Book #9: The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place by Julie Berry

I read most of this book while I was in the hospital with Graham, and finished it when I came home. I'd read several great reviews about this middle grade mystery novel, and it sounded funny and witty enough that I wanted to check it out myself. The book is set in the Victorian era, at a small girl's school called St. Etheldreda's, with only seven students. At the beginning of the novel, their headmistress and her brother both drop dead in the middle of dinner, and the seven girls decide to try and cover it up and live on their own without telling anyone so that they're not sent back home to live with their families. They bury the two bodies and try to hide the suspicions and also figure out who was responsible for the murders. They get into some misadventures and eventually stumble upon the real story of what happened.

I thought this book was pretty sweet and funny. I liked how the seven girls, who all had very different personalities and opinions about things, all loved each other and got along and called themselves "sisters." It was funny how each character was called by an adjective before their names: Smooth Kitty, Disgraceful Mary Jane, Pocked Alice--it helped you to keep all of them straight and to remember their backstories and what they were known for in the group (although it wasn't necessarily the most believable thing). I didn't love all the characters--Dour Elinor, for example, was obsessed with death and that was all she thought and talked about, and I found it annoying and unbelievable--but overall, the story was funny and it was a cute, quick read. I don't know how likely it is that a middle grades audience would enjoy this book, but it mostly worked for me.