Middle Grade Review: Enola Holmes and the Black Barouche

 

* Book 7 in the Enola Holmes series *

Sherlock Holmes isn't thrilled that his sister is butting her nose into his latest case. Of course, there were extenuating circumstances. Enola couldn't help getting involved when a young woman showed up at his door with a curious letter about her sister's death. 

Letita knows that her twin sister is not dead, but she doesn't know how to prove it. Enola is quite happy to look into the case. Something is desperately wrong, and nothing adds up. Enola decides to go undercover where she learns more about the Earl and barely escapes in the process. 

Her run in with the Earl only makes Enola more determined to uncover the entire truth. 

My Thoughts: I was so happy when the success of the Netflix movie meant more books and more movies! I liked the addition of Sherlock to this book and how the siblings worked together. I enjoyed seeing some old favorite characters from previous books. I enjoyed this mystery and its quirky moments. There are some horrific moments in this book, which I can't talk about without spoilers. Another fun book.

Cover Thoughts: Nice

Source: My library

Library Recommendation: Highly Recommend this series for schools and public libraries 

If you like historical middle grade mysteries:

Movie Review: Enola Holmes 2

Enola Holmes 2 from Netflix

Enola's second case takes the forefront of this movie. A young girl comes to her looking for help - her sister is missing. They worked together in the match factory. Her sister wouldn't just disappear without word. She supposedly stole something from the factory. Enola's determined to find Bessie's sister. 

Her case connects with Sherlock's case. He's having a hard time solving it. Until he has a conversation with his sister.

My Thoughts: While this isn't based on one of the novels - it's a great movie. It's based on the historical strike at the match factory. I loved the moments between the Holmes siblings. I loved seeing old familiar faces -  Teweksbury (And that dance scene), Edith, and Enola's mother. I really hope they make more of these movies. They are smart, feminist, and so much fun!

BookTok: Enola Holmes

5 Thing about the newest Enloa Holmes book. 

@yabooknerdlibrarian More Enola Holmes adventures! I love this series and hope you do too! #enolaholmes #sherlockholmes #middlegradebooks #booktok #5things ♬ original sound - Jennifer @YA Book Nerd 📚📚📚

Booklist: Sherlock Holmes

 

On Monday, I reviewed The Improbable Tales of Baskerville Hall, so I decided to create a list of other Sherlock Holmes books - both YA and Middle Grade. 

Here are the other books on the list:

Enola Holmes: The Case of Missing Marquess

The Great Shelby Holmes 

Lock & Mori

Secret Letters

A Study in Charlotte 

Death Cloud 

Are you a Sherlock Holmes fan?

Top Ten Tuesday: Revisit Childhood Characters as Adults

This week's topic is characters we'd like to revisit in new books as adults - check in on them and see how they are doing.

- meme from The Broke and the Bookish 

So I might have said Princess Mia, but that's book came out already! As did Suze's book!

So characters I would like to read about as adults:

Harry and Ginny / Ron and Hermoine is the most obvious choice

Going backwards, I would love a YA book about Professor McGonagall 

Macy and hopefully Wes

Richard Castle as a teen

Mary Quinn as an adult

The Babysitter's Club gang

Kat and Hale as adults 

Robert Langdon as a teen

The twins: Emma and Payton as adults

Enola Holmes as an adult 

Mysterious Saturday Review: The Case of the Gyspy Good-bye

Enola Holmes finds a client in her office - a client that just came from her brother's establishment. Her famous brother Sherlock is out of town at the moment, which gives Enola a head start finding the missing Lady Blanchefleur.

The Lady Blanchefleur helped an elderly ladies down the steps of the subway and disappeared. Enola interviews her two ladies-in-waiting for clues.

She then goes to the subway and discovers an underground society she'd rather not enter. While wondering if the Lady, unhappy with her wealth, took it upon herself to escape from society, she heads for Florence Nightengale's house for inspiration.

There, she meets her brother Sherlock. He's searching for her to hand deliver a package from her mother. Inside the package is a skytale message. Enola will need to find the right cylinder in order to read the message.

As she's chatting with her brother, an idea pops into her head. She leaves him standing on the street as she investigates her hunch. Her hunch proves correct, but know she needs help capturing the suspect. Can she trust Sherlock enough to help her and not force her into a different lifestyle?


My Thoughts: This is the end of the series. While I did love the ending, I'm sad that it ended. I adored this series. I loved all the disguises, the relationship between Enola and her brothers, how she bested Sherlock in her ability to read feminine clues, how she bantered with Sherlock, all the codes, and how she discovered her true self.

The Cover: I love the cover -except for Enola. She seems too strange. I really only liked the first cover.

Source: ILL

Review: Case of the Left-Handed Lady (Book 2)

Enola Holmes lives as Miss Ivy Meshle by day - working for her husband who searches for lost items and lost people. In actuality, she's a 14 year old girl still on the run from her famous brother Sherlock Holmes.


When she learns of a young lady gone missing from her bedroom with no explanation and no ransom demanded - the authorities believe her to have escaped with a young man. Miss Meshle arrives at their doorstep, hoping to help find the whereabouts of the young girl.


There's only one lead, which was gone cold. However, Miss Meshle revisits the shop keeper's son hoping to glean more information from him than the police. She learns that he's a radical, believing in change among classes.


Now, Elona is under the impression that he can lead her to the young girl. She follows him, under yet another disguise. From her search at the girl's home, Elona believes her to have two distinct personalities - one the proper young lady and one who believes in the change among classes as well. Can Elona find the girl and bring her back to her parents without causing a huge scandal all while her famous brother hunts for her?

My Thoughts: I like the 2nd book in this series. Enola is spunky, clever, and compassionate. I love her disguises and how she deals with her brothers while searching for her mother. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series.

The Cover: I like the grittiness of London - and how it shows Enola in her disguise.

Source: My Library

Nasty Women's Middle Grade Books

This is by no means an extensive list, only a list of books that have stuck with me and recent reads. But if you're looking for feminist middle grade books (and who isn't?) this list is a good jumping off point.

You might also like my feminist picture books post and my Fierce Female YA books post. 

Movie Review: Enola Holmes

I really really enjoyed this movie adaptation.

First, it was VERY different from the book series. 

However, it captured the magic and charm of the series perfectly.

I loved the banter between Enola and Sherlock.

I wish there was a bit more about the disguises as in the book, they are genius disguises.

I loved the feminist perspective and how ladies do not need a husband. Both Enola and her mother are very clever and strong ladies.

The casting was amazing; the characters were played perfectly. I loved Enola's spunk and determination. 

I really hope they adapt the rest of the book series!

10 Things: Favorite Series Now Over

Last week, I mentioned my favorite series book still going. This week I'm chatting about those favorite series that have ended. Again in my mind, series books MUST be four books or more.

Harry Potter: One of the best series I've ever read.


Princess Diaries: The series that inspired me to become a YA librarian. Pure fun filled with personal drama, family drama, friendship drama, and romance. I love Mia and how she's thrust into a very different life with some family news.

Sweep: The best series of witches I've ever read filled with power, betrayal, friendship issues, drama, romance, and learning spells. New books coming out in bundles and cool new covers.


Summer Boys: Fun beach read series about a family who always vacations in Maine. Summer blossoms and dies, hearts are broken, and girls become the best of friends.


Enola Holmes: A fascinating read of women in England in the 19th century. Enola is the sister of the famed Sherlock Holmes. She lives in secret in London, donning disguises and communicating with her mother through codes and ciphers. She also spends her time solving missing person cases, often through clues her brother misses.


Georgia Nicholson*: I love Georgian and her quirky ways. I do have the last two books in the series to read. I always laugh out loud when reading these.

Song of the Lioness: I've heard just awesome buzz about Tamora Pierce. I started Alanna and became hooked. I tore through this series and need to start reading more of her work because she IS amazing.

Percy Jackson*: I have yet to finish this series because just as the 4th book was coming out, we started our book club with The Lightening Thief and I had it in my head that I would go back and reread the others before reading the 4th to remember the story. It never happened and I really need to go back and read books 4 and 5 because I LOVE this blend of mythology and modern day.

Mediator: I'm a HUGE Meg Cabot fan but I love the blend of ghosts, danger, and romance in this series. It's amazingly fun.


Pendragon*:(again I have to read the last two books) A unique series of a blend of science fiction and fantasy with danger, end of the world possibilities, and a little bit of romance.

* In doing this blog post, I'm noticing a pattern of not reading the last two books in the series. If the series is long, it's hard for me to remember what happened in the previous books. Also I hate letting go of a series, especially when I love them dearly.