Young Adult Historical Fiction discussion

Do you like it? What are your impressions of the characters? What did you think of this book?

*Also, please remember to put spoiler tags around anything that may be considered a major spoiler.*

A spy in the house is a great book, I have read 200 pages until now, soon I will finish it. I love Mary, the leading character, she is so different from other heroines, she is strong and stubborn and her life story it is so interesting.

The characters are lovely, I love them. I was engrossed in this book from the first pages, it has a good plot, a mistery atmosphere, it is suitable for YA, doesen't contain strong language or inappropiate content at all. It is an easy book to read, it is perfect for rainy afternoons.

Soon I will discuss more about this book, and about my impressions and etc.

I'm still waiting for my book to come! However I'm very excited to start reading, this book has been on my to-read shelf for a long time. I was wondering, though, if you are currently reading A Spy in the House or have read it are you planning on reading the sequels?

I just finished it and loved it. I have already requested book two from the library. Mary was great, although I will say in many HFYA series the girls are portrayed as a little too independent/opinionated just to contrast the image of young women at the time. I appreciate promoting strong women but always feel like it is overdone. That being said the story was original and well done and THANKFULLY there was no hideous love triangle. :-)

So I've managed to get a bit ahead of myself and I've actually read the second in the series and I'm reading the third now... :D I suppose it goes without saying that I liked it!
I liked that it was an original idea, and I'm a massive historical fiction and whodunnit fan so this book ticked all my boxes. I adored James and Mary and their banter was fun to read. The climax of the novel did confuse me a bit but it did keep me guessing almost until the end :)

I only read up to the fourth chapter but the second chapter turned me off so much I had to stop. It was riddled with mistakes that authors shouldn't be making. The two women from the Agency list Mary's personality without letting the reader find out more about her, they ask her to tell them her backstory without any reason and there are lines and lines of untactful exposition. To top that off, when they talk about the reason behind the Agency, they are being almost sexist in extolling the virtues of women. We aren't a perfect sex either, sorry. Is it worth continuing?

Emma Louise- I agree, I thought the author rushed it in the first few chapters in an attempt to quickly set the mood for us. I would have appreciated a little more literary finesse instead of a list of bald facts and BOOM she's working for the Agency. But I do think you should continue because it was very good and the second one was even better.

My copy of A Spy in the House has arrived, finally. So I'm going to start reading it soon and discussing the book.

I just finished reading A Spy in the House yesterday and I really enjoyed it. I did feel, though, that the first few chapters were rather rushed which I found a bit disconcerting when reading. However, I found the romance between Mary and James to be very natural and realistic except for the fact that several aspects of it felt modern and contemporary. I never guessed that Mrs. Thorold was the villain which really surprised me. But I did find her explanation for what she did as being as bit rushed and confusing.