Review: The Sinister Sweetness of Splendid Academy by Nikki Loftin

This book was pretty amazing. I loved it. I adore middle grade books, and I just love the exciting ones. This is sort of based on a fairytale. And that was amazing. The Sinister Sweetness of Splendid Academy is a great book. I really enjoyed it, and I really wish there would be a sequel. Because oh. I want to read more about Lorelei and Andrew :) Maybe as teenagers, with a bit romance too ;p But would love another middle grade as well.

I don't know how to describe this book. I will try. It isn't very long, and it was easy to read, which I loved, and it was just amazing. Took me some time to finally start it, but once I did I could not stop reading at all. I just had to know what happened next. Another thing I loved about this book is the few drawings inside. I love those a whole lot. They are a bit weird, but perfect :) Wish there had been even more of them, though ;p

The book is told from the point of view of eleven year old Lorelei. Whom I adored. She was pretty amazing. I felt so sorry for her. Which sucked, but was also amazing. She doesn't have it good. She lives with her dad and brother Bryan, and her new stepmom, Molly. I didn't really like her father much. But he wasn't all bad. I'm unsure about Bryan, cause he kind of sucked most of the time, but I do think he might have been an awesome brother. But Molly. I hated Molly. And I kind of want a sequel just to know how things end with her. She was just evil. I really hated how she treated Lorelei.

But anyway. I loved Lorelei. She's kind and loving and strong. But broken too, because of what happened to her mom a year ago. She died. And Lorelei blames herself. Which was awful, but so perfect, because it made a whole lot of sense, and it just made her such a better character. Then there is Andrew. He is really fat, as she says. And oh. I just adored him so. He's kind of the only smart one. And he's just really special. He's different. And oh so kind. I loved him. He just deserves all the best. He really does.

I won't say that much about the plot. Since it is a short book, and also because you can almost read all about it in the summary; but not really, because so many amazing and awful things happened that I had no idea about. But yeah. It's about this school. The Splendid Academy. And the teachers there. Three different women. I hated them all. But oh. At first they seem so sweet, and it was a bit heartbreaking. But also amazing, because this book is all kinds of interesting and a bit mysterious. I loved it all.

This book is also about witches. Sort of. It was pretty amazing, and I loved reading about it all. I'm giving it a four star because while I loved it a lot, I had some trouble with the writing, and a few things about the story I wished had been better. But for the most part I loved it all. Lorelei's heartbreak. Andrew's pain. Their friendship. Yeah. This book has it all. And I just loved reading about everything. Even the evil things that happened at the school.. Shudders. Some things were just heartbreaking.

There is a lot of characters in this book. Many I loved. But even more that I hated. I really disliked Lorelei's friend, Allison. I didn't like her at all. She was just cruel and mean and a bit selfish too. But I did love reading about Vasalisa. Even though her story broke my heart. This book was just so amazing, and you really should read it, because I loved it, and I think you will too. I even enjoyed reading about all the food. Was a tiny bit disgusting, though ;p But I loved it. And the bones.. Ah. Creepy and amazing.

Goodreads - Buy it