“Cressida Hoth is alone in the world. Orphaned and unwanted, she is inflicted with a peculiar curse by her mischievous aunts and banished to a finishing school in the secluded kingdom of Dernmont. Students train in every accomplishment suitable for young ladies: music, dancing, etiquette…and strangely, poison-making, fencing, and lock-picking.
The school is a front for a rebel spy ring, and when her training is complete, Cressida is selected to join a mission to infiltrate the kingdom’s royal court. She has been thrown unceremoniously into a world of ball gowns and espionage, but she is still under a curse, and it threatens to expose them all.
Defending her teammates and her secret, Cressida discovers that the kingdom’s buried history and the truth behind her curse run far deeper than she imagined.”
Series: As of now, no. Seems to be a stand-alone novel.
Spiritual Content- The phrase “God willing” is said once by Cressida; A head monk gives the blessing to a group that includes “May the white mountain open your heart and close your wounds. May its stones bring you truth, and in truth, may you find the peace of its Creator and the courage He imparts.”; Someone says she has faith in Mt. Vindeca “and it’s Maker”; Going to a monastery; Mentions of a monastery (also called a holy site) & monks; A handful of mentions of Cressida praying (but never said towards Whom; including a mention of praying for forgiveness from an action); A few mentions of paintings and tapestries depicting religious scenes; A mention of someone not being a miracle worker;
*Note: “Damming” evidence against someone is said twice in different forms; Phrases like “for heaven’s sake” and “heavens” are used twice and once; There is no magic in this book as the dusts and powders used and discussed are from mines (which are illegal substances), including the one Cressida thinks she was “cursed” by (see Negative Content section for more information); A monastery has a pool with healing minerals that are said to have healed and strengthen those who drink the water; *Major Spoilers* At the end, Cressida has the thought of mixing dust from the healing mountain and the poisonous drugs to create an antidote which works on her and others; As a side effect, Cressida is able to tell when someone is lying by a tingling sensation in her fingertips *End of Spoilers*; Mentions of monks taking a vow of silence which someone says “the personal sacrifice aids in his devotion”; A few mentions of alchemy with healing stones from a mountain; A mention of someone speaking reverently about the stones of a mountain (in terms of a promise/swearing upon them); A mention of people raising a glass to a mountain.
Negative Content- Minor cussing including: A ‘dumb’, a ‘what the blazes’, a ‘wretch’, two ‘shut up’s, and three ‘stupid’s; Fictional phrases like “(bloody) stones of Vindeca” (two forms) and “by the stones (of Vindeca)” (two forms); A mention of curses (said, not written); Some eye rolling & sarcasm; Eavesdropping; Killing someone in self-defense, burying the body, drugging others, & guilt about it (plus continuing to think about the body and felling like a murderer, up to semi-detailed); Being attacked, Fighting/Self-defense, Being threatened (including with harming another) and held at knife-point, Holding others at knife-point, Being tied-up and locked in a room, Pain, Injuries, Blood/Bleeding, Passing out, & Grief (up to semi-detailed); A bit of manipulating others; Remembering seeing the deaths of her parents (murdered by arrows) & being forced to drink a drugged tea (up to semi-detailed); Seeing fights & others knocked out (up to semi-detailed); *Spoilers* Cressida’s aunts are not her biological aunts and collected her to use as an experiment for the drug *End of Spoilers*; There are drugs for putting someone in a deep sleep, to only be able to tell the truth, and cause forgetfulness; Due to her aunts forcing her to drink a tea with a drug in it, Cressida considers herself “cursed” and unable to lie or not answer a question that is directed towards her (she recalls them forcing it down her throat, up to semi-detailed); Cressida is compelled by the “curse” to always answer the truth and quickly, if Cressida tries to prevent answering a question, she will be in pain, light headed, and eventually passing out and bleeding from her nose (said to cause her death if she tries to do it again; She tries to withhold answering a few times, up to semi-detailed); Cressida has no warm feelings for her aunts and how they abused her growing up by always forcing her to answer their questions; A girl at the school says insulting things to and about Cressida; Cressida has a glass of wine at a dinner (which she does not enjoy the sour taste) & side characters drink wine at dinners and parties; Many mentions of deaths/murders (including of parents and siblings plus Cressida’s own parents), grief, how they happened (arrows and slit throats), seeing it happened, finding the bodies (Cressida saw her parents murdered), & the murderers (up to semi-detailed); Many mentions of drugs, being drugged, & drugging others; Mentions of bodies (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of wars, battles, deaths, & someone wanting to start a war; Mentions of treason, traitors, prisons/dungeons, crimes, & arrests; Mentions of pain, injuries, blood/bleeding, & passing out (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of alcohol, wine, drinking (including at dinners and socially at parties), & those who are tipsy or had too much; Mentions of lies, lying, liars, deception, & manipulation (including a teacher telling Cressida to lie on the mission if needed); Mentions of gossip & rumors; A few mentions of hunting; A few mentions of hatred & self-loathing; A few mentions of a pipe & smoking; A couple mentions of breaking into someone’s room; A couple mentions of jealousy; A mention of wolves digging up a dead human’s body; A mention of freezing to death; A mention of thieves; A mention of robbing a place; A mention of an ale houses; A mention of vomiting;
*Note: Cressida has a panic attack (up to semi-detailed).
Sexual Content- Two hand kisses (flirty greetings and lingering too long), a not-detailed kiss, and a border line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed kiss; Some touches, embraces, hand holding, being near another for their warmth, (barely-above-not-detailed); Some blushes & winks; Some noticing (barely-above-not-detailed); A man touches Cressida’s cheek and her skin crawls because of it; Another man skims over Cressida’s body in a “clinical” way after an injury, but it still makes her blush; Cressida meets a (handsome and young) male spy in the middle of the night and when they are caught by a maid, he makes it look like they were having a tryst (by embracing her, making a show of rebuttoning his collar, & grinning “rakishly” at her; the maid insults Cressida by calling her “rough” and one of those girls who “play around”; Rumors about the two of them meeting at night go around the staff); One of the girls says she has no interest in becoming a spy via the way of becoming the king’s mistress or “anything vulgar like that”; When a note from a prince is said about the “great pleasure” of meeting one of the girls, she panics that she’s “going to have to, that he means—“ and Cressida says they wouldn’t have been put on this mission if they had to do “unseemly, compromising things”; Mentions of flirting, flirtation, & a class for flirting (that Cressida doesn’t do well in); A few mentions of rendezvous between couples; A few mentions of jealousy; A couple mentions of handsome men; A couple mentions of men ogling Cressida and the other girls; A couple mentions of a man getting too close to Cressida for her comfort; A bit of attraction, possibly love, falling in love, & the emotions;
*Note: At age 15, Cressida is said to have “a woman’s shape already” & a few mentions about it (a roommate asks her if she likes it and Cressida responds “not really”; A couple years later, it’s mentioned by a teacher that the other girls were jealous of Cressida and the rude comments to her slower down when the other girls began to “mature”).
-Cressida Hoth, age 15-17
P.O.V. of Cressida
336 pages
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Early High School Teens-
Older High School Teens-
My personal Rating-
One thing you can always count on me being interested in is boarding school or academy plots. Was it the Barbie Princess Charm School movie or Zoey 101 episodes I watched growing up? I’m honestly not sure, but it’s a trope/theme that makes me instantly interested in a book if it’s said to have that. (As a side note: I would personally compare this book more to Barbie and the Three Musketeers movie than the Princess Charm School movie.)
So, I was a bit bummed that we speed ran through half of the boarding school plot with two years quickly passing. Because of that, it felt a little like Cressida was a different character in some ways after the time has passed and I didn’t know her very well in the second part of this book. Now mind you, that’s not 100% accurate but perhaps more like 60%—which was enough for me to notice that difference. She did have a couple times where “you don’t think I can do it” and getting offended when someone told her about the mission being dangerous—which was a bit ironic because she had just done the same thing to one of the other girls.
The last half unfortunately fizzled a bit for me, which was a major bummer! I’m not sure if it was me or the book. I wasn’t expecting some events towards the end, though, which kept me on my toes. I do think this might have been better as a duology, however? It felt a little packed and then rushed towards the ending with the reveals. Because we only get Cressida’s POV and she’s not involved in every single thing or event, there’s a lot of telling by other characters and explaining their roles or what they found, which cut down on the action and excitement for me, personally. This is what ultimately dropped my rating a bit as my enjoyment of the plot lessened, unfortunately. That said, if there was ever a second book, I would definitely read it to see what happens next in this world!
I think avid YA readers and those in their teens might be willing to overlook the “flaws” I didn’t care for and I probably would have enjoyed this book more a handful of years ago. It was still interesting and entertaining, but I found the execution of some parts to be a little lackluster.
See y’all on Friday with a new review!
*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.
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