Guys, I am not exaggerating when I say I’ve been waiting for this book forever.
I literally was a sophomore when I read the last one, lot of issues to unpack here, so sit down and get ready, because this is going to be Lengthy. I guess I should explain what this is about. This is the fourth book in the Stranje House series, a saga that’s basically about spy girls in the 1800s. Here’s the summary for our book:
But....I was kinda let down
I feel terrible saying that, but there’s just a whole lot of issues to unpack here, so sit down and get ready, because this is going to be Lengthy. I guess I should explain what this is about. This is the fourth book in the Stranje House series, a saga that’s basically about spy girls in the 1800s. Here’s the summary for our book:
With her friends' lives in deadly peril, Miss Maya Barrington, one of Miss Stranje's unusual girls, must serve as a double agent. To do so, she gains entry into Napoleon's duplicitous game on the arm of the enigmatic Lord Kinsworth. She can read almost everyone; not so with this young rascal. Quick with a jest and armed with lethal charm, Kinsworth remains just beyond her reach. Can she trust him?
With Britain's future at risk and those she loves in deadly peril, Maya questions everything she thought she understood about life, love, and loyalty.
The series centers about five girls: Maya, obviously, Seraphina, Tess, Georgie and Jane, but each book is told from each of their perspective. My first let down came from learning this was going to be Maya’s book, which sounds mean, but I just thought this would be Sera’s moment....and it wasn’t...besides, the books have this weird pattern where everyone gets paired off, and whoever is newly paired in a book is usually who’s gonna have the next book, so I thought it was gonna be Sera but I guess Kathleen Baldwin really wanted to write about Maya?
Anyway, so Maya is half-Indian half-English, which is fine! But it’s 1814, and I understand people are not super accepting of someone not fully English because prejudice was rampant back then, but...the writing about Maya’s Indian heritage really annoyed me. Look, I’m not Indian by any means but....
why does Maya get all this random metaphors assigned to her? Like “being a lioness“ or “a caged nightingale” reads as trying to sound deep but just ending up sounding Edgy. Maybe part of the issue lies in the fact that this is written in first person POV, so she’s the one that assigns herself these metaphors in a way? Either way, strange and awkward for me. She's also described as exotic by other character which quite honestly made me roll my eyes.
She has her Naani which is her grandma, and ofc she is super wise because what else? And Maya misses her because her mom died and her dad’s a jerk, but she has this weird “talent” her Nani taught her and is like she can hear all the cadences in people’s voices and decide what’s wrong with them? In it of itself, weird, but reading the words “I could hear her melodies/music” over and over got really exhausting by the halfway point. This is not only heard in people but also in walls at some point, which idek what that's about. (I thought it was uh, silly....) I think that’s why I couldn’t enjoy Maya as much, because the wording she used when speaking made me cringe just a bit....she was a sweetheart, but damn, I didn’t wanna hear all these music metaphors.
Now, where the real gist lays: the Romance.
The romances in this series are incredibly predictable, which I don’t mind as much in the end, because each couple has something going on for them: Georgie and Sebastian had a rushed romance, yes, but it was playful and they had the whole science thing in common so like good for them; Tess and Ravencross are really angsty and deeply in love so I’m here for that, and Jane and Alexander, my personal favorites, had a hate-to-love thing, at least from Jane’s side, and they had tension, which made them work really well (besides I love Alexander Sinclair so I’m incredibly biased)
Well, here we get another romance, but it just doesn’t measure up.
From the get-go, I know her and Kinsworth are going to have a thing because they sing a duet and of course, even before we‘re told is a Romeo and Juliet based song, you just know. But Maya can’t figure out Kinsworth, because he’s always teasing and deceiving! She hates him but she doesn’t! Wow! And he totally likes her but goes on this ridiculous tirade on how he “doesn’t wanna lose his freedom by being with her like it happened to his dad“ or something, even though is obvious he’s in love?? Maya hears this and decides she hates him?? Which I can’t be angry about because he really is an idiot in that scene, but in general he’s pretty fun.
Full offense, Maya is an idiot about Ben. Like, I think even the melody in the walls could tell her he's in love with her and she'd still wouldn't buy it. Girl, come on.....
Quick aside: why is his name Ben??? He would have been better off being named like....Charles or Frank than that bland name. Ben Kinsworth sounds terrible....
But back to the romance, they pull a fake engagement for Important Reasons, which had me all like “Oooh 👀👀👀👀” and that was the first time I genuinely enjoy them together, but before getting there, Maya gets all dramatic because she thinks Kinsworth will hate it, but ofc he is over the moon “pretending“ Maya is his fiancé. I’m not going to say the entire romance is awkward to read about, because he is her first kiss and that was kinda sweet, but sometimes the wording used was just too much.
Like, towards the end, they’re strolling along the beach, alone, and he teases her about being alone and she goes like “he means kissing” and idk what it is about that line but I literally hate it so much. It could have been excised and nobody would’ve Complained. I guess my main issue is that I never really have a deciding moment when I can see they’re actually in love. It’s like overnight, suddenly Maya likes him now.
Anyway, onto other aspects.
I really love Maya's and Sera's friendship in this, because I do love Sera for some reason, and I think they're very good friends so it was nice. Honestly, I just want the book on Sera to come out. She wasn’t the main character in this one and she was still more likeable than Maya
On the subject of fave ladies, I have to say, I used to hate Daneska because I thought her an Evil Vixen, which she is, but she really jazzed things up for me. For once, when she showed up, I didn't groan in frustration because it provided me a escape from all the melody and rhythm talk. Besides, she kicks ass so I appreciate her now. I wonder what her allegiance is now, but more on that for next book I guess.
In general, the story is really good: five teenagers truing to stop the British Prince from siding with Napoleon and causing Europe's downfall it's a great story! For me at least, but the writing really brought it down, and it sucks, because it spilled into Maya’s character and it caused me to not like her as much. The political intrigue was fun as usual though.
Thank u for reading! Even if it has been forever
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