The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by: Alan Bradley rating: really liked
I'm doing a postal book club with my friends @what_amy_reads, @kacy_elise, and @fortwords. This book was the first selection I received and it's from my book twin @fortwords who used this opportunity to make me finally read Flavia! Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I did struggle to get through it but that was more about me and my reading life than this book. Pros: I like how spunky and confident Flavia is. She is smart and the mystery element was very interesting. I feel like there was a good setup for relationships between characters to grow in the following books (which I will be giving a shot). Cons: Flavia is a bit too cocky at times for my liking and her contentious relationship with her sisters bothered me a bit. The biggest reason I think this book is a "really liked" rating vs. a "loved" rating for me is that last year I read and fell in love with Myrtle Hardcastle. Myrtle and Flavia are very alike but Myrtle is more humble and virtuous, and I read her first, so I like Myrtle more. I do think that it would be a great book club for a group to read both the first Flavia and first Myrtle books and contrast and compare them. That being said, Flavia, because of the content, I would label as more young YA while Myrtle is firmly middle grade. Content Warning: Kidnapping, Murder, Bullying, Suicide, Death
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