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A review by zana_reads_arcs
Manor of Secrets by Katherine Longshore
3.0
After two semesters' worth of academic reading, this cute little story was a nice breath of fresh air for the summer. For YA fiction, this is a very quick and easy read. This is Downton Abbey-lite for the young teenage set, but even as a college student I found it very enjoyable to read.
The plot is simple, involving characters from both upstairs and downstairs and the ways in which they clash, and eventually come together. Like other reviewers here have mentioned, the plot twists aren't super shocking, but they do provide some catalysts to a predictable story. It has a slow start in the beginning, with a trope we're all familiar with: wealthy, high-born girl named Charlotte dreams of adventure but is restrained by her mother and society. At times Charlotte does seem to act too young for her age, and this is the same with a lot of the characters who are supposed to be the same age. The only main character I could personally root for was Janie, who (in my opinion) was the only character in the book that was properly fleshed out. Most of the characters seemed very one-dimensional and were just tropes with no proper characterization, including secondary characters who were important to the plot. You would think they'd have more personality but they felt like paper dolls most of the time.
Despite its faults, this was a fun summer read for younger fans of Downton Abbey. With the wave of teen dystopia fiction at an all time high, this was a quick escape into something much more lighthearted and fun.
The plot is simple, involving characters from both upstairs and downstairs and the ways in which they clash, and eventually come together. Like other reviewers here have mentioned, the plot twists aren't super shocking, but they do provide some catalysts to a predictable story. It has a slow start in the beginning, with a trope we're all familiar with: wealthy, high-born girl named Charlotte dreams of adventure but is restrained by her mother and society. At times Charlotte does seem to act too young for her age, and this is the same with a lot of the characters who are supposed to be the same age. The only main character I could personally root for was Janie, who (in my opinion) was the only character in the book that was properly fleshed out. Most of the characters seemed very one-dimensional and were just tropes with no proper characterization, including secondary characters who were important to the plot. You would think they'd have more personality but they felt like paper dolls most of the time.
Despite its faults, this was a fun summer read for younger fans of Downton Abbey. With the wave of teen dystopia fiction at an all time high, this was a quick escape into something much more lighthearted and fun.