by Stephanie Burgis
ages: 10+
First sentence: “I was twelve years of age when I chopped off my hair, dressed as a boy, and set off to save my family from impending ruin.”
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Before I get started, I ask you: how can a first sentence be more perfect than that? It doesn’t.

What it does, however, is give you high expectations that this book will be 1) charming and 2) have some adventure in it. Throw in a little bit (or a lot at times) of magic, and you’ve got a pretty good winner.

It’s Regency-ish time (never really got a date, but it felt Jane Austen-y to me), and Kat’s family is in a pickle: her older brother, Charles, has been sent home from Oxford in disgrace due to gambling debts that their father, a mere country clergyman, can’t pay off. So, one of Kat’s older sisters, Elissa or Angeline, is going to have to do the noble thing and marry for money (to save the family). Unfortunately: that means one of them will have to marry (the dastardly) Sir Neville, who is rich, yes, but around whom rumors of his first wife’s death swirl.

I promised a bit of magic, didn’t I? Well, it seems that Kat’s mother was a witch, something which Angeline has taken up (to find her True Love, of course), and something which Kat is becoming increasingly curious about. See, Kat’s mother died when she was a baby, and it’s always been her sisters’ policy to Protect Kat from Things. Except that Kat’s 12 now, and she’s no longer a baby.

Which means that she can take Things into her very capable hands.

That, in fact, what my favorite part of this book. Although it seemed to have a lot of set-up for not very much pay-off, the pay-off was brilliant. If you ever want a book where there’s a kid who takes control (and believable, capable control) of a situation to bring it to its Right and Proper end, this is it. Kat is a great character: fun, smart, and stubborn in all the right ways. This one made me eager (now that the background work is done) to have more adventures with Kat.

I can only hope there is more.