This book was a disappointment. It needed to be about 100 pages longer to fully flesh out the narrative, character development, back story, and even the main plotline. It felt like a half-finished book. The ending was a HUGE cop-out.

Which really is a shame. It's such an original idea with so much potential, and the book just fell flat with me. Too many things going on, too many story lines, and not enough pages to do them all justice. ( )

Interesting concept regarding actual literary heroines showing up at a B&B, but the book didn't quite work for me. I was expecting more heroine action. Instead, lots of flashbacks mixed somewhat unsuccessfully with the teen protagonist's current situation. ( )

An interesting premise coupled with a mother-daughter/coming-of-age conflict, that takes a left turn into [book: Girl, Interrupted] territory and never quite recovers. ( )

After reading the summary, I would say that you don't really need to read the book. It pretty much sums up the whole thing. I found it difficult to get into the story, then once I was into the action, I found it hard to understand why Anne-Marie chose the heroines over her own daughter time and time again. As a mother, that is completely unbelievable.

Toward the end, there was a spark of whether or not Penny may be a heroine. I would have LOVED that twist in the story. It would have made it more compelling.

While this is an intriguing storyline, I can't recommend it. ( )

As far as I know, the idea of mixing classical, historical heroines with a present day narrative is unique and deserves credit. On the other hand, my background in classical "soap opera" literature is weak, so perhaps I didn't glean as much of the subtlety intended by the author. Nevertheless, it is an interesting read, and would certainly be recommended to readers familiar with heroines of the past century. ( )