Didn't dislike it for any particular reason, just not for me. ( )

I picked up this collection on the strength of the short story that the collection is named after (who doesn’t need more dreadful young ladies in their life?), and the rest of the stories in the collection did not disappoint! In fact, the title of the collection is perfectly chosen, since Barnhill has proved herself to have a penchant for populating her stories with willfully misbehaving young women. They do say that well behaved women rarely make history, and the same could be said about stories—who, after all, wants to read about happily ever after unless it comes with some mischief and adventure first? With the exception of “The Insect and the Astronomer: A Love Story” I heartily enjoyed all of the stories contained herein (and technically, the only thing wrong with the tale of the insect and the astronomer was that I didn’t connect with the characters, even though the themes and language were solid). Some of the tales were creepy (“The Taxidermist’s Other Wife”), others were laugh-inducing (“Mrs. Sorensen and the Sasquatch”), and each contained at least a handful (and many a multitude) of grains of magic. The novella “The Unlicensed Magician” was particularly intriguing, since it contained a fully built world and mythos in its span of pages, had wonderfully vibrant characters who played a careful line between realism and whimsy, and left the me heartbroken but healed as its final words flitted across the page. To conclude: I am so thankful that Barnhill chose to collect all of these wonderful tales under one cover, since I am terrifically bad at tracking down anthologies, and I would have been sorely sad to miss out on such a great collection of writing. ( )

I really enjoyed this collection of magical short stories. The stories were unique and interesting with some great characters. Many also featured strong female characters. The audiobook was well done and did a good job of keeping my attention. It was the perfect book to listen to each night before bedtime. ( )

I absolutely loved the first two thirds of this collection - the last story just went on way too long... ( )

I enjoyed some of the stories, but not all. And sadly I won't remember any of them. Nothing that's going to stick with me or that I want more of. ( )