Etiquette & Espionage (Finishing School #1)

Looking for a refreshing, humorous and thoroughly brilliant read?  If so, and really if you have a pulse and enjoy a good laugh now and again, then pick up Gail Carriger's debut YA novel, Etiquette & Espionage (Finishing School #1). One of Goodreads YA Novels of 2013, Etiquette & Espionage proved to be engaging, unique and hilarious through and through!  Carringer builds a distinctive set of lovely characters in a beautifully created world!

Summary (Courtesy of Goodreads):  

It's one thing to learn to curtsy properly. It's quite another to learn to curtsy and throw a knife at the same time. Welcome to Finishing School.

Fourteen-year-old Sophronia is a great trial to her poor mother. Sophronia is more interested in dismantling clocks and climbing trees than proper manners—and the family can only hope that company never sees her atrocious curtsy. Mrs. Temminick is desperate for her daughter to become a proper lady. So she enrolls Sophronia in Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality.

But Sophronia soon realizes the school is not quite what her mother might have hoped. At Mademoiselle Geraldine's, young ladies learn to finish...everything. Certainly, they learn the fine arts of dance, dress, and etiquette, but they also learn to deal out death, diversion, and espionage—in the politest possible ways, of course. Sophronia and her friends are in for a rousing first year's education.

Set in the same world as the Parasol Protectorate, this YA series debut is filled with all the saucy adventure and droll humor Gail Carriger's legions of fans have come to adore.

Carriger's Victorian paranormal steampunk style will keep you engaged and loving each and every page.  I mean really, who doesn't crave a strong and intelligent female lead, friends from unexpected places, a bit of paranormal, poofy dresses, an adventure, an adorable pet and of course a light sprinkling of infatuation (but not overly done)?  One of my favorite reads of 2013!  You will most likely love this book, but don't take my word for it, try it yourself.