*****

For starters, this is definitely a middle grade book. I didn’t know that when I received it but it was pretty obvious once I started reading it. It wasn’t that a young adult wouldn’t like it, it was more that it was just a really easy book for me to read and didn’t have anything really explicit in it, unlike most YA books these days. =]

Hannah was a likable enough character and she definitely gained my sympathy from her situation. The only problem was that she was super quiet and I felt that she might have been a better character if she had been a bit more outspoken. I know she was a servant so that kind of makes things different but she never even really talked to the other servants. She just kept everything to herself and I would have liked it if she maybe made friends with the other servants. I didn’t really get a feel for her personality and I felt she was undeveloped as a main character.

Also, her relationship with the painter was so weird, at least to me. It never really amounted to anything even though I really wanted it to. He seemed like he was maybe her friend, possibly more, but I just couldn’t tell. He just kind of seemed to flirt with Hannah and then disappear. Oh and the book gave some hints about his past but nothing really concrete and nothing that was ever elaborated on.

The plot of the book was pretty much non-existent or if there was a plot, I didn’t get it. The book just bored me and there were so many things I didn’t understand

Overall, I didn’t really like the book but I think it might appeal to some. It would be better for younger kids because I don’t think they would question it nearly as much as I did. Also, this is the first in the trilogy so maybe some things will be explained later. Well I am hoping they will be explained later!