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K-Girls: First in the Kylemore Abbey School series.
Who in their right mind wants to go to boarding school?Meet Alice Stone, an adventure seeking twelve year old who wants to go, and not just to any boarding school.Convincing her parents to send her to Kylemore Abbey School for Girls, Alice gets more than she bargained for when she stumbles upon Ruth Stoker.But Ruth isn't an ordinary student at Kylemore.So begins the mysterious bond between Ruth and Alice as Alice settles into school in the bleak but beautiful heart of Connemara, Ireland.Alice soon discovers that becoming a true K-girl is not so easy, even if you have a ghost for a friend.
- GenresYoung Adult
218 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 11, 2013
8 people are currently reading
42 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
December 22, 2013
This book was incredibly endearing. The characters, the plot, the setting, everything. It all made me smile broadly throughout the entire story.
The skill and hard work put into this as well is impressive. I sometimes find it quite the struggle to imagine what some authors are describing in their writing. With this book, however, I visioned every corridor, dorm, room, corner, and stairway perfectly. I imagined no place or area as well as the characters, though. It was quite bizarre, actually. It was as if I had watched a movie version of it before reading the book!
Maybe it's the Irish setting, or that I know the author very well, that I enjoyed this book so much, but I highly doubt it. I truly believe that those aspects do not affect my fondness towards this book at all. It was just too adorable. A sweet, yet sometimes serious, story of an extraordinary friendship: a book you won't be able to stop smiling about.
The skill and hard work put into this as well is impressive. I sometimes find it quite the struggle to imagine what some authors are describing in their writing. With this book, however, I visioned every corridor, dorm, room, corner, and stairway perfectly. I imagined no place or area as well as the characters, though. It was quite bizarre, actually. It was as if I had watched a movie version of it before reading the book!
Maybe it's the Irish setting, or that I know the author very well, that I enjoyed this book so much, but I highly doubt it. I truly believe that those aspects do not affect my fondness towards this book at all. It was just too adorable. A sweet, yet sometimes serious, story of an extraordinary friendship: a book you won't be able to stop smiling about.
May 1, 2014
A tale of youthful pranks in a remote boarding school for girls in the west of Ireland. A perfect setting for fun and frolics and late night shenanigans! Oh, and there's a ghost in there too. Very entertaining! And apparently there's more to come!
October 26, 2020
Loved This Book!
This is a great book for teenagers and their parents. I loved the haunted castle setting in Connemara. The characters were fun, relatable and realistic. The main character went on an adventure similar to one if mine at that age, which gave me a good laugh. If you need to get your teenager offline, then get the hardcover. It's a good read. Can't wait to get the next one.
This is a great book for teenagers and their parents. I loved the haunted castle setting in Connemara. The characters were fun, relatable and realistic. The main character went on an adventure similar to one if mine at that age, which gave me a good laugh. If you need to get your teenager offline, then get the hardcover. It's a good read. Can't wait to get the next one.
June 2, 2020
brilliant . read it when I was 11
and thought it was the best thing ever and I wanted to immediately go to birding school.
and thought it was the best thing ever and I wanted to immediately go to birding school.
October 22, 2013
A Spirited Tale of Irish Boarding School Escapades
Readers of all ages who relish tales of high jinks and adventure with a paranormal twist will enjoy K-Girls. The read will be particularly nostalgic for those such as me who spent their youth in the 1980’s and enjoyed reading Enid Blyton’s St Clare’s and Malory Towers series. It is many a girls dream to attend boarding school away from the confines of home life, forging new friendships and experiencing exciting escapades and this book does not disappoint in bringing these dreams alive.
K-Girls is the first book in the Kylemore Abbey Series, by author Lydia Little, who was herself once a pupil of the school. It has been released in both digital format and paperback. In K-Girls Alice Stone persuades her parents to send her to boarding school, wanting to have the adventures she always dreamed about and at the same time reinvent herself. She is drawn to the beauty and splendour of Kylemore Abbey, Connemara, a convent school for girls, housed in a former castle. Alice enters the school as a somewhat nervous first year, nevertheless determined to make her mark and enjoy her life there to the full.
Soon after she arrives she encounters Ruth, the ghost of a former pupil, who died at the school in the 1920’s and whose body resides in the cemetery. Alice has never seen a ghost before, let alone held a conversation with one! For her part Ruth has had a lonely existence since becoming a ghost, being able to observe the comings and goings at Kylemore, to which she is tied, but never having communicated with a soul, living or dead. Alice keeps Ruth and her ability to see and communicate with her a secret from her new friends, Gale and Bessie, and others at Kylemore, lest they think she is losing her mind.
As a first year Alice and her friends are viewed as the newbies by the other girls, especially the seniors and Alice cannot resist embroiling herself in some daring escapades as she strives to prove her worth in challenges set by the older girls. Her success in these ventures is threatened by some enemies she inadvertently makes and she has to rely on Ruth’s assistance and her own cunning and tenacity to succeed, often against all odds.
I enjoyed the two main characters of Ruth and Alice and the friendship and mysrerious bond they formed. Alice is a spunky, confident and likeable heroine, wanting to make her mark and do right by others. She is desperate to prove that she can succeed in the tasks she is set and at the same time not wanting to offend Dame Mary, who runs the school, with her exploits. Ruth is desperate for a friend, having been on her own for so long and sometimes Alice, who doesn’t want her ability to communicate with Ruth to jeopardise her budding friendships with other girls, is a little unfeeling with some of the things she says to her, although she does feel guilty afterwards. I really felt for Ruth as she cannot recall the circumstances around her death and cannot comprehend why she has not passed over. I was interested to learn about her story as her memories start to resurface. Ruth has a strong sense of what is right and wrong, sometimes at odds with more modern sensibilities.
The novel is set in the 1980’s and there are many references to the popular culture of the time. It is clear that the author is familiar with this time period as well as the minutiae of school life at the school she attended and its history. I enjoyed the descriptions of the school and its grounds and the escapades of the girls! There are many humorous scenes, such as Alice talking to Ruth and being overheard talking to herself by others and other scenes where certain characters get their comeuppance.
There are many other characters in the novel, comprising Alice’s friends, Gale and Bessie and other characters comprising older girls and teachers, some of whom do not have Alice’s interests at heart. The novel also deals sensitively with the usual issues of the making and breaking of friendships and making up, their emotions being perhaps more acute than normal as the girls are away from home and in a secluded environment. Some of the characters are not all what they first seem and there are a number of plot twists, including a major one at the end, which I did not expect. I will be very interested to find out where the author takes the tale in the next instalment!
I recommend this novel to readers of all ages who like tales of adventure and mystery with paranormal elements, but which also explore the trials and tribulations of pre-teen and teenage girls in their formative years.
A copy of this book was provided by the author for the purpose of a fair and honest review.
Readers of all ages who relish tales of high jinks and adventure with a paranormal twist will enjoy K-Girls. The read will be particularly nostalgic for those such as me who spent their youth in the 1980’s and enjoyed reading Enid Blyton’s St Clare’s and Malory Towers series. It is many a girls dream to attend boarding school away from the confines of home life, forging new friendships and experiencing exciting escapades and this book does not disappoint in bringing these dreams alive.
K-Girls is the first book in the Kylemore Abbey Series, by author Lydia Little, who was herself once a pupil of the school. It has been released in both digital format and paperback. In K-Girls Alice Stone persuades her parents to send her to boarding school, wanting to have the adventures she always dreamed about and at the same time reinvent herself. She is drawn to the beauty and splendour of Kylemore Abbey, Connemara, a convent school for girls, housed in a former castle. Alice enters the school as a somewhat nervous first year, nevertheless determined to make her mark and enjoy her life there to the full.
Soon after she arrives she encounters Ruth, the ghost of a former pupil, who died at the school in the 1920’s and whose body resides in the cemetery. Alice has never seen a ghost before, let alone held a conversation with one! For her part Ruth has had a lonely existence since becoming a ghost, being able to observe the comings and goings at Kylemore, to which she is tied, but never having communicated with a soul, living or dead. Alice keeps Ruth and her ability to see and communicate with her a secret from her new friends, Gale and Bessie, and others at Kylemore, lest they think she is losing her mind.
As a first year Alice and her friends are viewed as the newbies by the other girls, especially the seniors and Alice cannot resist embroiling herself in some daring escapades as she strives to prove her worth in challenges set by the older girls. Her success in these ventures is threatened by some enemies she inadvertently makes and she has to rely on Ruth’s assistance and her own cunning and tenacity to succeed, often against all odds.
I enjoyed the two main characters of Ruth and Alice and the friendship and mysrerious bond they formed. Alice is a spunky, confident and likeable heroine, wanting to make her mark and do right by others. She is desperate to prove that she can succeed in the tasks she is set and at the same time not wanting to offend Dame Mary, who runs the school, with her exploits. Ruth is desperate for a friend, having been on her own for so long and sometimes Alice, who doesn’t want her ability to communicate with Ruth to jeopardise her budding friendships with other girls, is a little unfeeling with some of the things she says to her, although she does feel guilty afterwards. I really felt for Ruth as she cannot recall the circumstances around her death and cannot comprehend why she has not passed over. I was interested to learn about her story as her memories start to resurface. Ruth has a strong sense of what is right and wrong, sometimes at odds with more modern sensibilities.
The novel is set in the 1980’s and there are many references to the popular culture of the time. It is clear that the author is familiar with this time period as well as the minutiae of school life at the school she attended and its history. I enjoyed the descriptions of the school and its grounds and the escapades of the girls! There are many humorous scenes, such as Alice talking to Ruth and being overheard talking to herself by others and other scenes where certain characters get their comeuppance.
There are many other characters in the novel, comprising Alice’s friends, Gale and Bessie and other characters comprising older girls and teachers, some of whom do not have Alice’s interests at heart. The novel also deals sensitively with the usual issues of the making and breaking of friendships and making up, their emotions being perhaps more acute than normal as the girls are away from home and in a secluded environment. Some of the characters are not all what they first seem and there are a number of plot twists, including a major one at the end, which I did not expect. I will be very interested to find out where the author takes the tale in the next instalment!
I recommend this novel to readers of all ages who like tales of adventure and mystery with paranormal elements, but which also explore the trials and tribulations of pre-teen and teenage girls in their formative years.
A copy of this book was provided by the author for the purpose of a fair and honest review.
November 10, 2016
Review
I really enjoyed this boo even though I usually don't read young adult fiction. The charcters were very likable. The fact that it took place st one of my favorite places on earth also added to the enjoyment. Her descriptions of Kylemore Abbey and grounds were perfect. I felt like I was back there.
I really enjoyed this boo even though I usually don't read young adult fiction. The charcters were very likable. The fact that it took place st one of my favorite places on earth also added to the enjoyment. Her descriptions of Kylemore Abbey and grounds were perfect. I felt like I was back there.
October 7, 2014
Written as only someone who lived through the Kylemore Abbey boarding school experience could write. Fantastic YA novel!!
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews