The Friday Society

Author: Adrienne Kress
Goodreads Rating: 3.87
Pages: 440
Format: ARC from NYCC12

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.

I found that this story was really cute, but not a favorite. If you remember, we did a Waiting on Wednesday on this book back in October, and I was able to get a copy of it when I went to New York Comic Con. I was excited to check out a book about three kick ass ladies who solve crime.

The reason that I did not love this book was because a lot of the language and terms used were ones not from the early 1900s, and as a historian, well, I got irked. For starters, the Nellie and Cora kept referring to themselves as "so hot"which is not a term that was used that way in the early 1900's. The other offending term was "Wow. Deep." I felt that a lot of what they were saying were colloquialisms unique to our time.

I loved Michiko and felt that she was the only character that managed to grow within the book. She went from being this girl in a foreign land, who was bullied by her "master" into this strong samurai. I did feel that it was a little difficult to incorporate her because she had a language barrier. I loved learning a little bit more about the art of the samurai.

Cora started out as my favorite, she was strong and independent, but as the book went on, she just bothered me. Her whole dalliance with a gentleman in the book felt so rushed but not in an insta-love way, just a this feels weird way. Nellie was another one that I didn't like from the beginning just because she seemed so superficial and fake. I will admit that I love her use of glitter as self defense.

If I look past the characters and the other difficulties, I liked the plot line. At times it felt a little all over the place. I loved the titles of the chapters and how they all tied together. I also liked how the steampunk tied in with Cora's inventions. There were a lot of fun themes through this book, that make it worth checking out, I have friends that totally loved it, so maybe its the book for.

The Courts Decision: