Betsy in Spite of Herself & Betsy Was a Junior by Maud Hart Lovelace

Betsy in Spite of Herself

Betsy is now a sophomore and is extremely popular with her Crowd but she is dissatisfied with how boys look at her.  She wants to be different but doesn't know how to change, until she visits Tib in Milwaukee and decides to go back to Deep Valley Dramatic and Mysterious.  Despite attracting the attention of the sophisticated Phil Brandish, Betsy is unhappy with not acting like herself anymore, proving that it's hard to change your nature.

A Betsy-Tacy picnic, she thought as she foraged, was just about the nicest thing in the world.  p.13

So this book covers Betsy's sophomore year and picks up close to where Heaven to Betsy left off.  Betsy decides she needs to be a different version of herself to shake up her life a little and it works for a bit.  Phil Brandish decides he likes her and they "go around" together for a little while.  But Betsy gets tired of acting different from her nature and lets Phil go in order to go back to being happy, smiling, sometimes silly Betsy.  I like this lesson.  And I like how subtly is it done.  Betsy is not made to be Dramatic and Mysterious and I am happy that she embraces her nature at the end of the book.  It is also nice how her relationship with Joe is slowly built up over time and doesn't happen all at once.  That is so much better than how books are sometimes written now.

Betsy Was a Junior

Now that Betsy is a junior in high school, she has decided to mature and sets up a list of resolutions for the year.  But soon she is caught up in the idea of sororities as a result of her sister's Julia's experiences at college and decides to form her own sorority at Deep Valley High, derailing her resolutions.

"I really want him for a friend," Betsy thought. "Not just that I'm sweet on him.  We have so much in common.  We were intended to be friends." p.207

Tib is back! This made me so happy.  Of course, she was in Betsy in Spite of Herself for a little bit, but now is back in Deep Valley for good.  It is nice to see her and her practicality is a great rounder to the Betsy-Tacy team.  It's funny to remember the little girls from the first books and reconcile them with the teenagers of these books. 
Betsy starts a sorority which seems like a good idea at the time, but it means that some girls are excluded and that does not go over well.  The girls who are asked are already in the Crowd so it's not like Betsy means to exclude anyone but that is the nature of sororities.  But then nothing Betsy wanted to do goes right.  She had planned on excelling in school and going with Joe and learning the piano and hanging out with her younger sister more now that Julia has gone to college. But she only really manages to do one of those things.  But Betsy has a good heart and she tries to do the right thing but she can be careless a lot of the time and she doesn't stop to think about what she is doing.  But she matures more in this book.


Hogwarts: 7 in a series

Weekly Round-Up 6/27

Weekly Round-Up is my wrap-up of last week's activities and includes what I'm reading this week, reviews I've posted, books in the mail and anything else of interest plus From the Library, my weekly listing of what I've checked out from the library.

This week I'm reading Betsy and Joe (Lovelace) and Imaginary Girls (Suma).  I'm listening to Mississippi Jack (Meyer) and Glee: The Beginning (Lowell).

Since last week I have read Betsy in Spite of Herself and Betsy Was a Junior (Lovelace).
Reviews posted: Spoiled (Cocks and Morgan); Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown (Lovelace); Heaven to Betsy (Lovelace); Red Glove (Black); In the Belly of the Bloodhound (Meyer).

From the publisher
Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier

Gwyneth Shepherd's sophisticated, beautiful cousin Charlotte has been prepared her entire life for traveling through time. But unexpectedly, it is Gwyneth, who in the middle of class takes a sudden spin to a different era!

Gwyneth must now unearth the mystery of why her mother would lie about her birth date to ward off suspicion about her ability, brush up on her history, and work with Gideon--the time traveler from a similarly gifted family that passes the gene through its male line, and whose presence becomes, in time, less insufferable and more essential. Together, Gwyneth and Gideon journey through time to discover who, in the 18th century and in contemporary London, they can trust.

Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown & Heaven to Betsy by Maud Hart Lovelace

Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown (Betsy-Tacy #4)

Betsy, Tacy and Tib are 12 and begin to explore the town they live in further.  They go downtown shopping and Tib rides in a horseless carriage and they attend the theater.

Betsy and Tacy and Tib were twelve years old now, and when they made plans like that they didn't quite believe them.  But they liked to make them anyhow.  p.116

I've said it before.  I like how these stories grow up with the girls.  It's like getting to know them when they are 5 and watching them grow up into young ladies.  They are still children in this story though they are growing up fast.  It's fun to read about the era that they grew up in and the excitement over the horseless carriage and the theater troupes and on on.  And on the dime novels that the hired girl at the Ray's house lends them are considered shocking and too old for 12 year olds to read.  I liked the plot with Mrs. Poppy though I felt sorry for her and her part in the other plot about Mrs. Ray's long lost brother was nice.  I also liked Betsy's trip to the library (of course) and what a wonder that is for her.  It was really sweet.


Heaven to Betsy (Betsy-Tacy #5)
Betsy and Tacy are freshmen in high school now, making new friends and becoming apart of the affectionate Crowd.  Betsy is becoming more interested in boys and in developing her talents as a writer.

"Now," said Mr. Ray.  "I'd better go put the coffee pot on." For that was what the family always did in moments of stress.  p.213

Now that Betsy is a freshmen, her whole world expands once again to accommodate more friends and new loves.  It's exciting to see Betsy and Tacy growing up.  I missed Tib.  I was surprised that she had moved away in the interim and it wasn't really made a big deal of.  I'm glad that Betsy and Tacy are still best friends and that they always have each other, but are willing to let each other make new friends and it doesn't compromise their friendship.

I also love the descriptions of the hair and clothing styles.  It sounds just lovely, the way they dressed and entertained themselves.  Reminds me of Meet Me in St. Louis, one of my favorite musicals.   I love that Betsy and her sister, Julia, are allowed to decide career paths for themselves and their parents support them wholeheartedly. And that the sisters are also allowed to decided their own religion.  It's very progressive for that time. 

Hogwarts: 7 in a series

Red Glove (The Curse Workers #2) by Holly Black

Cassel returns to his boarding school after discovering just what kind of curse work he is capable of and, after his mother works Lila, the girl he loves and consequently
can no longer have. When his brother is murdered Cassel becomes trapped between the FBI and the mob, both of whom want to use his talents for their own cause.

I have to say that Red Glove was as brilliant as White Cat, a book that I loved wholeheartedly.  Even as Cassel explains how to swindle a mark, I can't help but love him.  I feel sorry for him and I keep hoping he can just get out of this whole thing alive.  He is certainly not an innocent character but there is something about him that invites sympathy and I sincerely hope that he can get together with Lila and live a normal life.  I don't think that is possible but, you know, one can hope. 

I love the world of the curse workers that Black has built.  It is intriguing that, as one of the FBI agents says, if you know that you are a curse worker then you've already broken the law.  Because it is taboo to lay bare hands on someone else and it is illegal to work someone.  I love how just the sight of bare hands causes an extreme reaction in people.  It's almost like being naked and carrying a loaded weapon at the same time.

SPOILERS:
(highlight) ** I just wanted to say that I was kind of right about the chair.  In my review of White Cat, I questioned the chair, thinking maybe it was Cassel's dad.  I was wrong about that, but it was a person.  I feel alright about my detecting ability right now because I also was guessed it was Maura that killed her husband.**

Hogwarts: Defence Against the Dark Arts