Review♥Guest Post: The Friday Society by Adrienne Kress

Be your own hero.

An action-packed tale of gowns, guys, guns –and the heroines who use them all 

Set in turn of the century London, The Friday Society follows the stories of three very intelligent and talented young women, all of whom are assistants to powerful men: Cora, lab assistant; Michiko, Japanese fight assistant; and Nellie, magician's assistant. The three young women's lives become inexorably intertwined after a chance meeting at a ball that ends with the discovery of a murdered mystery man.

It's up to these three, in their own charming but bold way, to solve the murder–and the crimes they believe may be connected to it–without calling too much attention to themselves.

Set in the past but with a modern irreverent flare, this Steampunk whodunit introduces three unforgettable and very ladylike–well, relatively ladylike–heroines poised for more dangerous adventures.

Review

Thank you so much Razorbill Canada for providing an ARC for review during the tour!  <3
 
When I first got introduced to the book I was like Charlie's Angels? And since I rarely read steampunk (even though I love the genre), I decided to give this one a try. Did it work out for me? Let's find out.

Characters
Cora - cute, but still boy-ish and loves explosions. Haha, really reminded me of some of my friends. :) She grew up on the streets so she was born tough with this flare of sneaky-ness. She kind of reminds me of a cute fox. She can be beautiful, cute, and cunning. She also is confident in a demanding way. It is not in a bad way, it is like in a leader type way: the loud, strong, determine. You can also describe her as the motherly type (the interaction between Lord White and her tells it all...more on this later). I enjoyed reading about her.

Nellie - Gorgeous! Super cute, seems like the romantic type to me. She can be girly, fun, and just adorable.

Michiko - Badass! She was from an established family and ran away...<-- Toph much?
I love that she is foreign so she doesn't understand English well. It is adorable. Her almost cluelessness brings out this charm and cuteness to her. Even though the cover had her in it, I couldn't help but picture her as Sui Fong,

And Adrienne must have done a good amount of research on Japan, Japanese culture to develop Michiko. I giggled when Michiko said Callum-kun (and yes, my sister glared at me for doing so).
I really enjoyed Michiko's character; I felt her anger, sadness, and joy. She was my favourite out of the three girls. She was mature but not to the extend of over doing it.

And ohhhhhh Andrew Harris. I was in love with him the instant he spoke. He is my man! I was picturing Eddie Redmayne. Oh sweet baby Jesus! *drools*

I adore the relationship between Lord White and Cora. When Lord White first appeared, I thought of him as some kid-ish guy that Cora have to take care of, kind of reminds me of Ran and Kogoro. The magician Raheem seemed mysterious but also kind. I enjoyed most Nellie and Raheem's interaction. I didn't like Callum at all. *insert ugly angry face* He was so mean to Michiko, no! no! no! I do not allow it!

Plot and other stuff
Not sure the world building is the best. Okay, what I mean is that the world wasn't steampunk as I hope. I actually pictured most of the city in just an olden time not a steampunk-gadgety time. The story didn't immediately grab my attention. And just as I thought the story was about to pick up (around page 50-ish), the story died down. Lord, I was bored. I mean I know Adrienne have to develop 3 characters in 3 somewhat different settings but it is very boring to read. Adrienne literally took 100+ pages to develop the girls, somewhat the setting and the time frame. Yeah, so basically start at Part Two: The Beginning if you want to see when the girls grouped together. And really, the story really really get interesting for me until I am 1/3 or so in.

I was really wishing for a quicker start and more mystery but this story felt short on that.

So I must give this book a maximum of 3/5.

Ashley's Random Bits and Pieces
Don't like how the cover shows the girls' faces. I like to imagine my characters.

Ms Philips reminds me of Ms Hudson from Sherlock.

Guest Post: Comedy

Why do I like comedy so much, and why do I make it an important element of my writing? For these five reasons:

1. I love to laugh.

2. I love to make other people laugh.

3. The fact that something is funny doesn’t mean it can’t also speak to human truths and have serious moments. In fact, I tend to find comedies can pack even more of an emotional wallop than pure drama. Life, in general, is absurd. And to deny that absurdity is to take something honest and real away from the moment. Yes, there are purely serious moments, and, in fact, I have such moments in all my books. But those are rare. Usually we feel a mix of feelings, life isn’t all black and white. I remember when I was delivering the eulogy at my grandmother’s funeral. I’m an actor as well as an author and I tend to work best when I get audience feedback, be it laughter, applause, etc. Of course at a funeral people aren’t really doing any of those things. They are sitting listening to you. Not really responding that much. So as I was reading my eulogy, and was getting all teary and missing my grandmother so much, I also couldn’t help thinking, “Wow, tough crowd.”

See? Absurd, right?

4. Speaking of absurdity. Douglas Adams has got to be one of my greatest literary influences. It was his absurd humour that taught me I was allowed to play in the telling of a story. My father read to me before bed every night, and we worked our way through the classics (Dickens, Tolkien, etc). But then one day he picked up THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY, and my perspective on books and on writing changed in that moment. I don’t think my mind would have been nearly as blown had I not been introduced to the classics first. And I think it is very important to have a solid grounding before you start to hop around like a crazy person. But Adams definitely inspired my love of absurdity, and that tends to be at the core of most of my humour. I think, going back to point 3, what I like best about it is that life is kind of absurd. And building up on that idea to an extreme is still a very honest reflection of how humans live. It is also hilarious.

5. A shared joke that everyone loves brings people together in a wonderful way. It’s an instant moment of connection. Of “Even if we are quite different, we have this in common.” The best evenings out with friends are the ones where everyone is laughing, where everyone is having fun. I really love bonding over comedy. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.