FINISHING SCHOOL READ-ALONG, Part 3

Here are my thoughts on the first half of WAISTCOATS & WEAPONRY.

Class is back in session...

Sophronia continues her second year at finishing school in style--with a steel-bladed fan secreted in the folds of her ball gown, of course. Such a fashionable choice of weapon comes in handy when Sophronia, her best friend Dimity, sweet sootie Soap, and the charming Lord Felix Mersey stowaway on a train to return their classmate Sidheag to her werewolf pack in Scotland. No one suspected what--or who--they would find aboard that suspiciously empty train. Sophronia uncovers a plot that threatens to throw all of London into chaos and she must decide where her loyalties lie, once and for all. 

Gather your poison, steel tipped quill, and the rest of your school supplies and join Mademoiselle Geraldine's proper young killing machines in the third rousing installment in the New York Times bestselling Finishing School Series by steampunk author, Gail Carriger.

PARTIAL REVIEW

I'm enjoying this one just as much as I have enjoyed the first two books in the series.  Sophronia is up to her old tricks but this time she's putting them to use on behalf of a dear friend.  I've noticed that as much as Sophronia distains her own emotions, the second book and this one revolve around her efforts to help her friends.  In the second book, she used her talents to save Dimity from kidnappers and in the process got involved with a vampire conspiracy.

In this book, things have gone horribly wrong for Sophronia's friend, Sidheag's werewolf pack.  Sidheag desperately wants to go home to try to help and she enlists Sophronia's help to get there.  Of course, Sophronia has learned that she's much more effective with the help of her friends and she is, so she sets off with her friends from the school and two boys who are both interested in her.  But like most emotions, Sophronia is uncertain about how to deal with the two boys and she's still not sure where she stands on the Pickleman vs. supernatural conflict.

The book so far has the same signature humor and wit as the previous two books and I really like it.  There is a short section on the use of seduction but it's relatively mild. I'm really wishing I didn't have to wait for the next book. Sophronia and her colleagues have become characters that I really like rooting for. The combination of steampunk and supernatural works surprisingly well and provides an interesting point of conflict for Sophronia and her friends.