A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray

I'm not sure how to summarize A Great and Terrible Beauty without feeling like I'm giving too much away, so here is what it says on Amazon.com:

"Gemma, 16, has had an unconventional upbringing in India, until the day she foresees her mother’s death in a black, swirling vision that turns out to be true. Sent back to England, she is enrolled at Spence, a girls’ academy with a mysterious burned-out East Wing. There Gemma is snubbed by powerful Felicity, beautiful Pippa, and even her own dumpy roommate Ann, until she blackmails herself and Ann into the treacherous clique. Gemma is distressed to find that she has been followed from India by Kartik, a beautiful young man who warns her to fight off the visions. Nevertheless, they continue, and one night she is led by a child-spirit to find a diary that reveals the secrets of a mystical Order. The clique soon finds a way to accompany Gemma to the other-world realms of her visions "for a bit of fun" and to taste the power they will never have as Victorian wives, but they discover that the delights of the realms are overwhelmed by a menace they cannot control. Gemma is left with the knowledge that her role as the link between worlds leaves her with a mission to seek out the "others" and rebuild the Order."

I could not get into this book at all. I don't know why. I really wanted to like this book, but I can't force it. It was well written and I liked that the girls wanted to amount to something more than just obedient wives, but that's about all I liked about it. I guess this trilogy just isn't for me. I probably won't read the next two books because I just don't really feel the need to. I'm very disappointed now. Oh well, on to the next book on my forever increasing "to-be-read shelf"!

2.5 out of 5 stars