Genevieve Valentine

rating from personal enjoyment

“To drive a helpless person mad, give them knowledge. Then, to make a monster: Give them power. To make a monster yours: …”

I was intrigued from page one. Playing with Persephone and Hades in a fun way with Death unable to let go of one terse, cranky woman, so he keeps her around as a helper.

I still don't understand all the worldbuilding and the character motivations. Death didn't finish the job and inadvertently let Emilia alter him. Emilia's got some type of power when she touches someone. There's a mentorship when you become Death apparently.

You can tell two different artists are working on this book at the same time and not in a way I particularly liked. The art style isn’t cohesive.

I didn’t like the article excerpts at all (not that they weren’t interesting). But it took me out the flow of the story.

But I enjoyed the narrative voices for Emilia and Death. I’d read volume two for sure.

not sure why emilia decided to become Death. Did she just want to try it out? learn more about herself? why would she contemplate killing Death? did she know him that long???

4.5… (més)

Loosely based upon the fairy tale 'Twelve Dancing Princesses.' Eldest sister Jo is the closest thing her eleven sisters have to a mother in a household run by a distant, controlling father. She teaches them to dance and herds them to and from the dance clubs to keep them safe and secret, until one day her father decides it's time to for them to marry -- to his benefit -- and not only that, but he suspects that they have not been keeping to their attic abode, but instead sneaking out to dance.

I listened to this as an audio book.

I don't really have much to say about The Girls at the Kingfisher Club except that it was a jazz age glory, and it both broke my heart and kept me up all evening -- and then all night -- finishing the book. I staggered into work the next day running on three hours of sleep with red eyes and exhausted, and then had a hard time reading anything else for more than a month. Do you hear that, Valentine? You wrecked my reading goal for the year, thanks a lot.

I don't tend to push books at my friends, mostly because I never know if they share my interests enough to enjoy my reading habits, but I've been singing this one to anyone who will listen to me for thirty seconds. The audio book is great. The story is great. It ended just where I think it ought to have, and no, I do not want a sequel, just more like it. Hosannah, hosannah, The Girls of the Kingfisher Club rocks, hosannah.… (més)

Twelve sisters in 1920s New York go dancing at night without their father's knowledge. It's their only escape from their stifling home life, and it's only possible because of Jo, the oldest sister, known as The General to her younger siblings. Jo's the one who decides when and where they will go, and who keeps a watchful eye on the group when they're out and makes sure they all get home safely. But Jo, even more than the rest of them, knows that their current situation can't last forever. When their father starts trying to arrange marriages for them, it's obvious that the sisters will have to make other plans, or face lives of captivity with husbands who will treat them no better than their father has done.

This is an extremely engaging read. I listened to the audiobook, and found it hard to tear myself away from the story when I had to be doing other things. I'm a big fan of fairy tale retellings, and The Dancing Princesses has always been one of my favorites. And, while I don't always love stories set in the Roaring '20s, it worked so perfectly for this particular retelling. If this sounds like something you might enjoy, I highly recommend it.… (més)