Alison Goodman

Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies

★★ // finishing this novel was odd because i did not really find anything exciting about it. just feels a little tonally off, and i am not sure i bought into its world-building. most disappointing about it was that the characters lack history so i don’t completely understand and i can’t get behind their motivations. i get that this is about the oppression and abuse that women experience, and that these two sisters somehow ended up accepting missions to save them. sure the descriptions were grim and i can clearly imagine the situation and why the different women in the story needed saving. but then, why must the twins do this? i just do not think the story delved deeper into it so it was difficult to get behind the idea of two noble ladies just doing this out of sympathy. i do not think there were many opportunities to really let us get to know these two characters and perhaps their own experiences that led them to who they are today.

the first two cases had so many loopholes and i think they were done so simplistically. i did like the way that the last case unfolded. if anything, i can get behind female rage. i suppose i just needed this book to be a little bit… unhinged. 

that said, i’ve no plans to read the upcoming sequel (which i am sure there will be). it really felt like a chore to read. i just pushed myself to finish it because i was already halfway thru when i realized i wasn’t enjoying it at all.


  “i wanted to be more than this world allowed me to be, just a spinster past her prime.”

Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies

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