Murder, Magic, and What We Wore by Kelly Jones (ARC Review)

Release Date: September 19, 2017 (Tomorrow!)

The year is 1818, the city is London, and 16-year-old Annis Whitworth has just learned that her father is dead and all his money is missing. And so, of course, she decides to become a spy.

Annis always suspected that her father was himself a spy, and following in his footsteps to unmask his killer makes perfect sense. Alas, it does not make sense to England’s current spymasters—not even when Annis reveals that she has the rare magical ability to sew glamours: garments that can disguise the wearer completely.

Well, if the spies are too pigheaded to take on a young woman of quality, then Annis will take them on. And so she crafts a new double life for herself. Miss Annis Whitworth will appear to live a quiet life in a country cottage with her aunt, and Annis-in-disguise as Madame Martine, glamour artist, will open a magical dressmaking shop. That way she can earn a living, maintain her social standing, and, in her spare time, follow the coded clues her father left behind and unmask his killer.

It can’t be any harder than navigating the London social season, can it?

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DNF @ 20% One of my favorite series that I’ve ever read is the These Vicious Masks series by Tarun Shanker and Kelly Zekas. The created a brilliant regency comedy full of heart, magic, romance, and the best thing ever: poking fun at Victorian times and the classic regency cliches. That’s exactly what I expected when I picked up this book. However, what I got was something a bit weirder a bit more boring than I was expecting. I have to give so much kudos to the author for creating such an unique premise. It really was so very unique and intriguing. The premise was truly unique not only just in the regency genre but also in the YA genre. It was something fresh, and I have to give the author a lot of credit. However, the execution for me, fell flat. At times, it seemed like the story was focusing so much on getting a laugh that it just didn’t work. In the very first chapter, our main character loses her father. However, she not so much as grieves and she’s commenting on the poor fashion choices of mourners and trying to force people to make her a spy. I’m all for poking fun and comedy, but it just didn’t make in the situation – and certainly not a few hours after the death of her father. It was also just boring for me. I couldn’t connect with the characters or the storyline, and I just sat there, flipping pages and…just being really bored and disconnected. I can’t even remember much of anything from the story. There really wasn’t anything truly wrong with this story, but I just couldn’t get into it nor did it intrigue me enough to want to move on with the story. I also couldn’t get passed some of what it seemed like forced comedic moments. Just eh overall. No crowns since I DNF’d and a Snow White rating!