Refuge for Masterminds (Stranje House #3)Author: Kathleen Baldwin
Genre: YA Historical Fantasy
Release Date: May 23, 2017
Publisher: Tor Teen
Description:
Lady Jane Moore has a secret. A secret that must be kept buried. For if anyone discovered the truth, her life at Stranje House would crumble. And with Napoleon Bonaparte’s invasion of England underway, everyone at Stranje House is already in danger. Mortal danger.
Jane knows it. She may not be like Tess, who has the advantage of prophetic dreams. Nor is she like Sera, who notices every detail no matter how miniscule and draws conclusions based on the smallest thread of evidence. She doesn’t possess Maya’s ability to soothe the tempers around her with a few well-spoken words. Neither is she a brilliant scientist like Georgie. According to Miss Stranje, Lady Jane Moore is a mastermind.
Nonsense!
Jane doesn’t consider herself a mastermind. Quite the contrary, she believes herself to be an ordinary young lady. It’s just that she has a rather excessive bent toward the practical. She tends to grasp the facts of a situation quickly, and by so doing, she’s able to devise and implement a sensible course of action. But that’s all there is to it. Well, there is the fact that she also organizes the players in her plans with quiet efficiency. So much so, that occasionally Lady Jane’s friends tease her for being a bit managing.
Do they expect her to sit back and do nothing when trouble is brewing? Not likely. Not when the people she cares about are at risk. Call it being a mastermind if you must, it is a trait that comes in rather handy in a world full of spies, sabotage, and double-dealing. Especially now that Lady Jane and Sera have rooted out the truth: There is a traitor at Stranje House.
Someone is sneaking information to Lady Daneska and Ghost, Napoleon’s spies. Jane is determined to find out who it is before the bonds of friendship at Stranje House are ripped apart by suspicions. Her desperate hunt for the traitor ensnares Robert Fulton’s nephew, Alexander Sinclair, a brash American inventor, in an ambush that puts his life in danger. Sinclair may well be the most maddening man in all of Christendom, a wicked-tongued rascal with boorish manners, but for some reason, Lady Jane cannot bear the thought of the golden-haired genius being harmed.
Is Jane enough of a mastermind to save Alexander, her friends at Stranje House, and possibly England itself?
Praise for the Stranje House Series:
"A Completely Original―and totally engrossing―world, full of smart girls, handsome boys, and sinister mysteries...Sign me up." ―Meg Cabot, New York Times Best Selling Author of The Princess Diaries
This is difficult. I’d probably be a terrible casting agent, but let’s give it a try. I think, Alexander Sinclair, looks a lot like this actor, Alex Pettyfer. He fits the part because of the glint of humor in his eyes and yet you can feel his underlying intensity. I loved finding out he actually has an English accent in real life. Ironically Alexander is the only character from the United States, or the colonies, as Jane calls them.
Photo Credit: Trailer clip from I Am Number Four @DreamWorks II Distribution Co. LLC., All Rights Reserved
Photo Credit: Or here he is in a photo from the movie Wild Child
In my mind, Lady Jane looks similar to Emma Watson (especially when she played Hermione in Harry Potter) primarily because she manages to look innocent and yet smart at the same time.
Photo Credit: HERE
Miss Stranje is a challenging character to cast. I would love it if Lena Headey played her. Lena looks a lot like Miss Stranje in screen shot from This Gathering Storm. Lena is an incredible actress and she would do an amazing job as Miss Stranje. The only problem is that after Game of Thrones, how can anyone picture Lena as any character other than Cersei Lannister?
Photo Credit: Screen Shot from This Gathering Storm
Photo Credit: IMDB
And Captain Grey. . . Sigh.
He’s very like Rupert Penry-Jones. Here is Rupert as Captain Wentworth in Persuasion (btw, Persuasion is my favorite Jane Austen novel)
Photo
Credit: IMDB
Every mom feels like her sons are heroes. But I really do think it would be cool if my son played the part of Sebastian, Georgie’s ever-wonderful heartthrob in the Stranje House series.
The boy has even done some acting here and there. He’s even in the opening scenes of M. Night Shyamalan’s movie After Earth starring Will and Jaden Smith. Apart from film credits, he’s a for-real hero, and every bit as courageous and tough as Sebastian.
Refuge for Masterminds is the third installment in an exciting YA historical fantasy series.
It picks up where the last book left off - with our main character, Lady Jane, trying to find a way to tip the war in England's favor. The story is told from Lady Jane's point of view,
which gives us a great inside look at her character and all the
different aspects of her personality - thoughts, fears, dreams, emotions, desires, etc. -
and made her a fantastic main character who was easy to identify with
right from the start. As
with the other books, the plot took a little bit to pick up and suck me
into the author's world. But once the pace quickened and things heated
up - I was hooked until the very end. Aside from that one small issue, the
writing continued to be well done with great imagery and descriptions. I
loved watching Lady Jane and the others grow both as separate characters and in
their relationship with each other. The plot was fascinating - a wonderful blend of history, fantasy, action and adventure, and even romance. I definitely recommend this book
(and series) to readers who enjoy fantasies as well as those who enjoy historical fiction, adventure, and action.
Find more about Kathleen on her Website, Newsletter, Twitter, Facebook
Awarded 2016 Spirit of Texas, A School for Unusual Girls , is her first historical romance for Young Adults. It is a Junior Library Guild selection. Publisher’s Lunch listed it in their 2015 Young Adult BookBuzz. Kansas State NEA Reading Circle gave it a starred review in their 2016 “Best of the Best” for High Schools. Scholastic licensed it for book fairs, and New York Times Book Review called it “enticing from the first sentence.”
Kathleen is also an avid reader and adores the wit and humor of Oscar Wilde, P.G. Wodehouse, and Jane Austen. Her eclectic reading interests range from Frank Herbert to Meg Cabot, and on to the delightfully imaginative tales of Diana Wynne Jones.
You can purchase Refuge for Masterminds at the following Retailers:
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(3) Winners will receive a Signed Set Copy of Stranje House Series by Kathleen Baldwin
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I wouldn't want to her any one person in history give a speech but would love to hear women from the 1800's speak about how life was for them back then.
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