Book Review: Holding Court by K.C. Held
12:48:00 AM
Title: Holding Court
Author: K.C. Held
Pages: 352
Genre: YA Mystery
Release Date: 01 March 2016
From Goodreads: "Sixteen-year-old Jules Verity knows exactly what's in store at her new job at castle-turned-dinner-theater Tudor Times. Some extra cash, wearing a fancy-pants dress, and plenty of time to secretly drool over the ever-so-tasty--and completely unavailable--Grayson Chandler. Except that it's not quite what she imagined. For one, the costume Jules has to wear is awful. Then there's the dead body she finds that just kind of...well, disappears. Oh, and there's the small issue of Jules and her episodes of what her best friend calls "Psychic Tourette's Syndrome"--spontaneous and uncontrollable outbursts of seemingly absurd prophecies. The only bright side? This whole dead body thing seems to have gotten Grayson's attention. Except that the more Jules investigates, the more she discovers that Grayson's interest might not be as courtly as she thought. In fact, it's starting to look suspicious..."
Special thanks to Entangled Teen for sending me a copy for review! This has in no way impacted my review.
When her mother goes out of the country on a job for the summer, Jules gets a job at the new dinner theatre Tudor Times in order to save up enough money for a new car. When she discovers that her crush, Grayson Chandler, is also working there, things start to look not so bleak for Jules. What could be better than getting to work with your crush wearing a fancy Tudor gown, right? Wrong. Turns out Jules gets hired as the Maid of Kent, a psychic nun, and has to wear a wimple. Totally embarrassing. To make things even worse, she finds a dead body on her first day of work. But on the plus side, finding the dead body seems to have gotten Grayson to pay attention to her, although the more she looks into the dead body, the more suspicious Grayson seems.
Holding Court is a super cute, fun read that appeals to fans of mystery and YA books. Jules has a condition that her best friend has named "Psychic Tourette's Syndrome" where she randomly blurts out absolutely random (sometimes embarrassing) prophecies. This was one of the highlights of the book for me, as the wording of the prophecies were always super funny!
"Your nun is pregnant!"
"Be alert to the squirt and smell the ketchup!"
"Be alert to the squirt and smell the ketchup!"
This book definitely kept me laughing all the way through. Jules is really funny, and her grandma is an absolute riot. I really enjoyed how Jules was very independent and, despite the fact that she saw a dead body, was determined to find out who it was and why she was killed. She was a strong character and I liked that she wasn't relying on anyone else to solve the murder.
I honestly don't think there is one thing that I disliked about this book. While I was reading, I didn't want to put it down, and I haven't found many books like that lately. The pacing was great, the writing was great, I adored the characters, and the small twist at the end with a few of the characters was definitely a surprise! It isn't a significant plot twist or anything, but I thought it was a cute little thing that was added, and it explained a lot about certain characters.
Holding Court was a refreshing change from my normal YA genre choices. I tend to gravitate towards more dystopian/thriller and I liked this more present day "normal" genre with a relatable main character. I am really crossing my fingers in the hopes that the author decides to write more books about Jules because I am really interested in reading more about her and some more crazy adventures that she could get into!
If you enjoy a bit of humor mixed in with your YA mystery genre, then Holding Court is definitely for you! It's a fun adventure that I would recommend to anyone looking for a new book to read!
I honestly don't think there is one thing that I disliked about this book. While I was reading, I didn't want to put it down, and I haven't found many books like that lately. The pacing was great, the writing was great, I adored the characters, and the small twist at the end with a few of the characters was definitely a surprise! It isn't a significant plot twist or anything, but I thought it was a cute little thing that was added, and it explained a lot about certain characters.
Holding Court was a refreshing change from my normal YA genre choices. I tend to gravitate towards more dystopian/thriller and I liked this more present day "normal" genre with a relatable main character. I am really crossing my fingers in the hopes that the author decides to write more books about Jules because I am really interested in reading more about her and some more crazy adventures that she could get into!
If you enjoy a bit of humor mixed in with your YA mystery genre, then Holding Court is definitely for you! It's a fun adventure that I would recommend to anyone looking for a new book to read!
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