really scary, and they were in no way wishy-washy little kid "scary" stories.  In fact it warns even in the beginning of the book that it is not for little kids.  I would say probably no younger than 7th or 8th graders, about ages 12-13 and up.
Let me tell you about a couple of my favorite stories.
The very first story is one that I really liked.  It's called Running Out of Air and it is kind of a revenge story, but one that I think kids can relate to.  It's about a really horrible, mean gym teacher.  And she is hard on all the girls.  Especially one with asthma.  She is so hard on the girl that one day she collapsed in class and they had to have an ambulance come take her to the hospital.  The girl's friends tried to stick up for her, and all that did was get them a worse grade.  So one night the main character, Deeva, stayed late at school, and saw the four girls also at school late.  You see Betty, the girl with asthma was in bad shape, but the teacher, Ms. Pelham didn't get in trouble at all for what happened.  So the girls have come to get the teacher back for this.  They tape her hands up with masking tape, and tell her she has to race them.  If she can beat them in one lap, then they'll let her go.  But it's not just being tied up, they want her to feel what it was like when Betty was trying to run with asthma.  So they tape a plastic bag around her neck.  You can guess what happens from there.
There's a really good story about teenagers who have to stay in a haunted house over night for a reality tv show to make money.  And, well, is the house really haunted?  One guy who has watched all the episodes, thinks he knows how it works, and plans to win.
There's a story about a boy who lives with a dad that abuses his mother, and his plan to take care of the problem.
A story about a beautiful girl who moves to the school and seems to make the boy she is with as happy as can be.  Until he seems to do something so reckless it is almost suicide.  Then she goes to a friend of his, and the pattern seems to repeat.  Until, our main character gets the beautiful girl.
There's a story about what seems to be a Chinese good luck/bad luck or really maybe a supernatural creature that is killing people in the import/export business.
There are 13 stories in the book.  Some are shorter than others, but all have a good little kick at the end.  One or two, kind of predictable, but still in a good, scary way.  Can't wait to recommend this to people who are looking for good scary stories.

Stacking the Shelves May 12th, 2013

Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews.  This week, only one of the books I've listed is an actual physical book, the rest are all e-galleys which I often forget to list when I do this.  So let's start with the actual book. 

My friend that I went to the RT Convention with last Saturday ended up with two copies of Just One Day by Gayle Forman, so she asked if I wanted it for a giveaway on my blog, and I said, yeah, after I get to read it! Next are 5 e-galleys:

The three shown above are all from Edelweiss, so I get a little more time before they expire sometimes, which is nice.  Especially since the first one, Once We Were, is part two of a series.  I'll have to make sure to get the first one from the library.  The 2nd one is the sequel to a book I was just in love with last year, Unspoken, and now that I've fallen in love with the author as well, I was so excited to see it available as an e-galley so I didn't have to wait!  And the 3rd one above is a prequel to another series I've not heard of before, something I wish was a little clearer on the e-galleys.  But at least since it is a prequel, it won't matter if I've read the rest of the series, After the Snow.  In fact, I would guess it will help me decide if I want to read on into this dystopian sounding series.

The two books pictured above I got from Netgalley, so they are only available for 55 days.  The first one I guess is more of a nonfiction, as it is about the history of human experiments in the medical field.  So, I asked for it, but will see if it is one I actually get through.  The second one is a collection of short stories by David Lubar about death, murder, and revenge.  It is supposedly his first book like this for teens, I guess of horror stories, as I know he does write kind of funny stories for younger age kids.  When I requested Extremities, I also got an email saying I will now be automatically approved for any Macmillan/Tor books, which is cool!  

So, 5 more added to my TBR pile, digitally anyway.  How about you?  What did you get this week?