The Glittering Court

January 25, 2016
A 17-year-old countess trades Elizabethan luxury for frontier life in this absorbing fantasy. Lady Elizabeth Witmore is intrigued when Cedric Thorn arrives at her home, recruiting for the Glittering Court. After maidservant Ada is offered a place in the court but is hesitant to leave, Lady Witmore poses as Ada for the chance to make a new life on the frontier of Adoria, across the Sunset Sea. There’s a catch: in the Glittering Court, she will be groomed to marry a man of “new nobility” who is able to pay a price for her hand, but when she falls for Cedric, the future looks even more uncertain. Writing from “Ada’s” sharp-witted perspective, Mead (Soundless) delivers an enjoyable fish-out-of-water tale that plays gritty frontier adventure against the finery of the Glittering Court. The uncomfortable notion of “ladies for sale” is balanced by Ada’s indomitable spirit, and although the worldbuilding is somewhat scant, Ada’s friendships with roommates Tamsin and Mira are well-realized, and themes of religious freedom and racism are woven smoothly into the exciting narrative. Ages 12–up. Agent: Jim McCarthy, Dystel & Goderich Literary Management.

February 15, 2016
A runaway countess escapes an arranged marriage through a business that brings brides to the most eligible bachelors of the New World of Adoria. The Countess of Rothford descends from one of Osfrid's noblest bloodlines, but her family's financial desperation leads her grandmother to arrange a marriage for her with a dull, itchy noble whose own grandmother can't wait to control her life. Opportunity knocks when Ada, a former attendant, is selected for the Glittering Court, an intensive finishing school that furnishes brides to the New World's new elites. Ada doesn't want to go, so the countess goes instead, taking both the name Adelaide and Ada's place. Fish-out-of-water Adelaide's an expert at the niceties the school teaches yet comically incompetent at basic commoner skills; if she fails to fit in, she'll be discovered and sent back home. She befriends her roommates, ambitious Tamsin and Sirminican refugee Mira (who stands out among the evidently white, English-cognate Osfridians and suffers for it), and is helped by the Glittering Court owner's handsome son, who knows her secret but has a dangerous one of his own. Soon, the girls are sent to Adoria, the frontier where Adelaide has a chance of marrying for money--or love. The story, genially narrated by Adelaide, offers few surprises, but it goes down easy, abetted by worldbuilding that borrows freely from both Regency- and frontier-novel tropes without questioning either very hard. A historical-hodgepodge guilty pleasure. (Fantasy. 13 & up)

COPYRIGHT(2016) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

March 1, 2016

Gr 8 Up-When the young Countess of Rothford is forced into an unwanted marriage with a despicable distant relative, she runs away and decides to leave the beautiful country of Osfrid behind in search of a new life. She follows a dashing student named Cedric to a place called the Glittering Court, where his family trains ordinary girls to act like nobility, ships them overseas to the New World, and profits from their marriage contracts to up-and-coming young men. It's there that she assumes the identity of her maid, Adelaide Bailey, and does her best to blend in with the other girls. But as she falls in love with Cedric and becomes tangled in a web of secrets and lies, she is cast out of the Glittering Court and forced into a radically different life working the land in search of the gold they desperately need to start a better life together. With a full cast of bold and original characters, Mead does a superb job of building a world that teens will be excited to enter into and disappointed to leave. The plot is intricately woven, and the ending promises future installments from other characters' points of view. VERDICT Brilliant and original, Mead's new series starts off with a bang and will leave readers on the edge of their seats until the very end.-Candyce Pruitt-Goddard, Sno-Isle Libraries, Marysville, WA

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2016
Grades 8-11 Mead merges Elizabethan and frontier worlds as a backdrop for the picture-bride tale of the young Countess of Rothford, Osfridian royalty whose family has run out of money. When her grandmother arranges a marriage to a wealthy and humorless distant cousin, our heroine takes the name of one of her maids, Adelaide, and assumes Adelaide's identity at the Glittering Court, a training school for commoners to learn the ways of high society. These girls then travel to the new world of Adoria, where men happily pay the bride's price, while the girls can choose their own husband. Not surprisingly, Adelaide excels at her studies and also falls for gorgeous Cedric Thorn, son of the unscrupulous proprietor. In a refreshing change to the romance formula, Mead does not end the story with the lovers finally realizing they are meant for each other, but rather follows their life as pioneers in a new land. There is a strong feminist element in Adelaide's narration, and more than meets the eye in terms of plot, character development, and substantive thought. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Mead's smash-hit Vampire Academy books should extend a red carpet between this book and the best-seller list.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2016
Fleeing an arranged marriage, the young Countess of Rothford joins a group of poor but pretty girls training to marry rich men in the New World. Her plans begin to unravel, however, when she realizes she's willing to risk everything to protect one of the procurer's sons. Fantasy elements take a backseat in this page-turning, love-conquers-all romantic epic.

(Copyright 2016 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)