"Etiquette & Espionage," by Gail Carriger (Finishing School #1)

Audience: Young Adult

Genre: Steampunk/Gothic Fiction, Spy Fiction,

Overall Content Rating: Clean

Content Warnings

Minor Crude Language

Mentions "decollage"

Mentions "nether regions"

Suggestive Content

Mentions seduction class (but they don't participate in the class)

One instance of "wiggling one's torso suggestively"

Overall Review

My marking this book as "clean" is entirely my own opinion. While there are some slightly suggestive/crude bits, it's only crude or suggestive if you understand what words they're using, and even then, it's so minor and so barely noticeable in the grand scheme of the whole book that it would make it onto my clean book list for sure. However, I do understand that some people would see this book as somewhat unclean due to these things, so I did mention them in the content warnings section just so some warning is available.

Can I just say, though... I adore this book. I've read it once before and I picked it up again knowing that it was going to have minimal content warnings and sure enough, I remembered correctly on that end. What I didn't remember quite correctly though was just how much I loved it before. Reading it again made me realize that I'm probably downplaying how much I loved the gothic/steampunk theme that encompasses the whole book. The mystery of who is hiding what secrets and what every name means. There are groups of people called Flywaymen and Picklemen and all these other things that these teenage girls are learning to fight as they also learn to be "intelligencers" at an all-girls finishing school—in the air, no less!

This book includes vampire and werewolf characters, along with mentions of petticoats and layered dresses galore. It's set in a more Victorian era, hence the gothic tone, and gives off a vibe of intrigue that you never lose even as you get through the book. As usual, there are some characters that you're bound to hate (Monique, for starters) and others that you just have to love (Soap & Vieve were my favorites), and together, they make the story a true gem.

Sophronia, our narrator, is rather funny, as demonstrated by one of my favorite quotes: "I feel like a partridge wrapped in bacon, thought Sophronia." There are many of these rather interesting and faintly humorous bits scattered throughout the book like little pieces of treasure just waiting to be found.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who's looking for a clean read and who likes anything steampunk, spy-fiction-esque, historical fiction (specifically Victorian era), or anything of the sort.