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twhittie's review against another edition
4.0
Though I am generally not a huge fan of YA books, especially the fantasy genre, this book was a pleasant read! I loved how you found out more and more about the main character and her background as you read, instead of knowing most of the general plot from reading the summary on the back cover. I was wondering if this would be too similar of a feel towards Harry Potter since there is also a school of magic, but that's it. Miss Mabel's school seems anything but inviting. It was also fun to read about a headmistress who was anything but warm and motherly, more like cold and calculating. This book really was a good read and I am excited to read the next one in the series!
100pagesaday's review against another edition
4.0
Within The Network, sixteen year-old Bianca is cursed. In order to save herself, her mother and grandmother from the curse, Bianca must find a way to work with Miss Mabel, the only one who can remove the curse. As a first-year student at Miss Mabel's School for girls, Bianca is not expected to enter The Competition, a deadly test of skills usually reserved for third year witches. Winning The Competition is the only way to work directly with Miss Mabel. Bianca must use all of her skills in hexes, curses, cunning and potions in order to show her worth and outwit Miss Mabel. Miss Mabel is more cruel then she seems and Bianca soon finds herself bound to Miss Mabel and her sinister intentions for the whole Network.
Miss Mabel's School for Girls is a fast-paced Young Adult fantasy. Miss Mabel's jumps right into the action as Bianca finds her way into the school and immediately volunteers for The Competition. I felt a little lost within the world of The Network and Miss Mabel's at first, but I was absorbed by the action. It was apparent that Bianca is determined to reverse her curse and tenacious, but I wanted to know more about the curse and its dangers. One of the best parts of the story for me were the characters. There are many well written female characters with distinct personalities; in fact, there are barely male characters in the book. Some of my favorites are the friends Bianca made, Leda and Camille. These young women formed a wonderful friendship that helped Bianca through her trials with Miss Mable. Miss Mable was deliciously vicious in her teachings, coming up with vile and malicious ways to test Bianca and what she needed from her. The book ends on a large cliffhanger with nothing resolved and a whole host of new issues, so it looks like I'll need to dive into the next book in the series.
This book was received for free in return for an honest review.
Miss Mabel's School for Girls is a fast-paced Young Adult fantasy. Miss Mabel's jumps right into the action as Bianca finds her way into the school and immediately volunteers for The Competition. I felt a little lost within the world of The Network and Miss Mabel's at first, but I was absorbed by the action. It was apparent that Bianca is determined to reverse her curse and tenacious, but I wanted to know more about the curse and its dangers. One of the best parts of the story for me were the characters. There are many well written female characters with distinct personalities; in fact, there are barely male characters in the book. Some of my favorites are the friends Bianca made, Leda and Camille. These young women formed a wonderful friendship that helped Bianca through her trials with Miss Mable. Miss Mable was deliciously vicious in her teachings, coming up with vile and malicious ways to test Bianca and what she needed from her. The book ends on a large cliffhanger with nothing resolved and a whole host of new issues, so it looks like I'll need to dive into the next book in the series.
This book was received for free in return for an honest review.
cjmedinger's review against another edition
4.0
Great world building - magical world, magical all girls school, things aren't as they seem.
willie_g's review against another edition
4.0
I really, really like this book. Bewitching from beginning to end. An added plus, no sappy romance here. Not even a crush, which is quite refreshing. Bianca’s Dad is the BMOC, even though he’s a bit of a mystery until the end. No boys allowed =) You’ve got your silly teenage girl stuff, but nothing over the top to deter you from the fast paced, ever twisting plot.
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piper9004's review against another edition
3.0
This review originally appears on What Am I Reading?
Rate: 3
I received this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
The best part of this story was Miss Mabel. She had an agenda so she was will to do anything, manipulate anyone to achieve her goals. Miss Mabel is the antagonist of the story and even though I'm not rooting for her to succeed, her presence inserted some drama into the story that made it interesting. Opposite Miss Mabel is Bianca. Bianca also has an agenda: getting Miss Mabel to remove the curse from her family. She's been training for her confrontation with Miss Mabel since she was a little girl, but Miss Mabel is much more than she expected. It's interesting seeing this seasoned witch and this witch in training duke it out so they can achieve their goals, but each opponent getting in the way of the other so the task is more difficult than expected.
The beginning starts slow and shows Bianca being accepted into Miss Mabel's School for Girls and entering the contest that will bring her closer to confronting Miss Mabel. The contest itself was quick and was a mixture of The Hunger Games, Harry Potter, and something else I couldn't put my finger on. But once the contest is over, the story takes on a quality of originality (or at least it didn't remind me of other books/movies/TV shows) and becomes more interesting than the beginning.
The ending had me reaching for the second book, but the mature adult part of my brain told me I should pay my bills before I buy more books. I don't know how long I can hold out because I really really want to know what happens next. Anyway, this is definitely a book you should give a try.
Rate: 3
I received this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
The best part of this story was Miss Mabel. She had an agenda so she was will to do anything, manipulate anyone to achieve her goals. Miss Mabel is the antagonist of the story and even though I'm not rooting for her to succeed, her presence inserted some drama into the story that made it interesting. Opposite Miss Mabel is Bianca. Bianca also has an agenda: getting Miss Mabel to remove the curse from her family. She's been training for her confrontation with Miss Mabel since she was a little girl, but Miss Mabel is much more than she expected. It's interesting seeing this seasoned witch and this witch in training duke it out so they can achieve their goals, but each opponent getting in the way of the other so the task is more difficult than expected.
The beginning starts slow and shows Bianca being accepted into Miss Mabel's School for Girls and entering the contest that will bring her closer to confronting Miss Mabel. The contest itself was quick and was a mixture of The Hunger Games, Harry Potter, and something else I couldn't put my finger on. But once the contest is over, the story takes on a quality of originality (or at least it didn't remind me of other books/movies/TV shows) and becomes more interesting than the beginning.
The ending had me reaching for the second book, but the mature adult part of my brain told me I should pay my bills before I buy more books. I don't know how long I can hold out because I really really want to know what happens next. Anyway, this is definitely a book you should give a try.
morgantaylor927's review against another edition
4.0
It took me a few chapters to really get into the book, but once the story took off, I couldn't wait to find out what happened next. It was nearly impossible for me to put the book down until I finished. A really great story, exciting from beginning to end.
morgangoesbam927's review against another edition
4.0
It took me a few chapters to really get into the book, but once the story took off, I couldn't wait to find out what happened next. It was nearly impossible for me to put the book down until I finished. A really great story, exciting from beginning to end.
sjj169's review against another edition
3.0
But of course!
Sixteen year old Bianca's family is cursed. The thing is the curse of three's entails that when she turns seventeen Bianca will die from the curse.
Who placed the curse in the first place? Miss Mabel. The head of the girl's witchcraft school. Bianca plans on being taken as her head student so that she can convince Mabel to lift the curse.
First she must compete against girls that have been at the school longer than she has to win the competition. Once she does she realizes that Mabel is not as nice as she wants people to believe.
This is not a bad little book. The main character never resorts to the typical young adult woes that usually tick me off.
Terror had me in her awful grip. I was nothing more than a big balls of nerves and fear. No amount of confidence or acting calm would take a curse away from a terrified sixteen-year-old in far over her head. I hid behind my own determination and confidence, pretending to be brave, pretending it would change reality, when fate wouldn't allow us to change anything. Would she?
colinmeldrum's review against another edition
2.0
Got 40 pages in, and I was being generous because I was interested in the nearly all-female cast of characters. Due to its premise, it begs to be compared with The Philosopher’s Stone (and maybe The Goblet of Fire), but just about every element of storytelling was less interesting. It’s not a terrible book, but why bother reading it when there are better YA and children’s novels out there?
jodyladuemcgrath's review
3.0
I want to start by saying this was good. I had some problems with the logic of the Competition. Some of it seemed really simple for something that was suppose to be soooo dangerous. It didn't seem like a very big deal. The story also dragged quite a bit. The author went on and on about the food, but it wasn't unique and quirky like Harry Potter. It was just food. Same with the setting. She seemed to be trying to describe the scenes in a magical way, like Harry Potter. She failed. The setting seemed pretty mundane and when it wasn't it was hard to imagine. That being said, the story was interesting and well thought out. It would have been nice to have been told more concrete details about different things and spells. Like how they worked, how she practiced, what was the curse exactly. It was all sort of outlined and then glossed over. I wanted more concrete details, so I could think for myself during the battles and trials. Instead, everything was new each time. The main character already knew everything, so we don't get to learn with her, or think with her. We just reacted to what she did. That was the amazing thing about Harry Potter. The reader learned with Harry and got to figure out things with him. The reader had the information. In this story, we did not.