Book Review #1

I've been reading quite a bit of books since school ended, but I don't think there will be a review for every one. I don't really know how to write a book review, to be honest, but I'm assuming it's like when you're in elementary school and doing book reports. I loved doing those; it got to the point that the teachers just let me do them for fun. they kept taking the extra ones when I handed them in. That's what these are, book reports for you all.

Title: The Gilded Cage

Author: Lucinda Grey

In the 1820s sixteen year old Katherine Randolph and her brother George are wisked away from their ranch life in Virginia to the glittering society of England. Due to the passing of their uncle they are now the heirs of Walthingham Hall. As if navigating this world of manners, balls, and wealth wasn't enough, Katherine finds herself determined to solve a sudden, horrendous murder on the estate. Some say it was the beast of Walthingham; but the question is, does this monster stalk the surrounding woods or the halls?

Reading this got me back into historical fiction; the time period is one of my favorites the descriptions of estate, clothes, and city were great, and I've never read a murder mystery in that time period before. It was suspenseful and even when the odds were against her, Katherine had enough nerve to literally break out of her restraints. There were, however, a couple things I didn't care for in regards to a couple relationships in the novel. One relationship had no substance and the other remains unclear at the end of the novel. For these reasons I'm giving this a three out of 5 rating. The reasons are in the paragraph below and IT CONTAIN SPOILERS. If you plan on picking this book up DO NOT READ ON.

First and foremost is the fact that Katherine and the family Lawyer William Simpson fall in insta-love. They barely spoke to each other during her coming out ball and her brother's funeral and all of a sudden when she declares that she wants to move back to the states he says that she can't because there are people who ahve come to care deeply for her. Obviously he means himself, but how can that even be when they've hardly seen each other? He did help her escape the asylum she was thrown into and after that he helps her with the mystery, but to me it would make sense for the love to grow more. Also, when Henry is discovered as the killer, the mystery solved, and all is well she has no confrontation with her cousin Grace, Henry's sister. She stood idly by during Henry's plot and it wuld have made sense for Katherine to get some answers from her as to why.